Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, November 14, 1909, Page 18

IN THE DAYS HOSO shall rob the crown of any part of its just due, shall surely be adjudged gulity of treason to the king. And under that finding of the court what penalty may we not assess against the man who conspires to dethrone King Corn, and who, forthwith, halls Wheat as the heir-apparent to the erown? In the October number of Printers' Ink, Philadelphia, comes now a writer who is devold of ca or caution in the handling of facts and figures. To quote him briefly “Wheat ng. Last year it was corn. The districts this year will have the money, generally speaking.' speaking, would have been a Wheat has never been In this eountry, nor that It wiil ever be elevated 1o that proud position. Cotton was crowned king in an carlfer day, when the planta- tlons of the south were worked by slaves, but its kingdom paled inw a dependent principality, when the first bactery of corn planters crossed Mississippt and irvaded the fertile flelds of the RS What is the Exact Yield? 1t is never possible to determine the exact vield of wheat or corn in any ysar but the best estimates obtalnable, from government reports and other sources, place'the yield of wheat in the United States for 1909, at approximately, 724’ million bushels. Its value Is about 688 million dollars on the farm, or 760 milllon dollars on the Chicago market. On the first day of last August, crop prospects iIndicated & yleld of three billion bushels of corn. Dry weather in August reduced the yleld to approximately 2760 milllon bushels, worth on the farm about 1,350 million dollars and on the Chi- cago market about 1,650 million dollars. In any normal year the corn crop of this country is worth twice as much as wheat erop. Tho Chicago 1s k wheat most Carelessly better the king of crops it at all likely expression. the fver, west is the board of trade 1s responsible for all this fuss over and for much misapprehcnsion as to the relative value of our two great cereal crops. Wheat lends itself readlly to specu- lative deals. Owing to the fact that only a small per cent of the toal yield is consumed on the farm and that the larger part of the crop finds its way Into the largely wheat THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE NOVEMBER OoF hands of the millers, the gram merchants and the exporters, it is easler to estimate the yleld and to control its progress to market. —— Great Staple Crop. Corn Is the great stapie crop of the American farmer. It is food for man and beast. It is the raw product which the farmer manufactures into beef, pork and mutton. It Is the basic element in the pro- duction of milk, butter, eggs and poultry It 1s the foundation of bone, sinew and muscle in the fleet racer, the toppy roed- ster and the glant draft horse of com- merce. It is the dally ration of the patient mule when he plods his weary way across & peaceful fleld; it is his mainstay and his inepiration when he gallops into battle with a monster cannon trailing in his dusty wake. Wheat is the favorite plaything of the speculator In futures. A clique of “bulls,” by elever manipuiation and misleading re- reports, may easily send the prices soaring on the board of trade. A strong coterie of “bears,” Ly rushing a large amount of cash srain into the markets and vy magn:ifying veports of Increased production, may tem- porarily depress the price. The markets of the world at large, exert a strong influ- ence upon the price in America, for this is an exporting country and wheat Is a world's crop. It is grown In every land and ripens in almost every clime. is The Harvester im All La: The sun never sets upon the harvest of the wheat. In some part of the world the self-binder 1s gathering in the sheaves on every day of the year. The names of Mc- Cormick, Deering, Marsh, Osborne and others, have become household words In every forelgn land. The American harves- ter has penetrated to almost every corner of the known world. It is raced across the flelds of Argentina by the sturdy little ponies of the pampas; it has lightened the labor of the peasant women of Furope; it is drawn by elephants in India, and by camels in the valley of the Nile. It has penetrated the bush lands of Australia, the wild steppes of Russia and the veldt of South Africa. It has crept into the orient and has made a strange, new trall across the plains of Abraham. Wherever ight, 1900 rank G. Carpenter.) UPPOSE that President Tatt and our national congress should send out an edict tomorrow that every man and woman in the employ of the government must glve up the drinking of liquor or be dismissed from office, and that no new appointment should be made to any one who had contracted the liquor habit or who would not sign the pledge, Let this edict relate not only to Washington, but to every postoffice and custom house, and let Its effect be so extended as to include every state officlal, even to the county clerks, sheriffs, and thelr subordinate em- ployes. Let another edict provide that all must show government permits before a glass of whisky, wine or other liquor will be sold to them, and so that every saloonkeeper be subject to fine and imprisonment if he breaks this law. Let the edlet summarily shut hine-tenths of the saloons, and pro- vide for the absolute destruction of all within the course of ten years, Let there be laws forbidding the distilling of liquors and their importation; and, in short, the inauguration of a scheme of government restriction which would entirely wipe out the manufacture, selling and drinking of anything intoxicating within the space of ten years. It would be