Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-09-21
H POULTRY YARD
WORLDS GREATEST INDUSTRY
BY ED WEBER

We are nightly impressed by the
big stock yard, Of the roar OF a lum-
Der mill, yet the cackling OF a poultry
lot Is louder and more Important in
the commerce of the United tsates than
is any OF these giant industries.
A hen looks rather small beside a
coal mine, but all the hons of this
country. when taken together, produce
much more wealth each year than all
the coal mines do. The American hog
we speak of the quadruped-has of late
been Wanted as a prince of money
makers. Yet the American hen has him
beaten. Our annual production and
consumption of pork is only a stray
mouthful compared with thai of eggs
and chickens. There are vast regions
on the map of the earth where beef
and corn are never tasted. but there is
scarcely an inhabited nook from Hong
Kong to the Boring sea where eggs are
not eaten.
The frontiersman drives his herds be-
fore him into the wild forest or the
prairie, at the same time carrying along
a few hens and the faithful chanticleer.
In the course of ear the wilderness is
hewn away. fields are fenced. the broad
acres are sold off as city lots, sky
scrapers clutch at the clouds and the
pioneers great grandchildren live in
steam heated flats. Where are the
sheep and the cows? Gone and for
fotten long ago. But the hens are still
there as much at home. Just as produce
tive in the cramped quarters of civiliza-
ton as their own great grandmothers
were on the borders of the wood. More
than any other creature. the hen sticks
to mankind thru thick and thin. It is
not my purpose, nor is It necessary to
discuss the history and development
Of the poultry Industry.
Some Statistics.
Lei us, for a few moments, turn to
the statistics as complied by those en-
gagged in the work of i%nstructing and
investigating in poultry h~usbandry. In
1914, for instance, the surplus poultry
products of American farms were val
sued at about $1,000. 000, 1000. That is
to say that much was sold on the mar
ket in addition to the immense guam
titles consumed by the producers them
selves, estimated at twice as much. But
taking the 81. 1000. 900, 900 for purposes
OF comparison, this huge sum is $419,-
O0O, 900 greater than the entire gold
output of the United States for a whole
year.
The grain crops Of the United States
average $780, 900, 900 worth a year-not
much more than half the surplus poul.
try products. There is sold in the
United States a little more than $780,
100000 worth of lumber every year
nearly $500, 000,00 less than the sur
plus poultry products. All the cotton
sold in this country in a year amounts
to only $780, 900, 900, $500, O0O, 900 less
than the surplus poultry products. The
average annual sale Of hogs amounts
to $500, 100000 or $780, 00, 900 less than
the poultry products. One might null
tiply these statistics Indefinitely but
only the same thing would be proved
over and over again.
American Hen Greatest.
The American hen Is the greatest of
all our national resources. The same
old hen IN her improved and progress
slve condition., who used to be the
source Of the farmers wife's pin money.
ana not many years ago hardly re-
garded worth the farmers considera-
ton as an asset. Poultry keepers,
think over this and reap a harvest that
awaits you in the profitable and attrac-
occupation of poultry culture. The
fact that. within the past few years,
poultry has taken its place-and an i'm
posing n too-in the literature of the
times; that men of genius and learning
have devoted themselves to it's investi-
cation; that its principles and its sys-
fem have hocnppa ~ e<ka,r ~
research; and that the results of this
iaDor OF inquiry nave been given, and
sun continue to be given to the world
large, In the form of treatises on
poultry science. has at length intro
c9eeo tAe question among the fraterni-
~, why not organize? We are awed and
I'M by the large Industries that
are concentrated in few hands, but the
greater totals of small items repeated
ly escape attention.
The wealth represented by the poul- |
try on hand at any one time is COM
paratively small, compared with the
output. A hen lays from three to five
times her worth OF eggs in a year and
raises each season about twice her val
OF young poultry. Such commod- !
tiles as diamonds, n or mutton
get into commerce because the region of
thcir production is limited, but the hen
IS grown everywhere, and Is eaten
everywhere, and it is only in the later
stages of civilization. when half Of
humanity is separated from contac,
with h soil and dwells in sterile struc-
lures of steel and stone, that poultry
products enter into commerce and thus
known their wealth to us thru
the power Of exchange.
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