Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1915-02-01
LIVESTOCK IN
UNITED STATES
ON INCREASE
Information Gathered by United States De-
partment of Agriculture Shows That for
First Time in Years This Product is
Growing.

Washington, ID. C., Feb. For the first
time N many years, information collected
by the United States department of agri-
culture shows that an classes Of live stock
m the United States are increasing IN num-
.ber~. Thus the real facts contradict ab~o-
lutcly. sensational reports that prices for
meat and shoes would rise to uuprccrdent-
ed figures IN the immediate future. Ii has
even been said that a government stats
tlcIan predicted meat AZ 80 cents a pound
and shoes at $40 a pair within the next
two years. Such Il prediction, the real
government Statisticians say, l. quite un-
warranted. Ga January /, for example,
the number Of beet cattle showed an in
crease 81 81 per cent over the number a
year ago. and an actual increase Of l,2l2,-
600 head. Hitherto the number of beef
cattle III the United States has declined
steadily since 1910. There are also more
mulch row~ ~ the country than last wear.
the increase being 20 per cent. OF IN num-
hers $4,000. Swine, however. showed the
greatest increase of all clas>eS-g.6 per
cent. On January /, 1914. there were only
5s,933. OOO swine IN the country, on Janu-
airy | ,l9l5. 64.6lS. 900. This j. accounted
for hy the fact that the production of
SWINE can b. increased more rapidly than
that Of other CLASSES uf live stock and
consequently an enlarged demand can H.
met more readily.
The prediction Of 50-ccnt meat and 40
shoes was accompanied BY the declaration
that France alone has taken from America
nearly 100000 horses within the last five
months and that the other countries IA war
have drawn upon our resources in the same
proportion. The facts are that more horses
were ON the farms of the United States
on January /. 1918, than there were a
year before. the increase beng 333. 600
head or III per cent. So far from France
alone having taken 300. 600 horses from a..
the total exports since the war BEGAN have
certainly been much less than 100. 400 and
very likely not over $4,000. Since there
are approximately 2j,OOO, 600 horses alto
grthrr III the United STATES. the drain 81
account Of the war j. scarcely alarming.
II i IN fact pointed ont by government
~tati>tIcian~ that the market value of farm
horses has actually declined To- such an ex-
tent that the average l. now about - u
head les than a year ago. This decline i
most noticeable IN the cotton STATES and IN
those states which make Il business nf
breeding horses for sale III other sections.
Mules have declined even more than
horses. their value being now Sll.5O per
head less than 4 year ago. The explana-
tIon y - To- found IN the depression on ac-
count Of the cotton situation in the South.
which i the great market for mules. An
Improvement ia this respect will DO much
To restore the demand for horses, 81 that
government specialists while ridiculing the
notion of a horse famine are convinced
that farmers will find it profitable 10 use
good work mares for breeding more stock.
A. for hides, the situation j. not quite
% clear. but even here there has been much
gross eXaggeration. From two-ffths Ia
less than one-halt Of the leather used n
tins country \ imported. about o per cent
Of the foreign hides coming from Arren-
tina, ID per cent from Canada, ii per cent
from Mexico, ) l-2 per cent from European
Russia, and l-2 per cent from France.
Since the outbreak of the war. importa-
tons have shown "a certain falling off. those
for September. 1914. for example, being
only 3l,OO0,O 600 pounds, instead Of As
0O0. 600 pounds the year previous. There i.
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 ar not at war.
shipments are not interfered with in any
way. and the only new factor 10 be con-
sidered Is the possibility Of an increased