a good, blg contract, would it not? Well, that s just what China is trying to do as to blotting oplum and the oplum tratfic from the of its by face country The Anti-Oplum Ediets We have had crusades against liquor, bui they bave been mostly begun by the women and carried out with the opposi tion, rather than the assstance of the government officials, This crusade of China begins at the top. Three years ago the great empress dowager and the chief boards of the empire at Pexsiy sent out edicts cutting down the size of the opium farms, shutting up the opium dens and requiring all dealers in oplum to take out loenses. The government commanded all farmers to reduce thelv eplum fields by 10 per cent every year, ana provided that no opium at all should be cultivated after the end of ten years. It required that the merchants decrease cneir oplum sales 2) per cent every und out thelr whole business iu space five years. It ordered that all oplum dens should bo sunmarmy closed and that the retall oplum shops should gradually be abolished. At the same time it inaugurated dispensaries free medicines might be had to take away the oplum craving, and encouraged the estab- lishment of oplum hospitals for tnose who Lad contracted the habit In the same edicts it was pravided that all users of oplum should be registerdd; that they should be examined by the police, and the habitual users should be allowed only a given quantity of the drug, at. cer- taln fixed periods. These allowances were to be gradually reduced 50 tuet at the end of*Tive years all persons under sixty years of age would be free from the habit. All urers of oplum were required to wear badgew, so that every one would know an oplum fiend as he walked through the streets Al prince veusr, close of public wuere government officials, Including dukes, viceroys and generals under sixty had six months to glve up the habit or to tender their resignations; and all teachers and scholars were required to stop THE HARVEST-A WHEAT FIELD IN NEBRASKA. the harvester takes Its toll of golden grain, the telegraph and the cable flash the esti- mates of probable yield to the market centers of the world. And the greatest of these is Liverpool. It ia the nerve center of the world's wheat market, the final arbiter of price. When there is a shortage, and the price is high at Liverpool, there is a scraping of bins and & hurrylng of wheat to tide-water from every quarter of the globe Not 8o with Corn. It is not so with corn. The United States is the great corn producing country of the world. Two-thirds of the world's sup- ply 18 grown in this country; one-half of the total ls produced lu ten of the great PRODUCTS OF THE PRAIRIE LAND. states of that sectlon “The Corn Belt."” To set it forth in figures: The world's production of corn In 1908 was 3,52 million bushels, and of this amount 2,668 million bushels were grown in the United States. The yleld in the ten states mentioned above was estimated at a grand total of 1807 million bushels, or considerably more than one-half of the world's crop. On the other hand, the world's vield of wheat for 1906 s glven at 418 million bushels, and of commonly called THE GREAT STAPLE CROP OF THE AMERICAN FARM. China Wages Unrelenting Warfare on the Curse of Opium Habit opium smoking within the space of one year. As to the officers o1 tne army and navy, they were commanded to abandon the habit at once. This 1s what China Is trylny to do. The above proclamations have ween followed by others, and today the prince regent and tho guard council are doing all they can have these laws put into force. They are prosecuting their Infringement ard they inaugurated such a reign 0. terror as would create & revolution in the United States and turn our people &rd government upside down to have Ofticlals Made to Stop Smoking. Tt makes one laugh to think what would happen If Uncle Sam should cut off every congressman's toddy, should prohibit cold tea in the restaurant of the senate and not allow the clerks of the government to take a friendly tipple together. That is what is going on here, 1 am told that no less than 2,600 officials, more or less prominent connected with the government service in Peking elther have broken or are endeavoring to break off the use of oplum. Some of these are habitual smokers who have tried o hard to quit that they have died in_the attempt. Take, for in- stance, Wen Hal.. He was one of the highest scholars of the emplre, and was connected with the grand secretariat. To hold his job he signed a declaration that he was not an oplum smoker, and then stopped using the drug. He died a few monthe ago. Tsal Chang, another noted official, was cashiered for smoking. He i3 fll in consequence, and it s sald will recover. Chi Chang, the acting governor of the province of Anhwal, died the other day for the same reason, and there are many other old smokers who are said to be il Acording to the new laws, which are IN NEBRASKA, this amount the United States produced about one-fifth, or 664 million bushels. Corn stands at the head of the list of all crops of the world In quantity, but ylelds first place to wheat In money value. The oats crop of the world for 1%8 was 3,230 million bushels, and of this amount the United States produced 507 million bushels, worth on the farm, about 320 million dolla These figures show the acreage and es- timated yleld of our four great crops for 1909: Corn Wheat Oats Cotton . *Bal A bale of cotton welghs about 50 pounds, and the price is now about 4% cents a pound on the New York Cotton exchange. This Is the highest price since the season of 1903 The lowest price in recent years was 