The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-05-07

New York, May 1.-THE American
boast, long heard throughout the land
that the United States can feed the
world is shown by figures received
from the department of commerce and
labor to be without foundation. The
time was, not so many years ago,
when the United States was pre- emin-
ent as the worlds breadbasket and
meat box. Now her glory is passing
because she has grown so rapidly in
population, grown to maturity, and in
home demands that her supply Of food
is barely sufficient to go around within
her own borders.
1t is a repetition Of the old story
of the gladiators, ancient and modern,
or age being slowly pushed aside by
youth. Just as the young pugilist-
the modern gladiator-comes up with
the vigor Of unspent youth to wrest
the laurels from the brow of the older
man who has worn them for years, so
newer and younger countries are slow
ly wrestling from the United States
her title as the worlds dinner table
hero.
1t is not in one particular only that
America is giving way to Argentina to
Canada, to Australia, to New Zealand,
in the quantity of surplus bread and
meat. In practically every item of
breadstuffs, live stock and meat pro-
ducts our exports have shown a big
falling off in the last two years.
We still are pre-eminent as a corn
producing country, but notwithstahd-
ing our enormous yearly crops OF
from two and one-half and three bill
lions of bushels, we do not raise much
more than enough to meet our domes-
tic demands. The corn exports drop
ped from S3,200,872 bushels in 1907
to 36,205,052 in 1909. We raise practi-
cally all the maize that is grown in the
world, and the giant who is passing
out Of the years of callow youth into
more mature period, has nothing to
fear on this score from the giants that
are just beginning to feel their
strength. Canada, Argentina, AustraI-
asia, ETC., cannot raise corn in COM
petition with the United States, but
those countries do raise other meat
producing foods that enable them to
enter into active and dangerous com
petition with us in the struggle to
raise Matchmaking live stock.
For half century the United
States has been a great wheat export
ing nation, but here too she is rapidly
breaking ground and retreating be-
cause she does not have a sufficient
surplus to send abroad. Our wheat
exports dropped from 91,383,64s bush
els in 1907 to 48,489,674 in 1909, and
the exports of wheat -four from 1926
sos barrels to S,687,99S.
Wheat is the grain food of about
half the people in the world, rice sup
plying the other half. Twenty five
years ago or even ten years ago, the
fertile prairie wheat lands of the
United States grew hundreds of mil
lions of bushels of the grain more than
our own people required for their
generous standard of living. Today
Argentina and Canada are rapidly
overtaking the United States as wheat
exporting countries. They have as
large wheat fields now and great en-
pires In reserve and many fewer peo-
pie to feed at home. Europe is look
ing more and more to Argentina and
Canada for Its supply Of wheat tc
make up for it's own deficit.
Argentina and Canada also are
treading upon our heels in the matter
Of the exports of live stock and in
both countries there are already the
beginning Of a movement to embark
in the meat producing business which
may wrest still another leaf from the
laurels of the United States. Just as
in the production of corn and whea,
we have not kept pace with our in
crease in population and consumption
so in our live stock growing we have
Jagged behind, the figures giving basis
to the recent utterances of James J
Hill that we must turn more atten-
ton to individual live stock growing
In 1907 our exports of cattle mum.
bered 401,583 head, a mere bagatelle
compared with the total number con-
sumed within our borders, but q
large number when compared with the
1S4,957 head that were exported in
1909.
But while we have been killing our
cattle and other meat producing ami
mails much faster than new ones have
been raised to grow them, Argentina
Canada and Australasia have been
steadily increasing both their home
production and their exports.
1t has not been so many years that
the students at Harvard could con-
fidently count upon taking a cheap
summer trip to Europe on one Of the
many cattle ships that sailed from
Boston. One of the sad features about
our loss OF prestige as cattle export
ing nation, at least from the stand
point OF the New Highlander, is the
passing of Boston as cattle shipping
mort and ac food SUNNY n0inf Moi
only are the students at Cambridge
and other nearby universities and col
leges forced to forego their summer
vacations in Europe because there are
not enough cattle ships to go around
but Boston's once famous market place