Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1913-07-16
IOWA GRAIN BETTER
THAN GOLD MINES
Some Surprising Facts Regarding
Hawkeye State Grain Crop.
IOWA'S CORN EIGHT TINES
COLORADO'S GOLD MINES.
Iowa's Golden Grain EQ. Output
for Ten Years of AIasA SN,
Fields. y,

iowa is an agricultural gold mine,
better than an Alaska gold mine.
Iowas golden grain last year
equaled in value all the golden metal
taken out of Alaska in ten years.
You can remove the gold from the
ground only once, but the golden
grain comes every year.
Iowa's agricultural gold mine was
the best paying producer in the
United States during 1912. The last
revised figures from the government
bulletins comedies this state vic
tory in golden corn over Illinois of
32,000,000 bushels.
Iowa raises about one-twelfth of
the entire corn crop of the world.
Except for Illinois there are only
three other states, Indiana, Missouri
and Nebraska, which can average
half so large a corn crop.
Iowa's golden corn in 1912 equal
ed eight times the value of the gol-
den metal mined in Colorado. 1t
would have bought all of Colorado's
manufactured products and all of
Colorado's crops combined last
year.
Iowa's agricultural gold mine pro-
duces several varieties of golden
corn. Iowa is the popcorn center of
the world. Probably 100000
pounds were raised in eastern Ida
and western Sac counties in 1912.
Iowa has many "lodes" of sweet
corn. The production of this grain
has increased to such an extent that
almost 14O,0OO,O00 cans of sweet
corn were prepared during the last
season, not to say anything of the
thousands of ears that were eaten at
the table.
Placed end to end these cans of
corn would make line almost half
way around the world.
Even in the stalks which support
Iowas golden corn there is enough
nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash in
100 bushels to equal $40 in gold.
Ten years ago the United States
exported IL per cent of this golden
corn The demand at home has in
creased to such an extent that only
3 per cent of the total crop of the
country is now exported.
Can Iowa land ever grow cheaper
with this increased home demand?
In the decade between 1900 and
1910 the value of Iowa land increas-
ed almost half a million dollars a
day. The average value in 1910 of
Iowa land per acre was $95.95-an
increase of 10 per cent in ten years.
The reason for this continual rise
in the value of Iowa land is simple.
OF the superficial area of the globe
three-quarters is water and one
quarter land and rock, and of the
last quarter there is more rock than
land, so only about one-eighth of
this planet Is agricultural land, good
or bad. There is said to be a large
percentage of bad land, but not in
Iowa.
In the broad sense land does not
grow, but population does grow and
the accumulation of people ON the
earth is vastly more rapid in the ag-
gragate than ever before. Two hum
II thA AIIrn
tion of human life was from eighteen
to twenty years. Now, in the civil
lied parts of the world it is from
forty to fifty years. Not only do
more people have to be fed but each
person has to be fed fully twice as
long as he was century ago.
The world certainly has no sur
plus food supply, and the agricultur-
al gold mines which produce this
supply will be the source of the real
wealth of the future.
The most wonderful of all agricul-
tural basins, the valley between the
Alleghanies and the Rockies, will
grow, prosper, and develop on the
most stupendous scale in the next
few decades. In this valley are locat-
ed the greatest agricultural gold
mines, hence ii will be the center of
opulation-practicall the seat of
an empire. Here will be present the
most advanced civilization, and the
highest human achievement will be
here attained
The best agricultural land will be
almost beyond price, ii is a perpetual
gold mine.-Herbert Nj. Hhrwood,
Secretary Associated Advertising
Clubs of Iowa.