Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-12-11

j 4 /. I,
Some Of our. Iowa enthusiasts sug-
gest that we bring 100000 Bslgian
farmers to Iowa. We quote one Of them
as follows:
1.-THE Create Iowa Association
started something all over these United
states when 1t telegraphed the R0cke-
Teller Foundation and the belgian min
lister and the secretary Of agriculture.
telling them that Iowa had room
enough for 100000 Belgian farmerA
ut 10 not intended to bring these
Belgians over here to take tho place
Of our Iowa farmers. or to take the
place of Iowa's unemployed. The as
ISOLATION does not intend to do for the
Belgians any more than 1t would do
for any of Iowa's citizens.
1.-THE secret Is merely this-the Bel
CLANS are past masters OF the art Of
raising large crops from small areas.
The Greater Iowa Association believes
that 1t will be beneficial to Iowa II the
acreage on the Iowa farms can be
cut down from an average Of 100 to
sixty or seventy-maybe less. It Is de-
sired to have the Belgians take UP ten
acre tracts turnout the state. and by
their efforts and the knowledge they
nave acquired Il: their own country.
show our people what can be done in
the way OF intensive farming. This
does not mean the elimination Of corn
or wheat or oats as Iowa's great crops.
Far from that. 1t merely means that
on the farms adjacent to the cities and
towns of Iowa. some Of these Belgians
will take up small tracts, and not only
contribute towards the lower cost OF
living. but will help increase the value
i<,T law hr, oh ,fv11 ~.
duction that can be obtained from It."
1t is undeniably true that the Bel
gians get a larger yield per acre from
poorer land than any other race of
people. They get thirty -four bushels
of wheat where we get sixteen; fifty
| five bushels OF oats where we get thir-
ty-two: 220 bushels of potatoes where
we get eighty. One-half of the So
called farmers OF Belgium, however,
cultivate less than one acre Of land.
Two-thirds Of them cultivate less than
two and one-half acres Of land. Not
| including the farms which are less than
| one acre in size. the average farm Of
Belgium IS 14.5 acres. Naturally on
such small farms the work Is done
largely by hand, and the farmers know
very little about machinery.
Suppose we brought 10000 typical
| Belgian farmers to this state. and set
| tied them on ten-acre tracts suitable
| for market garden purposes near our
| large cities Suppose that another 90
I 600 OF these typical Belgian farmers
were hired out to farmers needing
hands. Granting these two SUPPOSE
/ tons, two things would inevitably hap
pen-there would be glut of market
garden produce, and there would be
some sore farmers. complaining about
hands utterly ignorant OF the proper
use OF American farm machinery.
II Iowa had the cities Of Belgium, all
might be well. In order to bring Bel
gian conditions a little closer home
to us, let us imagine that Dies Moines
is Brussels. and that all the land with
in seventy miles is Belgian territory.
Des Moines, as Brussels will have q
population of two-thirds Of million.
Webster City, as Antwerp. will have a
population Of one-third Of a million.
Colfax, as Liege, will have popula-
ton Of 10000. Boone, as Client will
have population of $4,000, and in
this territory will be thirteen other
cities, each Of them having a popula-
ton considerably larger than Water
loo. Look at 1t in another way. and
imagine Iowa to be a state of $4,000, >
coo people. with five cities each con-
tanning twothirds OF a million people,
FIVE each containing one-third of mill
lion people: ten cities twice the size of
Des Moines. and sixty FIVE cities larger
than Waterloo or Cedar Rapids. Under
such conditions. Iowa farms would
produce as much as Belgian farms.
With population in Iowa of less than
100000 our farmers will continue to
farm much as they are doing at pres
lent.
1t is very doubtful II the average
Iowa farmer shares the belief of the
Greater Iowa Association that 1t would
be beneficial for Iowa farms to be cut
down in size from 1852 acres to sixty Or
seventy acres or less. 1t is our observa-
ton that in those countries where
farms are small, and the land Is
farmed intensively. the returns per
man are very small. 1t is in those
countries where farms are at least 100