The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-10-27

Thirty million dollars day is the
tidy sum that the American farmer is
adding to the wealth Of the United
states in the process of garnering the
bumper crops OF 1912 which is now
going ON In every part of the country.
More than nine billion dollars, accord
Ing to the estimate of the Department
of Agriculture. is the measure OF the
aggregate agricultural output OF the
country this year, sum never before
eQualed- In fact no such harvest OF
wealth ever was gathered in the his
tory of the world until this time. It
makes the fortunes OF the most bloar-
ed miilionaires pale into insignif-
canoe.
What do bumper crops mean? A
vast outlay OF labor and effort Is re-
CURED to coax them from the ground.
to put them into marketable form and
to place them before the hungry
millions of consumers. What does 1t
all mean to the producer. to the
transportation companies and their
armies OF workmen, and to the max
ers of the thousands OF articles that
will be exchanged for this enormous
supply of food stuffs. What does 1t
mean to the consumer What Will
this years yield do for next years
grocery billsg That In itself is high
ly practical question
For one thing, bumper crops mean
the movement of men and machines
on a scale so big that there is moth
ing like it on earth. Only one thing
approaches 1.-THE movements OF
great armies. The hired hands alone.
who are engaged for the harvest and
do not work regularly as farm labor
ers, number 100000. The strength Of
both armies at Gettysburg was only
175,ueo men. Both armies at Water
loo numbered 400, 900. The Japanese
carried Port Arthur in the greatest
siege of the worlds history. and few
! er men fought in tina. campaign The
1 hired hands in the wheat fields alone,
! a mere division Of the harvest time
army, draw more than SIC, 900 ID
| pay for their brief term of enlist.
ment. But all these are only part OF
! the army In the fields. There are oy.
er million farm laborers who work
on the farms the year around. In the
great grain states OF the west alone
| the farm operators, men who own OF
rent grain land and help in gather
ing the harvest, number more than 2,
24o 600 That brings up the force o
the harvest army that is actually Il
4 the field to a total of over 1900, 0o'
men No single army so great a
that ever trod the earth.
And certainly no army ever march
: ed with such baggage train. TIL
horses that work In the grain fields
drawing harvesters or headers" o
carts, number more than 9,oo0,00C
Carts, harTesters and all the res
count up about 100000 pieces 0
apparatus. In a single line of marcl
alone straight road, driving nose Z
tailboari, these horses and machine
would reach for 1854 miles, or NOR
than the entire distance around tn
earth
:, Yet the work In the fields is onl
a beginning. Moving the crops I
market is another gigantic task. tn
yield OF wheat, estimated this year a
lT50, 100000 bushels. would make
, river as wide as city street an
. four feet deep reaching from Chicag
: to New York. The oat crop is estima
> ed at 1,400, 600 900 bushels. The cor
!. crop, biggest of all, this year will ri
over 1900, 100000 bushels. Minor crop
6 of barley, rye and buckwheat wi
> foot up to $50 1000, 600 bushels more, g
. a total of 100000 bushels for cere;
3 crops alone. II 1t were attempted I
4 store this grain in New York City
!, would bury lower Manhattan to
k depth Of !, 400 feet. The skyscrape1
, that now dot the lower end Of the i
It land would be blotted out. On til
J, northern glope of this huge grain pi
the top of the 500 foot WOODWORK
building, tallest In the world, woul
d iut out, but the peak Of tho graz
4 mountain would be 500 feet above e
,r en- this point.
Lg The movement of this vast outp,
VI adds millions of dollars to the grot
a earnings of the railways-five millie
ID dollars to the granger" roads alor
Or for hauling grain to the primary ma
le kets. It means, at prevailing price
D the distribution of more than fol
lie billion dollars among the farme
lg and their employees from the gre
o. staple grain crops mentioned
I'd means tremendous impetus to {
ty lines OF trade and manufacture pr
ducing and distributing the things +
no which this four billion dollars will
spent. But when 1t comes to Il
question of the effect on retail pric
there Is little hope to be held out
or the anxious consumer that the enor
no Gus yield of 1912 will have more TIL
ry slight effect upon the rising cost
re- living. We have had big crops |
he fore, notably in the boom year
he 1906, Though the totals did not rea
the dizying heights of the prese
I ~