The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-01-31
PREDICTION Of ].
50 CENT MEAT
UNWARRA|NTED
Departmental Figures Show
There is More Live Stock
Now Than a Year Ago.

SSss sstSAttlSA uaOSAh tt9NpnlI
WASHINGTON. Jan. 3O.-For the
first time In many years, information
collected by the United States Depart
ment OF Agriculture shows that ali
classes of live stock in the United
States are increasing in numbefs.
Thus the real facts contradict abso.
lutely, sensational reports thataprices
for meat and shoes would rise to un-
precedented figures In the immediate
future. 1t has been said that a gov
eminent statistician predicted meat
at so cents pound and shoes at $40
a pair within the next two years.
Such a prediction, the real govern
ment statisticians say, is quite UNI
warranted.
More Mich Cows.
On January i, for example, the
humber Of beef cattle showed an I'm
crease of 34 per cent over the num-
Der q year ago, and an actual in
crease OF 1,212,0G0 head. Hitherto the
number Of beef cattle in the United
States has declined steadily since
1910. There are also more mich
COWS in the! country than last year,
the increase being 30 per cent, or in
numbers 525, 900. Swine, however,
showed the greatest increase OF all
classes-9.6 per cent On January 1,
1914, there were only $685., 900
swine in the country, on January /,
1915, 64,61S,000. This is accounted
for by the fact that the production
OF swine can be increased more rap
idly than that OF other classes OF live
stock and consequently an enlarged
demand can be met more readily.
The prediction of 50-cent meat and
$1O-shoes was accompanied by the
declaration that France alone has
taken from America nearly 100000
horses within the last Ave months,
and that the other countries at war
have drawn upon Off resources in
the same proportion. The facts are
that more horses were on the farms
OF the war ds scarcely alarming.
1915, than there were year before,
the increase being $4,000 head or IL
per cent. So far from France alone
having taken 100000 horses from US,
the total exports since the war be-
gan have certainly been much less
than 100000 and very likely not over
1000. Since there are approximately
81, 100000. horses altogether in the
United States, the drain on account
of the war is scarcely alarming.
1t is in fact pointed out by gov.
eminent statisticians that the market
value OF farm horses has actually
declined to such an extent that the
average is now about Sc a head less
than 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 horses, their. value being
now $3.50 per head less than a year
ago. The explanation is to be found
In the depression on account OF the
cotton situation in the south, which
is the great market for mules An
improvement in this respect will do
much to restore the demand for the
horses, so that government specialists
while ridiculing the notion of horse
famine, are convinced that farmers
will find 1t profitable to use good
work mares fn- breeding more stock
Gross Exaggeration.
AS for hides, the situation is not
quite so clear, but even here there
has been much gross exaggeration
From two-flfths to less than, one-halt
OF the leather used in this country is
imported, about 25 per cent Of the
foreign hides coming from Argentina
10 per cent from Canada, IL per cent
from Mexico, 8 1-2 per cent from Eu-
ropean Russia, and Z 1-2 per cent
from France. Since the outbreak Of
the war, importatons have shown a
certain falling off, those for Septem-
Der, 1914, for example, being only
34,O00,000 pounds, instead OF 45,GO0,.
0O9 pounds the year 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 come from
countries that are not at war. ship
ments are mot interfered 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. ~ $50
1t is believed, however, that the
United States is now in better CON
dition to face such situation thar
for years past The tide, 1t seems
has turned, Instead of live; stocl
steadily decreasing year after year
this year for the first time, as has
been said, all classes show an apprec-
liable increase. Including horses
mules. mich COWS, beef cattle, sheep
and swine, there were on January ]
| 1916 7.712, 900 more fa1An animals n
the United States than on January ]
1914. The increase in the total valu,
was s7S,024, 900, or. 1.3 per cent 1
is quite true that this increase is no
yet proportional to the increase ii
population, which Is approximately
per cent; but the fact that there /.
an increase, that the tide seems def
nitely to have turned, Is regarded a.
Q sufficient answer to alarming exag
gerations and misleading figures.
4 IGNORANT OF THE WAR.