The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1905-04-29

c
dependent upon the rainfall. Hence
the term "Providence rice". But today
more than $500, 900 acres are devoted te
that cereal in Louisiana and Texas, be-
ing irrigated by water pumped from the
streams and rivers and by means oi
case wells six to eight inches in diane
ter, reaching a water-bearing grave
from forty to two hundred feet below the
surface. The product of Louisiana in
1860 was 6,331 ,257 pounds; in 1890 il
was 1858, 433 pounds; in 1900 it was
t73, ,632, 724 pounds, and in 1904 0,OOO,
900 pounds. This in Louisiana alone.
! AS a result of this development land,
which could have been purchased for
80 cents an acre fifteen years ago, is now
selling from St2 to $50 an acre, accord
ing to location. There are some sixty
five rice mills in Louisiana and Texas,
forty-fo of them being in the former
State. The cost of the mills varies from
$4,000 to 100000, according to their
size. Experts say that the profit of rice
growing is double that of wheat, the
former averaging about So per acre and
the latter about SIC per acre. In favor
able localities in Louisiana rice pays as
high as $50 an acre profit, This has
brought into Louisiana large numbers
of farmers from Iowa, Illinois and other
parts of the North.
The consumption of rice in the United
States is limited. Large quantities of
rice are used by breweries and distiller-
les, and that demand is slowly increas-
ing. But for the last two years the crop
has been greater than the demand, and
nearly 10000, 900 pounds have been ex-
ported during the last twelve months.
The reason tor the small consumption is
found in the high price and the large
profit exacted by the niddlemen. The
farmer gets only two cents pound. the
retailer pays five cents pound for it
and sells it for eight cents, the differ
ences gong to the mill, the broker and
the wholesaler. Four profits are made
between the producer and the consumer.
At eight cents per pound rice costs
more than flour, for which it is substl-
tute, and in order to bring the price be
low or to the level of flour an organiza-
ton OF farmers calling themselves "The
American Rice Association" haYe in
augurated propaganda throughout the
Northern States. This society supported
rice kitchens at the Buffalo and ST.
Louis expositions, and has agents tray
cling around the country in its interests
General Miles has been making an eff
fort to persuade our government to use
rice as the principal ration in the army,
and the fact that it is almost the only
subsistence issued to the Japanese SOL
diers in Manchuria is the best of recon-
mendation. The Japanese soldier is
vegetarian. He lives almost exclusively
upon tea and rice and on forced marches,
scouting expeditions and during battles
he has nothing else. Attached to the
belts of every officer and soldier is lit
tie lacquered tin case, about the size OF
the old-fashioned cartridge box of the
civil war time, which contains a pound
or two of raw rice-sufficient to sustain
life and fighting strength for two or
three days. 1t can be cooked anywhere
that fire can be made and water OBJ
tanned, and, like bacon, is always palat-
able. The newspapers have had story
that General Miles was going to Europe
to advocate the adoption of the rice ra-
ton by the armies over there.
~
Rice has been sold by the Louisiana
mills direct to Cuba, Porto Rico and the
Philippines, and a strong effort is now
being made to control the market of
Cuba, which consumes about $4,000 tons
a year. The present supply comes from
China and Japan, and the Louisiana
rice growers want to shut Asiatic rice
out of the Cuban market under the terms
of our reciprocity treaty with Cuba,
which is a singular commentary on hu-
man nature. The sugar growers of Loui-
siana consider that treaty violation Of
their rights, and their destruction, while
the rice growers of the same State con-
slider it their salvation.
Secretary Wilson, as | have said, has
been deeply interested in the Louisiana
rice movement and has done everything
in his power to promote it. But he is
urging the farmers down here not to de-
vote their entire attention to it. He is
opposed to "one-crop farmers. He
believes in the old proverb that warns
people not to put all of their eggs into
one basket, and he is now trying to dis
cover some other crop which is equally
profitable and as well suited to the soil
and climate. Experiments are being
conducted under his direction at several
of the government stations in the South,
and the agricultural experts of the de-
partment are about convinced that the
greatest advantages can be derived by
combining rice with alfalfa or some
other forage plant. The cotton planters
of the South and the public generally
consume vast quantities of hay, which
is shipped from the Northern States,
and Secretary Wilson believes that the