The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-20

money value of the crops. OF course the
railroads expect the largest returns
when the crops are the largest, for
| there is more grain to haul.
After all, for the American people as
a whole 1t is the new wealth or fresh
capital created by the American har-
vests that is of the highest conse-
quence. Attention has been called here
to the fact that the department of ag-
riculture at Washington fully in it's
report recognizes that 1t is the money
value of the crops rather than the num-
| Der. of bushels of wheat, corn or other
grain which are produced which is of
] consequence to the entire people. There
seems to be in the report of the de-
partment an intimation of qualification
and of true national pride in the fact
that the department is able to say that
| five of the leading grains harvested
| this year will have a money value IN
excess of the money value of like
products last year of two hundred and
| fifteen million dollars 1t is thought to
| be reasonable inference that a con-
siderable portion of this great increase
| will be converted into fresh capital or
visivle evidences of new wealth.
That the American farmer should
| have produced corn. wheat, oats, rye
| and buckwheat in 1918 which can be
marketed for about two billion. seven
l
| lars establishes the pre- -eminence of the
| United States in the field of grain
growing agriculture Even though the
corn harvest was about six hundred
million bushels smaller than that of
| last year the money value of this crop
| this year will be approximately one bill
lion, seven hundred million dollars, or
| about hundred and eighty millions
more than the money value of the
greater harvest of last year.
Hay and Cotton in Rivalry
| Not until later in the year or early
next year will it be possible to make
| good comparison between the money
value of the hay harvested this year
and the money value of cotton raised
upon the plantations of the south. For
years friendly rivalry has been main
tained between these two products In
some cases the experts have asserted
that the hay harvest has had a great
er money value than has the cotton.
But while 1t is easy to furnish accu-
rate statistics which tell of the money
value of cotton harvests 1t Is very diff
| ficult to do that with the hay harvest,
/ because hay is so speedily converted
into meat, milk, cream, butter or into
animal power. Probably this year cot
ton will receive the blue ribbon, since
the hay crop was somewhat short.
rough calculation made today per-
suades some of the experts that the
money value of American harvests in
1913 will be somewhat in excess of nine
billion dollars. This, of course, is far
short of the money value which James
| ]. Hill is reported to have said Ameri-
can agriculture each year should Sc
cure. He has been quoted as saying
that the American farmers should har-
vest each year products of the soil of
the money value of at least SIS 900, ,000,-
900. No reasonable estimate can be
made of the amount of money ulti-
| nately paid by the consumers for
American harvests. 1t has sometimes
| been thought that the aggregate two
years ago was not far from S12,000,-
100000 But even $4,000, 100000 is a suf-
ficiently large amount to Justify the
expectation that new wealth and fresh
capital represented by the surplus which
| remains after the farmers have paid
all bills, will add materially to the
| available fresh capital in the United
States in the year 1914.