The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-08-23
WASTING NATURAL RESOURCES
JAMES j. HILL TELLS NEED Of
CONSERVING SOIL FROM
NOW ON.
Subject Will be Chief One Discussed
at Farmers National Congress at
Kansas City Next MOnth.-RaiIroad
President Says United States is
RObbing 1t Like 1t Is Destroying
Timber and Rifling Mines.

Kansas City. Mo-, Aug. 16.-"When
the most fertile land in the world
produces so much less than that of
poorer quality elsewhere, and this
low yield shows a tendency toward
steady decline, the situation becomes
clear that we are robbing the SOIL"
That statement made by James J.
Hill, president Of the Great Northern
railway tells briefly what the princi-
pal subject Of discussion will be at
the national conservation congress to
be held in Kansas City on Septem-
Der 25-2S.
Conservation Of the Soil will be the
main purpose Of the meeting. In ST.
Paul last year the main subject was
Public Lands; the year previous 1t
was Forest Conservation" This
time the meeting is being held in the
heart Of the agricultural country and
Saving the soil' is to be the one i'm
portant topic.
Mr.. Hill. who Is studying agricul-
ture from the dollars and cent view
point as president Of the great rail-
way system has made a study of what
he calls "soil abuse" Some Of the
results Of Investigations that he has
been responsible for in this line are
best given in his own words.
Take the case of wheat" he says
the mainstay Of single-crop abuse.
Many of us can remember when New
York was the great wheat producing
| State Of the Union. The. average yield
| OF wheat per acre in New York for
| the last 10 years was about IS BUSH
| els For the first five years Of that
10-year period 1t was 1874 bushels,
and for the last five years ia BUSH
els. Farther west, Kansas takes high
| rank as a wheat producer. It's av-
erage yield per acre for the last 10
years was 14.16 bushels. For the
and for the last five years 1918.
up in the Northwest, Minnesota
wheat has made name all over the
world. Her average yield per acre for
the same 10 years was 1896 bushels.
| For the first five years tt was 1912,
| and for the last five 1878. We per-
ceve here the working Of a uniform
| law Independent Of location. Of soil,
or of climate.
1t Is the law Of a diminishing re-
turn due to soil destruction. Apply
this to the country at large, and it
reduces agriculture to the condition
| of bank whose depositors are stead
| lily drawing out more money than they
put in.
According to the last census the
average annual product per acre of
the farms Of the whole United States
was worth $11.38. 1t is little more
| than a respectable rental in some
| communities where the soil is proper
ly cared for and made to give a rea-
sonable return for cultivation. There
are but two States in the Union whose
total value of farm products was over
$50 per acre Of improved land The
| great State of Illinois gave but
s12.4S. and Minnesota showed only
sS.74.
| "No discrimination attaches to
these figures. where all are SO much
at fault. Nature has given to us the
most valuable possession ever COM
mitted to man. 1t can never be du-
plicated, because there is none like
ii upon the face of the earth. And
we are racking and impoverishng it
exactly as we are Telling the forests
| and rifling the mines. Our soil, once
| the envy of every other country, the
attraction which draws millions of
| immigrants across the seas gave an
average yield for the whole United
States during the 10 years beginning
with 1896 of 1875 bushels Of wheat
per acre. Austria and Hungary each
produced over II bushels per acre.
France 1913, Germany 276, and the
United Kingdom 1922 bushels per
acre.
For the same decade our average
yield of oats was less than 80 bush
els, while Germany produced 46 and
| Great Britain Az. For barley the
figures are "a against 33 and SO; for
rye 1914 against "a for Germany and
2G for Ireland. In the United King