The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-12-31
j. S.. NEAR FOOD CRISIS,
FEDERAL EXPERT SAYS

New York. Dec. 3o.-while the war
wastage and the world wide failure OF
crops this year are largely to blame
for the present high prices OF foods,
the United States is nearing a crisis
in food production outside of these I'M
usual causes.
This was the conclusion Of. n. j.
Spillman, chief of the Bureau of Farm
Management of the Department of
Agriculture. in careful analysis of
the situation before the Society Of
American Naturalists. meeting here
with. the American Society for the
Advancement of Science. He said the
remedy was better methods.
1T is far cry from the 3,10o
pounds of milk of the average Ameri-
can COW to the $4,000 pounds of
Duchess Skylark Ormsby; from the
fifty or sixty eggs of the average
American hen to the 314 of Lady
Byzantine" he said, to illustrate the
possibilities of intensive production.
both OF meats and vegetables.
During the last decade of the last
century the average price of farm
land In the United States rose 1o8 per
cent" said Mr.. Spillman. During the
same time there was an average in
crease of 67 per cent in the price of
farm products. Thus far in the pres
ent decade both these rates have been
exceeded
ut appears that we have arrived at
period. or are at least rapidly ap-
preaching It, when increase In the pro-
duction of food in this country no
longer keeps pace with increase in
population. ae@
Increase On wheat.
THE area OF our wheat crop for
each OF the last ten years. ending
with 1915. has been. in millions of
acres, AZ. 45. 4s. Al. 4s, so. "a and so
respectively The marked increase In
1915 may be attributed. in the main.
to the stimulating effect of the high
prices incident to war II we COM
pare the average of the first two
years of the period with that Of the
last two preceding 1915. there is an
years. a rate slightly less than that
of increase in population. II must
also be remembered that by far the
greater portion of the land brought
into cultivation during this period lies
in the western wheat producing area.
We cannot expect the present increase
in the area OF new wheat lands to
continue much longer. While the pro-
duction of wheat in 1915 shows that.
under the stimulus of high prices,
American farmers can still produce a
big surplus of this commodity. there
is also every reason to believe that
such stimulus is necessary. At pres
emit We have reached stage where
any great increase in wheat acreage
in fact--where an increase proper
f5nnai IN tpGrEHae in pnni1l
occur only by decreasing the area of
other crops. This means that unless
We are to have bread still higher in
price we must devise means OF In
creasing the yield of wheat per acre.
while wheat Is our most important
bread crop. corn is n far more i'm
portant crop when considered in Its
entire relation to our national econ
omy. II occupies nearly twice the
acreage of any other crop has a total
value more than twice as great. and
~ the principal basis of meat pro-
duction in this country. The per cap
ita production of corn for the last four
census years are thirty-fve. thirty
four. thirty-fve and twenty light
bushels respectively. The total pro-
duction for each of the last ten years
preceding 1915 has been. in hundreds
OF millions of bushels. twenty-seven,
twenty mine. twenty-six. twenty seven.
twenty-eight, twenty -ninea twenty
FIVE. thirty-one, twentyfour and TWEEN
ty-seven. These figures indicate prao-
tIcally no increase for the last decade.
during which population increased
probably about % per cent. Even the
great crop of last year. not included In
the figures above. was smaller than
that of three years earlier.
1T is evident that we have reached
the point where increase In the pro-
duction of corn is not nearly keeping
pace with increase in population. In
fact. the statistics indicate that 1t
requires the stimulus of very high
prices to bring about even a small in
crease In the volume of this our most
important crop.
zone reason for this situation is
that the West. where most Of the
lands now being brought into cuitiva-
tion are found. is not adapted to the
production OF corn. The acreage OF
corn Is so large that any considerable
increase In 1t can occur only at the
a~nanea af nfhnr crrpa ev~