DEVELOPMENT IN THE UNITED STATES 333 



for certain minor crops at either census. The quantity produced 

 and the value, however, have been reported for something more 

 than 90 per cent of all crops, as measured by value, both in 1 899 

 and 1909. 



The total reported value of the crops covered by the computa- 

 tion was $2,691,978,541 in 1899. The total reported value of the 

 same crops was $4,934,489,828 in 1909. This is an increase of 

 83.3 per cent as compared with an increase of 83 per cent in 

 the value of all crops, showing that the crops selected not only 

 constitute approximately 90 per cent of all crops but also are 

 representative of the whole. Had the average values per unit in 

 1899 prevailed until 1909 the total value of these same crops 

 would have amounted to $2,962,358,477, which would have been 

 an increase of only $270,379,936, or 10 per cent. This increase, 

 I believe, represents very closely the actual increase in quantity of 

 crops of all kinds during the decade. Having in mind all of the 

 steps which were followed, it is extremely interesting to note how 

 closely the increase in the acreage of crops with acreage reports 

 approaches this increase in quantity of products. 



It must be clear, therefore, that if only 10 per cent of the 

 increase in the total value of crops can be accounted for by the 

 increase in the quantity, that the remainder must be attributed to 

 an increase in the average value per unit. The difference between 

 $4,934,489,828, which is the 1909 reported value of the crops 

 being compared, and $2,962,358,477, which would be the 1909 

 value of the crops being compared if the average values of 1899 

 had continued until 1909, must represent the excess of actual 

 values of the crops of 1909 over the values of 1909 on the basis 

 of 1899 average values. This excess amounts to 66.6 per cent and 

 represents evidently the average percentage increase in prices. 

 Attention is now directed once more to an earlier part of this dis- 

 cussion, where I called attention to the fact that the average value 

 per acre of crops with acreage reports was 66.8 per cent higher 

 in 1909 than in 1899. It must be clear from all of these figures 

 that this increase in average values of crops per acre is due almost 

 entirely, if not entirely, to the change in prices rather than to 

 change in the quantities of farm products. 



