Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-12-26

According to harvest figures gather
ed by the department OF agriculture.
we have produced 3,24S.00e.000 bushels
of corn, which is half billion bushels
in excess OF the average crop. And
the same figures show that we have
462, o00, 900 bushels of white potatoes,
which is a hundred million bushels in
excess Of the average crop. and prac-
tically all other food cTUnv show the
same rate of increase. And this Is all
the result of the emergency war work
of the American farmers in response
to the appeal of the president and the
department of agriculture.
On the very day that war was de-
clared with Germany. an army OF g.
100000 farmers was modified. These
men, actuated by patriotism, were just
as willing to make sacrifices, just as
certain that sacrifice and suffering
must be their portion, as the men at
the battle front. In their line OF duty
thousands OF them risked bankruptcy
and tens Of thousands of them actual
" incurred impaired fortunes. for when
unfavorable weather conditions were
met, and unforeseen and insuperable
difficulties arose, these men who had
risked their all to increase his produc-
ton OF foods, went down in financial
ruin.
But these soldiers Of the commssary
who risked and lost are not asking for
sympathy. They rejoice that it has
been their privilege to suffer for their
country's good, and they are entitled
to be know and honored as veterans
of the war.
The Food Army Enlisted.
In the spring Of 1917 famine threat
ened the nations of Europe, and it
looked as tho the time was near when
the armies in the field could no longer
be kept at the needed high pitch OF
fighting efficiency.
In April Of this year America en-
tered into the great world war; Ameri-
ca with it's one hundred million peo-
pie and a wealth greater than that OF
all continental Europe; America ram
pant-but America unready. And there
was barely enough food in existence
to keep the world scantily fed until
harvest. Heroic measures were neces-
sary to sustain the allied armies. And
then quietly and without the beating
of drums. there arose the country's
matchless army of patriot planters.
Two days before the actual declara-
ton Of war, an official Of the federal
department of agriculture held a con-
ference in Boston with the committees
of public safety OF all the New England
states. Two days after war was de-
clared an Official of the department
| was in conference in Atlanta with the
81 J! ee s.e-::s Producers Assucia-
! ton, representing Alabama, Georgia,
North Carolina, South Carolina and
Florida. These meetings marked the
entry into the war Of the army of the
burrows, and appeals were sent to ur-
ban jewellers for the planting OF an
extra million of vegetable gardens. and
to the farmers of the country to allow
no acre to lie idle for the year.
The South in the Fight
| Following the Atlanta meeting an
official Of the department Of agriculture
visited the gulf and lower Mississippi
valley states, speaking in the principal
cities with the result that cotton
planters cut their acreage Of cotton to
plant more land to corn, potatoes,
beans and anything that would help to
make up the worlds food deficit. Cut
over timber lands were put under Gull
tiyation. The big mill concerns operated
their mills half time that the men
| might be used in the work Of corn and
potato production. III
The field was thoroughly covered
and organised, and the effort has besn
crowned with unqualified SUCCESS. The
corn crop In the south 10 80 per cent
larger than It ever was before. Potatoes
both white and sweet the SOW bean.
] cow pea, and velvet bean crops havs
bssA lnormou.ly ancssasA4 TAe three