Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-06
OVER SIX BILLIONS
Value of Farm Products of
the Past Year.
EXCEEDS OUR MONEY
COTTON NO LONGER KING-CoRN
HOLDS THE sCEPTER.
Output of the Barnyard Fowls
Amounts to Half Billion Dollars
Increased Bank Deposits.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
A copy of Secretary Wilson's annual re-
port should have been attached to the
Presidents Thanksgiving proclamation. The
first half-dozen pages should have been
read from the pulpit of every church that
was open for service on Thanksgiving day.
The figures he gives to describe the pros
perity of the American farmers should be
posted on every dead wall In the country
and read aloud in every household. They
are almost incredible, but the Secretary is
man of very conservative mind He Is no
boaster. He is accustomed to scientific
analysis and to exactnesS of statement, and
his calculations are based upon the reports
of $4,000 correspondents, representing al
most every agricultural neighborhood In
the United States, chiefly bankers, mer
chants and other business men who are in
the habit of doing business with the farm
ers-buying their crops, selling them sup
plies and receiving their savings for de-
post.
Secretary Wilson shows that the total
value OF the farm products for the past year
was SB,415, 900, and that every sunset
during the past five years has registered an
increase of So, 100000 in the value of the
piled this value upon value until 1t has
reached S102 100000. That portion of the
national debt bearing interest is equaed by
the increased value of farms in nine
months, and the increase for a little over
a year balances the entire interest and nom
Understanding debt of the United States,
Not Money Enough to Buy the Crops.
In other words, there is not money enough
in this country to pay for the crops of its
farms this year, and there would not be,
even II all the bonds of the United States
now outstanding were added to it's gold,
silver and paper currency. AS the Secre-
tary says: 1.-The farmers of this country
have had the most remarkable series of
years of prosperity that has ever come to
the farmers of any country in the annals
of the worlds agriculture. Production has
been unequaled and its value has reached
the highest figures ever attained. Farm
crops have never before been harvested at
such a high general level Of production and
value"
And Prof Wilson adds that ''the unpre
cedented savings have embarrassed local
banks with their riches and have troubled
farmers to find investments; and, as IL all
Of these manifestations were not enough
the farms themselves have increased in
value to a fabulous extent.
For the first time in nearly half CEN
fury the cotton planters unsecured note is
now good al the bank and his land is safe
security and is salable. The crop lien that
q necessity Immediately after the war
is appearing-where 1t is not already gone
and has released the planters from It's
bondage. For the first time in the history
of the south the deposits In the banks of
that region now exceed billion dollars"
Products of the Farms
The wealth produced on the farms of the
United States in 1905 exceeds that of 1904
by per cent; that of 1903 by per cent,
and that of 1899 by SO per cent. During the
last ten years, Prof Wilson says the farm
ers Of this country have produced enough
to equal one-half of the entire wealth of
this nation-the rewards of the toll and the
accommodations of three centuries.
These are extraordinary statements. The
farmers themselves will find it difficult to
believe them, and many ''misfortunates,"
measuring them by their own experiences,
will reject the report of the Secretary OF
Agriculture a fairy tale
According to the latest returns, there are
5,737,372 farms under cultivation in the
United States, and 10,3S1, 765 persons are
engaged upon those farms, either as own
ers or hired help. The value of this years
crop therefore, averages more than 5000
per farm and more than $640 for every in
dividual engaged In farming within the lin
It's of this country.
The estimates of the Secretary as to the
value of the principal crops are as follows:
Bushels Value.
Corn ............... 270s 600. 600 s1216. 90
Wheat ............ 6S4, 900, 600 SIS, 0GO, 900
Oats ............... e3s,Ooo,0oo 2s2,0oo,0oo
Barley ............. iss, 900, 600 $500 GO
The total production of cereals, includ-
ing rice, is estimated at 4,521 900, 900 bush
els; with farm value of 81, 1913 100000. or
$143, 100000 over last year. Only the corn
crop makes record in volume, but corn,
hay. wheat and rice all make records in
value.
The hay crop is estimated at sGo5, Ooo. 600,
the cotton crop at 1918 600 600 the tobacco
crop at $50, 100000, the sugar crop at $780,
600 600. The most astounding statements
however, concern the cow and the hen
Secretary Wilson says that no crop but
corn has contributed so much to the
wealth of this country as the dairy cow.
She produced S665 600, coo worth of butter
and cheese this year, an increase of Ssh
600 600 from last year, while the humble
chicken added more than half a billion
dollars to the wealth of this country dur
ing the past twelve mon ths-nearly as
much as all the acres sown to wheat or
cotton.
Cotton used to be king but corn has
usurped the throne in late years. If the
barnyard fowls continue to increase in
number and in industry, however, they
will soon stand at the head of the many
sources of wealth of this great nation
They are already roosting on the steps OF
the throne.
Horses and Cattle.
Notwithstanding the bicycle. the auto
mobile, the suburban trolley, the rural
free delivery and other invasons of the do
main of the horse. he continues to increase
in numbers and In value More than IT.
Oo0.Oo0 horses are now used on the farms
alone or this country, and they are worth
81 2oooO0,0OO. Mules, also, are steadily adj
vancing in both numbers and value and
are now worth $3.50, COO 600 We have H.
6D,oOO mich cows, worth S4S2, Goo COO but
there has been a steady decline in the
number and the total value of beef cattle
until we now have only 43, 6e9, 600 worth
$6S2,OOo.O0O This, no doubt partially ac-
counts for the high price Of beef In the re-
tail markets. While the population has in
creased at the rate OF nearly million
year. the number of beef cattle has stead
lily declined for the past ten years, and
the price per head has consequently adj
vaneed. The cattle trade is undergoing an
evolution, The big ranches are being cut
up into small farms, the ranges are being
pioWed and planted to corn and wheat be-
cause the land has become too valuable
TO use as pasturage: the big herds have
been driven to market and sold, and in