522 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



the great agricultural and live stock interests of our country are 

 just now coming into possession of their long deferred heritage, 

 and the maintenance of adequate tariff laws in the future becomes 

 a matter of supreme importance. 



From the manufacturer's point of view the maintenance of 

 adequate tariffs upon the products of the farm and feed lots is but 

 a hindrance to cheaper production in industrial lines. But the 

 country has finally settled down to the proposition that tariff 

 duties should measure the difference between the cost of produc- 

 tion at home and abroad, and on this basis the farmer and meat 

 producers of America are willing to take their chances with the 

 world. All we ask is a square deal, an even chance in the race of 

 life. Then if we fail or fall by the wayside, it will be because our 

 numbers have so decreased in proportion, to city population, and 

 that we have not lived up to our opportunities, that we have ceased 

 to be a factor in politics, while in society we have become a hybrid, 

 and in finance a weakling. If we would avoid these conditions we 

 must do a little independent thinking and a great deal of strenuous 

 kicking on our own account. 



Rapid increase in population and gradual and persistent de- 

 crease in the number of cattle has made the relation between sup- 

 ply and demand more acute than most people imagine. A few 

 figures may impress this fact. In the year 1907 we had 72,534,000 

 cattle; in the year 1912 we had 57,959,000; a loss of fourteen mil- 

 lion cattle in six years and during the same period an increase of 

 more than fourteen million in population. In view of these con- 

 ditions, is it any wonder that we have experienced the highest 

 prices on the open markets since the Civil war? Most of us have 

 grown gray listening to this "scarcity-of-beef-cattle" talk and 

 when the much heralded time arrives we find ourselves still repining 

 against that evil today. 



To detail all of the causes leading up to that situation would 

 serve no useful purpose here, save to direct our energies along a 

 different course, point our footsteps to new paths, and excite us 

 to adopt safer methods for the future. 



The feeding problem, always difficult and sometimes complex, 

 presents itself this year in more aggravated form than ever before; 

 abundant grain crops, cheap forage, and feeder cattle selling at the 

 highest price ever known, adds another equation to the problem, 

 which in the final analysis may set all our calculations at naught. 

 It does not necessarily follow that because prices of foodstuffs are 



