412 STATE BOARD OP AGRICULTURE 



demand is jjjradnally diiiiinisliing. Southern Russia both in Europe and 

 in Asia, Eg.ypt, India and the Argentine Republic are becoming every 

 year more vigorous competitors of the United States in tlie grain mar- 

 kets of Europe. Wiili the building of railroads in these countries and 

 the development of their farming industry, it is only reasonable to expect 

 that Ihe United States will grow less and less important as a contributor 

 of heavy agricultural staples to Europe, and it is not at all improbable 

 that within ten years our exports of wheat to Europe will have practi- 

 cally ceased. 



There will, of course, be an increasing demand for the great food staples 

 within the United States, coincident with its increase of population, but 

 the development of the great grain belt of the northwest is still in 

 progress, and the wheat, corn and oats will be grown in the districts 

 best fitted for them, and the abandonment of their growing in the dis- 

 tricts least fit will continue. The law of the survival of the fittest is 

 oi>erating in the farming industry as it is in manufacturing, and the 

 farmer who would survive the struggle must learn how to adapt himself 

 to the changing conditions of his environment. 



The prospect now in view is one of hard times for the average farmer 

 during the years in which the changes referred to are taking place, but 

 one may with hopefulness look beyond the immediate present to a new 

 era of prosperity in which the intelligent farmer will share probably 

 in greater measure than any other portion of the community. If we 

 can divest ourselves for a time of the despairing feeling engendered by 

 the recent period of depression and make a calm survey of the develop- 

 ment of the country as shown by statistics for long periods, we shall 

 find much to give us encouragement for the future. In this connection 

 a study of some of the figures given by the census of 1890 showing a 

 comparison of the production of the manufacturing industry of the 

 country in the years 1880 and 1890 is most instructive. I will not trouble, 

 you with the figures, those who wish can find them in the Census Bulle- 

 tin, but I may mention a few general conclusions which the figures prove. 

 Between the years 1880 and 1890 there was a vast increase in the pro- 

 duction of every manufacturing industry, measured in dollars and cents 

 as well as in weight and bulk, notwithstanding the fact that prices of 

 commodities greatly decreased. The increase in production was far 

 greater than the increase in population. It took place in finished lum- 

 ber, in boots and shoes, in cotton, wool and silk fabrics, in made-up 

 clothing, in books and newspapers, in iron, machinery and hardware of 

 every variety, in pianos, carriages, railway cars and locomotives, and in 

 manufactured articles of luxury of every description. The great bulk 

 of consumption of perishable articles and the storing up for use or 

 ornament of articles not perishable, such as fine furniture, pianos, books, 

 pictures and the like, is by the common people. The purchasing power 

 of a vast majority of the common people must have greatly increased 

 or this increased amount of manufactured goods would not have been 

 made. The statistics further prove that wages increased, as did also the 

 savings of the common people, as shown by tlio records of life insur- 

 ance societies, savings banks and building and loan associations. There 

 is abundant evidence that the era of prosperity from 1880 to 1890 show- 

 ered its benefits upon the poor and the rich alike, and that the ordinary 

 workingman contributed to the general prosperity of the country by 



