The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-03-24

Il niche to share it son equal terms will
ii Christopher Columbus, IL the axgl
ments OF local investigation are /,
i be accepted For If washington wal
/ the father OF his country. coiurnbu,
was the father of the beef trust ac.
cording to the conclusions OF this I'm
/, terprisihg student of known history
While millions of persons are slookins
flor a solution of the increased cos
II OF living, and while; the machinery d,
the federal government and of man,
states Is busy attempting to- and and
Il II possible punish the persons re-.
sponsible for the high price OF meat
the real culprit has been, dead -four
centuries, according to the author o,
the new theory. christopher Colum.
bus, he argues, lie the guilty party
not because he discovered his countr,
but because he introduced cattle into
i it. t
/ Few persons indeed realize thai
neither horses nor cattle are native
to this country. The horse was intro
duced by De Soto in Florida in 1927
and the cattle which Columbus brought
to the West Indies in 1893 were in
| troduced into Mexico by the Spanish
about 1925. From them came the
breed known as Texas cattle al
though the progeny OF later importa-
tons from northern Europe are now
In the great majority There is an
other touch too which Inks Columbus
with the present situation. Not few
people have Of late characterized the
purveyors of meat as pirates, and in
way the Characterization Is more apt
| than they realize While the free
hooters of the sea in other oceans are
referred to as pirates. those who tre-
quented the West Indian waters in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centur-
les are generally referred to as Blu
cancers. Originally their avocation
was much more peaceful than it ulti-
mately became. They simply slaught-
cred cattle on one OF the islands and
gained their livelihood by preserving
the meat to be, sold. The process was
simple, consisting as 1t did merely of
smoking the flesh over a slow FIRE.
The product was known as boucan,
and the men engaged in the industry
bouncaniers. Later the word received
it's anglicized form of buccaneers which
stuck to these early beef barons. even
after they gave up their peaceful
calling for the more hazardous life
of the sea- But originally a bucaneer
was neither more nor less than pur.
veyor OF meat, and the name in its
true sense might be equally applied
today.
If Columbus could return today he
would be astonished at the results OF
his Importation of few cattle mors
than four centuries ago. Probably no
industry entirely dependent for its In
ception upon tmportations from other
countries has ever grown so rapidly
as the cattle industry in this country.
Corn is a native product; all that goes
to make up the great steel industry
is found in this country. but cattle
are an importation.
Yet i'm spite of this there are In this
country today approximately $50, 000 :
600 animals known as domestic, valued
at nearly $780, O0, 900 Were all these
cows, calves, steers, horses. mules,
sheep and swine placed in line head to
tall they would form procession
reaching four fifths of the way around
the world or more than 10000 miles
To ship them all at once would require
train 10000 miles long reaching three
times across the country and then
from New York to Chicago, That in
brief. is the growth during four CEN
turtles Of the infant industry founded
by Christopher Columbus.
As might be expected the cattle
belt occupies about the same territory
as the corn belt although there are
OF course fluctuations The figures
show that the United States has over
%, 100000 dairy cows or one to each
four Of the whole population, 230O0,0 900
horses, 100000 mules. $4,000, 900 swine.
81 100000 sheep and lambs, 100000
goats and 73.000,000 cattle Of all kinds
In every case except that Of cattle it
surpasses every other country in the
world. British India alone has more
cattle Based on these fgtlres each
man, woman and child in the country.
is entitled to one fourthsaof a horse,
one twenty second part of mule.
over, three quarters Of pig, two
thirds OF a sheep, less than one fortieth.
OF goat, almost one head siof cattle,
and one fourth Of milch COW, On
rather Of her products These accord
ing to the latest government figures
showed Ia total for one year of .7,72S;-
100000 gallons Of milk, 1s570.0O0, 900.
pounds OF butter and 100000, 900 pounds
OF cheese, There might also be sdi- y
vtded. the ,countryss ESQ. 100000 fowls,
which during a single year lay upwards
of $4,000 100000 eggs. AH
Curiously enough the animal with
the greatest average value according
to the governments figures, lis h the
lowly mule. at $64 a head. "A steer
three years old or over is worth on an
average about $S5, according to these
figures, a COW about $26 while the.
goat brings up the end OF the process
sion with an average value Of rs, n
In the distribution by states. Iowa
holds nrst place for the greatest total
value of all animals with $271 100000
worth: Texas is second with 1886 900.
600 IN the number of great cattle
Texas leads with 100000: Illinois has
the most horses. 100000, and Iowa
is second with 1.54T, 0O0. Missouri
leads In mules with 100000. while
Montana il first with 6,170,000s sheep
and Wyoming second with 100000.
Texas has the most goats. $40. 900 OF
them, and Iowa the greatest number
of swine, 10,O00,00 in all, Illinois be-
Ing second with 5000. 900. Nevada
with only $4,000 has the fewest Neat
cattle and horses would seem to be
rare curiosities In Alaska since the
report credits that territory with only
is OF the former and of the latter
These ngurea in brief indicate the
growth OF the industry founded by the
newly discovered father Of the beef
trust But while the average Ameri-
can may take pride In the ranid a~-