The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-04-03
CHEAP MEAT DAYS
ARE GONE FOREVER
Food Certain to Cost More in
This Country for a Variety
of Reasons.
OUR RESOURCES FADING
CREAM OF FERTILITY OF OUR
LANDS SKINNED.

Bread and meat will never be lower
than they are now; they viii soon go
higher.
These are the conclusions Of DR.. Eu-
gene Davenport, dean OF the College of
Agriculture Of the University of Illinois.
In his article In the April issue of Good
Housekeeping Magazine he says:
We have SKINNED the cream OF the
fertility off most of our lands. Great
stretches Of country have already been
abandoned and all lands that have been
farmed for half century and declining in
production. except the few that have been
fertilized at the expense Of others near
by. No lands are good enough 10 endure
quarter OF century of exclusive grain
farming without marked decrease of
yield. One field at the University OK Illi-
nOis has raised corn sueee ssiYely thirty
years, and it has declined in yield on the
superior land at the beginning and was
too rich ever to wear out
Demand Sure to Increase.
Someone has said that the time has
come when TO fire cannon represents
the cost of college education, and to
build a bAttleship costs a university.
These conditions viii one day amend pub
lie policies. but it will only increase the
demand for bread, and now that we are
checking the agencies OF human destruc-
ton, We must understand what it will
mean in population Every life saved and
every infant preserved adds not only to
numbers, but to the average length of
human life. and. c0rrespondingly, to the
demand for food.
Il cannot see. therefore, any lasting re-
lief from the prospect Of permanent high
prices for food. Improved methods of
production will defer the day and soften
its coming, and reduced wages cOnse-
quent upon dense population, will re-
suit IN forced demand for q lessened
amount and a cheaper kind OF food for
the masses, and this, more than all other
causes, will keep prices in check. But
back Of II all lies the fact of the pres
sure Of population and the lessening fer
tlity that no race yet has ever stood
against nor can stand against except by
new and permanent methods of agricul-
ture, such as have not yet been generally
established.
Day of Cheap Meat over.
I'VE cannot afford to live in a fools
paradise in this matter The day Of cheap
meat Is over and that of cheap white
bread is passing. and unless we can
speedily establish more permanent ag-
riculture than has ever yet been estab-
lished, then will prices not only go high
er, but the most of men will be forced to
subsist on the cheaper foods. This for
sociological reasons. as well as for con-
siderations Of humanity, is eminently I'M
destra BILE The era of high-priced food is
fairly upon us, in spite of our boundless
% natural resources and our inexhaust-
ible fertility and the most that we can
do is to retard the speed and soften the
hardship of its coming by a timely and
scientific attention TO our agriculture
Much IS expected through reclama-
ton OF arid regions by irrigation, but the |
areas are relatively small, probably all |
told not exceeding that of illinois, and |
the great staple grains, grasses and |
meats will always be raised on nOn-irri- |
gated lands. These are largely occupied |
already. The largest relief comes in |
breaking up the range for grain farming, /
but this means the last of cheap meat |
and ii means neither a permanent food /
supply nor final reduction in price The |
permanent food supply is attainable only /
by permanent systems of agriculture that |
increase instead Of decrea sing fertility, /
and even these do not prevent population |
from overtaking production. In the end |
high prices for food are inevitable, and it /
looks as if we had fairly started or the |
road, and If that is so, the only financial |
relief is cheaper food or less of it,
Il am Ia all things N Optimist, not /
pessimist but we cannot afford to close |
our eyes to very evident facts. We have |
lived as have no other people in a super |
abundance OF food. That time is over. |
expect fluctuations in prices; but, for the |
reasons outlined, ] believe that the era /
of cheap food is mast forever"