El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-10-19

at song. They were en- route TO Kan
sas City. Had this shipment passed
| inspection it was the intention of the
| parties to market 5000 steers in Kan
sas City.
! 1 also hand you an article to the eff
feet that Canada may remove the tariff
on live cattle If this is good for Can
ada, why shouldn't it be good for us?
| T. w. Ardoin.
Following are the clippings above
alluded to-:
FARMERS MUST RAISE CATTLE
| "James j. Hill Points Out Importance of
Live Stock Raising to National Pros
perity.
"At the Portland stock exposition a
paper was read by James J. Hill, the
railroad king, in which he pointed out
the necessity for the farmer to. raise
livestock as we'll as other farm products.
Mr.. Hill said:
"A nation that means to preserve its
prosperity and control its own destiny
must make sure that its food supply is
adequate and will continue to be so.
To reverse our movement toward indus
trial dependence, food scarcity and per-
manent high prices, which has already
gone far, is the item of the conserva-
ton program more important to us than
all the others combined. This means
conservation of the soil. 1t requires no
expensive machinery, no subordination
of local TO federal interests; nothing
but industry, intelligence and willing
ness to follow the teachings of expert
ence. To insist upon it is especially the
duty Of all who, like those gathered
here, have interests inseparably con-
nected with the preservation and in
crease of soil productivity.
. The raising of livestock has a two
fold relation to the food supply of any
country. Directly, il furnishes the meat
diet, and indirectly, as the most valu-
able Of all aids to the cultivation of the
soil and the growing of crops, it helps
TO furnish the bread diet. The sharp
rise in price of all kinds of meats has
turned attention to the state of the
livestock interest.
Retail prices in some cases double
what they were a lew years ago stimu-
late inquiry Investigation shows that
livestock prsduction has not kept pace
with the demand upon 1t.
Decrease in Production.
1.-The receipts of all kinds of live
stock at the chicago stock yards for
the year 1909 were 1.544.997 less than
in 1908, although the total valuation in
creased over 100000. The receipts of
hogs at 10 principal markets in the
United States were 5.5S6,312 less in 1909
tnan in 1908. The total number of cat
tie in the country has declined 100000
in the last three years, and of hogs
1000, 900.
Necessarily prices have gone up.
The breakfast table of the rich and the
dinner pail of the poor are both af-
fected. As one would expect from these
figures, native beef cattle and western
range cattle sold for the highest prices
on record in the Chicago market in
1909. Hogs brought the highest figure
received for 81 years. Increase of popu-
lation, changes in agriculture, drift OF
population cityward, all have helped
to restrict production and to add to
price.
These are few of the facts bear
ing on the direct relation of the live
stock interest to population, prices and
the general welfare. As our population
increase by anywhere from 100000 to
100000 per annum, and practically
every person is a meat eater, it fol-
lows that when the number of the prin-
cipal food animals either remains sta
tionary or begins to decline, the cost
of living rises and the pinch begins Not
even the extraordinary prices paid for
livestock nave thus far been able to
raise production to the level of de-
mand
Export Power Lost.
1t is desirable that we should not
only feed our own people. but maintain
those declining exports of food animals
and other food products by which we
have to so considerable an extent paid
our debts in the past.
=" In the last five years our exports of
meat and dairy products fell from
s211, 100000 to about s13O.00O.O 600. and
of cattle, sheep and hogs from $43,-
100000 to about s13,000,O0o. This illus
trates the swift decline in all our ex-
ports of food products-a trade change
so sudden and so tremendous that the
country may well take alarm.
Unless we change our industry we
must soon cease to be self supporting,
as far as food is concerned. This sounds
absurd, in view of our immense ex-
panse of fertile land our relatively scanty
population and the part we nave played
in feeding the world in the past. But
the figures prove 1t. Our foreign trade
in cereals tells the same story as tha-
in meat produces. Between the five
Years. ending with 1904 aud the five
ending with 1909, the decrease of our
wheat exports was over 40 percent. In
round numbers, our exports of food
stuffs in crude condition and food ami
mails were s106,O00,OOO for the II
months ending May 81 of this year,
1892, 100000 for the same period in 1909
and s1S1, OOO, 900 in 1908. Our exports
of foodstuffs partly or wholly manu-
featured for the same three II month
periods were S242, OO0,0 900, $2S1,000,0O0
and $4,000 900.
Food consumption in tne United
States is increasing more rapidly than
food production. That is the explana-
ton of the falling off in exports of all
forms of food products.
TheFarmer's OppOrtunity.
have demonstrated that this coun-
try might easily double its wheat yield
per acre, and make similar gain in
the quantity of everything produced
from the land. 1t requires better Guilt
walton, smaller farms, study of soils
and their adaptation to different forms
Of plant life, rotation of crops, selection
of seed as carfuI as that which the