Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1912-10-04
CROP INCREASE BIG.
Total Value In U. S. In 1899 and
1909 Compared.
Advance In Cereal Production Shows
Only ~ Per Cent, While the
Rise In Cost 10 About 7e.S
Per Cent.

Washington.-The total value of the
crops OF continental United States in
1909 was. in round numbers. $5,4S7,-
100000. as compared with $2,999,999.-
900 in 1899. The increase was thus
$2.4SS. 100000 or SO per cent, accord
ing to a statement issued today by Il.
Dana Durand, director OF the bureau
Of the census, department Of COM
merce and labor. The tabulations
showing these total results were car
ried on In the agricultural division Of
the bureau Of the census, under the
supervision of l.. G. Powers, former
chief statistician, and J. l.. Coulter ex-
pert special agent. The census has
made no attempt to ascertain the to-
tai net value of farm products for
1909, including both that Of crops and
animal products. Merely to add the
value Of these two groups OF products
together would involve extensive du-
pltcation, since large quantities OF the
crops reported are fed to the animals
on the farms and reported later as
live stock products. 1t is impossible
to ascertain accurately the amount of
such duplication, and the attempt to
do so, which was made at the twelfth
census, was not considered satisfac-
tory. For this reason the relative i'm
portance of crops as factor In the
agricultural production Of the United
States cannot be determined precise
ly.
A large part of the extraordinary
increase in the total value of farm
crops between 1899 and 1909 is attrib-
utable to higher prices. This might
be inferred from the fact that, while
the acreage OF crops with acreage re-
ports increased only SO per cent, the
value of such crops increased So per
cent. 1t also appears by comparing
the percentages of increase in the
quantity of the various individual
crops with the percentages Of increase
In the value. Thus, for all cereals ia
ken together, the production increased
only IL per cent, while the value in
creased 1913 per cent: for hay and
forage the production increased %
per cent. and the value 70.2 per cent.
and for cotton (not counting cotton
seed) the production increased 11.7 per
cent and the value 117.3 per cent. A
more precise calculation of the aver.
age increase in unit values Of crops
has, however, been made by the cen.
sus bureau.
For the individual crops for which
both quantity produced and value
were reported at both censuses, the
average value per unit in 1899 was
computed and this was multiplied into
the quantity produced in 1909, thus
showing the total value which would
have been reported for each crop in
1909 If the acreage value per unit had
been the same as ten years earlier
For certain crops the values were not
reported separately in 1899. and fol
certain other crops quantities were not
reported at either census, but the anal.
ysis covers nine.tenths of the crops OF
the country as measured by value.
The total reported value of the
crops covered by the computation In
1899 was 1851, 979,000 and the total
reported value Of the same crops in
1909 was $4,934, 490, 900, an increase OF
1873 per cent. Had the prices Of 1893
prevailed, however, the value Of these
crops in 1909 would have amounted to
$2,962,35S,000, or an increase Of only
10 per cent over 1899. The difference
between $2,962,35S,Oo0 and $4,934, AGO..
0oO or s1,972,132,0oo, represents the
crops in 1909 by reason Of increase in
prices over those of 1899, the average
percentage of increase in prices being
thus 666.
The figure just given, 10 per cent. as
representing the excess Of the value
Of the crops Of 1909, on the basis OF
1899 values, over the values Of the
same crops in 1899, is virtually a con.
solidated expression of the general in.
crease in the quantity of crops pro.
duced Covering, as 1t does, nine,
tenths Of the crops of the country, 1t
may properly be compared with the
Increase Of 81 per cent. in the popula-
ton Of the United States between 1900
and 1910. AS earlier statement show.
ed that the increase in the number of
farms from 1900 to 1910 was 1913 per
cent, and the increase in the rural
population, which includes places I'm.
der $500 in addition to the agricul
tural population, was 112 per cent,
the increase in urban population being
348 per cent.