Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 November 1884 — FAR INTO THE BILLIONS. [ARTICLE]

FAR INTO THE BILLIONS.

Commissioner Loring Reviews Earm Proy duction and Pleads for the Forests. In- the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture it is shown that*tbe value of meats hns increased from $300,000,000 to $800,000,000; corn, from $360,680,878 to $694,818,304; wheat, from $124,635,545 to $436,908,463; hay. from $152,671,168 to $400,505,783; dairy products, from $152,350,000 to $352,500,000; cotton, from $211,516,625 to $271,636,121, and other'products in proportion, more than doubling the aggregate value and increasing it, from sl,600,000.000 to $3,600,000,000 in round numbers. With good prices the current production of the agriculture of the United Stains can be little short of $4,000,000,000, and the values are those of the home markets, and not of Eastern commercial cities or ports of exportation. The Commissioner says: The wheat area fs so much beyond the requirements of consumption in this and other countries as to depress the price to a point unprecedented in recent years, favoring at certain points vhe use of wheat In feeding for pork production The cause of this superabundance is two-fold. First, the extensive settlement in the Northwestern pra'ries and the dry plains ot the Pacific coast; and second, the extraordinary period of comparative failure of European wheat for several consecutive years. The progress of settlement must be less rapid hereafter; and already has been followed by comparative plenty. These facts of products and prices point to the sharp necessity of adapting the production to the consumption, to supply the food products now Imported, to give remunerative employment to agricultural labor, and food in variety and cheapness to consumers. The Commissioner says that the destruction of forests is alarming, but he finds cause for gratification in the extensive planting of young trees in the Western States. He says that the destruction of forests for lumber is greater than the legitimate demand, and has resulted in burden* ing the market. Further discussing the subject, the Commissioner says: The great pine forests ot the Northwest are now depleted to such an extent that Southern pine is brought into competition with it in the Chicago market, and a perceptible inroad has been made upon those vast forests which cover so large a proportion of the Gulf States. The same reckless and wasteful methods of lumbering are pursued there which have so rapidly consumed the Northern and West rn forests. This condition of things makes it more imperative every year to endeavor to preserve the forests which form a part of the public domain, and to so guard and control them by law as to make them of the greatest and most lasting benefit to the country. The bureau is now investigating the culture of silk, in accordance with the act of Congress which made an appropriation of $15,000 for that purpose.