The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-06-25
MuLIONs IN Wheat
By Frederic > Haskn


3 By Freder1t
gnerasorneureooosus1
me American farmer who grows:
wheat S this year to make more
money than ever before On every
bushel of wheat he haresttS the e1-s
perts say, he Will assuTedly gef
return that VIII be i've times tnaf 70.
which ne IS accustomed He VIII N
all probability harvest crop, &C.
coddnS to government estimates. that
Will be tar greater than even that OF
last year. which broke all RECORDS
Under which conditfonss It appeaIs
that, IN these uoublous times. me
wheat farmer fs the fayordte chafo OF
the tickle goddess
With the wheat harvest aireaay
well under way IN Oklahoma and Just
BEGINNING In Kansas the season is
sufficiently developed TO make re-
liable forecast Under these condl-
tons the governments crop report
ing board places the Drobable crop
at $50, 100000 bushels on 60'eOo.oVo
greater than the bumper crop OF tast
year 1t IS sure to be the greatest
wheat crop America has ever grown
and to sell at price that has never
before been approached
These 1age wheat returns outo
mean great prosperity IN the regions
where they are grown even [undeI
normal conditions. but under those az
present existing they mean Weaatn.
The added price Of a busheI OF wheat
rs increased net profit, for 1t costs
as much to grow cheap wheat as
[high-priced wheat
A study OF the returns on a single
busheI of wheat is illuminating On
the first OF July Of last year, with
the harvest we'll under way In Kan
sas, a bushel of wheat was selling
for seventy cents It had cost at
least sixty cents to raise that busneL
The profits was, therefore, ten cents
a buShel after due allowance had
been made for the farmers waged-
Under these conditions wheat raising
yielded barely adequate returns.
On the first OF July OF the present
year, the representations say, wheat
will be selling for S1.20 in Kansas
On the first OF June it was worth
SLIGO This bushel OF wheat also
cost sixty cents to raise. The net
profit on 1t is, therefore, sixty cents
instead of ten. With no additional
investment or care the profit OF
wheat farming. on the basis Of this
years prospects. has been increased
900 per cent
The crop in Kansas will this year
be a little less than last Her crop
last year amounted to l76s30o,000
July 1 valuation. were about ST.
$50, 600, and produced such prosperity
as Kansas had never before known.
This year the crop Will amount to
134,5oo,G0o bushels. but, with a net
profit of sixty cents a buSheL the
Kansas farmer will secure SS0,.00.-
600 or nearly five times as much
money
The advantage to the farmer this
year over last lies in the fact chat
high prices promise to prevail at the
time the crop IS harvested. Last
year at harvest time the wheat price
of his crop before the war broke out
and prices began their rapid increase.
American wheat sold at advanced
prices. but the profits went largely
to the middleman- This year the far
mer will secure all the advantages
that are to be derived from the alb
normal conditions.
| When the wheat industry is con
sidered in its entirely it is so large
as to appan him who tries to grasp
it 1t is the greatest industry on
earth, requires more capital to carry
IT on. yields greater value than any
thing else to which man turns ms
hand.
| In the growing of wheat the United
States leads all other nations. The
yield OF the world amounts to nearly
four billion bushels and 1t falls e
the United States to produce one
fourth OF that amount Europe grows
! half the wheat Of the world and those
i nations at war are responsible FOL
most OF it
The area that Uncle Sam puts into
wheat amounts to 50.000000 acres
which means little without a standard
of comparison. This figure may bt
approached when It is said that Uncle
Sans wheat field equals the area O
| Massachusetts, CONNECTICUT, Rholt
| Island. New jersey, and Delaware
combined It would spread entirel!
over Holland, Belgium, Denmark
Switzerland and Serbia taken to
gether. Such is the area from which
the United States ds 10 pull its IN
precedented profits this year
! Nothing could have been more for
tunate that the position in which rht
wheat farmer found himself at tn
breaking out Of the European wal
! This country had been steadily IN
creasfng it's acreage for a dozel
years In 1914 more of It's whea
lands were seeded than ever before
Early in the year conditions were no
favorable and 1t was expected tina
the crop would be less than normal
Then. as harvest approached. all tn
!. conditions conspired to make tn
| ripening crop come into the fulles
fruiton- The greatest OF crops wa
harvested
with this crop IN its elevators. tn
United States began TO scan the re
| turns from other parts of the world
Reports showed that Europe had TAI
len 3oS.O0O. 600 bushels below tn
-