6% cents & pound, in 18%. The United Btates is the greatest cotton producing country of the world and the farm value of the crop this year will be about 770 milllon dollars. Indla stands next to this country In the production of cotton. Its erop of 198 was 3,623,000 bales from 15,590,000 acres. But we have wandered far afield from eur slipshod friend of Printers' Ink. After making @ fairly accurate statement in reference to the wheat yleld of several he rambles'n in this blind fashion: “As for corn, these are the leading states— 2,760,000,000 724,743,000 963,618,000 *11,000,000 Pot. 1909, Pet. 1908, North Dakota ) Gap B | 8 i T R | 8 California .......... k] Cregon. ..., B | % In the hands of some people (to slightly change an ancient axiom) figures are al most as dangerous as edged tools. Doubt- less this writer has confused the percentage of galn or loss in the condition of the growing crop, as reported monthly by the Department of Agriculture, with the figur for the estimated yield by states. Of the six states named above, only one, Indiana, is really a great corn producer. Indiana's crop this year is estimated at 173 million bushels. Illinois leads with an estimated yield of 833 million bushels, lowa comes next OUT-OF-DOOR OPIUM GROUP more or less evaded, the smoking o oplum means immediate dismissal. Gov ment detectives or censors have ben in structed to shadow the officlals, and those who claim to have broken off the habit are vigidly watched. Just the other day & private secretary of one of the cabinet ministers was found to have several ounces of oplum on his person, and a request for his dismissal was promptly sent forth. In of the papers this ning 1 see a dispatch stating that Prince Chung, one of the imperial oplum commi has just denounced twenty high officlals who have led as to their use of the drug, and that he demands thelr dismissal. Last October two of the imperlal princes were ordered te resign thelr posts that they Bive their entire time to the eradication of their eraving fo drug, and at the an of mercy, three extension ellowed to cer- and als had extended ha one me might the act wer same montl tain civil not obeyed The crusade the ladies ¢ time of as imperial is the ‘palac they m » dames, who plum to their that If they continue ned bein even to been moking, and bave been friends, they They warned that ceriain these cretly selling been told have Viceroys. the ated are the clerks the twent been de There and rapidly, energy of a state in the one of the all of his He feasted were about saying that him under days to in China is gotr rding to the In Szechwar m T invited rer or the rev the ¥ far rnor distr subordin v new officials them well a to lock they door with three leave, he closed the to keep for the all nest learn tres from opium habit. He knew those who were not would show nervousness; and In this way he could learn how to enforce the new laws. It Is belleved that many of the vice- roys are still secretly smoking; and the anti-oplum commissioners have asked the prince regent to call & meeting at the cap- ital of all the viceroys, governors and gen- erals of the army who have reported that intended ke whethe UNDER THE WALLS OF M/ ve broken off the habit. When they will be subjected to a test to show whether or not they have lied. Bince this one viceroy has asked for time for of his officials, and others have es- tablished opium hospitals and cures In nearly every province of China there has been a general closing of the opium dens. In some cities a back-door business they appear they some WHERE CORN with 287 million bushels, Nebraska follows with 213 million bushels and Missourl brings in a harvest of 207 milllon bushels. Texas was parched by a drouth this year and only produced 115 milllon bushels, against 301 million bushels in 108 So much for the six leading corn states. inifoins Oregon Not Much on Corn. And Oregon, land of red apples and timber frauds! Why refer to its most Inconspiou- ous product? Its total corn crop in less than one-half milllon bushels. Several counties in Nebraska produce more than that in an off season. California produces less than 2 million bushels of corn and North Dakota limps in with & paltry § million bushels. The whole state of Oregon does not produt s much eorn as one farm n Missour!. David Rankin's 8,00-acre farm near Tarkio, has produced 1 million bushels of corn in & sin- gle season, and only a little patch of 19,000 acres was In corn at that. There is no telling what he might do if he put it all in corn and got up real early in the morn- ing. He grows more ccrn every year than Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Montana and Wyoming combined. Wouldn't a Missourl farmer laugh right out loud if he happened to read that story in Printers' Ink? Kansas {8 another of the great corn pro- ducing states. Its yleld, last year and this, approximated 18 millon bushels, And yet Kansas is best known as the greatest winter wheat producing state in the union. Winter wheat has advertised Kansas to the world at large. From the time of Its coeding untll the lost fleld is harvested the Kansas wheat crop Is closely watched by the big operators of every grain ex- change in the world. Every spring the “crop killers” go out from the Chicago Board of Trade and ruln the crop In Kinsas. Every fall the crop comes rolling In, showing a gradual increase In quantity and a marked improvement in quality. All this serves to advertise Kansas as a wheat state, but ths corn crop, one year With another, is worth more in money than the wheat and all the other cereal crops of the state combined. So much for the specu- lator and the