16 THE FARMER'S OUTLOOK 



prohibiting hog imports from the U.S.A. on the 

 ground that they contained " Trichinae." With 

 the exception of Great Britain almost all the 

 European Governments followed suit, and, in 

 addition, prohibited the importation of cattle 

 and fresh beef. It was perhaps an easier matter 

 to curtail the production of beef and hog products 

 than to stop the expansion of wheat acreage 

 which was the natural result of the opening up of 

 the West by the railroads. Not however till 1884 

 did the conditions governing the production of 

 wheat result in a severe fall in prices. The 

 Commissioner of Agriculture in the report of that 

 year describes the selling of American wheat 

 abroad in competition with " the half civilised 

 Fellahs of Egypt, and the slavish Ryots of India 

 as unworthy of American freemen and utterly 

 unnecessary." He pleads for diversified agricul- 

 ture and the production at home of such staples 

 as sugar and barley, which at that time were 

 imported from abroad. An instructive passage 

 in the same Report describes the pioneer settler 

 " as far less a farmer than a speculator : he finds 

 it convenient to grow wheat year after year to get 

 the ready cash with which to construct houses 

 and barns, build fences, buy ploughs and reapers, 

 and more cheap land." 



It is from this period that we see America's 

 place in the strenuous competition by all countries, 



