The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1910-04-01

speech that he delivered at the Mime
sofa State Fair at St. Paul, on Septem-
Der 8, 1906. In this speech he dwelt
forcefully upon the depletion OF the
soil, through failure to rotate crops and
apply the proper amount OF fertilizer.
He told how little Of this and how little
of that the American farmer grows to
the acre. He told how much more OF
this and how much more OF that the
European farmer grows to the acre.
And, his figures were startling. They
were the same figures that President
Brown, of the New York Central, used
four years later. Likewise, Mr.. Hill
drew dreary picture of what country
this would be, say in 1850, if the pres
ent agricultural methods were con-
tinued. More than 100000, 900 OF
population. Hungry men in the
streets. Hungry women in the homes.
Even the children hungry. Not enough
food to go around. But not one word
did Mr.. Hill say about low acreage pro-
duction as a cause of high prices-that
was an Observation-Disclosures acreage
production was as low then as it is
now, and the cost of living was so high
that it had become burdensome.
The next public occasion upon
which Mr.. Hill expressed himself upon
this subject was at the conference on
the conservation of natural resources
which was held at the White House,
May 1915, 1908. He drew little
darker picture than he had drawn two
years before at St. Paul; quoted Lord
Macaulay's prediction that the time
would come in America, when multi
tudes of people, none of whom has had
more than half breakfast, or expects
to have more than half dinner, will
choose legislature, but again neg
lected to assign low acreage production
as the cause of the prices that were
still high.
On September IA, 1909, Mr.. Hill
spoke again--this time at the annual
convention of the American Bankers
Association in Chicago. The storm
against high prices that was to break in
December was already in the air. Per-
haps little of the storms electricity
thrilled Mr.. Hill. At any rate, the
idea that had been evolving in his
mind since he spoke at St. Paul, came
forth full-fedged. The country was
going to the dogs. The high cost of
living threatened to wreck it. And
low acreage production, together with
the abandonment of the farm for the
city-things that he had not assigned
as causes Of high prices, either at St.
Paul or at the White House confer
ence-were blamed for the situation.
I have just quoted Mr.. Hill as say
ing that the country was going to the
dogs" He didn't use precisely those
words. He used stronger words. Here
is what he said to me in October,
1909:
IF this country keeps on as it is
going, it will be wrecked-revolution
will destroy it.
THE high cost of living has wrecked
every nation that has lost its life, ex-
cepting only those that have been con-
quered and annexed by other powers.
Il repeat, that this nation is on the
high road to destruction. l do not ex-
pect, however, that it will be de-
stroyed, because I believe the people
of this country have too much common
sense. Before it is too late, they will
get on the right track"
Mr.. Hill gave me copies of the
three addresses mentioned, and then
went on to draw his indictment.
Tersely put, he said this country was
suffering from too much city, too little
country, and too poor farming, together
with national tendency toward extrav-
agant consumption. I have already
told what he said about small produc-
ton to the acre. This fact he drove