THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



95 



forgotten to be remembered no more for- 

 ever. An expert on the silk subject re- 

 cently placed himself on record in the fol- 

 lowing language : 



"American silks of certain grades are 

 just as good as those made abroad, and a 

 good many of them are better. It was 

 formerly necessary for shopkeepers some- 

 times to pretend that silks made in Amer- 

 ica were imported, but it is becoming un- 

 necessary nowadays, as women realize the 

 excellence of the goods of home manu- 

 facture. " 



In 189U the value of American manu- 

 factured silk was $69,154,599. In 1898 it 

 had increased to $92,677,710, while the 

 value of imported silk on June 30th. 1898 

 was only $23,523,110, or about one-fourth 

 the value of the American article. In a 

 few years more we will be exporting silk 

 across the water as we now are exporting 

 a multitude of other American goods. 



Assuming that \ve devote 10,000 acres 

 to the production of these various crops, 

 some of which will far exceed $100 an 

 acre, some will fall below $50 and others 

 below $25 an acre, but they will make an 

 all around average of $50 an acre To be 

 within the -mark of reasonable certainty 

 we will fix the average at 40 an acre. 

 At that figure they will give us an aggre- 

 gate of $400,000 a year to add to the ranch 

 profits, or more than 10 per cent, of our 

 capital. 



Now all the products here mentioned 

 are in universal use and therefore in uni- 

 versal demand. America alone has a 

 population of 70,000,000' calling for sup- 

 plies of every one of these articles and be- 

 yond the home' consumption the markets 

 of the world are constantly calling for 

 them, and this call will be increased from 

 year to year. 



This position leads me to briefly note 

 the general exportation business of the 

 United States. Twenty-five years ago we 

 stood fourth as an exporting nation, now 

 we stand second, England only leading us 

 as the subjoined figures prove : 



Amount of Exports. Bank. 



1872 1896 1872 1896 



England 11,235,200,000 Sl,422,000,000 1 1 



United States 430,583,000 1,050,692,000 4 2 



Germany 559,700,000 994.156.000 3 3 



France ?26,066,000 656,393.000 2 4 



Russia 270,586,000 513,908.000 5 5 



Before another year passes away the 

 United States will change positions with 

 England and lead the world as an export- 

 ing nation. 



The above figures run over the fiscal 

 year 1897, ending on the 30th of June 

 that year. In the fiscal year ending June 

 30th, 1898, we increased our exportations 

 $180,637,766, making an aggregate for the 

 year of $1,231,359,766. At this ratio of 

 increase we will pass England and lead 

 the world as an exporting nation in two 

 years. 



A noble old Eoman general declared 

 that wars were won by wheat. "Well, that 

 may have been true in his day, but how- 

 ever important a part wheat plays in the 

 affairs of the world, all will admit that 

 meat pretty evenly balances the scales. 

 In 1897 we exported 79,562,020 bushels of 

 wheat, valued at $59,920,178. During 

 the same period we exported cattle and 

 the products of cattle to the value of 

 $83,371,988. 



We read a great deal in the newspapers 

 of the day about the wonderful produc- 

 tion of gold. Last year was a record 

 breaker, the yield being $57,000, 000. But 

 the gold coin brought into the country in 

 return for cattle exportation nd distrib- 

 uted among the people was a third more 

 than the yield of the mines. Such facts 

 must be noted in order that a proper ap- 

 preciation of the value of the cattle in- 

 dustry may be gained. 



But notwithstanding all that has been 

 said we must not imagine that every man 

 is fitted for or can carry on [the cattle 

 business successfully; There are a multi- 

 tude of things to be considered, : among 

 which are good judgment, experience, in- 

 dustry and economy. At the very thresh- 

 old the selection of the land is most im- 

 portant, both or the climate, the water, 



