Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-12-01
ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY
,F AGRICULTURE INDICATES
GENERAL PROSPERITY.
PERTINENT FACTS GIVEN
ON MEAT AND FARM PRICES
Consumer of Meat Now Pays on an
Average of 80 Per Cent Above Whole
saIe-WiIson Shows Retail Butcher
Does Not Get This Proft-eoes to
Packer and Farmer.

Washington, Dec. 1.-Most prosper
Gus OF all years is the place to which |
1909 Is entitled in agriculture, declares
the secretary of agriculture in his |
rhlrteenth annual report, made public J
today. The value of farm products is so
large that it has be-
come merely a row of figures. For this
year it is ss,760,000, 900, a gain of $685.
100000 over 1908. The value of the
products has nearly doubled in ten
years. The report says, eleven years
of agriculture, beginning with a pro-
duction Of s4.417oOO,Ooo and ending
with ss,7s0, 900, 900! A sum of s7oooo,-
100000 for the period! 1t has paid off
mortgages, it has established banks. it
has made better homes, it has helped
to make the farmer a citizen of the
world, and it has provided him with
means for Improving his soil and maxi
Ing 1T more productive"
Farm Production Of 1909.
The most striking fact in the worlds
agriculture is the value of the corn
crop for 1909, which is about $780,
100000. 1t nearly equals the value of
the clothing and personal adornments
of 100000 people, according to the
census of 1900. The gold and silver coin
and bullion of the United States are
not of greater value. It has grown up
soil
aays-$15, 100000 a day for one crop,
nearly enough for two Dreadnaughts
daily for peace or war. This crop ex-
ceeds in value the average of the crops
of. the five preceding years by SO per
cent
Cotton is now the second crop in
value and this years cotton crop is
easily the most valuable one to the
farmer that has been produced. With
cotton lint selling at 1877 cents on the
farm Nov. 1 and with cotton seed SELL
ing for about $25 per ton, the lint and
seed of this crop are worth about $780,
100000 to the farmer. No cotton crop
since 1873 has been sold by farmers
for as high a price per pound as this
one.
Third in value is wheat, worth about
s72o000000 at the farm, and this large
1y exceeds all previous values. The
November farm price was almost an
even dollar a bushel, a price which has
not been equaled since 1881. This is the
third wheat crop in point Of size, with
725OOo,OO0 bushels.
The hay crop is valued at $665,000,-
900; oats at s4o0,oOO,O0O; potatoes at
s212,000,0Oo; and tobacco at nearly
$100,000,0O0. Beet and cane sugar and
molasses and sirup, from farm and
factory, will reach the total of about
$95,000,0O0. The barley crop is worth
$ss.OOo,000, f1axseed s36,000,000, ana
1000, 100000 pounds OF rice s25,O00,-
900.
Comparisons With Former Years.
The production of all cereals COM
bined is 4,711,000,000 bushels, an
amount considerably greater than that
for any other year except 1906. 1t ex-
ceeds the average of the preceding five
years by SIS per cent. The value of all
cereals in 1909 has never been equaled
In previous year. 1t is almost exactly
$4,000, 100000, or "a per cent above the
five-year average.
Compared with the average of the
previous five years, all principal crops
are greater in quantity this year except
cotton f1axseed, hops and cane sugar;
but without exception every crop is
worth more to the farmer than the
fve-year average.
This is the year of highest produc-
ton for potatoes, tobacco, beet sugar
all sugar, and rice; next to the highest
production for corn, oats, and al
cereals. Compared with 1908, gains ir
value are found all along the line, the
exceptions being barley, buckwheat
rye, and milk The increase for cotton
lint and seed, is s2OS,OO0, 900; wheat
s1o7,oo0,ooO; corn, 1o5,O0O,O0o; hay
e29,0O0,0O0; oats, s22,0o0,000; tobacco
$18,000,000; potatoes, $15,000,000.
The increase in the value of farm
products this year over 1908, $4,000,
600, is enough to buy a new equipmen
of farm machinery for over n,eo
farms The value of the cereal crops t.
the farmer would pay for all Of the ma
chinery, tools, and implements of th
entire manufacturing industry. TIL
value Of all crops. $5,70o,oO0,O00, woul'
make half payment on the value o
all steaml railroads according to tn
Secretary Wilson concludes his re
view Of the production Of 1909 as fol
lows:
'gThe agricultural production of 1870
must add much to the prosperity G
farmers. The record is unexampled
wealth production and tells of abund
ance in quantity. Year by year tn
farmer is better and better prepare
to provide the capital and make tn
expenditures needed to improve his ag
riculture and to educate his childre
for farm life and work"
Retail Meat Prices.
Secretary Wilson has just finished
unique investigation made for the pur
pose Of this report relating to the in
crease of wholesale prices of beef whe
sold at retail Thru employees of th
bureau Of animal industry inquire
were made in fifty cities-large, med
iuIil and smalf-in all parts OF til
(Contlnued on Page lO.)