Sharp County record., 1915-01-15
MARKETING WORLDS
GREATEST PROBLEM
WE ARE LONG ON PRODON-
TION, SHORT ON DISTRl-
BUTTON.
BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union

The economic distribution OF
arm products is today the world
greatest problem and the war;
while it has brought its hardshl!ps'
has clearly emphasized the I'M
portance Of distribution as a tact
or in American agriculture and
promises to give the farmers the
cooperation Of the government
and the business men the solution
of their marketing problem.
This result will, in a measure,
compensate us for Our war losses,
for the business interests ana
government have been in the
main assisting almost exclusively
on the production side Of agrlcul..
ture. While the department 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 Will 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 Gre
alton to this good hour for the
lack of proper distribution. Slight
variations in production have
forced a change in diet and one
locality has felt the pinch OF want
while another surfeited, but the
world as a whole has ever been
a 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 sur
plus area to draw on but it is safe
to estimate that in case of dire ne
cessity one-half the earth's popu-
lation could knock their living out
of the trees Of the forests, gather
it from wild vines and draw it
from streams. No one should be-
come alarmed; the world will
never starve.
The consumer has always feared
that the producer would not sup
ply him and his fright has found
expression on the statute books
of our states and nations, and the
farmer has been urged to produce
recklessly and without reference
to a market, and regardless Of the
demands OF the consumer.
Back to the Soil.
The city people have been urg-
ing 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 contains TO-
092,l60,000 idle acres Of tillable
land where they can make liv-
ing by tickling the earth with a
forked stick, but we do not need
them so far as increasing produc-
ton is concerned. The city man
has very erroneous ideas Of agri-
cultural conditions. The common
ly accepted theory that we are
short on production is all wrong.
Our annual increase in produc-
ton 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, Ofthis amount
there is approximately 750,000,000
acres on the western and l,260,-
100000 acres on the eastern hem
isphere, in cultivation, This esti-
mate does not include grazing
lands, forests, etc, where large
quantities Of meat are produced,
The worlds annual crop ap.
proximates fifteen billion bushels
of cereals, thirteen billion pounds
of fibre and sixty-fve million
tons Of meat,
The world shows an average
increase in cereal production Of
l3 per cent during the past de.
cade, compared with the previous
five years, while the worlds pop.
ulation shows an increase Of only
3 per cent,
The gain in production far ex.
ceeds that Of our increase in pop.
ulation, and II is safe TO estimate
a T..