The weekly soliphone., 1917-04-19


 meeting held Thursday evening at court house have no more interest in the city's future than hundreds of Cthare who did not venture out into the nights blackness should have. They gain no more Tor themselves by reason of prosperous times than do the shirkers. Yet they responded to the call to er- vice. There were, perhaps, three hundred people at the meeting III cluding men, women and boys. By their interest and punctuality these people proved themselves to be ol the stuff patriots have in their makeup. They felt that, as mem hers of the great American family of one hundred million, they were called upon to perform some task; to put forth some effort; to rise to the full measure of the opportuni- ty for stepping into the line of industrial march.
 These truths were forcefully pre- sented by the speakers-Rev. A. C.. Cloves, A. A. Knox and w. F.. Kirsch. Rev. Cloves, who went as a delegate from the Paragould Chamber of Commerce to Memphis last Friday to attend meeting or agricultural industrial forces, spoke of the enthusiasm shown by rep resentatives of the tri-states. The Memphis meeting was addressed Dy Carl Vrooman, assistant secretary of agriculture, who told Of the fearful task of feeding an army or from one to two million soldiers. IL has been estimated by food experts that soldier undergoing training, or at the front, consumes more than twice as much food as the same individual would consume If engaged at his regular avocation. Eliminate two million men from the civil population; add to this the extra effort the remaining la borers must exert to provide pro visions for themselves and the sol diers. plus the task of supplying Great Britain and France with the hundreds of thousands of tons or supplies essential to thc successful conduct of operations on the west ern European battlefields; consider, further, the fact that the American railways are not supplied With suf- ficiant rolling stock to care for the yast amount of business that will be offered; remember the govern ment's forecast of winter wheat crop fifty million bushels below that grown last year, and you have a faint idea of the gigantic task which faces the men and women of this nation.
 These facts were thoroughly gone into last night by MT. Kirsch. who had taken the time to gather sta tistics to show how the more ordi- nary articles of diet had advanced in price merely because trade had been permitted with the Allies dur ing the past two years. The aver age advance has been approximate ly one hundred and fifty per cent. Twelve cent cotton in 1915 would buy a. much for the larder as 30 ,nt cotton would buy today. In other words, the Greene county farmer who persists this season in planting his acres to cotton; who neglects to plant corn, potatoec a garden, etc., must, if he is B sood business man, feel confident that the 1917 cotton crop will bring thirty cents pound if he is to eX- perience the same degree of pros perity formerly enjoyed. There is small chance for cotton to bring anything like this figure. There are indications that it may sell below the 1916 market. Yet, even had we the guarantee that cotton, upland middling, would draw thirty or forty cent bid, we face the lldUllltN Ol boihS ShuN VAA AAS''' northern markets, from whence come much that goes upon the ta- ble. If we devote our entire en- ergies to the task of producing cot ton, estimating that war pEices will drive the market beyond that oi former years, we may find our es- ntn afforded facilities for shipping the staple north or to the seacoast but we may also find that northern producers of corn, potatoes and wheat cannot secure cars for ship ment of these supplies to the south and our money will be of slight avail. MT. Kirsch views the situa- tion with extreme seriousness. He is not willing tb-s believe that the government experts who are preach ing the doctrine of diversifaction and the live-at-home gospel are Irresponsible agitators, hired by the federal departments to spread alarm throughout the land. He feels that every owner of land, however small the holding may be,