South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-04-09

Average bushels per acre:
Wheat Potatoes.
United States ......16 80
ltuS"ld -........... 80
Germany .........28 zoo
Austria ...........1S III
hungary .........ll 10
rance .....LO Lao
United Kingdom ...33 1872
If American farmers would raise
food crops as Europeans do we would
not have TO pay as much for our living.
Even Russia beats US seven bushels
on potatoes.
The empire of Germany, with a total
acreage less than the state of Texas,
produces annually seven times mere
potatoes than are produced in all the
states Of the Union. Yet these Euro
pean fields were under cultivation for
centuries before the ships we're built
which landed Columbus our shores
According to the reports of the
United States departm ent of agricul-
ture. the average yield of cotton TO
the acre for the 10 years ending with
the season of 1909 was 1S4.7 pounds
Under the instruction of the Cotton
Culture department of the Sc tern
railway in many cases the VI OF
seed cotton was ,425 pounds [ the
acre, as compared with asa pounus on
similar lands where such instruction
was not followed. This was equiVa-
lent TO nearly one bale of lint cotton
10 the acre as compared with a little
more than One-third of a bale pro-
duced by the old methods of farming.
Wheat is the most important staple
Of the white man-SOO, 0O0,0 600 people,
or about 90 per cent of the population
of the globe are sustained mainly by
wheat and it's products; 60 per cent of
the cereal products miHcd in the
United States is derived from wheat;
2S per cent of the total acreage de-
voted to raising cereals in the United
States is devoted to wheat alone.
Russia (72 governments, with &c.,
$4,000 bushels is the worlds largest
wheat producing country. Next In
order. outside of the United States,
comes British India with 321, 81, 600;
Canada, 321,7170O0; France, 321.5l1,-
600; Argentina, 19S.414,OOO; Hungary.
(prOper). 151, 34S,0O0; Germany, III
0T5.00O; Spain, 112, 100000; ROu-
mania. 1886, 900; Australia, 91,S6S,-
600: Bulgaria. 45,OO0.O0O; Algeria, Co.,
$4,000; Egypt, 31,0OO,OO0.
Strange TO say. we only raised last
year 43,SOO,0OO bushels of rye, while
Germany, which has shown the world
the value of rye bread, raised 49,
100000 bushels of rye.
about 1OO,OOO.OOO Narrels a year. In
1913 we exported only 100000
bushels of wheat against 215, 100000
i'm 1915. Every man, woman and child
i'm the United States consumes Al
bushels of wheat a year, or about
barrel of flour a year. Canada beats
us by nearly a bushel of wheat con-
sumed annually by each person.
The $500 bakeshOps in New York
city consume about 100000 barrels
of flour every year; the lower East
Side, about three miles square in eX-
tent. consumes about 10000 barrels
q week That the masses among the
100000 people in New York city are
underfed is shown by the comparison
afforded by London whose 100000
inhabitants consume every years
S,150.OO0 barrels of -four.
During the last decade, while our
population increased p per cent. 20
meet this largely increased power of
consumption there was an increase Of
only 3.5 per cent In the acreage de-
voted to cereal crops, and the aggre-
gate production Of cereals in 1909 In
creased only II per cent over that OF
1899. These figures partly explain the
high cost of living.
A wornan's cry. Bread. bread"
brought on the French revolution.
The high cost OF living brought on the
American revolution. History has been
defined as philosophy teaching by eN-
ample
To prevent further advance in the
cost of bread and the rising prices of
all farm products. which Will mean
suffering for many and great danger
TO our free institutions. TO maintain
level if we cannot possibly lower the
price of farm crops somewhere near
tr- a
Their advance-this is the utmost that
can be hoped for. As the producer is
only making a moderate prOnt, the
only hope for checking the rising
prices is q vigorous. earnest, continu-
Gus, perseVering campaign for scienti-
nc seed selection more intelligent fer
tilization that will put back into the
soil what the growing crops take out
and more extensive and intensive
farming with modern methods.
(There are three reasons for the
smaller wheat production in the
United States.
First-Scientiic farming is a COM
paratiVely new thing in this country.
Agricultural colleges have been az
work hut few years.
SeCond-The government itself has
not done anything like as much as
Germany or France 90 inform the
farmers how 10 get the biggest crops
out OF the soil
Third The very bad banking sys-
tenn which forbade loans 10 farmers
10y national banks. The farmers had
been left 10 outside loan agencies and
have been forced 10 pay eight and 10
per cent for money 10 buy fertilizer
for their farms whereas Germany and
France have organized loan companies
60 finance farmers at four 10 five per
cent-Editor.)