The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-09-15

CHICAGO, Sept. 14.-"The idea
that we feed the world Is being cor
rected and unless we can increase
the agricultural population and their
product, the question of source of
food supply at home will soon super
sede the question of a market for
our products abroad" This was the
warning given by James J. Hill at the
convention of the American Bankers
association today, during discussion
of the decline Of agriculture and its
consequences. Mr.. Hills subject was
National Wealth and the Farm"
Food Supply Short.
I'VE have" said the speaker, "al-
most reached a point where, owing to
increased population without increas-
ed production per acre, our home food
supply will be insufficient for our own
needs; within ten years, possibly less,
we are likely to become a wheat I'M
porting nation; the percentage Of the
population engaged in agriculture and
the wheat produced per acre are both
falling; at the same time the cost Of
living is raised everywhere by this
relative scarcity of bread, by artificial
increase in the price of all manufac-
tured articles. and by habit OF ex-
travagance which has enlarged the
view of both the rich and poor IF
what are to be considered the neces-
saries of life. These plain facts should
disturb and arouse not only the eco
nomic student but the men who are
most intimately related to the wealth
of the nation and most concerned that
1t shall not suffer loss OF decrease"
Farm Is handspring.
Mr.. Hill said the farm is our main
reliance and that every other activity
depends ON that. He asserted, how ;
ever that the majority Of people fail
to realize practically the declining
status of agriculture in the country.
''"rhey are misled by the statistics Of
farm values and products, mounting
annually by great leaps. into thinking
that this absolute increase implies a
relative advance of this industry as
compared with Others" said he. "Ex-
actly the opposite is the case. I re-
fer not merely to the quality and re-
suits of our tillage but to the setting
of the human tide away from the
cultivated field and toward the fac
tory gate or the CITY slum. This is
netting whose consequences for
evil are as certain as if the aggregate
deposits in all the banks of this cOun-
try were decreasing bv fixed pei
centage every ten years, while their
loans were increasing by another per-
centage Just as stable. You would
know what catastrophe that assured
by and by.
Population Hastens to City.
"In 1890 only about 3.4 per cent of
the American people lived in towns.
At the time of the Civil war the per-
centage had risen to 16. In 1900
more than 81 per cent Of our popula-
ton was urban. The change is por-
tentuous and there is no doubt that
the coming census will show it to have
proceeded in the last ten years with
accelerated speed. IN spite Of the
warnings of economists, the ameliora-
ton of farm life. the opening of new
and attractive employment on the
land through the spread of irrigation
and the growth of the fruit industry.
the encouragement Of public men and
the wider dissemination Of agricul-
tural education. the percentage Of our
population who work on the farm con-
stantly declines. If that proceeds too
far. 1t is as IL dry rot had eaten
through the timbers supporting some
great structure. We should consider
new the change accomplished and
that impending.
What Will the End Be?
"a stationary or declining product,
a soil becoming annually less produc-
tive, revolt against the life of the
farm and a consequent rise in wages
am ounting, since 1895. to 56.6 per
cent with board, compel such a rise
of all prices as bears ruinously upon
town and country alike. Our real con-
Germ is not so much to save the home
market from the inroads of the for
eisner as to keep 1t from destruction
by an enlarged city life and a neglect
ed country life, a crowded artisan
population clamouring for food and a
foreign demand for the product of