Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1910-02-22
PRES. BROWN GIVES
FAMINE WARNING
Says IT,. This Country Will Fall
Short Of Fcodstuffs for Home
Consumption - Must Increase
Acreage.

BOSTON, Mass, Feb. 6.-Presl-
dent William Brown of the New York
Central railraod was the principal
speaker at banquet of representa-
tives OF New England railroad inter-
ests at the Hotel Somerset.
The speech coming, as It does at
the height of new food tide of ma
tional prosperity, was intended for a
warning of the most seri ,us import
1t gains added force by its reiter-
alton OF the recent admOriiions o.
James l.. Hill, as well as those OF
visiting students of our internal Of
fairs, and 1T is especially timely In
view of the fact that the employees Of
all railroads east of the Mississippi
are formulating demands for an in
crease In wages based On the In.
creasing cost of living.
Mr.. Brown declared that produce
ton per acre must be increased by
Intelligent methods or we shall not
produce food enough to supply our
own necessities. The wages Of la
Dor, he said, must continue to ad-
vance in fair ratio with the steady
increase in the cost of living.
Mr.. Brown said in part:
The most portentous cloud dis
cernible upon the political or eco
nomic. horizon at this time is the
seady, relentless increase in price of
everything that goes to make up the
cost of living.
/. with succession of bountiful
harvests the price of grain has stead
steady, relentless increase In price OF
1s0s-'0s shows great increase over
those OF 1908. With a normal In
crease and no disease Ito deplete our
herds, values have increased marvel
ously. The products of the forest
make an equally marvellous showing
During this time farm land in all
parts Of the west and middle west
has fully doubled in value.
, This unusual phenomenon OF
steadily rising values in the fact of
long succession Of bountiful crops
is one Of the most important as well
as interesting problems that con-
fronts the political economist of to-
day. t
Economists agree that there is a
direct relation between the quantity
of gold that is the basis of value and
the general Industrial conditions.
The gold production of the world for
the year 1896 was approximately
s202,231, 800. For 1906 It was APP
proximately $445,00O.000. an In
crease of l20 per cent.
THE significance of these facts In
their effect upon present and future
values may be better comprehended
when we recall the fact that gold l;
indestructibe..
For that reason the pay of Labor
has steadily advanced and must con-
tinue &c advance In some fair ratio
with the increase in the cost OF
things that labor must buy. To pu,
1t in another way, wages must go vi
In about tho same proportion that
the purchasing power OF the money
the laborer earns goes down..
Another force is working fol
higher cost Of living, more insistent.
ly, more powerfully, and with sin
lister significance compared with
which all others become negligible
factors; and this Is the alarming
rapldity with which consumption o
the products OF the nations farms II
overtaking production.
III the converging lines OF nro
duction and consumption In the Uni
ter States continue to approach each
other as they have during the last
ten years, before the middle OF tho
DECADE upon which we have Just en-
tered has been reached. the last yes
sci loaded with the agricultural pro
ducts Of this country will have lef
'our shores, the exporting grain ele
vators in our seaboard cities viii
stand empty. and this great nation
like those of the old world. will bs
looking for place to buy the neces
saries Of life.
There Is no alternative-we mus
increase production per acre by NOR,
intelligent methods, or We must face
the relentless. certain day when We
shall not produce food enough to sup
ply our own necessities"