New Britain herald., 1917-04-06
MOBILIZATION 0F
 FARMERS FORECAST
Steps Must Be Taken to Increase
 Agricultural Products

OQAuAOA ttS tO tn0 QroC190 0moCC or the war on future food conditions in the United States are scarce, although most men who are in a position to know something of what is going on in the agricultural parts of the coun- try made the guess that there would not be an adequate supply unless the government stepped in and did some- thing to encourage intensive farm- ing.
 With the crop reserves depleted more than they have been in years because of the great scarcity of agri- cultural labor due to the greater in- ducements offered by tho manufac- turing centers. That this condition will be intensified by a war was the almost unanimous belief of men who are in touch with the farming sit- uation. The drain made on labor by the army, if it is recruited even to the extent of 2,000,000 men, would not be felt so much. they said but the speeding up of manufacturers to put the army on a war footing as soon as possible would probably take even more men from the farms than have already deserted them.
 The alternative to this 1t was thought would be some active direc- l1O11 Ol dBT1CulJuI0 Oy IH0 Ou1L0O States government. such as the mo- of the country on war footing for the purpose of getting all the prod ucts possible out of the soil. This could be done. 1t was suggested. by al1oting a certain amount of labor to the farms and by seeing that the available acreage is largely increased.
 Europe Requires Our Crops.
 Although produce men. yesterday did not believe this country would face anything like the food shortage that prevails in England 1t was pointed out that crop conditions abroad are even less favorable than last year and that unless an embargo is placed on our food exports the Allies will take even more of our food stocks than they have done be- fore. The Broomhall reports of crop pointed to as evidence of what Europe might expect of the United States in the way of food exportation.
 They show that in France the wheat crop is likely to be poor because of the weather that crops are uniformly bad in Russia because of the weather and lack of transportation. that crop prospects are not favorable in Italy largely because the acreage was re- duced for lack of labor, and that in Spain the crops are also likely to be moderate. The reserves of Australia are large, but the crop estimates are being reduced. In India the crop prospects are excellent, in the United Kingdom they are fair, with reduced acreage; in North America fair. and in Holland bad because of poor weather.
 ''The crops in this country are like ly to be much larger than last year because of the great increase in acre. age,' said Commissioner of Weights and Measures Hartigan yesterday, "but just how much larger they will ket. The last government report showed that there will be about A. OOO,O00 more acres under cultivation in the United States this year, giving | crops that will be available from June till September. Nearly 3,000,00O of this is in wheat and the other 1,O00,- 900 in general foods.
 "It Is only natural to suppose of course that the farmer, taking advan- tage of the recent high prices in cer- l tain staples-potatoes, onions and cabbages-will plant more of these vegetables than ever before, and that should have a very salutary effect on the general market. But if men can- not be obtained to harvest crops 1t is l hard to see how we will get much benefit from them. We are inclined 1 in this country to believe that labor ] will be a gift from heaven, but the
 farmers are likely to find when har- ! vest time comes around that there is
 less labor than ever before, because 1 of the desire of labor to go to the :! manufacturing centers, where they l can make more money. If we go to 1 war the demands of manufacturers
 on labor will probably be greater than 1 ever before.
 ''The only way to offset this condf-
 tion, so far as I can see, and to make sure that we get the utmost possible
 out of the soil so as to insure ourselves
 against a serious shortage of food, is
 the mobilization of an agricultural
 army. have been preaching that for
 some time, and 1t appears to me the
 logical way to combat this condition.
 If we had an agricultural army. and
 under the direct control of the gov
 ernment the problem of getting in the
 crops and tremendously increasing
 the products of the soil would be a
 simple one"
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