Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-20
WHEAT AND THE WORLD.
Grounds for Mr.. HIu's WARNINGS ana
Exhortntions.
New York Tribune

1ANWNNAAAWMAs
New York Tribune.
Mr.. james j. Hill continues his warn.
ings and exhortRtions. the latest. uttere6
at the National Corn exposition al
Omaha being 10 the effect that we shall
before long have to import wheat " we
do not increase the productiveness Of our
farms. Goals to Newcastle would on the
face Of II 0eem TO be reasonable trade
compared with shipping wheat to the
greatest wheat growing land on earth.
Yet the essential facts are not all on the
surface. To those who look deeply into
the matter there Is seen to be only too
much cause for Mr.. Htlrs warnings, for
the fact is that the United States IL
steadily declining in It's production Of
wheat in proportion TO It's own population
and Is very rapidly declining in proportion
to the product Of other countries.
The United States has the ~unenviable
prominence Of being the only great wheat
country-excepting Argentina, where CON
ditions are so different as not to be rightly
comprehensive population Of which Is in
cressing more rapidly than the production
of wheat. In the twenty-five years from
1881 to 1906 the thirteen wheat growing
countries OF Europe increased In pOpula-
ton 26 per cent and in production OF wheat
% per cent. As for Canada and Australia,
their population increased 81 per cent
and their wheat yield 40 per cent.
But in the same period the United States
and Argentina grew in population 6s per
cent, but in wheat production only 90 per
cent. In Argentina the growth of popula-
ton has been more largely through immi-
grafton than In the United States, and the
difference between it and the growth In
wheat production is less significant But
here II should be quite obvious hat n the
population continues to increase consid-
erably faster than the growth Of wheat
It is only q question Of time when the
wheat crop will be insufficient to feed the
people.
At the present time the United States
produces about one-flfth of the worlds
wheat crop and is probably still the chief
wheat country, though In some years Rus
STA has surpassed It But Argentina now
produces one-fourth as much and Canada
one-sixth as much, while Austrslis's crop
r. at least one-seventh as large IS ours.
The pr~opordonate exports Of some of these
countries are far greater than ours. In
some years Argentina has actually a<-
ported more wheat, not only proportion
ately. but absolutely. than the United
States. As for the outlook for future
growth We Jay already pointed out
that II ell the available and highly fer
tile wheat Ian Of Canada were cultivated
and produced at the same average rate as
the present wheat farms of that country
they would be ample to supply the whole
world.
Now, the most important point In Mr.
Hills address was the reminder that our
decline as a wheat growing country is due
to our failure to get as great a yield from
the acre as our rivals get. Russia alone
ranks below us, with less than 10 bushels
but surely we do not wish to be COM
pared with a land In which agriculture Is
in so primitive a state Our own yield is
less than fourteen bushels, while Austria
Hungary's is nearly eighteen. Frances is
nearly twenty, Canada's 10 more than
twenty, Germany's In twenty-eight and
Great BritaIn's is no less than t~hirty-two.
Mr.. Hill contends, with reason. that we
ought to improve our methods Of farming
so as to increase materially our average
yield.
It ought to be possible for us to in
crease our average 70, say, twenty bushels,
or about the same as that of Canals and
France. Certainly we should not bag be-
hind either In scientific knowledge Of soils
and the treatment Of them. and 1t would
be a sad reproach to Us TO be their In
ferior in enterprise and thrift The vast
ness Of our western wheat fields has too
much blinded US to the need Of main
tanning and increasing their virgin fer
tility. 1t has been a great thing to meas
ure wheat farms not by the acre. but by
A. ILL AHN - a. A. 1Nna - NhA
crop rather than the size Of the field that
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