The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-06-23
COLD SUPPLY INCREASES, so
 PRICES GO UP
But if United States Doesn't h. crease Her Gold Supply Prices Will Go Higher, Says PreSi-
 dent Brown.
Special from United Press.)

St. Paul, June 23-That the United States is facing the most serious crisis in it's history was the declaration of w. C. Brown, president of the New York Central system, in a sensational address delivered today at the Fist an- nual convention of the Minnesota State Bankers Association.
 He declared that the food consump- ton of the nation is rapidly exceeding it's production, that the gold supply is increasing so that its purchasing ng power is being materially reduced and that the development of farms of the country is the most imperative prob lem now before the national conven- tion.
 When the day comes that this na- tion fails to produce sufficient food to supply our own people, when we no longer send the product of our farms abroad bringing back the gold from foreign nations-what will be the cost of living in this country and where will the money come from to meet this cost?''
 President Brown discussed the fact that despite the boutiful crops grown in this country since 1898 prices of foodstuffs have steadily advanced and that this example has been followed by everything grown or manufactured', while the land values in the middle west have more than doubled. He said that there is a direct relation be- tween the increasing supply of gold and the high prices now prevailing in asmuch as gold, being indestructable, stays in the market while coal is burn ed. and grains. etc., consumed.
 Our failure to increase the pro- ducts of our farm in anything like the ratio of the increase in consump- tion," he declared, "is exerting more
 
 cost of living that is being exerted by all other classes, including gold Last year Argentina forged ahead of the United States and took first place among the grain export countries in the world in addition to shipping 60 per cent of all the meat consumed This was due to our lax methods.
 For half a century our exports of the product of our farms have kept steady stream of gold flowing to our shores. Now, when almost double the volume of money is required to tran- sact given amount of business as compared with ten years ago, the flow declining and seems certain to dis appear entirely.
 Unless We can increase the product per acre of the farms. of this coun- try, the most serious danger which we have now to face will be from within and not rom W1thOut-a danger in which battleships would be of little use. Other dangers pale into insigni- fcance as compared with the peril which confronts a nation no longer able to supply it's people with food. Necessity knows no law and hunger, lack of food, is necessity's last and most dangerous expression. A credit balance based upon our securities is a foundation no more dependable that money raised on promiseory notes. In time of stress when our banks must husband their resources to the last limit a flood of these securities must be taken care of to protect millions of similar securities held by the banks and trust companies as collateral for loans.
 ''It is money loaned intelligently for agricultural development that is ab- safeguarded. National de- cadence will follow agricultural deca- dence as inevitably as darkness fol- lows the seeting of the sum-