New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-12-21
4 CAUSE OF EXCESSIVE CROPS.

Nature abhors n vacuum. but the bottom
| fault Of many such plans rs those or the cot
| ton growers OF the South. and the wheatgrow'
| ers of Kentucky and some other Western
States. IS that they are trying TO create a
vacuum. By reducing the crop not merely &c
| but below the worlds requirements they seek
to cause an artificial prce by the struggle of
| consumers. who cannot all be satisfied, to get
| the deficient quantity raised. AS these pro
| ducers are farmers they are not called grind
| ing monOpolists or Unsuitable plutocras, as they
| would be II they did similar things in trans
| portatiOn, trade or manufacture. The fault is
| that, not knowing exactly what the world will
| really require. they seek to make the output so
small that in any case Il cannot be more than
| the quantity needed.
All natural laws work against every such I'M
dertaking Being designed to insure the sub
sisence and promote the welfare Of the race,
these laws make It exceedingly difficult ever
to bring about by design or contrlvance an
actual deficiency Of any necessary commodity.
Accident, storms or bad weather may cause
that disaster, but human purpose rarely can.
The suliicien, reason IS that when men have
persuaded themselves that prices are going 10
be high because the supply will be short there
mine to secure a bigger share Of the benefits Of
high prices BY planting each little more than
his proportion. Restriction Of cotton growing
and wheat growing sometimes succeeds only too
we'll. and results In real deficiency OF supply,
but almos; invariably because unfavorablc
weather drouth. flood or frost supplements the
work OF design and cuts or part Of the crop
which would otherwise have been raised.
TO bring about reasonable reduction Of
yield Is far more easy, because the premium Of
expected monopoly prices IS not continually op
Grating 10 induce mutitudcs 20 plant more than
they otherwise would But when the extended
and organized effort was made not long ago
10 cut down the planting OF cotton the pro
posed reduction was SO great that. had u been
effected, the price must have risen unn1turally
high. and In consequence" complaints were heard
before the planting season was over from al.
parts OF the South that there had been much
more acreage planted than the agrcemcn! per
mtted Many thousand men. It was charged.
quietly put IN each a few extra acres IN order
10 got larger profits. SO there would hive been
no such inducement for sudden increase ~
acreage when farmers organized IN tho North
west few years ago. and endcavorcd 20 cut
down the yield OF wheat. II they had not de-
libcrately planned 20 reduce the yield far enough
to make the price over 81 q bushcl on the farms
But as nearly all wheat growers can clear
handsome profit AT that figure there were found
plenty who put more acres Into wheat because
they were led to believe that 81 a hushel would
be Insured.
The ablcst men connected with such organ.
ization are generally aware OF this difficulty,
and endeavor to avoid It by proposing no re-
duction which will create an actual made
quacy OF supply But then comes In the fatal
lack OF definite and positive Information. II
the farmers could know from year 10 year with
n fair degree OF accuracy how many acres had
been employed In wheat or cotton growing. and
what the yield had been, their efforts 10 rcgu.
late the production az 10 meet, but not great
ly exceed the demand might be wisely directed
and lncalculably beneficial Even then they
would miss in such exceptional year as this.
the enormous profits which come from having
grown 100, O00.O 900 bushels more than the worlds
usual needs, just when the outside world meets
disasters reducing its yield MS much or more
But in the absence Of sure ana definite informa-
ton efforts to control the production more fire.
quently result In disaster than In benefits to
the farmers and 1t is with reason that the
most intelligent OF them now urge more thor
ough and trustworthy methods Of crop report
ing than have yet been employed.