The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1911-06-14


soil to the Nebraska man. TheI
came the most wonderful discovery o
the age-the discovery that by adapt
ing the man to the soil, Nebrask,
could be made the greatest agricul
tural wealth producer In the world
Since that discovery every year ha,
seen hundreds Of thousands Of acres
Of soil, heretofore considered worth
less, brought into cultivation and
yielding returns that are so astOnish
ing that it is hard to make people be
lieve the truth. There is room In Ne
braska. for half million more till
ers of the soil who will till intelli
gently. Landseer. when asked what
he mixed his paints with. replied
with brains!" And there Is no bet
ter fertilizer than brains.
| Nebraska is the fourth largest
corn producing state. and the young
est Of the three. raising more corn to
the acre than any other state.
Nebraska is the fourth largest
wheat producing state. and the
youngest of the three raising more
wheat to the acre than any other
| state.
Nebraska Is the fourth largest pro
Queer Of oats, and the youngest OF
the four, only one state excelling her
in production per acre.
Nebraska is the third largest pro-
Queer of sugar beets.
NnhpncE 70 ~, h,,t
ter per capita than any other state,
and her dairy industry is in its in
fancy.
Nor is Nebraska alone an agricul-
tural and live stock state. Twenty
five years ago We shipped in prac-
tically every manufactured article we
consumed. Last year our total manu-
featured products were approximate
ly worth $25O,OO0,OO0, or almost one
half as much as our total of agricul-
tural products and live stock. Start
ling as it may sound, there is no
state making such rapid strides in
manufacturing lines as Nebraska.
There is a reason. A dollar invested
in Nebraska manufacturing establish
ments brings greater return than
dollar invested in any other state.
But. as l said early in this paper.
the human mind can not think in
terms of millions. II l say that in
1910 Nebraska produced 100000
pounds of butter We merely smile
and say. that's some butter" But
nraI nhnk vyv cit nd frl.
tice when I tell you that II all that
butter were packed in pound cartons,
and the cartons stacked up end on
end, 1t would make a column of but
ter two and one-half inchs square and
2S5 miles high; or if loaded into
standard freight cars it would make
train over thirty miles long.
In 1910 Nebraska hens produced
1O2,O0O.O00 dozen eggs-one billion.
two hundred million eggs Placed
end to end they would reach once and
half times around the world, and
they were worth more money than
all the gold and silver dug out OF
any one state in this Union during
the same year. Imagine, If you can,
all those eggs rolled into one big
egg. and then imagine hen big
enough to be the author thereof.
With one scratch of her foot she
could excavate enough dirt to make
a basement for a City National Bank
building. and throw the dirt across
the Missouri river
naor IF sKinu
is the greatest cotton producing state,
yet her 1910 crop of cotton was not
worth as much as Nebraska's corn
and wheat crop by s3O.O00.OO0. The
total tobacco production of the Ma
ton last year wasn't worth as much
as last years crop of Nebraska corn.
and it wasn't our best corn year,
either. Pennsylvania is the greatest
coal producing state, but her coal
output last year was not worth as
much at the mine mouth as the grain.
hay and live stock of Nebraska on the
farmsteads. All the gold dug from
Uncle Sans soil in 1910 wouldn't pay
for Nebraska corn and wheat in 1910.
And mind YOU, this with less than
One-half her fertile soil under cultiva-
ton, and that less than half not vet
intensely farmed SO as to produce the
maximum results.
Let us load upon freight cars all
the grain. grasses. live stock. butter. |
eggs. poultry. potatoes and sugar |
beets produced in Nebraska in 1910 |
Would they make a train long enough |
to reach from Omaha to Sidney? Yes,
and then some. From Omaha to Salt |
Lake? Yes. and bit further. From
Omaha to San Francisco? Yes. and
a little further. Well. how long? In
order to get main line track long
necessary to bridge the Atlantic |
ocean. the English channel and the |
Baltic sea. With the cabOose of that |
train in St. Petersburg. the conductor
who carried orders to the engineer in |
the cab would have to walk and walk |
and walk until he reached an engine
that projected out into the Pacific
ocean fourteen hundred miles west of |
San Francisco. for that train would |
be ten thousand and four miles long
In 1910 Nebraska. with population
Of less than a million and a half of
people. produced more from her soil
han Japan. with forty million people.
produced and purchased from other
nations. The per capita OF agricultur-
II wealth production OF Nebraska in
1910 was greater than that of any
other state. Her two main cereals,
,orn and wheat we're worth moro |