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Show MORE LIVE STOCK NOW THAN A YEAR AGO ' Government Statistics Contradict Reports That Prices Will Reach Unprecedented Un-precedented Figuies For tho first tlnio In many years, Information collected by t:io department depart-ment showg that all classes of llvo stock In tho United States aro In-ci In-ci easing In numbers. Thus tho rent facta contradict, ubsoluteiy, sensational sensa-tional reports that prices Tor meat .mi shots would rlso to unprecedented unpreced-ented figures In tho immedliita ruturu it has oteti been said that u go eminent em-inent statistician predicted meat ul lltty cents n pound nnd shoes tit J10 a pair within the next two years. Such n pcdlctlon, tho real government govern-ment btntlsticmns say Is quite unwarranted. un-warranted. On January 1, for examp'.o, tho number of beef cnttlo showed nn Increaso of 3.4 per cent over tho number a year ago, and nn actual Increase In-crease of 1,212,000 head. Hlthorto tho number of beef cnttlo In tho United Uni-ted Stntes has declined steadily slnco 1910. Thero nro nlB0 moro milch cows In tho country than last yenr, the inccaBo being 2.5 per cent or In numbers G25.000. Swine, however, how-ever, Bhowed tho greatest increaso of all classes 9. C per cent. On Jim-uaiy Jim-uaiy 1, 1914, thero wero Jiily CS.933,-000 CS.933,-000 swlno in tho country; on January 1, 1915, C4,C18,O00. This Is account-ed account-ed for by tho fact that tho production of swlno can bo Increased more rap-Idly rap-Idly than that of other classes of llvo stock and consequently nn enlarged en-larged demand can bo met moro readily. Tho prediction of CO cent meat and $10 shoes was accompanied by tho dec'aratlon thnt Franco alono has taken from America nearly 300,000 horses within tho last flvo months nnd that tho other countries at war havo drawn upon our resources In tho samo proportion. Tho facts aro that moro horses wero on tho farms of the United States on Janunry 1, 19.1,0, than thoro were a year before the Increaso being 233,000 head, or 1.1 per cent. So far from Franco nlono having taken 300,000 horses from us, tho total exports slnco tho war began hnvo certainly been much less than 100,000 and very likely not over ,75,000. Slnco thero nro approximately approx-imately 25,000,000 horses altogether In tho United States, tho drain on account of tho war Is scarcely alarm ing. It Is, In fact, pointed out by Government Govern-ment stntlstlslniia that tho miirkot val uo of farm horses has actually declined declin-ed to sitcli an extent thnt the avorago Is now about $0 a head loss than a year ago. This decline Is most not-Iceablo not-Iceablo In the cotton States and In those st.ites which make a business of bleeding horses for biiIo In other sections. sec-tions. Mules havo declined oven moro than horses, their value now bo-Ing bo-Ing $li.G0 per bond less than n year ago. Tho explanation Is to bo found in the depression on nccount of the cotton situation In tho South, which Is tho great market for mulos. An Im provement In tho respect will do much to restore tho domnnd for horses, hors-es, so that Government specialists, while ridiculing tho notion of a famine, fam-ine, aro convinced that farmors will rind It prolltablo to use good work mnres for breeding moro Block. As for hides, tho situation Is not quite bo clear, but oven hero thero has been much gross exaggeration. From two llfths to less than ono half tho leathor used In this country Is imported, im-ported, about 25 por cont from Canada 11 per cent from Mexico, 8 per cont from European IUiBsIn, and 1k per cont from Franco. Slnco tho outbreak out-break of tho war Importations havo shown a certain fulling off those for Soptombor, 1914, for example, being only 34,000,000 pounds, instead of 45,000,000 pounds tho yenr previous. Thoro is, howover, little reason to supposo that this decreaso will be permanent per-manent or of BUlllclont iniportanco to create any renl scarcity. Slnco tho great bulk of tho Imported hides cornea from countrlos that aro not at war, and tho only now factor to bo considered Is tho possibility of an Increased In-creased demand by thu warring countrlos. It Is bellovcd, howover, that tho United States Is now In a hotter condition con-dition to faco such a situation than for years past. Tho tldo, It seems, has turned. Instead of llvo stock steadily decreasing year after year, this year for tho first tlmo, as has been Bald, all classes show an appreciable ap-preciable Increaso. Including horsos, niu'es, milch cows, beef cnttlo, sheep, and swlno, thero woro on Jnnuary 1, 1915, 7,712,000 mora farm animals in 'H the United States than on January vliH 1, 1914. Tho IncrcaBO In tho totnl val- ? Uo was $78,024,000, or 1.3 per cent. H H Is qulto true that this Increaso is jl not vot proportional to tho increaso jl In population, which Is appropoxlmnto ' h ly 2 per cent; but the. fact, that thoro j Is an Increase, that tho tide soems do- ' jfl flnlloly to havo turned is regarded jl as a sufficient answer to alarming ex- 'H aggoratlons and misleading figures. jl Depart, of Agriculture. iH |