The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1914-12-11


products is today the worlds greatest
p,ch ID and TIE war, while it ha.
L ts hard atn has clearly en-
-..-sL tha moc .auea OF dibtrlbu-
t..n as tac,cr 10 American agricu!-
tura ana promises to give the farm
er5 tie cooperation of the govern
ment and the business men the
solution OF their marketing problem.
IT Is result Will, in measure, com
pensata 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
h.n now to produce, the farmer has
been dumping tons OF products in the
nations garbage can for want OF a
L4alGet
The World Will Never Starve.
AT no time since Adam and Eve
were driven lrjvl the Garden of Lden
have the inhabltants of this world
suffered from ZACH of production, but
some people have gone hungry from
the day OF creation 10 this good hour
for the tack 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 surfeted but the world as q
whole has ever bee land Of plenty.
We now have less than one-tenth OF
the tillable iand OF the earth's surface
under cultivation and we not only
have this surplus area to draw on bur
Il is safe 10 estimate that in case Of
dire necessity one-half the earth 5
n.rplation could at the present time
knock their living out of the trees
OF the forest gather it from Wild
vines and draw it 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 express
sion on the statute books of our states
and nations and the farmer has been
urged to produce recklessly and with
out reference to 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 to
the soil and this earth's surface con-
tains 1G,092 100000 idle acres Of till
able land where they can make a
living by tickling the earth with a
forked stick, but we do not need them
so far as increasing production is con-
ceTned; we now have all the producers
we can use The city man has very
erroneous ideas of agricultural condi'
tions The commonly accepted theory
that we are short on production IS all
wrong. Our annual increase in pro
duction far exceeds that Of our in
crease in population.
The WorId as a Farm.
Taking the world as one bic farm
we find two billion acres Of land in
cultivation. Of this amount there is
approximately 100000. 900 acres on the
western and .26o 100000 acres on the
eastern hemisphere, in cultivation
This estimate, of course, does not in.
cIude 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-flve million tons of meat.
The average annual world crop for
the past five years compared with the
previous five Years IS as follows:
Past Half Previous Half
Crops Decade Decade.
corn (Bu) 3,934l74 900 3,403 $4,000
WheattBul 1892, 10000 3,257. 10000
oats (Bu) 4,120ol700O 3,5oS,315,oOO
Cotton CBales) 19,SG3,S00 1851 200
Fne world shows an average in
crease in cereal production OF T. 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
mat of our increase in population, and
>. is safe to estimate that the farmer
can easily increase production - per
cent il a remunerative market can be
found for the products. II textile
fibres the world shows an increase
during the past half decade in produc-
ton or 10 per cent against a popula.
hcn increase OF three per cent.
The people or this nation should
}doress themselves to the subject Of
improved facilities for distribution.