Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-01-31

CIedSe DelHS ~ pei CCHI' - al ~"
bers, 525, 900. Swine, however, show
ed the greatest increase of all classes
SO per cent. On January 1, 1914,
/ there were only 5S,933,OO0 swine in
the country; on January !, 1915, 64,'
61S, 900. This is accounted for by the
facr that the production of swine can
be increased more rapidly than that
of other classes of live stock, and con-
sequently an enlarged demand can be
met o readily.
The prediction of 50-cent meat and
$40 shoes was accompanied by the
declaration that France alone has TAX
en- from America nearly SOC, 900
horses within the last five months
and that the other countries at war
have drawn upon our resources in the
same proportion. The facts are that
more horses We're on the farms OF the
United States on January /, 1915,
than there were a year before, the
increase being $4,000 head, or IL
per cent. SO far from France alone
having taken 800, 900 horses from us,
the total exports since the war began
have certainly been much less than
100000 and very likely not over u.s.
600. Since there are approximately
%, 100000 horses altogether in the
United States, the drain on account
of the val is scarcely alarming.
It is, in fact, pointed out by govern.
ment statisticians that the market
value of farm horses has actually de
clined to such an extent that the aver
age is now about Sc a head less than
a year ago.. This decline is most
noticeable in the cotton states and in
those states which make a business
of breeding horses for sale in other
sections. Mules have declined even
more than a year ago. The explana-
ton is to be found in the depression
on account of the cotton situation III
the South, which is the great market
for mules. An improvement in this
respect will do much to restore the
demand for horses, so that govern
ment specialists while ridiculing the
notion of a horse famine are convinc-
ed that farmers will find it profitable
to use good work mares for breeding
more stock.
AS for hides, the situation is not
quite so clear, but even here there
has been much gross e"Aaggeration.
From two-ffths to less than one-half
of the leather used in this country is
imported, about % per cent of the for
eign hides coming from Argentina, Is
per cent from Canada, IL per cent
from Mexico, s IL per cent from Eu.
ropean Russia, and 7 - per cen:
from France. Since the outbreak of
the war, importations have shown a
certain falling off, those for Septem-
Der, 1914, for example, being only
"a, 000,0 C0 pounds, instead of 45,000,'
600 pounds the previous. There is,
however, little reason to suppose that
this decrease will be permanent or of
sufficient Importance to create any
real scarcity. Since the great bulk
of the imported hides comes from
countries that are not at war, ship
ments are not i1terfered with in any
way, and the only new factor to be
considered is the possibility of an in
creased demand by the warning coun-
tries.
1t is believer, however, that the
United States is HOw in a better con.
dition TO face such a situation than
for years past. The tide, it seems,
has turned. Instead Of live stock
steadily decreasing year after year,
this year for the first time, as has
been said, all classes show an appre-
cable increase. Including horses,
mules, mich COWS, beef cattle, sheep,
and swine, there were on January 1,
1915, 7,712,OOO more farm animals in
the United States than on January 1,
1914. The increase in the total value
was $7S,024, 900, or 1.3 per cent. 1t
is quite true that this increase is
not yet proportional to the increase
in population, which is approximately
2 per cent; but the fact that there
is an increase, that the tide seems
definitely to have turned, is regarded
as a sufficient answer to alarming
exaggeratio1s and misleading figures.