In speaking of the value of the farm crops and farm products of Kansas,
I can present a clearer idea of the wealth our farmers have digged out
of the earth by some comparisons. In 1881 the products of all the gold
and silver mines of the United States aggregated only $77,700,000; for
1882 they aggregated $79,300,000; for 1883, $76,200,000; and for 1884,
$79,600,000—making a total, for those four years, of $312,800,000. The
value of the field crops of Kansas, for the same years, aggregated
$411,092,498; and the farm products for the State for the same period,
aggregated in value $595,099,894—or very nearly double the aggregate of
all the gold and silver products of all the mines of the country.
The gold and silver products of the world average about $208,000,000 per
annum. The farm products of Kansas for 1885 aggregated $143,577,018, or
nearly three-fourths the value of the gold and silver product of the
world.
For the past four years the farm products of Kansas have aggregated in
value each year more than double the annual yield of all the gold and
silver mines of the United States.
The gold and silver products of Colorado, for 1883, aggregated only
$20,250,000; those of California, 16,600,000; of Nevada, $9,100,000; of
Montana, $9,170,000; of Utah, $6,920,000; of Arizona, $5,430,000; and of
New Mexico, $3,300,000. The corn crop of Kansas for the same year was
alone worth more money than the combined gold and silver products of
Colorado, California and Nevada; the oat crop of Kansas was worth
$705,000 more than the gold and silver product of Arizona; and the Irish
potato crop of Kansas was worth more than the gold and silver product of
New Mexico.