Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1917-05-16
CONSERVE ALL RESOURCES
Cultivate and Produce Necessities,
the Slogan of DIR. Porter

EDITOR CENSOR: Springtime is here
and finds almost the whole world at
war, and all tie worlds millions fac
ing the greatest shortage OF food ever
known IN the worlds history A saw
age nation, descended from the ancient
Huns, threatens to conquer the whole
world and subject it to its tyrannic
will. History nowhere records such
damnable outrages as that nation has
perpetHated upon the weak and de-
fenseless. In 1888, during the 80 years
war, in the Palatinate, ancestors of
some of these German soldiers were
cannibals and ate the bodies of their
own dead relatives. Kitchens were
established where only human bodies
were cooked for human food. That
nation today is said to be boiling up
the bodies of dead soldiers, saving the
oil they contain,au using the remain
der for fertilizer.
After two years of humiliation and
insult we are at war with that nation.
It Russia gets a separate peace and
! Belgium, France and England are
starved out, America will be lighting
Germany alone, and we all know what
that will IN, an Unless the American
brain can Fl a G, stroyer for the Ger.
Iloh thACtNNC OpDL tue allies UluSL
quit lighting because of starvation,
and American troops will have hard
work Ia land in France
1t is planting time, and it seems to
me the one supreme duty of every pa
triotic man and woman is to, make
every acre produce as much food for
man and beast as possible. In this re-
gard are all Vernon county farmers
patriots? 1 fear not. Hundreds of
farmers in this rich county are fertil-
izing heavily a few acres of their land.
robbing the remaining acres and de-
voting their best energies to raising
crop that is no good tor food, that is
deadly narcotic poison to man and
beast, crop every ton of which when
sold removes forty dollars worth of nj
trogen, potash and phosphoric acid
from the farm; crop that does no.
body any good and whose use causes
filth, disease and waste of money.
They tell US there is more money in
raising tobacco than food crops. viii
that be true this year when all food
crops are bound to be worth twice or
thrice the ordinary price? When we
take account of the great amount of
labor in growing tobacco, danger of
hail, wind, frost, pole rot and shed
burn is it not better to grow some crop
that God, in his goodness, can look
down upon approvingly and say "well
done good and faithful servant?" Ey-
cry acre of rich tobacco land ought
to raise 50 bushels of corn, worth now
more than S120. The fodder is a third
of the crop in value, ordinarily, and
corn can be exported. Across the
Atlantic, in France and Belgium, are
millions of once lovely people, kind,
devout, industrious, who are looking
longingly to US to feed them. The
women kiss the folds of our flag car
ried on the relief commissions auto,
and the children pray, God bless dear
America" Now, you tobacco farmers
who never knew what it was to be
hungry, won't you cut off an acre of
your proposed tobacco land and plant
it to corn instead? That corn ought
to keep alive ten starving Belgians,
aud you will get a good price for it
and feel that you have done good
deed. A clergyman, the other day,
preached patriotic sermon and ad
Yised growing no tobacco. A recent
convert had sown his seed bed but
that sermon changed his occupation
from TOBACCO growing to growing
something fit to eat Would to God
that all the clergy would have word
TO say on this line. The angels in
heaven are rejoicing oyer that sermon,
for it bore fruit, or is likely to, and
was life saver Every man who
raises human food this year is a life
saver, but the fellow who uses rich
soil not to grow food upon may hear
the command depart from me We ours
ed /" C.. V. PORTER.