Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1896 — FATAL TO LIVE STOCK. [ARTICLE]

FATAL TO LIVE STOCK.

Democratic Bale Depresses an Important ’ Business. The annual* statement of the department of agriculture of the number and value of farm animals requires comparison with statenientn of previous years to disclose its meaning. A decrease appears in the number of each kind of farm animals, which would not be fully appreciated without the fact that there had been a decrease’ in two previous years in every kind except mules and milch cows. The decrease in the three years has been in number 1.8 per cent, in milch cows, 222 in mules, 6.6 In horses, 7.1 in swine, 10.8 in cattle, and 19 per cent, in sheep. Nearly a fifth of ths sheep in the country have been exterminated by th reedemocratic years. But there has also been a decline in the average price during the same three years, notwithstanding the decrease in number, in' every kind of hnimala except milch cows, which have increased 3.8 per cent., and cattle, which increased 4 per cent. In horses the price has declined 46 per cent., and in mules 43, owing to peculiar causes; in swine 32.1. and in sheep 36.1 per cent. Stieh a decline in sheep, added to a decrease of 19 per cent, in number, is, in truth, a surprising evidence of the boasted blessings of free trade to wool growers. The value of all sheep on the farms has decreased from $125,909,264 to $65,167,735 in three years, or nearly 48 per cent. To this must be added, in order to grasp the full virtue of the democratic policy for wool growers, pn average loss of 6 cents per pound on about 336,000,000 pounds of wool in 1893, 8 cents on 325,000,000 pounds in 1894, and 9 eents on 1 310,000,000 pounds in 1895 —in all about $74,000,000; so that the wool growers’ loss has bcenaboutsl34,74l,ooo, or more than the entire value of all the sheep in the country three years ago. In fact, it averages a loss of $2.85 for every sheep then in the country, of which the farm value was $2.66. The senator front. Ohio who voted for free wool, and could not explain to the wool growers why they had lost about $12,918,000 in two years, has been retired, The senators from Texas, where wool growers have lost about $12,787,000, Bfld from California, where they have IcM about sl2<166,000, have yet to explain theif part, The losses in number and value <sf farm animals are only In part explained by the increase Jn the previotM four years, 1889-93. in which there was of some kinds a notable and perhaps undue increase. Thus the number of horses increased in these four years 18.6 per cent., but. a decrease of 14.8 per cent, in average value indicates that the gain was excessive, and the number of mules increased 3.2 per cent, but decreased in value 11.1 per cent. Considering the great expansion in other means of locomotion in towns and cities. it may be supposed that an excessive increase of horses caused the resulting decline both in number and value after 1893, and the shrinkage in general business and in value of important fanq products also accounts for much of the subsequent decrease. As milch cows increased 7.4 per cent, and cattle 2.6 in the four years 1889-93, with a decline of 9.2 per cent, in the average value of cows and 10.6 in the average value of cattle, the fact that the further decrease in number of each has been accompanied by some recovery in price seems not unnatural. The decline of 8.3 per cent, in swine in the same four years brought an advance of 10.7 in price, but the scarcity of corn has doubtless been an important factor in the falLof the price during the last three years. But sheep increased 10.9 per cent, in number from 1889 to 1893 and 24.8 per cent in value in spite of that gain in number, while the decrease in the three subsequent years has been greater, both in number and in value, as follows: In four years, 1889-92. Number. Av. value. Horses ....................Inc. 18.6 Dec. 14.8 Mules,...lnc. 3.2 Dec. 11.1 Milch cows.lnc. 7.4 Dec. 9.2 Other cattle ..Inc. 2.6 Dec. 10.6 Swine Dec. 8.3 Inc. 10.7 Sheeplnc. 10.9 Inc. 24.8 In three years, 1893-96. Number. Av. value. Horses. Dec. 6.6 Dec. 46.0 Mules Dec. 2.2 Dec. 43. u Milch cows„...Dec. 1.8 Inc. 3.8 Other cattle—.... Dec. 10.8 Inc. 4.0 Swine ......Dec. 7.1 Dec. 32.1 Sheep.. Dec. 19.0 Dec. 36.1 The value of all cattle on the fariris, notwithstanding losses in many, increased nine-tenths of 1 per cent, in the first period of but decreased 30.4 pev cent, in the second period of four years — u. fact only in part due to the heavy losses in sheep, but largely to the general depression of business since the advent of the democratic party i> power. N. Y. I’ribune.