Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-01-14
IMPORTANCE OF CORN.
Wonders of the Great Food Crop
Fields Are Inspiring.

iSieO nv t"cfhb'As
At the corn exposition held recently
in Chicago, Harlow N. Higinbotham,
acting as chairman at the dedication,
paid the following remarkable tribute
to corn: ......
When Moses was a child In Egypt
and the tribes of Israel were cultivat
ing on the banks of the Nile their bar
ley and wheat, pulse and millet-for
these constituted the corn of the an
cients-the American Indian had al
ready become gentleman farmer on
the plains Of Annahuac, in Mexico, and
in the valley Of the Apurimac, in Peru.
Even for countless generations be-
fore that time the slowly developing
Indian on this great continent had
been patiently planting and cultivating
his little crop OF wild grass, from which
he was to give In time to the world
that which we are here tonight to hon
or and glorify-tndian corn-of all the
many blessings given to mankind by
this continent the greatest.
Its history is an epitome Of the his
tory Of the human race. Existing for
countless thousands Of years in its wild
state lowly and valueless, cultivated
through hundreds Of years to become
an important factor in the destiny Of
the habitants Of over half this conti-
nent, It spread in 400 years over all the
world. =
| Corn played conspicuous part In
the life of Pre- Columbian America It
was the staple OF the native from
Massachusetts to California, and from
the Great Lakes to the Argentine.
Throughout this vast area the Indians
were farmers; and beside their village
was their corn field. Corn today forms
nine tenths of the food Of the village
Indians Of our own southwest, and the
Hopis Of Arizona possess thirty six
different methods Of preparing 1t for
food.
The chief divinity in the pantheon
of the goddess of termination, often
symbolized in pictorial art by young
corn plant, and when in their great
mid summer ceremonies they prepared
a maiden to impersonate the goddess
they covered her face with the golden
yellow corn pollen. Thus she typiffed
the fertilizing force Of all nature.
What does corn mean to this nation
as measured by the coin Of the realm?
Our corn crop Is worth, roughly, one
billion dollars each year-five times the
value Of all the corn grown elsewhere
in the world combined. 1t Is equal In
value to two-thirds Of all our exports;
its value Is twice that of the worlds
yearly output Of gold and silver; the
corn crop for ten years would nearly
buy the worlds production Of gold for
the last 400 years, and 80 per cent OF
the worlds corn crop is produced with
in an area of about one days ride OF
his city.
What a wonderful and inspiring
sight are the vast fields Of corn ripen-
ing for the use Of man. Stored within
each grain is not only wealth for the
myriad sons Of toll, but the germ OF
future fields that are to come as sure
ly as the seasons are to return in their
own good time. Placed within the bo-
som Of mother earth, each grain is the
cradle of the infant germ, containing
as well food for its nourishment during
it's young life, until it shall sufficiently
develop to send it's tender feet down
into the soil and its arms up into the
sunlight to gather and absorb food for
its life and thus insure again the har-
vest.
T would have the farmer and the
farmers boy know and appreciate the
beauty, the strength and the glory OF
the corn, as we'll as itN commercial
value, so that they would be In love
with their work, and thus transform
the drudgery into an everlasting JOY.
I would have the plowman go whistling
down the long rows of growing corn,
glad and happy, and blessing God for
the privilege, and in his heart sorry
for the man shut up in the factory or
behind the counter in the country store
or in the larger mercantile establish
ments Of our great cities.-Philadelphia
North American.