The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-07-30

can soil. From northern Canada 20
Texas, and from the AlIeghenies 90
the Pacific slope, farmers are busy
with harvesters and .hrashers garner
ing il. Seyenty-nve millions OF acres
were sown IN wheat this year.
Due to the plunges of Jas. a. Patten
on the Board OF Trade great fo''
eigl demand and the increase OF the
worlds population. the price OF wheat
I'm this marketplace has been upheld
ITS bumper crop. every grain
man on La Safest says, when he
reads the morning bulletins In the
Board OF Trade building.
Railroads elevator men, brokers,
millers and wholesalers OF -four and
breadstuffs all are in line waiting
rush OF harvesters through the yellow
fields and the whirr Of the thrasher
will be the signal for huge moves In
the world of finance and commerce,
and Chicago will be the center OF 1t ali
The American farmer has ceased 90
De the homespun farmer. He's now
the bonanza farmer. Secretary Gee.
+. Stone, OF the Board of Trade, dis
GUESSING a big wheat raiser In Mime
sofa. said: Yes. he's what We call
bonanza farmer, or one OF those
fellows who clean UP from $4,000 TO
$4,000 n year on their wheat crop.
They're getting to be SO numerous
now that We don't pay particular a.
tention TO them.
THE farmer OF Yesterday would
think lie was dreaming IL he could see
the way these men carry ON their bus
mess
Passenger agents of western rail-
roads assert that there never were 50
mary patty tickets sold for harvest
field workers from the east. College
students by the carload are rushing
10 Kansas and the Dakotas. From the
University OF Chicago alone l73 stu
dents have gone ont
Experts here calculate the value OF
American cereals this year as not less
than IS, 600, 600 600. This would mean
a gain over 1908 Of $222 900 900,
Nearly $500 900 will change
hands in Chicago when the wheat
crop is marketed. Compared To the
time when the harvester was first in
vented. these figures are staggering.
Abraham Lincoln was % years old
when the first harvesting machine was
made Man depended then on the an
cient scythe to garner his
crop The change that has
come over harvesting methods
IN little more than 70 years Is
greater than In all the preceding his.
tory OF the world. Before the Amer
lean farmer. started methods that
have resulted in the bumper crop OF
1909. he depended on the laws of ma
ture alone To make him rich or poor
Now man-made processes have coaxed
the soil and rotation OF crops will yet
conquer Il.
Secretary Wilson's contention that
the farmer. is great organizer is
borne out by letters that are pouring
into the board OF trade. Some bon.
ANA" men use the telephone and the
telegraph. They arrange for cars and
sometimes special freight trains 20
deliver their wheat into the market
al an advantageous time. and conduct
their big business with department
store system.
In 1854 there was grown In this
country, only l-3 bushels OF wheat
per capita. This year with less than
one.third of the people farmers. the
per capital production OF wheat is
more than 10 bushels. The advance
made In production is just as notable
and no more than the advance OF mod
ern methods over the single pillow and
the scythe Of Lincon's boyhood.
This advance has given the country
its steel mills, railways. and varied
Industries. IL has raised the farmer
from place OF ridicule and obscur
Ity TO the pinnacle OF respect among
his fellow Americans. and has made
his children the masters OF trade. II