Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-09-14
jim HILL SOUNDS
NOTE Of ALARM
RAILROAD BUILDER DECLARES
THAT AGRICULTURAL PoPULA.
TloN MUST INCREASE.
HOME FOOD SUPPLY SOON
INSUFFICIENT FOR OWN NEEDS
Increase in Population Without In
creased Production Per Acre Will
Soon Compel United States to Pur-
chase Abroad - Reason For High
Prices-Hill Addresses Bankers.

chase Abroad - Reason For High
Prices-Hill Addresses Bankers.
Chicago, Sept. 14.-Bankers from
every state in the union, together with
representative of financial institutions
in Cuba and Hawaii, joined today in
the opening session of the convention
of the American Bankers Association
here. There are 5000 delegates pres
ent
Governor Deneen and President AL
bert, of the Chicago Clearing House
Association, welcomed the bankers.
Col. Robert j. Lowry, of Atlanta, Ca,
former president of the association,
responded. President Reynolds de-
livered his address and committee re-
ports were presented.
Reports of various committees and
officers of the association, together
with addresses of welcome and re-
sponses filled the morning session. The
principal address of the day by
James j. Hill, of the Great Northern
railroad, on National Wealth and the
Farm was scheduled for the after
noon session and was preceded by an
address by Comptroller of the Cur
rency Murray on problems of the
Comptroller's Office" The program of
the day also contained an address by
Speaker Cannon. A prominent feature
of the first days session was discus
sion of practical banking questions by
different delegates.
Hills Warning Note.
''The idea that we feed the world is
being corrected; and unless we can in
crease the agricultural population and
their product, the question of source
Of food supply at home will soon SUI
persede the question of 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.
1--WE have" said the speaker, "almost
reached point where, owing to in
creased population without increased
production per acre, our home food
supply will be insufficient for our own
need; 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 product 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 a habit of extra
vagance which has enlarged the view
of both rich and poor of what are to
be considered the necessaries of life
These plain facts should disturb and
arouse not only the economic student
out the men who are most intimately
related to the wealth of the nation and
most concerned that it shall not suffer
loss or decrease
Mr.. Hill declared that never yet has
enhanced cost of living, when due to
agricultural decline and inability to
national disaster.
People Mised by Statistics.
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
'4'hey 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. FIX
actly the opposite is the case. refer
not merely to the quality and results
of our tillage, but to the setting of the
human tide away from the cultivated
field and toward the factory gate or the
city slun. This is something whose
consequences for evil are as certain as
if the aggre gate deposits in all the
banks of this country Were decreasing
by fixei percentage every ten years
while their loans were increasing by
another percentage just as stable You
would know what catastrophe that as
sured by and by.
"It means the same thing, in kind
and consequences, when the agricul-
tural population, the producers and de-
positors in the great national treasury
of wealth, is declining year by year
while the city population, which
tilrives only BY drawing drafts ii,,::-ase ests ..re:
the land and can not live year after
these cease to be honored, rises at Its
expense. Yet not only is such crisis
approaching. but 1t is being hastened
by legislative stimulation in favor o1
other industries while overlooking
this.
Soil Becomes Less Productive.
"a stationary or declining product
a soil becoming annually less produc
tive, a revolt against the life of the
farm and consequent rise in wages
amounting, since 1895. to $3.50 per CEN
with board, compel such a rise Of all
prices as bears ruinously upon towr
and country alike. Our real concern IL
not so much ITO save the home marke
from the inroads of the foreigner a.
to keep 1t from destruction by an en-.
larged city life and a neglected coun.
try life, a crowded artisan population
clamouring for food and foreign de.
mand for the product of their wage.
limited to fields where the competition
Of all the world must be met and ov.
ercome.''
Cannon Discusses Legislation.
Speaker Cannon spoke ait today
session and declared the law enacted