The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-08-04

the concrete roads are best construct 4
ed, more OF them and new.
The trip was profitable and I wish /
space was such that could go into /
details of the trip more extensively, |
but everywhere we went the farmers !
were jubilant over improved high |
ways both from the standpoint Of /
convenience and financially It Is up
N this country that they are fully ap-
prsciatIve because II has been demon /
strated what they viii do for the
farmer 4
How the United States Came to be
the Greatest World Power
We are asked by one of Americas
leading business men to explain how
it is that IN respect of financial supre-
macy and of practically unlimited
power to provide men, money NUM-
tons and supplies for war purposes, /
the United States is showing itself
to be the greatest of all nations on
earth. That suggestion comes IN the
form of the following from Major A
| H. Kelsey of A 81. Kelsey & Co.,
manufacturers of fine table glassware
dated Newark, Ohio, July Is:
81 am of the opinion that an article
should be written along the lines that
| the Tariff created the conditions
| which made it possible for this coun-
=
| ing condition that compelled the de-
velopment of our natural resources,
gave employment to the people, rails
/ ed the wage of wage-eaTnerS, who
consumed particularly the farmers
perishable product; whose continuous
| employment made It possible to pay
| the farmer the highest possible prices
| for the same. In fact, created the
Conditions that made this country
i
Free-Trade would have made US pau
/ pers, comparatively speaking.
Not long ago a writer Of repute
said, in an article IN a New York
newspaper:
Do you realize that you are living
| IN the richest nation IN the world?
The United States of America con-
tain about f03, 145,0 900 people. Their
total wealth is estimated at $3.50, 900
100000 or S2.255 per capita This
| includes not only actual money, but
also real estate, factories, railways,
etc.
We are nearly twice as rich as the
British Empire, the wealth of which
is placed at $4,000, 100000; five
times as rich as France, with her $780,
600, 100000; six times as rich as Rus
STA with S4,00O,000,00 twelve times
italy with $40, 100000 900; and two
md a half times Germany, Austria,
nd Turkey combined
Thee ontroller of the currency at
Washington, who certainly ought to
Know, says that there are in the Unit
ed States at present more than ten
million individuals and corporations
Who might have subscribed to the
liberty Loan in amount ranging from
800 to 100000.
He further states that there are in
he country more than forty million
persons engaged in gainful occupa-
tons, besides the large number of
nen and women whose income is de-
rived from their investments. If every
Individual in the United States had
bought government bonds to the ex-
tent of only five per cent. of his or
! her total possessions the loan would
have been subscribed six times over.
The reports of aur national savings
banks on March 5, 1917, showed that
deposit accounts, which is 1,499, $40
the banks had total of 5,739, 969,
more than on May 1, 1916.
The total increase of deposits In
national banks during these ten
months was about $4,000, 100000.
The latest bank returns, including
banks and trust companies of all
Kinds, indicate total resources of $685.
, 000,OO0,000, exceeding by far the
greatest banking resources ever
! before shown in any country.
The writer might well have gone
farther and shown that all this wealth
Of 100000 has been created
by production, by employment, by
wages paid and wages spent, by the
! 'argest total ever known of the pro-
ducts of labor in all forms, whether
IF the farm or the factory, the forest
, Or the fishery, the mines, the trans
. 7ortation system on land and on wa
ter; in short, that it is the product
of spendable incomes of the best paid
and most prosperous people in the
world.
Then it might have been asked.
, whence has come this enormous
Spendable income, this unparalleled
, prosperity, this immense power in
nen and in money and all the tremen-
1Ous potency that has been called in
to action by the worlds greatest war ?
The answer could truthfully have
been, "F'rom the policy of Protec-
! ton to domestic labor and industry
, thathas benin force the greater part
, IF the time since the First United
States Congress, in 1889, passed the
first Protective Tariff law"
Let US go back into history and see
!, f this is not the true answer. Begin
hing at the time when the United
States census first included in its
enumeration the amount and value of
American products we find:
In 1850 there were LAS, 073
! American farms; in 1910 we had g.
, 361,5 farms.
In 1870 there were 1925, All per
sons engaged in agriculture; in 1910,
) 1865, 2O3.
In 1850 the total value of Amer
! lean farms and farm property was
1857, 343, $50; in 1910 their value
vas $4,000, 449, 900.
) In 1870 the value of farm products
vas S1,958, 03O,927; in 1910 It was
SS,49S ,311,413.
> In 1910 the American wool product
! was 35,802,114 pounds; IN 1916 1t
| was -28S, AGO. 900 pounds.
! In 1900 this country produced of
cotton 153, 500 bales; IN 1915 it pro-
! luced 1908, 173 bales.
From 1864 to 1872 inclusive the
, product of American beet sugar was
[ the rate of $4,000 pounds a year;
: in 1915, having been stimulated by a
, Protective Tariff, the total product