5*4 



The National Geographic Magazine 



cultural or manufacturing pursuit in 

 which our people are engaged. 



Of course, I refer to the raising, 

 slaughtering, and distribution of animals 

 and animal products. That it may be 

 seen how this compares with other great 

 industries, I present the following table 

 of figures taken from the census of 1900 : 



Value of Products, Census of 1900. 



Carpentering $316,101,758 



Clothing (men's) 159,339,539 



Cotton goods 339,200,320 



Flouring and grist mill 501,396,304 



Foundry and machine shop 644,990,999 



Iron and steel 596,689,284 



Lumber and timber 555,197,275 



Printing and publishing 347,055,050 



Woolen and worsted goods 296,990,484 



Slaughtering and meat packing 



(not including retail butchering) 785,562,413 



In 1905 the census returns show the 

 value of products of slaughtering and meat 

 packing alone, and not including retail 

 butchering, to have reached the enormous 

 sum of $913,914,624. But in addition 

 there were 113,193 butchers engaged in 

 retail butchering to a greater or less ex- 

 tent, whose products would swell the 

 above figures to at least $1,500,000,000, 

 for it must be remembered that the great 

 packers reship about 40 per cent of their 

 live stock. Then there are about 6,000,- 

 000 farmers whose product, if each 

 slaughtered only $100 a year on the aver- 

 age, would amount to $600,000,000. So 

 that it is a very conservative and low esti- 

 mate to say that the annual product of 

 our animal industry exceeds $2,000,000,- 

 000 in value. 



This is many times the value of all the 

 gold produced in the world in 1903. It 

 is nearly as much as all the gold produced 

 in the United States during our whole 

 history. 



RELATION OF RAW MATERIAL TO FINISHED 

 PRODUCT 



Let me at this point call attention to 

 the most significant feature of this indus- 

 try, namely, the value of the so-called 

 raw material. The cost of material used 



in the iron and steel production of 1900 

 was $390,563,117; in the foundry and 

 machine-shop products, $286,357,107; in 

 cotton goods, $176,551,527, and in other 

 great industries the cost of material runs 

 from less than one-half to about three- 

 quarters of the value of the finished 

 product, while in the slaughtering and 

 packing industry the cost of raw material 

 in 1900 was $683,583,577, or about seven- 

 eighths of the value of the final product. 

 It is chiefly of this material that I shall 

 speak today, and I propose, Mr. Presi- 

 dent, to confine myself for the most part, 

 in the brief remarks I shall make, to one 

 branch of the great industry, namely, 

 cattle and cattle raising. 



SHEEP AND WOOL 



Much attention has been given in the 

 past to our sheep and wool industry. It 

 has been attacked by free-traders and de- 

 fended by protectionists. We have tried 

 free wool and seen our flocks disastrously 

 shrink in number and value. 



Let me make but a single comparison. 

 In 1893 our sheep numbered 47,273,553 

 and were worth $125,909,264. In 1897, 

 after more than two years of free wool, 

 our sheep numbered only 36,818,643 and 

 were worth only $67,020,942, or but a 

 little more than one-half their value of 

 the four years previous. On January 1 

 of this year, under protection, in spite of 

 the great demand for lamb and mutton, 

 we had 50,631,619 sheep, and their value 

 was $179,056,144, or nearly three times 

 their worth under a free-wool tariff. 



VALUE OF FARM ANIMALS UNDER FREE 

 TRADE AND TARIFF 



On January 1 of this year our farm 

 animals were valued at $3,675,389,442, 

 as compared with a valuation of $1,655,- 

 414,612 on January 1, 1897, the last year 

 of the Gorman-Wilson tariff. Let me 

 now give the figures for several years 

 showing the number and value of milch 

 cows, oxen, and other cattle. They are 

 taken from the Statistical Abstract, as 

 follows : 



