Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-11-02
BY LANES ]. HILL.

BY JAMES ]. HILL.
The food condition presses upon us
| now.
A shortage has begun.
AS far as our food supply is concerned
| right now the lean years are upon US.
We have to provide for a contingency
not distant from us but already present.
/ Thousands Of farmers are seeking homes
| In the Canadian northwest, owing ia
cheap lands offered there and the diff
| Guilty OF securing such lands in the Uni
ted States.
Yet we still retain the land laws I'M
der which, for so many years the great
heritage of the people has been passing
SO largely into unworthy hands.
Instead of preserving the fertility OF
their lands, our farmers have gone In
search OF new soils, to be skinned, robbed
and abandoned as soon as the old shows
signs OF exhaustion.
Now that there is no longer any west
to move on TO. what have they left be-
hind?
Since 1899 the average wheat crop in
the United States has fallen from 1915
t" IA bushels an acre. It is a dIsgraceful
record.
The fields. of Great Britain yield over
30 bushels. of wheat per acre. Germany
produces ZIG bushels per acre.
DR.. Samuel Johnson said of Eng
land: Trade and manufacture. how
ever profitable, must yield to the
lands In usefulness and dignity"
II DR.. Johnson could revisit his
country today he would find his ar
gument vindicated by an alignment
OF Industries so uneven. that business
in the streets Of her cities is i'm
peded by professions OF gaunt men,
shouting In wretched concert, I'VE
want work.
For many years the United States
has made the mistake of unduly as
sisting manufacture, commerce and
other activities that center in the
cities at the expense OF the farm.
and possibility OF free access to the
soil. This is the safeguard not only
of national wealth but of national
character.
For the sake of the coming mill
lions, who will be helpless unless
each can be furnished with a piece
Of tillable land, we should see that
the speculative abuses which these
land laws of ours have fostered are
brought to an end.
1t Is as well assured as any future
event can be that the population of
the United States will be zoe, 600, 900
Wy &DOnA VI lHc DTCSGnI
century. Millions OF persons now
living will see the zoo, 00O. 900 per-
sons here. How are they to be fed ?
Suppose the average yearly per
capita consumption OF wheat is six
and one-half bushels. 1t will then
require 1900. 000, 900 bushels OF wheat
for our bread supply. Twice only in
our history have we exceeded 100000
900 bushels.
Possible increase OF wheat produc-
ton by increasing acreage is limited.
We have no longer a great area OF
free public lands.
We will be left practically with a
shortage of 40O.O00,0o0 bushels. A
supply to meet the coming new de-
mand is nowhere in sight. I have
said many times in different articles
and addresses that a price of over
rather than under 81 per bushel
might be expected hereafter.
Suppose the United States produced
% bushels per acre, or double its
present showing. That would be moth
ing extraordinary in view of what
European countries have done with
inferior soils. 1t would have added
6S4, VO0, 900 bushels to our product last
year.
Such close and careful cultivation as
will yield the highest profit per acre can
best be given to land when 1t is cultivated
in small farms. Ten farmers. each culti-
waiting from 20 to 100 acres, with the most