The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1903-10-30

correct in his surmises. Relatively
speaking, the food consumers have in
creased faster than the food producers,
and unless there is an expansion along
the line of food production by inereas-
ed areas of cultivated fields and farms,
the food supply of the American people
in the future will be far more precari-
Gus than it has been at any time in the
past. AT first thought this might be a
cause for qualification of the producers
OF food, ON account of the higher pri-
ees that must inevitably follow, but
there is a consumers side 10 the uues-
ton which should not be ignored.
When the prices Of products get be-
yond the reach of the great mass of
consumers, demand will lessen and
consumption be reduced, followed by
fall in prices and losses to dealers
and producers.
Take the question of beef production
and prices. To-day, in proportion to
the population, there are said to be
fewer cattle in the United States than
for over fifty years, except for the
period Immediately following the Civil
war. The Americans by force of ne
cessity will have to become vegetarians.
j We are told that in Europe only the
wealthy eat meat. Are American
workers willing to come down TO the
+ level Of their cousins aesoss the sea?
There are those who say we eat too
much meat anyway, and perhaps die
tarians may in time induce us to reject
the juicy beefsteak and substitute some
''new process' cereal food preparation.
But when we listen to the "cult'' of
ve9etarianism we always think of
what DR.. Franklin said when he
found that big fish had swallowed a
little one-if they ate each other he
would continue TO eat them.
There is considerable of the animal
in man yet, and as long as that is true
/ the better fed he is, and to his own
taste, the better and happier an animal
viii ne be- Necessity is the mother of
invention, and need will work out a
way of supply. As Moses of old struck
the rock and brought forth water for
the thirsty Israelites, SO to-day mans
ingenuity and industry will enable
him to cause the earth to yield forth
her bounteous products so that there
may be a variety and a plenty for all
to cat.
There is solution of the food prob
lean without forcing us to cut down
our rations or take up food fads" in
the belief that they are better than the
wholesome substantials upon which
our fathers and grandfathers thrived
and left a posterity of healthy sons
and daughters. The nation whose
people are well fed and well clothed
IS not only the most prosperous and
happy, but peaceful, patriotic and in
dustrious. 1t is in times of peace and
+ prosperity that the progress of the
world is mos. marked-the arts and
sciences flourish and the moral and re-
ligious welfare of the people is promot-
+ ed. Intensive cultivation and irriga-
ton win furnish the solution of the
food problem of this country for at
least another century. Education and
the application of scientific methods
in soil culture will enable the farmer
10 increase the products of the soil.
Extensive farming will be replaced by
intensive cultivation, which will tend
to develop the greatest possibilities
of production to the acre.
The Inauguration of the policy of
national irrigation furnishes the kew
TO another solution of the food prob
lem. With millions of acres of arid
land, now unproductive deserts,
brought under great systems of irri-
CATION, the food supply will be increas-
ed to meet the demand, and thousands.
now homeless non-producers in our
oyer-crowded cities, will build homes
upon the land and become independ-
ent producers. The vast areas of
deserts which only need to be watered
and touched by the plow of the hus-
bandman, viii be made to yield a va
riety of products, and so increase the /
food supply of our country that under
wise management and distribution
there win he ample for all our people, |
East and West. But, considering the /
wonderful increase of our population .
and the costantly increasing demand I
for our food products abroad, the rec
lamation of our arid lands under
government supervision, has been
commenced none too soon. Let the
work be pushed with all possible speed,
and the present generation of this
country at least need have no fear of
having to face situation like that
confronting the people of efiete and
starving countries of the old world -