The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-08-06
UNCLE SAM THE FARMER,

Editorial in the Boston Globe: If you
have been reading the newspapers re-
Gently you may have seen a news item
to the effect that $4,000 men are wanted
in the middle west as harvest hands.
Or, If you CHANGED to look at the
financial page, you will have noted that
our COuntry's export Of gold Is slack
ening or has stopped, and that the tide
Of coin will soon be turning, to pay
for our crop exports.
And, although you have not seen ii
mentioned, you may be very sure that
the big railroads Of the country are
looking after their cars just now ever
more carefully than usual, 80 that the
unavoidable annual shortage may be
as light as possible when 1t comes time
to set the crops a-rOlling east.
Those apparently disconnected items
all mean only one thing, that Uncle
Sam Is a farmer today, lust as he al
ways has been, and that the great bust
ness of our nation Is farming.
IT is hard for US of New England,
who live in a territory where the city
Is dominant, and where farm oftener
means a truck garden or a few acres
OF corn or potatoes, to appreciate what
the volume of farming in our Country
really is. Only the figures themselves,
by their sheer magnitude, can driv the
fact home.
Everybody knows how our manufac-
lures are growing, because everybody
has been told so again and again, n
we are proud of the fact and anxious
not only to supply our own markets
with our products, but to send them
broadcast over the globe.
And they have grown, beyond any
question. In 1900 the capital invested
in our manufacturers, according to the
census, was $S,975, 256, 900. That in
GUIDED lands, buildings, machinery,
tools and implements, cash and sun
dries.
In 1910 the corresponding figure was
$18,428,2 7O,0O0. In ten years 1T had
more than doubled, and today it may
be assumed to nave grown still furth-
err.
But what about the farm? Well, In
1900 the value Of farm land and build
ings alone was SIS. 614,647,0OO and in
1910 1t was $34,801, 1876, 900. That, too,
had more thar doubled and, adding in
the Implements and machinery and
livestock, the total was $40, 991 $4,000,
or more than twice the total for man
ufactures.
Even that omits the value of pro-
ducts on hand or of growing crops,
money due for sale Of products or in
bank Of supplementary use on the
farm, although corresponding manu-
featuring items are included. But it
Is enough to show that the farm is
still a lap or two ahead of the factory.
Take 1t from another side. Have you
any idea how much of our and Is Civ
en- over to farming and what is the
size of our crops? Take a look, then,
at the department of agriculture re-
turns.
In 1912 our corn crop spread over
1O7,0S3,O 900 acres That IS 1887
square miles, an area larger than any
one Of our states save Texas, and so
large that New England, Maine woods
and all, might be dropped into it and
still have more than 100, 900 square
miles to spare.
Corn Is our banner crop, and the 1912
crop was set at 3,124,746,OOO bushels, o1
more thar thirty bushels apiece for
every man, woman n child in the
United States, with a value of $780,
$4,000. The value of the products Of
all our steel works and rolling mills in
1909 only totaled to 1886, 723, 900.
Wheat occupies 45,814,000 acres, oats
37,917,0OO, hay 40, $50, 900. For 1909, the
last census returns, the acreage Of all
cereals was 191, 395, 963 acres, While for
all crops 1t was 81, 293, 382 acres, for
approximately 486,000 square miles. AS
Massachusetts has a land area of 5000
sixty states the size Of Massachusetts
laid side by side and filled with farms
to the last inch to equal that enor-
nous area.
The and area of the country, by the
1910 census, was 1903, 289, 500 acres, and
of that some As per cent, or 87S,7 98, 1925
acres was In FARMS, with slightly more
than half of 1T improved. That is the
final word-nearly one-half of all the
area of the United States, not forget
ting deserts and mountain ranges and
the miles and miles Of forests, is allot-
ed to the farmer.
When a man can call for a small
army of $4,000 men to help him with
his chores, or can turn the flow. of cur
rency and set the railroads hustling
when he settles down to work, he is
some man. And such a man is Uncle
Sam, farmer.