Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-08-23
The Bread of Nations.
a WORD FOR PERSIA.

! There is nothing in our welfare more
important than our bread, for without this
everything else goes Ill aud life itself fails
| Yet the mass Of wel-to-do people do not
seem 10 think much upon the subject, and
I they look upon their daily bread quite as
much matter Of course As the water and
air which are 50 free and universal. Once
/ in a while light crop Of cereals, or
famine, or rumor Of one, in some distant
land stirs the attention Of the community,
and we perhaps minge fellow feeling for
the sufferers with congratulation upon our
generally favored lot Yet we do not wise
II discern the sources Of our plenty, nor
appreciate the immense amount Of labor
and skill employed in securing bread to the
nations 1t is good from time TO time 10
have an eye to this matter, and measure
our fields of supply and the extent and
promise Of their products. The record Is
becoming more and more full and minute,
yet it Is remarkable that the Christian ma
tions almost alone keep a careful register
and there is something in heathenism Of ali
sorts that Is essentially wanting in humane
political economy. The nations that began
history have in part ceased 70 be histori-
cal and Egypt Persia and India have
small place in the report Of our living age
and cosmopolitan craftsmanship.
The report Of Mr. : b. Ruggles. of the
international Statistical Congress At the
Hague, in 1869, presents to our Congress
and people, some Of the largest summaries
that have ever been possessed, anu shows
rs the great Importance OF our Amerlca in
feeding the nations. Europe, with popu-
lation OF 29G millions, furnished in 1869,
4,15A.5l6. .GO4 bushels Of cereals or Is
bushels to each person. while the United
States furnished 405 40 .653 bushels, or
36 bushels 10 each person, a great proper
tion indeed, but less by two bu~he', tlan
the proportion In 1860 when American
industry touched its highest mark. The
comparison is not so much in our favor If
we look only to the crop Of wheat, which
with Us ia l~6N gave BIB 20 each person
IN the United States, while in Europe the
proportion was 49, to each European
while our crop OF Indian corn reached over
SIS millions, more than double the whole
corn crop OF Europe which was only 332
millions of bushels.
Such large figures as these raise startling
I
food Blt the alarm Of Ma ,hl- and his
school Of croaker, has ceased In the light
Of plain facts. which show that food multi
plies far more than mouths. and thar the
mouths 10 not increase as was once cN-
pected The new methods of rec.4.min-
waste lands and making old land, more
fruitful by drainage, thorough culture aud
feru.izing the improved farming imp.e-
ments and the ease and eheapueSs Of har-
vesting and Transporting the crops, have
vastly enriched the grauarie, Of the nation.
Then we have the remarkable fact that
what /, usually called high civilization does
not favor great tecuudity, aul with the
increase OF luxury and expense, marriage
and children show diminishing proportion,
so that while the good o.d-ia.Aionel Dutch
keep up the rate of increase To nearly five
children to a married couple, the French
rate Is, according TO Nr. Ru1g.es. bur 3
$40. anl the British rate but = 4-lo. His
estimate Of tha probable population of
Europe ana ,he United States ia 1850
stands thus