would have to be rebuilt within a very short time ; and as this involved 

 the expenditure of some six or seven millions of dollars, the question 

 as to the necessity of rebuilding these elevators became a very im- 

 portant one; and I engaged some experts to look into the question 

 of production and consumption the difference between the two rep- 

 resenting the amount of cereals, of grain, exported from this country. 



"The chart began in 1868. The solid line represents production, 

 the broken line consumption. It is exact up to and including 1908. 

 From 1908 forward it is as close an approximation as can be made 

 of the future by what the past has taught us; and if these lines are 

 correct and they are absolutely correct unless production can be 

 increased or consumption decreased, in 1913 the last bushel of corn, 

 wheat, oats, barley and rye will have left these shores that this country 

 will ever sell. The great export elevators in our seaboard cities will 

 stand idle and empty, and this Nation, like the nations of the old 

 world, will be looking about for a place to purchase the necessities 

 of life. There is an absolute demonstration of the question that has 

 been bothering all of us; the question hat is right now adding eight 

 and one-quarter millions of dollars per annum to the pay-rolls of 

 the New York Central Lines, a like amount to the pay-rolls of the 

 Pennsylvania Lines, and around $100,000,000 per annum to the pay- 

 rolls of the railroads of the United States the question of the high 

 cost of living. 



"Somebody was responsible ^for that unspeakable folly, the meat 

 boycott. Secretary Wilson's Department tells us that on the first 

 of January, 1910, there were between ten and eleven million less 

 food-producing animals on the farms of the Nation than there were 

 one year before. Secretary Nagel's Department will tell you that on 

 the first day of January, 1910, there were several millions of men 

 employed in the United States above the number employed a year 

 before men receiving good wages and in a position to buy meat. 

 Could there be any other result than a tremendous increase in the 

 cost of meat? 



"I want to read perhaps one of the most interesting things I 

 have ever received a letter from David M. Dunning, President of 

 the Auburn Savings Bank, of Auburn, N. Y. It is entitled 'From 

 Cat-tails to Corn.' 



Mr. Brown then read a letter from David M. Dunning, of 

 Auburn, N. Y., setting forth the advantages of proper drainage and 

 care of land, and citing instances of vast increases in the value of 

 lands in his neighborhood so improved. 



II 



