The Sunday Oregonian., May 13, 1917, SECTION FIVE, Page 4, Image 66

"TITE SUXDAT OREGOSKW, PORTLAND,
MAY 13, 1917.
FRANK G. CARPENTER WRITES OF OUR NEW INDUSTRIAL EMPIRE FROM STANDPOINT OF RRE&AREDNESS.
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WASHINGTON, D. C. It thrills mo
when I think of my job. I am
to write a series of letters about
our new Industrial empire from the
standpoint of preparedness. I have
agreed to travel over the United States
and make on-the-ground studies of the
revolution that is eoingr on in our
farms, factories and mines. I want to
show their Importance in this critical
stage of our history. I want to investi
gate their wonderful resources, and
how they may best be developed in
view of the enormous demands .that
have arisen In connection with our
rreat war with Germany and with the
trade war that will probably result
when peace comes.
I'wonder if you realize what a preat
possession the United States is? It is
the best business proposition in the as
sets of the nations. It is by far and
large the richest country on the face oi
the globe, and its possibilities are be
yond the dreams of national avarice.
Suppose we take a look at the globe
and see what we have. Pick the conti
nents and islands out of the oceans and
crowd the land together into one block.
Measure it and you will find that, all
told, it is Just about 62,000,000 square
miles, and that the United States owns
more than one-sixteenth of the whole.
That means that If all the land upon
earth could be Joined in one farm and
that farm divided into 16-acre fields,
one acre In every field would belong
to us. If it were bunched into farms
of 160 acres each. Uncle Sam would
own a 10-acre field In every one of
those farms.
Now cast your eye once more at the
Rlobe and see where our land lies. It
is at Just the right angle in the face
of the sun to give us a climate that
will produce everything that man
wants, and at the same time, the ozone
to supply the ambition and energy to
drag the products from the soil. We
raise so much that we feed not only
ourselves, but a large part of the rest
of the world, and our country is so
situated that we have the best place
from which to trade with the whole
human race. Lying In the middle-of
the North American continent, we have
water highways which connect us with
the millions of Europe and the millions
of Asia." It is the- best-trading stand
In the market place of this big round
world.
. Our soil is so good, our mineral re
sources so great, and our position so
fitted for the accumulation of wealth
that we have already become the rich
est people of the whole human race.
Our wealth is of enormous account as
a. war asset. It is now estimated at
220 thousand millions of dollars. The
amount is so enormous that the human
mind cannot comprehend it. It is equal
to one-fourth of all the wealth of all
the world. This means that if all the
assets of all the earth could be turned
into cash, and from the mines could be
dragged enough ore to make sufficient
$20 gold pieces to represent that cash
one-fourth of all these gold pieces
would belong to us. If the golden
eagles could be loaded into bushel bas
kets, we would own a peck of gold of
every basket.
If we could separate our share of
the golden eagles and contrive a way
to count them, they would be 11,000,000
in number. If we could divide them
evenly among our population, there
would be about $2500 for every one of
us. At five to the family, there would
be more than $12,000 for every family
white, black and red of the whole
United States; enough, if invested at
5 per cent, to bring in $600 a year,
enough to give every, family an in
come of $50 a month for all time to
come. We are so rich that our new
war indebtedness is a bagatelle in
comparison with our national income.
Even at 4 per cent, the annual interest
charge on $3,500,000,000 would be only
$1.40 for each of us, or only $7 per
annum per family.
We have accumulated this great
wealth, although we have just begun
to develop our resources and are still
prospecting the country to find out
what they are and how they may best
be brought forth for the use of man
kind. .Let us stop and )ook at a. few
of our assets. We have now to make
a cost efficiency sheet as a military
necessity, and, like Germany, must
make every atom of material, industry
and energy tell. The purpose of my
travels will be to learn something of
where our wealth lies, to investigate
our resources, and find how they may
be developed, protected and made most
efficient for the present and future.
It is my plan to visit our chief food-
producing centers, and show something
of what part each has in the Nation's
prosperity. I want to go down into the
mines, and find out their place in Uncle
Sam s account sheet. I want to take
up the chief industries, and especially
the new industries which the troubles
in Europe have made so -necessary to
our industrial independence.
A large part of my travels will re
late to the farms. We need these to
supply our own wants and to aid in
feeding our allies in Europe. The farms
are Uncle Sam's biggest asset. They
brought in almost 14,000 millions of
dollars last year, which is more than
two and a half billion dollars above
the receipts of any crop of the past.
Nevertheless, the Agricultural Depart
ment believes that these crops might
be doubled, and improved farming is
being introduced into every part of the
country. The South has been getting
20 cents a pound for its cotton, and
the West about $2 a bushel for wheat.
The farmers received more than one
billion dollars for each of those crops
in 1915. They now have the capital to
inaugurate better soil cultivation. Many
of them are using motor cars to carry
tneir grain to the markets, and they
are plowing the fields with gasoline
tractors. I want to describe the new
discoveries in farming, and to give
some idea of our crops and the live
stock which so affect our meat and
bread baskets and the high cost of
living. f
As It is now, we raise so much on
our farms that one would think that
bread and meat should be cheap. In
1916 our grain crop amounted to more
than six billion bushels, enough to
give 60 bushels to every man, woman
and child in the United States, or 300
bushels per family. Of this, almost
three billion bushels were Indian corn,
the best all-round food ration for the
body of man. .We raise almost all the
corn produced by the world. Our crop
was equal to 150 bushels per family,
and In 1915 we led the world in -wheat.
