The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1917-11-30


In 1880 this country produced 80
bushels of wheat for every man, w
man and child living in the cities an
1852 bushels Of corn. The ~productio
per capita to city population has stes
: Oily declined. By 1890 it had droppe
10 l7.5 bushels Of wheat per capita fo
city dwellers and down to 1863 bushel
in 1900, and to 14.9 bushels per capt.
Of city population in 1910.
The decrease in the corn productio
in proportion to the city population ha
also been very heavy. From the 116.
bushels of corn per capita of city pop
u~lation in 1880 tie production fell +
66.7 bushels per capita in 1910.
Owing to the fact that detailed cen
sus figures as to city population ar
not available since 1910, comparison
cannot be given for the present year
but it is a well known fact that during
the last seven years city population
has continued its rapid increase anC
country population its relative de
crease as during the preceding thirty
years.
These figures cannot be studied witt
out a realization of the change which
has taken place in food production il
proportion to population, and without
realizing what they near. We are
reaching a point where, under ordinary
conditions, we will have little or nc
wheat for export, even if we can take
care Of or own wheat requirements.
Exactly similar conditions exist as
to our livestock, and the American
people must of necessity learn to con-
sumo less wheat, beef, mutton, pork,
than they have in the past, until some
time in the distant future when the
pendulum may swing the other way
and food production increase in pro-
portion to population. There is no
sign, however, of this being in sight.
The totalu production of wheat for
the three years, 1914, 1915 and 1916
was 1856, 000, 900 bushels, an everage
of 852, 000, 900 bushels a year, which
was an average for these three years
named Of 1913, 900 bushels in excess
of the total production of this year.
The average production of wheat
for the ten years from 1907 to 1916
was .72S, 100000. In that ten-year pc
Rod population increased by about
100000 or 100000, and at a nor
NAL rate of growth of consumption
this would mean that we would need
about 100000 bushels more of wheat
for domestic consumption than we
needed ten years ago. In the face of
this fact we have 69,000,0 900 bushels
less of wheat this year than the aver
age crop of the preceding years, a
startling and dangerous situation.
Regardless of the fact that a siren
uous campaign of publicity has been
there is still waste of food in many
ways. Even with the extremely high
price of foodstuffs, the public general
ly seems unable to get into the habit
of conserving every particle Of food.
R GARBAGE Gems are ssil soadad With
food that could be utilized; unnecessa-
ry morsels Of food are being prepared
food that could as well or better be
dispensed with.
Those who continue to waste food
have not yet come to a full realization
of the seriousness of the war. They
do not know that we are in the conflict.
Mr.. Edmonds closes his article with
this warning to the people;'"If lulled
to sleep by a false sense Of the food
supply, we are lulled to sleep by a
false cry of safety and made no war
preparation, we shall in the not dis
tant future face a food situation that
is as desperate as that which u army
faced in unpreparedness to meet the
worlds greatest war machine"
This warning should be needed by
all.
A news item tells US that the Ken
lucky farmers are leaving the farms
and taking employment in the coal
mines because of the alluring wages.
If this is the case it may yet become
necessary to draft men to farm, men
to mine coal, and men to do all the
work that is necessary to keep the ma
ton supplied with the things needed to
carry on the war to a successful issue.
Let us hope that the American people
will awake to the needs of the country
and that consumption will not become
necessary to insure a supply Of food
Tennessean and American.