Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-01-14
For Education.

they are rapidly approaching the day
when they will be forced to import
food because the farmers will not
raise enough to feed those who do not
produce it. Mr.. Brown calls attention
to the fact that corn has Increased in
price 1l1.2 per cent. potatoes 'p.o per
&c MT and hay Al per cent. over the
prices of 1885. in spite of the fact that
We have had Il series Of heavy crops
which would apparently more than
supply domestic consumption as well
as the demand of foreign markets.
He ascribes the unusual advance in
values in the fac" of the bOuntful
crops as a result of the increase in the
amount of gold. and the general in
dustrial conditions. He points out that
the world produced upwards Of 5000
600 900 worth Of gold in 1895 as against
s445 900, 900 in 1909. His explanation
If the effect this increase has upon the
cost of living is unusually clear He
says:
The significance of these facts
in their effect upon present and
future values may be better COM
pretended when we recall the fact
that gold is indestructible. In
some form the gold that Columbus
carried in the caravelS is in eX-
istence somewhere today The
crop grown in 1908 has been al
most consumed. The coal mined
last year has been burned, but the
gold produced year after year piles
up and as it accumulatrs it takes
more gold to buy Il bushel of
wheat, Il suit of clothes. a pound of
beef or any of the other necessities
of life"
His deduction is that the pay of
labor, which has steadily advanced,
will continue to advance with the
higher cost Of things that laboring men
consume. In presenting the matter
failure of the farmer to keep step with
the increase in consumption, to care
lessness. poor methods Of seed selec-
ton, fertilization and cultivation. He
says that we must increase produc-
ton per acre and declares it to be i'm
possible to magnify the importance of
this subject In closing he adds this
| optimistic note:
In this crisis, as in all the years
af he bI
sponded to the nations need, so
now he will respond again
Mr. Browns assertion that wages
must increase will be noted both by
his speech is read. He hires thou
sands of men in the great railroad
system of which he is the president
and must know something concerning
his subject. His belief that the increase
in the total amount of gold available
is the explanation most generally ex-
pected by students of economic prob
lens
He has touched upon the farm situa-
ton before. In a speech at Ithaca.
New York. he advocated scheme for
agricultural expansion through wide
spread education IN scientific agricul-
tufal methods when SHOWS nm to be
at least interested in finding some so
lu'i"h or the problem winch he out
lined in his Boston speech. A signifi-
cant eXampl" which he cited in his
New York speech is that Maine raised
225 bushels of potatoes per acre as
against 81 buShel in New York. It is
doubtful if Maine POTATOES will aver
age 2o5 bushel per acre throughout the
state, perhaps POO is Il fairer figure
but in any event we raise more than
twice as many potatoes per acre as
does New York,
Mr.. Browns system of nrovidino
Agricultural education was NOR o,,t-
V 80 w '''" '"' ''' val NUS meetings
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