Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 November 1895 — MORTON REPORTS. [ARTICLE]

MORTON REPORTS.

The Secretary of Agriculture Portray* the Work of Ui* Department. Washington, Nov. 18.—Secretary Morton’s third annual report Is a brtefer document than the two which preceded it ft discusses the work of the several burea us of the department, asserting that expenditures have been reduced In some of them for the sake of economy and increased In others for the sake of efficiency. Much of the matter of the report has been anticipated In publications from time to time dining the fiscal yeai _and since its close. The more important information and recomtnenciatiolla not heretofore made public are subjoined Over l,36ti,UH) animals, cattle and sheep, wcOa inspected for foreign markets, of which -tSShiuO- were snipped' abroad. Over pounds, of pork was iaspi . led in and exported, against Ju,tiie amount exported last yeaT.neaiJT 237Oc«J,UUJ pounds went to Germany ana over i*lvOc,<'oß pounds went ip France' The secreernjLjsays --I’he ■■pro^eßogof doinewtiy health u ui be mucti mipiuveu when each piuciiaotr or rfieais deiiiaid.-: and insists uuon that which has been aov-, erhmentaiiy iiispeeteß and Certified-I** 1 ** i be w0,,-, ol cue weather bureau for the year cost $878,439, and owing to rcduced.sxiTuuiuaa, .which were accompanied by increased efficiency.. *55,000 wJli tiltUnateJy tie covered into the treasury from the amount appropriated. It is claimed that the warninas of cold waves atone secured iiom iretz.i.g more than $2,270,0UU worili of perishableagncutiurai prooucts which otnerwise would have been lost. Improved road construction is progressing in many of the states, notably in Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Kentucky. More than half the states have passed new road laws within the last year, and there is a general effort to ascertain the best melhoua of developing the county roads, tor county prisoners or slate convicts tor this purpose and tor organizing state commissions to look ,oner tliese matters, it is proposed during the coming year to secure the cooperation ot agricultural colleges and experiment ■stations in the object lesson method of disseminating information regarding improved roads. They will be taught to construct muuel roads on the farms of their -'experiment stations or on their college grounds, where they can be regularly Used, and thus become a lesson to all the farmers who visit them. Tiie' of the department for the yeas iai)3-4 and 1895 were $1,311,766 less ii,n.n the amount appropriated tor that oertoti. this sum, together with the 52007tiU0 or S3UO,UOO that could be secured from a sale ol the property now occupied by the weather bureau, Keci-e-tary Morton tecomrtßniidk im invi-Mifii m ttte conati uction ol a suitable uuiidii.g tor the department. The report closes with a discussion of “Tiie ftii(ire ol lamis and farming in the tinilea States." in which the secretary compares tile indebtedness of the various classes of owners. —"These figures,” he says, “show an enormous anu constant indebtedness of the banks and bankers alongside of which the money in farm'mortgages and the debts owed by farmers are relatively insignificant. The debts of railroads, bankers, manufacturers and .merchants entitle them, and not the farmers, to be callocTthe 'debtor class In America.’ " The average value of farms by the census, of 18. nin,.,3 u t lie value pi iiupieim nts, domestic animals and sundries will make a ic-..i ..a. ui ~iat.i us ss,uvci for a family averaging six persons. These farms have fed the farmers’and their families and 40,i'o.OUU IiAUU.iI it-biLcilU, DubiUCb SUppiyiUg over $500,000,000 worth of products to. foreign consumers. The mortgage on farm values does not exceed 10 per cent.—a less Incumbrance ci. . upiiai hi (cSic, than im any other line of industry In (Oieieffs. eoi'ificlently, a steady increase in live value ol farm lands as the pVjiutaliOii ul tlj*; camhiLo' iiiCl'tilrftiS.