El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-09-29
CrOpFaiIureNOt Yet Serious
VIII Not BE Felt as Much This Year
as Heretofore, Though 1t VIII
Have Some Bad Effect.
=
= By L Frederic J. HnsKin-
ASHINGTON, D. C. Sept. .

ASHINGTON, D. C, Sept. %
w The failure of the corn crop
w in the United States this year
may not have as far reaching effects
as similar shortages have had in years
gone by, but at the same time il ap-
pears certain that it will be felt in no
little degree.
When the American corn crop fails
the principal crop OF the nation is
affected. The farmers of the United
States annually plant 100,000,00O
acres of land in corn. In other words,
the American cornfield is as big as
all Japan, is larger than England, and
IS as big as all the rest of the corn"
fields of the earth together, and it is
the nIbSt productive of all the earth's
cornfields, for, while it is only twice
times as much as all of them The
annual crop now ranges between
$500. 100000 and 5000, 600 bushels
usually apprOXimating the latter fig
ure.
Would Fill 100000 Cars
Some idea of how much corn this rep
resents may be gathered from the
statement that if all of it were put
into a pyramidic pile with base
mile square, it would tower 400 feet into
the air. Loaded in ordinary grain
cars it would require nearly 100000
of them to carry it, more than load
for every box car in the United States
And when we remember that our meat
supply is partially the finished pro-
duct of the corn crop, IT will be seen
how Intimately the outcome of the corn
harvest touches every table The ex-
tent of the effect of the yield of corn
on the price of beef may be illustrated
by citing the fact that the difference
IN the price Of corn in Pennsylvania
and in Iowa may make at least SO
difference in the cost of getting a
steer ready for the block. The farmer
who gets so cents for his corn must
make each bushel add 10 pounds to the
weight of his steer when cattle bring
six cents at the farm, or else he will
find. himself working for charity.
Farmers Benefit BY Failures
The farmer does not always profit
by bumper crops. Indeed there have
been many times when record crops
have been his undOing. For instance,
in 1906 the corn crop showed a yield
of 1922, 100000 bushels, while the crop
of 1909 amounted to only 2,772,000,O0O
bushels. Yet, according 10 the figures
of the department of agriculture the
yield of 1909 was worth nearly $780,
100000 more to the farmer than the
crop of 1906. On the same principle
that fruit company may sometimes
make money by dumping whole ship
loads of bananas in the sea, in order
to prevent a too plentiful supply
reaching the market and forcing down
prices, there are times when the farmer
reaps benefit from a crop failure
1t was this idea that Andrew Carne-
gle had in mind when he said that a
war between a European nation and
the United States could not last a
great while He asserts that the cOnSe-
quent stopping of the expectation CT
fOodstuffs from America to Europe
would force up the price to such
heights that. starving continent
would demand peace in order that it
might eat After a certain point in
food scarcity, the price scars much
more rapidly than the supply declines,
until, at last the point of prohibition
is reached and the people must star, c
because they have no money with
which to buy.
1t has so happened in the United
States that there has nearly always
been either a very favorable or a very
unfavorable crop condition in years of
economic legislation When specie
payment was resumed after the panic
of 1873 there were some bumper crops
which permitted the sale of a very
large surplus to foreign countries, and I
this brought in supply of metallic
money that was necessary TO the sue
cess Of resumption. After the panic of
1907 il was the large crops that per-
mltted an inflow of gold in sufficient I
amount to wipe out the shortage and
place the finances Of the country on
healthful basis again. Likewise. the /
crop failures Of the middle nineties had /
very intimate and important effect I
upon the financial situation of that day. (
Food Shortage Not Cause of Living Cost /
It is not a general shortage of food 1
that seems responsible for the high I
prices of the present day For instance, /
IN 1880. there was a per capita yield {
of corn amounting to "a bushels In
1910 it was almost exactly the same 4
and yet the farm value of a bushel of 4
corn on December I, 1880, was Sc cents, ,
and on the same date 80 years later il ]
was 4S-S cents. The corn crop of 1910 /
amounted to $40. 900 bushels more :
than the crop of the year before, and /
vet II brought the farmer $3.50, 600 900 !
less than the crop of the year before.
Has Food Appreciated.
fz
among economists as to the American
dollar. Has its value deprecated or has
the value of food simply appreciated? (
DO commodities go up, or is it the dol
lar that goes down? The man who can
answer that question in a way that car
RES conviction will write his name on
the tablet of the immortals.
morrow--Moisture and Crops.