The Washington times., 1910-02-06
FOOD PROBLEM VITAL.
SAYS PRESIDENT BROWN
Captain of Industry Thinks Increased Production of
Gold Has Great Effect on Advance in Price of
Necessities of Life

ton OF millions Of acres OF new land
The result that followed was newt
liable The products Of the nations
farms soon SO far exceeded the demand
for then. that prices fell far below the
bare cost Of production.
4 I have seen as good corn as the States
1 of Iowa, Kansas, ana Nebraska ever
grew sell for 10 and = cents per busheI,
and IL was a drug on the market at
that price
/ I have seen this corn burned for fuel
on the farm. because II was cheaper
/ than wood of coal
is it strange that such conditions re-
I suited in a ruinOus collapse in farm
] values in Pennsylvania, New York. and
/ New England, or that they begot meth
/ ods or habi;s Of unthrift and improvi-
/ denCe in the cultivation OF the soil In
the VVest2
These conditions prevailed not only in
our own country, but abroad.
Railroads sre being built in Russia
Australia, Argentina, India, and New
Zealand, and cheap land. with its cheap
| product, competed in every market on
the globe.
No Encouragement
To Do Better Farming.
Why eXpend money or especial effort
! TO increase production when the most
Indifferent farming produced more than
could be used and the surplus in many
cases would not bring the bare cost OF
productions Why spend money in build
/ Ing Up and euriching the soil when. for
| 1000 miles from the Mississippi 10 the
/ Pacific, land as rich and fertile as the
| best on earth could be had for asking2
This question applies now 20 a vital.
burning problem in which lie the issues
| or national life OF death
For thirty years after the war pro-
cuction exceeded consumption. and
there was a steady. continuous. heart
breaking decline IN values Of the
thing produced
Now. and for ten years past, con-
sumption IS overtakinE production 18th
alarming rapidity, and values are ris-
/ ing by leaps and bounds
Then increased consuuption could be
1 provided for by increased acreage: now
| this is impossible Increased cOnsump-
/ ton can only be met by increased pro-
dUction on substantially our present
I acreage
| Then the outlook for agricultural i'm
DTOvemeut in the Eastern States was
/ dark and almost hopeless the market
was limited. prices low and the tend
| ency was always down Now the mar
( EeI is unlimited at liberal and steadily
advancing prices
Then there was A reason for cheap
: land i'm this and other Eastern States;
row every acre Of Agricultural Land,
worn out and impoverished, as much u
I fl is. is worth 800 per acre to build up
and repIenish-
! Use Of Fertilizers
Pays Hundred Fold
Then there was little incentive to fer
tilize and maintain the soil BY the use
Of commercial fertilizers now these ex-
penditures viii pay an hundred fold.
Then the choice between the expense
and work Of maintaining the fertility
Of tho soil in the older States, OF open
in= up and cuItivadng the rich virgin
soil in the West. was q legitimate one.
Now no such choice is possible The
vacant land is practically all occupied
The dav OF the settler and the home
steader has. passed Increased consump-
ton can no longer be provided for by
multiplying acres.
There is no alteTaative-we must in
crease. production per acre by more in
teUiEeut methods, OF We must face the
relentless, certain day when we shall
not produce food enough TO supply our
own necessities
For the year Just closed, the product
Of the nations farms Appropriated So
O0lO05.OG0 in v.-lue. No man who has
made this subject a study doubts that
this could be doubled without increase
Of acreage!
Is It possible TO exaggerate, TO mag
Nifty the Importance Of this subject2 Can
the Imagination conceive Of q duty OF
higher. br0ader patriotism or one that
involves more far-reaching COmprehen-
sive philanthropy
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