The evening herald., 1917-03-20
eases is discarded.

cases is discarded
| ! am informed that the belligerents |
ia Europe in dealing with their food
situation have. up To this time, ac-
lcOmplished their purposes more large. |
/ ~ through conservation Of foods, res
uiation of the diet, limitation OF
courses and quantities, and preVen
tion OF waste. rather than through di-
rect control OF production, or regula-
tion Of distribution under any sort of
dictatorship. only recently has Eng
/ land indicated her intention TO deal
directly with production. and In do
1 ing so has recognized Il as essential
that she guarantee 10 farmers "A rea-
sonahle minimum price over period
OF years Obviously. II farmers are
to he induced 10 increase acreage. a
guaranty OF reasonable price by the
nation or the community seems neces-
sary Farmers are governed by the
same thinking and motives as other
people. They are patriotic, but II ssl
1 unlikely that they viii undertake
greatly 10 increase their output unless
they are reasonably sure that II will
be profita hle for them 10 do so one
I"ould no more expect farmer great
ly To- Increase his product without a
I
could expect q Manufacturer To double
the prodution of shoes unless he knew
that he could dispose Of them profit
ably Those who are urging that farm
ers be Induced greatly TO increahe
their acreage beyond that which their
own judgment dictates know very III.
tie about the psychology vi farmers.
or Of other people for that matter,
or about the fundamental necessities
. OF the situation. AZ a matter Of fact,
farmers are gong to do their own
thinking IL this matter and Will not
follow anybodys dictation. They are
quite alert to the interplay OF supply
and demand and respond quite as
quickly as other people 90 the slim
ulus of high prices Before touching
/ upon this particular point further a
word should be said about the os,!'
mated food supply of the country for
the current year
Estimated Food supply Tor Year.
The weather conditions during IN"
growing season uf 1916 were untaNor-
able IN many parts ~ the world. The
were distinctly unfavorable In tins
country. Although there was "A large
wheat acreage. the weather conditions
werc such az To- favor the appearance
OF the black-rust disease afiectins
wheat The consequence was that al
Though the acreage was larg. the yield
was relatively small. The eondi-
lions were not especially favor abe Tor
corn and for some other important
crops. Still the food output on the
whole for the current year was not
so small,as to excite alarm. The cor
crop was 2G00.O0O,O0 bushels, netrlN
the nye-ycar average. The oat crop
was above the five-year average, u"
barrie, yeiy nearly the fiy"-year aver
age rye 10000 goo b..shels more than
the nye-year average and rice Ao,Ouo
0OU bushels. Hs against 29,OOO,oO"
bushels the year before, and 2f,3Ou.
600 bushels. the nye-year average
Tho production uf kanr corn, a rrla-
lively new crop. was o0,0U0,Oo0 huhh-
els. The production Of peaches $1,000.
600 bushels. OF pears l0.iOo,0oo bush
els. and of apples q .5OO. .OG0 barrel,
represents approximately the five-year
average. while the estimated produc-
ton of oranges was 23,sOO,0OO boxes,
OF 1000, 900 more than that of the
preceding year. The crop OF sugar
hccts was one Of the largest ever pro-
duced Meat products likewise were
produced n larger quantities. the et-
timated amount Tor the year heins
22.31s.O00. pounds, as against
five-year average Of l9.5l2,00Oi
pounds, or ? 900, 900, ,ooc pounds great
cr than the output for the year 1917
Dairy and poultry products on th'
whole showed "a gain, 40 Indicated 30
the accompanying table
Wheat.
The two food products which re-
veal marked decrease were wheat
ana Irish potatoes II is evident that
thr public has failcd 10 TOOK a. an
the facts Involved especially in the
case of wheat. The wheat crop Tor the
lourrent year was reported 20 be 0fO,-
600 000 bushels as againa "a iitc-ye1r
lavcrage of 100000 bushels and IN"
record crop OF 1915 of le26.00O, 0oo
bushels. Apparently tho public has
compared the crop of 1915 solely with
the record crop ~ 1915 ana failed %
take into account the unusually large
carry over from that year into ~"
present year 81 iGi, i,00O,000 bushels or
more. Furthermore, its attention has