The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1888-10-20
MEANS OF SUBSISTENCE.
MEN WHO PREDICT THE EXTINCTION
OF HUMANITY BY STARVATION.
Facts More Convincing Than Theories.
The Whole Matter of Food Supply Revo-
lutionized-lhe Coming Man May Die

thEtS MORE convincing 1non theories,
The Whole Matter of Food supply Revo-
lutionized-lhe Coming Man May Die
of Ovcrcatins
1t seems strange that at timo when food
of all kinds is cheaper and more plenty than
it ever was before i'll the history of the
world, and when famine nowhere exists,
men of mind and learning should be pre-
dieting the extinction of humanity by starva-
ton. Still the matter has recently been dis,
cussed by Mr.. Frederick b. Hawlev in the
Quarterly Journal of Economics and by Mr.
Edward Atkinson i'll The Forum Both
writer's refer at length to the writings of
Nautilus and Ricardo, the first of whom
taught that there is n tendency of population
to increase faster than th, means of subsist.
ence-the first increasing in geometrlcal
and the last i'll an aritEnetical ratio-and
the second of whom showed that land cuiti-
waited for a series of years yielded diminish
ing returns i'll proportion to the amount of
labor and capital expended upon 1t.
1t is certainly difficult to refute the propo.
sitions of Nautilus and Ricardo by arguments.
They We're acute reasonerS and plausible
writers. Facts, however are more conviu-
cling than theories. The population of the
world is much greater than when these men
wrote and food is cheaper and more plenty.
Science as applied to the raising of crops
anu to transportation has revolutiouizad the
whole matter of the supply of food. Fifty
years ago wise men Informed their SONS that
the time would soon como when the. could
eat white bread but half the time. for the
reason that wheat enough could not hc cut to
supply the material to make it. There WAS
then no implement for harvesting wheat but
the sickle. But the horse harvester and self
binder soon made wheat cheaper than corn
was when the pre- ,icton was made.
THE PAST AND THE PRESENT
Forty years ago Il man wi il a hand hoe
the only implement uscd-could only plant
and cultivate four acres of corn. BY the aid
of machines one man now finds no difficulty
III planting and tending forty acres. Expert
ments are now being made with machines for
harvesting and thrashing corn. and within
five years time they will be brought TO per.
lection and in general Use. Potatoes are now
planted. cultivated dug, sorted AMI baggcd
by machinery. The machine has done more
for the field than for the shop in the matter
OF increasing production.
Skill i'll breeding and feeding has reduced
the time necessary to prepare II steer for tho
market from four Years To about eighteen
months. ~ lew years ago 1t was estimated
that the product of five acres of land was
necessary to support COW or steer Now
the product of one acre, preserved III II silo,
will keep the animal Silage is the coming
food for nll animals kept on farms for the
purpose of producing meat.
Producing new varieties of small fruits
and melons and improving their cultivation
have added much to the food supply of the
world. Fruit is now almost as common on
tables as bread. Melons, oranges. strawber
ries and grapes form parts of the poor mans
breakfast. Sugar is one of the cheapest
articles OF food, and tho country is flowing
with honey" strained for its waxcn comb
and costing but four cents per pound. Dur
ing the past few years grapes during their
season have been about us cheap rs potatoes
and the prospect is that they will soon l,e in
Guided among the most common articles of
food