The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-02-20
sRowN OK CONSERVATION.

Sla- - g<4-14<~sE -1A4EEET 1zlsE
EcOu On Tas Conservation o. On
Natural Resources The address wa.
IN connection EiEh Kzox eeHsss
founders day exercises Presiasrt
( Brown Is 3 strong z6vocate u exps-i
! mental farms and agricultural schnoss
and made a. appeal 70 the farmers
sas2i business nen os Illinois to ro-s
Z fcr the sEppor- q fhe sch1ols rs
spOss OF the zzgsd gTo1sa 81 cog
sumption o. food staEs IN tliz
country. pointing oEt tkzr the Eaitad
States. with TIL Most fertile soil AID
Favorable climate in the work. Tn;
4 Eith its careless, unfnformed methods
Of seed selection fertilization nd cul-
/ tivation, Droaucss an annual average
reid Of less than fourteen bushels OF
wheat per acre. EhiIe England Pr
ducss more than fhirtytFo. German
about .xenty-nine; The Netheri>nd
more than thirty four. end France APP
proximately tventv Other differ
ences II production vere eite6 as FOL
lows.
OF oats, the United States produces
IN acreage ANIMAL yield Of tventr-
nine bushels er acre, England forty
FIVE. German, ffty. AMI the Neither
lands, ffty-three.
The average yield Of potatoes in
the United States Is eighry-nine
bushels per acre. while that OF Ger
many. Bek. ium and Great Britain is
more than two hundred bushels.
Dr.
bread, are the food staples OF the poor
man.
Germany. with an arabic area no
greater than some of our largest
states produces approximately one
and three-fourths billion bushels Of
potatoes annui 'Iy. while the aggregate
crop Of the United States averages
barely three hundred million bushels
per annum; and, in the year ended
June 80. 1903, we imported eight mil
lion three hundre and eighty-fonr
thousand bushels
For half a century we have proudly
plumed ourselves as the granary of
the world and our annual expor. OF
food stuffs have formed the basis for
a large balance OF trade in our favor.
Our exports OF this character show a
steady and aiarmingiy rapid decline.
The following Dgures were submitted
in this connection.
e4In 1898 our total acreage OF corn,
wheat. oats, barley and rye vas 49,
7S0,5Gi, and we exported sos, 715, 600
bushels. In 1910 the acreage had in
creased to 207,7S1.0O0 acres, an in
crease Of 81 Ter cent, while our ex-
ports were only 125,060, 900 bushels,
or decrease Of 70 per cent
This tremendous falling off in ex-
ports OF grain and its products sug-
gests the possibility that the grain
may have been fed to stock and export
ed, but the falling off in the exports of
named is fully as startling as in grain.
In 1900 the report Of the agricul-
tural department shows 27,610, 600 cat
tie on the nations farms. In 1910
there were lI,219,0u0, an increase of
II per cent; but our exports of beef
we're 60 per cent less.
Stated in another way, in 11t0 we
exported twentyfour and four-tenths
pounds for each head of cattle owned.
while in 1910, we exported only five
pounds, decrease of so per cent
In 1899 the number of swine owned
was something more than thirty
eight and one-half million In 1910
this had increased to more than forty
seven million, or 81 per cent, but our
exports Of pork and its products
showed decrease of more than one
billion and TWENTY-FIVE million pounds.
During the same period, while the
number of COWS increased thirty
eight per cent, our exports OF butter
aIe cheese went down from approx
mately seventy nine million pounds to
five million, and our imports of these
products went up from ten million to
forty-fve million pounds, or $50 per
cent-a decrease OF per cent in our
exports and an increase OF $50 per
cent in the imports of dairy products .
II the conyerging lines of produc-
ticn and consumption in the United
States continue to approach each 9th (,
er as they have during the past ten
years, Mr.. Brown predicted that be- .
fore the middle of this decade the
last vessel loaded with the ag-icul /
tural product of this country VIII have !
left our shores. the great exporting
grain elevators IN our seapoard cities
will stand empty, and this great ma
ion, like those of the old world, will (
be looking for q place TO buy the
necessaries Of life. ConcludingIy he
said:
In this great country of ours with
ts vast resources of fertile, product.
We acres, buttressed as it has been
n the past by other almost unlimited
caches Of unoccupied, uncultiyated
and, equally fertile. the Importance
of agriculture has been very made.
Iuately appreciated
During the last decade, the rapidly
mounting price of farm products. the
alarming increase In the cost OF lfy.
ng. has awakened the nation to the
great economic problem with which
he exhaustion Of the once great pub.
ic domain has confronted tan eco.
ionic problem which, If not rightly
become national crisis.
Gradually the fact that farming
he cultivation OF the soils the most
business In the world, ig
icing recognized: and the earnest at