Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-12-18
MARKETING WORLDS
GREATEST PR0bLEIi.
WE ARE LONG ON PRODUCTION
SkORT ON DISTRIBUTION.
BY Peter Radferd


The economic distribution Of farm
products 10 today the worlds greatest
| prsbiem and the war. while 1t has
brought ite hardships. has clearly en-
phas!ssd the importance Of distribu
tisn ~ q factor in American agricui.
turs AID promises to give the farm
ers the cooperation Of the govern
msnt and the business men the
solstisa Of their marketing problem
This result will, IN 4 measure. com
peneats Us fer or war losses. for th'
business interests and government
have been in the main assisting Al
most exclusively On the production
side Of agriculture While the depart
nent 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 3
market.
The World viii Never starve.
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 change in diet and one local
| ity has felt the pinch OF want, while
another surfeited, but the world as
whole has ever been 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 it from wild
vines and draw ii from streams. Nc
one should become alarmed; the
world VIII never starve.
The consumer has always feared
that the producer would not supply
him and his fright has found express
sion on the statute books Of our state
ana nations and The farmer has been
urged 10 produce rccklessly and with
"rt reference 10 market. ard 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 to
he IA g
tains 1902 100, 900 idle acres of till.
able land where they can make
living by tickling the earth with
forked stick, but we do not need them
so far as increasing production is con
cerned; we now have all the producers
we can use The city man has very
erroneous ideas of agricultural condi
tons. The commonly accepted theory
that we are short on production is all
wrong. Our annual increase in pro-
ducton far exceeds that of our in
crease in population.
The World as a Farm.
Taking the world as one big farm
we find two billion acres of land in
cultivation. OF this amount there is
approximately 750,ooO,00O acres on the
western and 1850 100000 acres on the
eastern hemisphere. in cultivation.
This estimate of course, does not in
clude grazing lands. forests, etc,
where large quantities of meat are
produced.
The worlds annual crop approx
mates fifteen billion bushels of ce
reals. thirteen billion pounds Of fibre
and sixty-fve million tons Of meat
The average annual world crop for
the past five years compared with the
previous five ycars is as fellows:
Past Holt Previous Half
Crops Decade Decade
Corn (Bu.) 3,934,174 ono 3.4O3. 655 900
Wheat(Bu. 1922 $50 600 3,257 .526. 900
Oats (Bu) APO o17ooO 3,5oS.3l5.Oo0
Cotton (Bales) 19,SG3,Soo 1854, 200
The world shows an average in.
crease in cereal production of IS per
cent during the past decade, compared
with the previous five years, while the
worlds population shows an increase
of only three per cent.
The gain in production far exceeds
that of our increase in population. and
it is safe to estimate that the farmer
can easily increase production % per
cent if remunerative market can be
found for the products. In textile
fibres the world shows an increase
during the past half decade in produc
ton of Is ps. cent against a popula-
ton increase of three per cent.
The people of this nation should
address themselves to the subject of
improved facilities for distribution.