We produced that year one peck of
every bushel of all the wheat raised
upon earth. The amount was equal to
50 bushels per family, and it sold for
more than $1.50 per bushel. The crop
was worth more than three times all
the gold, that was dug from the earth
In that year.
So much for the bread. Now for the
meat. We have, altogether, about 6,000
million dollars' worth of livestock, and
our domestic animals are r ore than 300
millions in number. We have so many
farm animals that if we could round
them up and divide them evenly among
us, every family in the United States
would have five hogs, three cattle, two
sheep and a horse. In addition, there
are countless turkeys, chickens and
ducks, and more than four million
mules to spare.
Moreover, this industry is at its be
ginning. We are raising more and bet
ter animals every year. Just now the
boys of the South and West are start
ing pig clubs and baby beef clubs and
the girls have their fowl clubs, and
with the aid of Uncle Sam they are
teaching their fathers how to raise bet
ter stock. I want to visit the great
packing centers in different parts of
the country, and also to talk with the
farmers as to the meat supply of the
future.
I want to show you the enormous
wealth we have buried in the rocky
heart of Old Mother Earth. We have
more minerals than almost any other
country, and we are now digging them
out at the rate of something like $2,
400,000,000 a year. If the product were
divided, it would annually give us $24
per head. We lead the world in cop
per and zinc, minerals of enormous
value In war. Last year we got $250,
000,000 out of our copper, and $113,000.-
000 from the sale of our zinc. . zinc
of that year hrouerht in mure limn mr
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gold mines, and the copper sold for
more than six times the amount of
our silver; this, on account of the high
prices of those .metals caused by the
As to our mineral resources, they
alone would make us the richest of the
nations. We have coal in 30 different
states, and if our . coal fields could
br- brought together, they would make
one great bed seven times as large as
the coal fields of all Europe, and more
ti.an 35 Mimes the area of those of
Great Britain. West Virginia alone
has more coal than Great Britain, and
Professor Tyndall has (-.aid that the seat
of that country's greatness lies in her
coal mines. As it is now, we are sup
plying 40 per cent of the world's coal,
and at the present rate of consumption
fc have enough left in the earth to
keep us going for 7000 years. ' We took
out enough last year to equal 22 tons
for every family in . the country, and
the black diamonds were worth at the
mines more than $700,000,000.- There
is one little patch of anthracite in
Pennsylvania whose yearly output is
worth more than one-third of all the
gold that is annually mined.
We have the biggest oil, fields of the
v. orld. I want to visit those of Cali
fornia and of the great Southwest. This
is the age of gasoline and fuel oil.
Gasoline moves the war tractors, the
military automobiles and the scouting
aeroplanes; and fuel .oil sends the
trains over the railroads and our naval
vessels through the. water at express
speed. Petroleum has become a vital
necessity in time of war, and a nation
is powerful or weak in proportion to
its supply of this mineral. Here again
the United States leads the powers. It
is now producing more than half of
a'l the oil that comes from the earth,
and our annual product from Texas,
Louisiana and Oklahoma alone is worth
more than $200,000,000. So far, we have
f'-rnished 60 per cent of all the petro
leum that has ever been used by man
kind, and today our oil fields are turn
ing out four times as much as those of
Russia, with the war spurring the lat
ter to their fullest activity. I want to
describe the new things in oil produc
tion. The fuel has become so valuable
that they are increasing the flow and
eliminating the waste. They are also
spending large sums to save the nat
ural gas which so often lies in a great
bed over the oil. This gas sold for
more than all we got from our gold
mines and millions more were lost in
the waste. Our output of petroleum is
now so large that If it were divided
evenly it would give ten gallons a week
tne year round for every family under
Uncle Sam's flag.
Tne farms and the mines are only
tl - r our ffrea.t manufacturing
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mainder of the Spring months. His or
ders involve an extension of the co
operative principle to the farm and gar
den division of school work.
Every school in the city becomes at
once an enlistment station for boys
not less than 14 years old under an
agreement between the boy, the em
ployer and school authorities, by which
the boy can be excused at once from
school for the year, but will receive
credit for his farm work in lieu of
school attendance.
industries. Here is another asset of
Uncle Sam's wealth, which is so great
that the human mind cannot compre
hend it. We are only at the beginning
of our National existence, but we have
become the workshop of the world. We
have more than $22,000,000,000 invested
in factories, and our product is worth
n.cre than $25,000,000,000 a year. .We
have about twice as many men as there
ore in our standing srmy engaared in
rraking Iron and steel of one kind or
other, and the additional men in the
foundries and machine shops are more
than one-third of a million. We have
about 500.000 hands engaged in the
lumber Industry and more than 380.000
employed in the cotton mills. Alto
gether we have more than 7,000.000
nun and women who are earning their
living by the work of their hands, and
their wages are greater now than ever
before.
