Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1913-09-25
FARMERS OF UNITED STATES DO NOT
PROPERLY BALANCE NATIONS RATlONS

| ] will repeat that / have listed only
our agricultural imports which should
be raised in the United States.
The American farmer has solved the
problems of production and he is nov
confronted with the question of mar
keting his products. While he is sell
ing staple articles on a glutted mar
ket and his perishable products foul
the air with their stencil for want of
a buyer, the consumer is importing his
supply from abroad or living in want.
The nations menu must be made
up from the fields, pastures, orchards
and gardens and to farm inteiligently,
the farmer must know what is needle l.
The American people stand ready to
pay a reasonable price for things they
want, but substitutions can only be
made at unsatisfactory prices. 1t is the
mission of the farmers of the nation to
feed the world on the things they want
to eat. The means of communication
between the producer and consumer
are inadequate The voice of the con-
sumner is hardly audible beyond the city
limits, and there are no authoritative
highways of intelligence between the
seller and the buyer over which in
formation can safely travel.
The Nations Dinner Table.
Wien the dinner bell of this nation
hngs, there has been slaughtered for
tt" repast $4,000 beeves, $1,000 hogs,
1850 sheep, 1000 cwt of poultry and
other meats and there has been 700,-
600 bushels of cereals and $4,000, 900
pounds of vegetables prepared for the
feast. Multiply these quantities by
one thousand, representing approx
mately the number of meals per an
mum land we have the annual contents
of the nations larder. But with all
our immense quantity, superb quality
5 and wide range Of products, the Amer
! lean products, the American housewife,
like the wife of King ACKNOWLEDGMENT,
longs for variety and she goes market
S ing in foreign lands. She buys abroad
/ $780, 100000 per annum of farm pro
: ducts that can and should be produced
n in the United States
We farm on a large scale and adj
r dress ourselves to staple products. E7-
{ cry farm in the nation provides on all
t average, bread and meat for eighteen
e and clothing for one hundred AM
n lsixty-seven people, and in addition
feeds the work animals, supplies COM
d merce with cloth, leather and such
d equipment as is essential to turning
d the wheels of industry and furnishing
e the homes. On this basis of calcula-
: ton. the farmers of the United States
s feed one third of the worlds popula-
ton and clothe three-fourths of the
people on the earth's surface. This is
O a marvellous achievement and tribute
: to the ability of the American farm
r ers collectively, but we do not balance
: our rations; we are short on diversif-
V cation.
n Nature Teaches Diyersifcat,On.
s A record of the annual swing of the
j pendulum of production affords many
important lessons to both producer and
i consumer.
The worlds corn crop for 1911 shows
. a decrease of $1,000, 900 bushels over
: 1910, and corresponding variations ex-
/ list in wheat and other staple crops as
. they alternate on one or the other side
} of the ledger.
A Necessity is the mother of many
diets. She annually shifts the menu of
the poor ,shortens the garment Of the
, INDECENT child and brings new products
into existence. In the worlds produc-
ton, the shortage of one crop is usual
ly Offset by the surplus of another ami
thus dame nature teaches us stern les
sons in Investigation. 1t is the high
way to prosperity and no one-crop far
mer can or should expect to prosper.
Uncle Bill Says