El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-10-01
COPYRIGHT 1911. by Prank c. Carpeate.

AsHINGTON. D. c., Sept. 30
X/ I write TO-DAY Of the mos 16st
Uncle sam has ever attempted
IT is the making an inventory OF ana
working plans for our biggest ~. llul-l--
asset I refer TO the government SUI
vey Of our soils. Our eyes Dul8e We
we think OF our enormous resouL 80
in mines OF the gold silver, copper
and coal and the mighty beds or iron
which keep our industries mOFL-6-
Nevertheless they are n0rnln6 COIL
pared with our receipts from the SON
Take all the gold. silver and copper
that the world produces in one -
and its value would not be half IIlaI
OF our corn crop. All the 8olo US
out of the earth in 1910 would not Dug
half the cotton we shall raise TINS
year and IL would take 20 times the
gold product Of the world 70 pay u
what we are annually receiving from
the farms. The amount is close 10
5000 million dollars Since the Qls-
cOvery Of America the total value OF
the precious metals which nave De5n
mined aggregates less than z455OO NIL
lion dollars In other words, three
crops like that OF last year would
equal all the gold and silver taken
ont Of this big round earth since the
Spauiards led by Columbus came across
the Atlantic to begin their ROBBERY OF
the AZtecs and the IncaE That was
four hundred and nineteen years ago,
and since that the Wnole ~FOrlC mas
been digging and delTing 20 get out
that silver and gold WITHIN the last
IS years our little army OF farmers
has taken from the earth crops when
are worth more than 81 billion dollars,
or three times the product Of the gold
and silver mines for more than four
hundred years.
Big Things From the Soil
Before 7 describe this survey let me
say a word more as to some Of the
things we get IRON the soil The corn
crop is the greatest II aLlloullL54 -aSt
wear to three billion bushels ana was
worth more than fifteen hundred mil
lion dollars. Nevertheless II was aug
from the ground in little less tnan
100 days and the government experts
tell us that II the crop IS rightly
handled its amount can be doubled.
That crop comes from a comparatively
small area. Until within the last gee
ade the most Of 1t was raised IN the
north Last year almost L0UU,UOV,UuO
bushels came from the south and that
had value OF close to $500, 600, 0OO
1t was created because the south had
begun TO learn more about the SOIL
4f=7f-,it--is but rhe beginnine ~ an
enormous WeaIth winch 1u1lher knoWl-
edge VIII bring
The cotton crop brought IN an az
e-rarate Of something like S5uU.Uug,vyy
and that Notwithstanding the "5e1L ~
which had we not learned more a1o-L
the soil since its coming. would nave
v-fued more than half Of our cotton
limitations from the face Of the earth.
And then there is the hay crop amount
mo so 600 00g tons and worth more
Than 500. 0OO. 600: the Weat crop which
vTas almost as valuable and our Ga Is
which exceeded 1,00O,0OO,O00 bushels,
TO say nothing of potatoes. sugar to-
bacco and barley. each Of which ran
hiah into the millions. All this comes
from the soil and the product depends
on 7-1st what the soil is. The agrlcul-
tural experts say that in nine cases
ore Of ten every crop can be largely
increased provided the right crop is
chosen for the right place and the cul-
tivatiOu properly done. IT is to show
Just what your soil IS and how you
should treat it TO make IT do best
that Uncle sam is working in this
great soil survey.