publicity which he sets afoot. el Nebraska Fourth in Wheat. Nebraska stands fourth in the list of 1S MORE THAN KING. wheat producing states, with a total yleld of winter and spring wheat approximating W million bushels. The crop this year is worth nearly & million dollars. Only thres other states, Minnesota, Kansas and North Dakota, surpass Nebraska in the annual out-turn of wheat. About one-tenth of the winter wheat produced In the United States 1s grown in this state. Nebraska also pro- duced 61 million bushels of oats in this year of exceeding grace, and In this cereal is only surpassed by five other states. All tirls .mdkes for a great and growing pros- peority, but what shall we say of the corn? 1t corn is king of all the crops in the United States, it is more than king in Ne- braska. Ketimates on August 1 indicated @ yleld of 254 million bushels, but unfavor- able weather, in the melting days that fol- lowed, cut down the estimate to a measly 213 milllon bushels. And it is worth, on the farm, where a large part of it will be turned into finished products for the mar- ket, only & trifie over a shabby 105 million doliars. Would that we could find a really profitable crop for thesa fat praisie lands! Comparisons are generally odious, but in this case the temptation is not to be re- sisted. Just analyze these figures: Nebraska produced more corn this year than all the New England states combined have pro- duced in the last quarter of a centuryj more in one year than twenty-six other states and territorles combined, including all New England and such states as New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Vir- ginia and South Carolina. None of these states is noted for its production of cornm, and in order to afford a more striking ob- Ject lesson, we shall carry the comparison into the heart of “The Corn Belt." Nebraska produced this year more than Kansas and twenty other states and ter ritories; more than Texas, Oklahoma and soventeen other states and territories. That's doing fairly well with the handicap of a dry spell in August, These comparisons might be carried along inGefinitely, but we don't want to tire you, or to further annoy that thought- less one who seribbled, idly and aimlessly, for Printers' Ink. In all this controversy we have only & passing concern. Let's keep the record straight. J. T. DUNLAR i still going on, but the public smoking has become unpopular and dangerous, and the chief oplum used is now behind closed doors, In Shanghai all the dens in the native town have been shut, and tully half of thoss in the forelgn concessions wWiped out. The foreigners propose to clean out the evil in their part of the eity by 1910. In Wuchang the shutting up of the dens has considerably diminished the arrests for crime, and one of the policemen says this s largely because he does not know where to g0 to look for criminals. ot Closing the Dens. In Foochow there were 8§20 dens at the time the edict was lssued. They were all closed on the first of the fourth month of the year following and are still shut. The same 18 true of Ichang, although the shops for the sale of opium are still open. Ka- shing, which for years was one of the worst oplum smoking places in the prov- ince of Chekiang, has abolished its oplum shops, and the day of the closing the oplum pipes were burned in public and the people rejoiced. The same is true of many other cities, in not a few of which the opium dealers have since secretly resumed business A Mighty Orusa Qutside the officlals a mighty crusade has been going on over China to stop the use of oplum among the people. Indeed, there are so many different movements that T hardly know where to begin. Every province has its anti-opium socleties. These meet regularly; they print and distribute anti-opium literature and send out men to lecture upon the opium evil. There is one eociety in Canton which has distributed millions of pamphlets showing the terrible fate of the opium user. Piotures of the man before and after he has become the slave of the drug are published, and the horrors of the practice are vividly painted. Meny of the socleties require their mem- bers to wear a badge and sign the pledge, and many of them offer rewards for the detection of oplum smokers and of the illegal selling of opium. In some of the provinces the most rigld laws have been enacted against the users of the drug. In Kiangsu no habitual smoker under 50 can appear in court as a plaintiff. He cannot institute & sult and can have no protection from the laws as long as he continues to disobey them. In Canton there 13 a temple which has been given over to the anti-oplum crusade, enti- oplum pictures being pasted upon its walls, In Yunnan opium lectures are everywhere given, and & large number of refuges have been created to take in confirmed smokers and cure them. Hundreds of opium plpes and lamps are nailed to the walls of the government buildings and the viceroy is rapldly reducing the areg of the opium farms. At the capital of Fukien province thers have been eight burnings of oplum and oplum fixtures during which 1,28 ounces were destroyed and the following items burned: Plpes, 4,433, pipe bowls, 433; lamps, 3,003; boxes, 3,497; vessels for opium cooking, 0. About 9,000 needles used for morphine injections were all given up and troken. In that province it is absolutely necessary to have a certificats to buy opium, and the same person can only get his supply a month, the allowance being fixed by the oplum eommissioners. 1 find a general belief among the Chiness once (Continued on Page Four) TYPICAL REFORMERS-ALL HIGH OFFICIALS MUST GIVE UP THE HABIT,