The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-07-18
AMERICAN FARMERS LEADERS
IN ENRICHMENT OF NATION.
DOLLARS BY THE BILLIONS
Annual Value of Farm Products in
the United States Greater Than
the Output of the Worlds
Mines.

ing the years up to 1905, the total
amount of capital invested in manu-.
featuring in the United States is $12,-
CSC, ,265,673 During the year 1905
there was produced of manufactured
products $14,SO2, ,147,OS7.
The same authority gives the in
formation that the farm values of the
United States reached the enormous
sum of $2O,514, ,0O1, 1886, and to this,
which is the land value, must be add
ed S13,114, ,492, ,O56, which represents
! farm improvements. 1t is needless
| to give the value of miscellaneous
| stocks, etc, but it is sufficient to say
that during the years 1905 and 1906
that the annual production OF the
farms of the United States amounted
to $6,5OO, 100000. 1t will be seen
from this that while the value OF
farms and improvements is very near
ly three times the amount invested in
manufactures, that the production OF
the farms annually is only about one
half of the value of the manufactured
products; but when it is taken into
consideration that the farm supplies
more than so per cent. of the articles
that enter into the manufactures, 1t
shows how important is the Amer
ican farmer.
Last year the wealth produced by
American farms was five times great
er than the value of gold and silver
produced in the United States for the
I year. 1t is estimated that the gold
produced in the world since the dis
covery of America by Columbus up
to the present time is approximately
$11,3 1,368,000,O00. During the same Pc
riod the production of the silver of
the world was ST., 20,000,00O. Thus
it can be seen that about every four
years American farms bring wealth
gold and silver that has been pro-
duced since Columbus time. The
wealth of the United States is now es-
timated at $112, 100000. American
farmers are adding to this wealth at
the rate of between $6,0O0,000,000 and
o, 1000, 100000 yearly. The total wealth
of Great Britain and Ireland is placed
at $60,200,000,000. At the present
wealth producing capacity of the
American farmer, in less than ten
years the wealth he produces would
aggregate more than the total wealth
of the great kingdom of Great Brit
ain and Ireland. The total wealth of
all of Italy is estimated at $13,0O0,0O0,-
900. Every two years the American
farmers produce enough to buy the
kingdom of Italy, and every year
American farms produce wealth suf-
ficient to purchase all of Belgium.
Outside of the Is original states
in adding to it's possessions expended
$87 ,039, 76S. This includes the Louis
lana purchase, the Mexican purchase,
Alaska, the Philippines and all United
States possessions, covering 2,037, ,613
square miles of territory The corn
CORP of the American farmers each
year is valued at 104 times the amount
that was necessary for the United
States to pay for all its great posses
sions. The cotton crop alone for 1906
was seven times enough to reimburse
the United States for its expenditures
on account of the requirement of the
vast territories purchased. 1t is need
less to further make comparisons, the
American farmer is the great wealth
producer of the union. Upon his work
oil ha 70 ootI wi
and it may be said nearly all the com.
merce.
While the farmer is a great wealth
producer and is one of the most in.
, dependent of American laborers, he
has perhaps just reason for complaint
as to compensation received for his
efforts While the results of his
: labor has given employment to an
army of millions of workers, the
: American farmer has also been sub
> ject to the operations of combina
tions that directly oppose his best in
terests. These are the great trusts
that control the marketing of what
= the farms produce. None will deny
but that distributing agencies are
necessary, but when these agencies
:, become oppressive and make extor
: tionate charges for the handling oil
the produce of farms, they become in
: stitutions that are oppressive. But
the American farmer to great extent
appears to be responsible for the
building up of such combinations. In
, his prosperity he has ignored simple
+. principles recognized in business ant
u which are important to him. Presi
dent Mckinley in one of his addresses
made the statement that to locate the
. factory near the farm means the
greatest economy and the highes
prices for farm produce; in othel
words, the factory makes the home
market. For years farmers in the ag
ricultural sections Of the United
- = States have not alone contributed to
y ward the, support of the stock gam
- blerS and the managers of the trusts
but have assisted in making possible
the building up of mammoth aggrega
tions of capital in great financial cen
;, ters, and this capital has been used IL
: the furtherance of combinations tha
: have made it possible to dictate tt
= the farmer what prices he must taxi
: for all that he has to sell.
n The farmers should understand tina
money sent from districts to the larg
Z. cities means the concentration o
, wealth in these cities and create
n support for the trust builders. The,
,- should also understand that thei
q farm values to great extent depen,
upon the activity and Importance O
s the home town. Should the farmer re
il lieve himself of the burden that
d placed upon him by the trusts an
o. combinations. he can do It by assist