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Show ; ; - UTAH'S RESOURCES. Utah has always been -classed as a silver state, and if any resident of the state were asked what was the first product of Utah, the reply would unhesitatingly un-hesitatingly be "Silver." This reply, -however, would not be correct at thc present time. Silver must take a back seat now. Agricultural products have passed it in the onward march. A book just issued entitled "Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau Bu-reau of Statistics of the State of Utah," which, at first glance, looks exceedingly dry and uninterest ing, shows some very interesting tacts upon closer inspection. According to this matter-of-fact book, the value of agricultural products of the state for the year 3903, is considerably in excess of the value of the silver produced. This is not because the production of silver has fallen off, but because the products of agriculture have increased. The value of the silver produced is stated to be $10,480,000. While the value of the agricultural products is $11,C!7,772. The list of agricultural products and their values are given as follows : Wheat $ 2,ii00,(MMj Oats ' 510,000 Barley .' 332,000 Rye 40,500 Corn 72,500 Potatoes '. 770,000 Sugar beets 083.250 Lucerne .. 4,224,000 Tame hay 3j0,000 Wild hay 540,000 Other products 498,823 Xurseries 49,808 Orchards 831,J74 Vineyards 30,580" Small fruits 02,631 Total .. .$11,097,772 The alcove does not include pasturage for which 050,000 acres of land are used; nor does it include the wool crop, poultry, honey, and other incidental products of agriculture. , This same interesting little book shows in an other way that Utah is progressing and prospering in a solid and substantial manner. tAssessed valuation valu-ation of property in the state for 3903 is stated to be $128,000,000. For the previous year it was $338,000,000, showing an increase' of an assessed valuation for the year of $30,000,000. This increase represents almost wholly improvements on property, proper-ty, and as such improvements are assessed at not to exceed one-third of their actual cost, the actual increase in value was $30,000,000. Of this increase Salt Lake City's share was $12,000,000. This means that much additional cash increase of wealth, excepting ex-cepting what was borrowed on mortgages with which to make improvements. The total amount of mortgages recorded for the year in the entire state was $7,368,000. The mortgages paid off during dur-ing the year amounted to $4,068,000, making a net increase of mortgage indebtedness from the increase in-crease of values would leave a net increase in values of $27,000,000 in the state. Jn Salt Lake county thc net increase in mort-: mort-: gages amounted to $904,000, which, deducted from the net increase in values, leaves an actual increase in-crease in the wealth of the county of $33,000,000. This increase is chiefly in Salt Lake City, Avhere hundreds of new homes have been built, business blocks, factories and other buildings erected. It shows that for every dollar borrowed on mortgage, ten (dollars went into improvements. This is a showing which a community may well be proud of, and it is doubtful if any other state in the Union has made as much proportionate advancement in material wealth during the same period. . . |