The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-11-30
Association at waldorf Astoria Hotel, Wed

were fourteen per cent less, Stated
In another way, in 1900 we exported
twenty-four and four-tenths pounds
for each head of cattle owned, while
in 1908 we exported only eleven and
one-half pounds, decrease OF fifty
three per cent.
In 1899 the number Of swine owned
was something more than thirty-e'ght
and one-half million. In 1908 this had
increased to more than fifty-six mil
lion or forty-five per cent, but our
exports of pork and its products snow
ed decrease of more than four hum
bred and forty-one million pounds.
During the same period, while the
number OF cows increased thirty-four
per cent, our exports Of butter and
cheese went down from approximately
seventy nine million pounds to less
than fifteen million, and our imports
went up from ten million to nearly
thirty-three and one-half million
pounds, or two hundred and thirty
two per cent.
The preliminary report Of the Blu
reau of Statistics for the year ended
June so, 1909. shows falling off, as
compared with the previous year, IN
the exports Of beef and tallow OF
thirty-five per cent; while the decline
in the exports Of pork and its prod
ucts exceeds fifteen per cent The
same report shows that exports OF
grain for the same period declined
twenty nine per cent.
If the conyerging lines of produc-
ton and consumption in the United
States continue to approach each 9TH
er as they have during the past ten
years, long before the end of the
present decade the last vessel loaded
with the agricultural product of this
country will have left our shores. the
great exporting grain elevators in our
seaboard cities will stand empty, and
| this great nation, like those Of the old
world, will be looking for place to
buy the necessaries Of life
/ | have been intensely interested in
reading an article in the November
number of The worlds Work, by Mr..
James J. Hill, entitled, What We
Must De to Be Fed, dealing with this
important subject, which concludes as
follows:
1.-THE value of our annual farm
product is now about eight billion dol
lars. 1t might easily be doubled
When the forests are all cut down and
the mines are nothing but empty holes
2 in the ground, the farm lands of the
i country will remain capable of re
newing their bounty forever. Blu
t they must have proper treatment. TX
j provide this, as matter of self-inter
: est and of national safety, is the mos
j, imperative present duty of our people
s The armed fleets of an enem,
al approaching our harbors would be n
J, more alarming than the RELENTLESS
b advance Of day when we shall hav
: neither sufficient food nor the mean
n to purchase it for our population. TIL
) farmers of the nation must save 1t l
the future. lust as they built It's grea'
S ness In the past.
=. "The man who assumes to be tn
n farmers friend or hold his interest
vi dear will constitute himself a mi
"a sionary of the new dispensation.
is an act OF patriotic service to tn
N country. 1t is contribution to tn
h. welfare of all humanity. 1t wi
y, strengthen the pillars OF COVER
n ment that must otherwise be enda
gered by some popular upheaval whe
id the land can no longer sustain tt
or population that its bosom bear
Here lies the true secret of our a
20 xious interest in agricultural methods
st because, in the long run, they mes
IL life or death to future millions WI
lie are no strangers or invaders, but O.
"a own cIildren's children, and who W
ed pass judgment upon us according
er what we have made of the world
ne which their lot is to be cast"
on Can the Importance of this con
"a. ton be exaggerated? Is it not tir
that every patriotic citizen W
Nv aroused to ascertain the cause a
OF find and apply the remedy? Can the
of be a duty Of higher or broader p
Tor riotism or more comprehensive pf
or. anthropy? What is the cause, a
a can remedy be found?
ne. The land, our kindly, patient mo
in err earth, upon which not only pr
Jet perity, but life itself, depends, is ye
yer after year being robbed and
ary poverished
ex- Our average annual yield OF whe
the for ten years was less than fourte
an bushels per acre. This is less tn
ase it was thirty years ago. Instead
improving we are going backward
raj / do not say this in a spirit Of G
nil icism or censure of the farmers of
it nation.
,lyl A large majority of them star
cd with nothing but a quarter section
ply unbroken prairie "a team OF horses
yoke of cattle, pillow and harrt
,rn, and a humble cabin to shelter his
81, tie family from the heat of sunni
600 and storms of winter.
in The success he has achieved
in been the result Of years Of ardu'