THE FARMERS OF THE UNITED STATES 



' ' The activities of our age in lines of research have reached the tillers of the soil and 

 inspired them with ambition to know more of the principles that gover?i the forces of 

 nature with which they have to deal." — President Roosevelt in his message to 

 Congress, December 8, 1904. 



The report for 1904 of Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture , makes a 

 small volume of 114 pages. It is a story of remarkable development and of wondrous 

 wealth. We recommend it for perusal by every reader of this Magazine. The 

 following is an abstract of the report. 



FAVORED with continued pros- 

 perity in 1904, the farming ele- 

 ment of the people has laid 

 broader, deeper, and more substantial 

 the foundations of a magnificent agri- 

 culture. A period of some industrial 

 depression during the last two years has 

 been saved by the farmers from the 

 severer conditions that must otherwise 

 have befallen in consequence of the ab- 

 sorption of a large portion of the readily 

 convertible capital of the non- agricul- 

 tural classes into great and prevalent 

 speculations. 



WE ATT H PRODUCED BY FARMERS 



As great as the financial successes of 

 agriculture were in 1903, hitherto with- 

 out equal, those of 1904 advanced some- 

 what beyond them. While some pro- 

 ducts have fallen behind in value, others 

 have more than filled the deficit, and 

 the general result is that the farmers 

 have produced in value much more 

 wealth than they ever did before in one 

 year. 



One conspicuous item that has con- 

 tributed to this is the corn crop. The 

 farmers could from the pi'occcds of this 

 single crop pay the national debt, the 

 interest thereoii for one year, a?id still 

 have enough left to pay a considerable 

 portion of the government 's yearly ex- 

 penses. The cotton crop, valued for lint 

 and seed at 600 millions, comes second, 

 while hay and wheat contend for the 

 third place. Combined, these two crops 

 will ajxmt equal in value the corn crop. 

 Notwithstanding the wheat crop shows 



a lower production than any year since 

 1900, the farm value is the highest since 

 1 88 1 . Potatoes and barley reached their 

 highest production in 1904; save in 1902, 

 the oat crop was never so large by 60 

 million bushels. The present crop of 

 rice promises a yield of 900 million 

 pounds — 300 million more than ever 

 before. 



Horses and mules reach the highest 

 point this year, with an aggregate value 

 exceeding 1,354 million dollars. On the 

 other hand, cattle, sheep, and hogs all 

 show a slight decline. 



The steady advance in poultry leads to 

 some astonishing figures. The farmers' 

 hens now produce billions of dozens of 

 eggs, and at the high average price of the 

 year the hens during their busy season lay 

 enough eggs in a single month to pay the 

 year' s interest 071 the natio?ial debt* 



After a careful estimate of the value of 

 the products of the farm during 1904, 

 made within the census scope, it is safe 

 to place the amount at 4,900 million dol- 

 lars after excluding the value of farm 

 crops fed to live stock in order to avoid 

 duplication of values. This is 9.65 per 

 cent above the product of 1 903 and 31.28 

 per cent above that of the census year 

 1899. 



Some comparisons are necessary to 

 the realization of such an unthinkable 

 value, aggregating nearly five billions of 

 dollars. The farmers of this country have 

 in two years produced wealth exceeding the 

 output of all the gold mines of the entire 



* Every American is thus eating about 245 

 eggs a year. 



