Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-12-11
MARKETING WORLDS
GREATEST PROBLEM
WE ARE LONG ON PRODUCTION
SHORT ON DISTRIBUTION.
BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union.

The economic distribution Of farm
products is today the worlds greatest
problem and the war, while 1t has
brought its hardships, has clearly en-
phasized the importance Of distribu
ton as a factor in American agricuf
ture and promises to give the farm.
ers the cooperation Of the govern
ment and the business men the
solution of their marketing problem.
This result will, in . measure, com
pensate us for our war losses, for the
business interests and government
have been in the main assisting al
most exclusively on the production
side of agriculture While the depart
ment of agriculture has been dumping
tons of literature on the farmer telling
him how to produce, the farmer has
been dumping tons of products in the
nations garbage can for want OF a
market.
The World VIII Never starve. I
At no time since Adam and Eve
were driven from the Garden Of Eden
have the inhabitants Of this world
suffered from lack Of production, but
some people have gone hungry from
the day of creation to this good hour
for the lack of proper distribution.
Slight variations in production have
forced a change In diet and one local.
ity has felt the pinch Of want, while
another surfeited, but the world as a
whole has ever been q land Of plenty.
We now have less than one-tenth OF
the tillable land of the earth's surface
under cultivation, and we not only
have this surplus area to draw on but
it Is safe to estimate that in case OF
dire necessity one-half the earth's
population could at the present time
knock their living out Of the trees
of the forest, gather 1t from wild
vines and draw 1t from streams. No
one should become alarmed; the
world will never starve.
The consumer has always feared
that the producer would not supply
him and his fright has found expires
sion on the statute books of our states
and nations and the farmer has been
urged to produce recklessly and with
out reference to a market, and regard
less of the demands of the consumer
Back to the Soil.
The city people have been urging
! each other to move back to the farm
( but very few Of them have moved
! We welcome our city cousins back tt
the soil and this earth's surface con
tains 5000, 100000 idle acres of till
able land where they can make
living by tickling the earth with {
forked stick, but we do not need then
so far as increasing production II con
cerned; we now have all the producer'
we can use. The city man has YER!
erroneous ideas of agricultural condi
tons. The commonly accepted theor,
that we are short on production Is al
wrong. Our annual increase in Pre-
duction far exceeds that Of our In
crease in population.
The World a. = Farm.
Taking the world a. one big farm
we find two billion acres Of land Il
cultivation. OF this amount there
approximately $50, 0o0,0 900 acres on tn
western and 1,260, 100000 acres on tn
eastern hemisphere, in cultivation
This estimate, Of course, does not II
clude grazing lands, forests, etc
where large quantities Of meat ar
produced.
The worlds annual crop approx
mates fifteen billion bushels Of c.
reals, thirteen billion pounds of flbr
and sixty-five million tons of meat.
The average annual world crop 70
the past five years, compared with tn
previous i've years, is as follows:
Past Half Previous Hal
Crops Decade. Decade.
Corn (Bu.) S.s34,174.0o0 s,4o3, 1856 90
Wheat (Bu.) 3,522, 100000 S,257 $685. 90
Oats (Bu.) .4,12O,o17000 s.6os, 500
, Cotton (Bales) 1s,S63,S0o 17,541,2
The world shows an average II
; crease in cereal production Of Is pc
cent during the past decade, compare
with the previous Ave years. while tn
worlds population shows an increas
of only three per cent.
The gain in production far exceed
that of our increase In population. an
1t is safe to estimate that the farme
can easily increase production rs pe
cent If rcmunerative market can b
found for the products. In textil
fibres the world shows an increas
during the past half decade in produ
ton of Is per cent against a popul
( ton increase Of three per cent.
The people of this nation shoul
address themselves to the subject {
improved facilities for distribution.