Our manufacturing product steadily
increases, and the variety of our indus
tries extends from year to year. The
great war in Europe has forced us
into new lines of labor, and we are now
making hundreds of articles which we
formerly brought at high prices from
over the oceans.
I want to investigate the new chem
ical factories which nave recently been
established in different1 parts of the
Lotted States, and to show how they
will make us Independent as to paints,
dyes and drugs. Germany has invested
vast quantities in -the making ,of dye
stuffs, and she has almost $200,000,000
devote., to the production of potash.
Tr.e United States ought to be Indus
trially independent, and we shall man
ufacture a great proportion of such
things in the near future. We shall
f:et our colors from our own coal sup
ply, and shall eventually grind our pot
ah out of our rocks. We hope to be
come Independent even of Chile, and
Congress has lately appropriated $20.
OcO.OOO to squeeze our nitrate aut of
our own circumambient air.
I want to visit our great electrical
works, which are among the wonders
of the world. There is a company at
Pittsburg that employs 20.000 hands,
and another at Schenectady whose fac
tories cover the area of a-good-sized
farm. They are making new things in
electricity for the factory, the house
and the farm, and the day will come
when all that men will have to do will
be to press the button and this "light
ning in harness" will do the rest.
Speaking of electricity brings up the
subject of Uncle Sam's water power. I
expect to show what the falls of Ni
agara are doing and how we have hun
dreds of other waterfalls working day
and night all the year through to add
to the wealth of the nation. It is
claimed by Government officials that
we have about 60,000,000 horsepower
which is still undeveloped, and that in
addition to the amount already in use.
This means that we have that vast
force going to waste. It is as though
we had 60,000,000 horses pent up in
our stables from .one .year's end to the
other. The engineers estimate that
the force Is equil to the eneriry nro-
duced by 400.000.000 tons of coal. It
would be enough to operate all the
factories, run all the street cars, light
all the houses and heat all the homes
of the United States. This force repre
sents a loss in coal and labor of more
than $200,000,000 per annum, and this
loss will continue until the hydraulic
engineers round up the water-power
bronchos and break them to harness.
But It Is. Impossible to mention all
the assets in the great balance sheet
of Uncle Sam's wealth. I might speak
of our forests, which, notwithstanding
the waste of the past, are still enough
to make a board walk 30 feet wide and
an Inch thick from the earth to the
sun; of our railroads, whose tracks are
long enough to reach 10 times around
the earth at the equator; of our do
mestic commerce, which surpasses that
of any other land upon earth, and of
our foreign trade, which last year
amounted- to $5,500,000,000. I might
show how the money of other nations
has been rolling into the United States
in great streams and how the hard Kold
coin and bullion now In the Treasury
vaults here at Washington amount to
more than $2,500,000,000. I have writ
ten enough, however, to give you a
glimpse of our wonderful wealth and
to show that our resources and indus
tries are well worth, mobilization. In
this letter I have mentioned only some
of the principal items, crowding a
world, as it were, into a nutshell. My
correspondence to come will be .along
the same lines, as I go to and fro over
the country. My first letters will re
late to the South, where I expect to be
traveling for some months to come.
Schoolboys Enlist for Farms."
CINCINNATI. O.. May 2. Superin
tendent of Schools R. J. Condon has
launched a movement to release a small
army of Cincinnati schoolboys for work
on farms nnd in trardens during the re-
BOYS SAVE MOTHER'S LIFE
Revolver Knocked From Hand of
-Man When Directed atVYonian.
CLEVELAND. May 4. The two small
sons of Mrs. Minnie A. Wehner prob
ably saved her life the other day, when
they fought with an armed man who
broke into their home at 1873 West
Forty-seventh street, threatening to
kill their mother. The boys threw
themselves upon the man just in time
to knock a revolver from his hand.
The weapon exploded, however, a bul
let striking Mrs. Wehner in the right
leg. After the shooting- the man fled,
and police were unable to find any
trace of him.
Mrs. Wehner told the police that as
the man rushed into the room where
she and her boys wer sitting he
pulled the revolver from his coat pock
et, saying he would kill her. The
boys. John, aged 12 years, and Joseph.
14 years old. then leaped at the man.
Mrs. Wehner. who was taken to the
German Hospital, recently filed suit for
divorce, charging her husband, George
Wehner, with gross neglect and ex
treme cruelty.
WASHBURNES JOIN COLORS
Three Sons of ex-Mayor of Chicago
Doing Military Duty.
CHICAGO. May 3. Three sons of a
former Mayor of Chicago, Hempstead
Washburne, and grandsor. of Eilhu B.
Washburne. Secretary of State In Pres
ident Grant's first Cabinet and Minis
ter to France in 1S71. have Joined the
colors. Mr. Washburne, who was chief
executive of Chicago 25 years ago,
said he was "tickled to death."
Clark Washburne. the eldest. 32
years old. has joined the radio service:
Gratiot. 27 years old. is a member of
the First Illinois Field Artillery, and
Hempstead. .Jr., the youngest of the
three, has entered the Navy.