Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1912-12-07

W dSiIllS ION, ~ l, l'tC' al u
sixteen years, record of service il
the cabinet, Secretary of Agriculture
Wilson submitted today to Presiden
TAFT the last annual report he vii
make as head of the United States
department Of agriculture. The report
is more than a review of the past
years work; it contains summary OF
try during the venerable secretary
term OF public service.
The record Of sixteen years has
been written" he says. 1T begins
with yearly farm production of ST.
GOO, 600 600 and ends with $532, ,00O,-
600, 900. Sixteen years ago, the farmer
was a joke of the caricaturist; now he
is like the stone that was rejected by
The builder and has become the head
stone OF the corner The tillers of
the soil were Durdened with debts he
adds, but prosperity followed and
grew with uneXampled speed. Begin
nings have been made in a production
per acre increasing faster than the
natural increase of population. There
has been an unift of agriculture and
Of country life
During the past sixteen years the
farmer has steadily increased the
wealth production year by year, with
the exception of 1911. During the six
teen years the farmers wealth pro
duction increased 141 per cent.
/ Most productive of all agricultural
years in the country has been 1912.
The earth has produced its greatest
annual dividend. The sun and the
rain and the fertility of the soil
needed not the human controversies,
but kept on working in cooperation
with the farmers efforts to utilize
them. The prices at the farm are
generally profitable and will continue
the prosperity that farmers have en-
joyed in recent years. The total pro-
duction of farm wealth is the highest
yet reached by half a billion dollars.
The grand total for 1912 is estimated
to be $9.532 0O0, 900. This is more than
twice the vaue of the farm wealth in
1899"
More than $1o5 900 100000 is the
grand total of farm wealth production,
the report says, during the past six
teen years. an amount equal to about
three-quarters of the present national
wealth.
The most effective move toward re-
duced cost of living is the produc-
ton of the greater crops, says the sec
retary, and this move he declares is
due to the work of the department
of agricultural colleges and expert
ment stations and to the help Of the
press in publishing every movement
to help the farmers. The nation. he
adds, forgot its farmers in the general
scheme of education of past years
and few philanthropists thought OF
them when giving for education, but
they are waking up and thinking for
themselves and congress has been
good to them.
iit oSSiCtu III tdhSS bp thN .
work of the various bureaus of his
department in the past year and then
tells of the growth in some instances
from their foundation, of these bu
reaus during the time he has been
head of the department. He praises
highly the experts who have worked
under him.
The great and growing movement
carried on by the department of ag
ricultural betterment.' he declares,
has not been sustained solely by one
man nor by few men A choice corps
OF scholarly experts in their special
lines of endeavor has been growing il
in breadth of view, and
in the practical application of their
efforts.
THE department is prepared to
and increase its public SER
vice. During sixteen years it has
from the kindergarten
through the primary. middle and up
per grades Of development until now
i has thousand tongues that speak
with authority
From a department. with 2444 en-
ployes in 1897 and an appropriation of
s",212 500, it has increased to 1855
employees at the beginning of the pres.
eDt fiscal year with an appropriation
this year of almost $25 100000 Where
as there are now $4,000 requests every
week FOR department. publications,
there were but 500 In 1897: and dur
ing this period 225,000.000 copies
have been distributed In soil inves-
tigation an area of $4,000 square
miles, equal to that of Germany,
France. Great Britain. Ireland and
Italy has been covered
TIE official press agent of the great
American farmer. Secretary Wilson,
Of the United States agricultural de-
partment, steps in the spotlight with
his 1912 report, filled with valuable
Information about our "eats" for this