The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1917-05-01
GERMANY Will TILL
EVERY ACRE OF LAND
Organization And Intensive Cultiva-
ton May Overcome Last Years
Shortage.
(By Oscar King Davis.


production of food
That was the declaration made t,
me by one of the highest officials o
the Ministry of Agriculture in Ber
lin. 1t was exactly the same in sub
stance and practically identical il
phraseology with what had been sait
by responsible officials of the Wa,
Office and OF the War Food Office
And the municipal authorities O
Berlin had showed me that they un
derstood and approved the policy b!
giving me in some detail a descrip
ton of the way in which they are
preparing to cultivate the $4,000
acres, more or less, of public land:
belonging to the municipality.
Official Germany has set as one o1
the tasks of the empire for 1917 the
production of larger crops and more
food than have ever been produced
in Germany before. And official Ger.
many is bending every energy to the
complete fulfllment of that task
The job involves considerable num-
Der of things and faces set of diff
ficulties that might we'll appall a
group of officials not inspired by
keen realization of the necessities
now driving the Germans on. For
whether the German people realize
their situation or not, there can be
no doubt that in the War Office, the
War Food Office, the Ministry of Ag-
riculture, the Foreign Headquarters
there is the fullest understanding of
the fact that no matter how other
things go, whether men and muni-
tions hold out and success crowns
the efforts of the men in the field,
unless the crops of this year repair
the ravages made by the short crops
of 1916 the German flag must come
down in defeat and disaster. There
fore, Germany is going to show the
world how to produce food this year,
and it would not be very surprising
to see her wiring from her soil con-
siderably more of it than she has ev-
! er done in the most favorable years
/ of peace.
There are three immediate difficult
] ties which the German Government
has set itself to overcome in carry
ing out this determination. The
! first is labor, and it is extremely
serious, although it may be overcome
by heroic effort. The second is fer
tilizer for lack of which German ag-
ricultural production undoubtedly
has suffered much in the last two
years. This, too, may be overcome,
in large part. if not wholly. The
third is seed, and in some respects
that may be insurmountable.
The labor situation is very largely
in the hands of the War Office. I'm
der the so-called civil mobilization
| law of last Fall, General Groner at
the head of the War Office, undoubt-
nI1 hn- h0 Nd
women for work in the fields. 1t be-
comes, therefore. simply a question
of whether or not the War Office and
the Great Headquarters agree as to
the paramount Importance of taking
men and women from munitions
plants and other factories and put
ting them into agricultural labor at
the periods when there is the most
imperative call for such labor No
doubt these two controlling offices
are in entire accord on that subject.
No doubt, also, the Great Headquar
ters will do this year even more eX-
tensively than last what it did then
in ordering men from the fighting
lines home for service in the fields. |
Right at the height of the first drive
on the Somme, for instance, men
went back from the front in train
loads to work in the harvest fields. /
On all hands while l was in Ger
many | was assured that this year
men would be sent back from the |
front similarly, both for the planting
and for the harvest. So that it will /
be the business of the War Office |
chiefly to recruit from its civil labor
the force necessary to take care OF
the fields in preparation for the
planting. and during the period of
cultivation in preparation for the
harvest. There is no question that |
that necessity has been in the minds !
of General Groner and his associates !
in the War Office in all the feverish |
rush to manufacture munitions and !
guns of all kinds during the winter |
monthsw hen agricultural work was
of necessity at a minimum. The lar
ger the surplus provided then, the |
greater possibility of removing hands |
for agricultural labor during the
spring and summer.
The question Of fertilizer is of the !
utmost Importance, but | was assur- /
ed repeatedly that it had been solved. /
In a small degree, also, ocular dem
onstration was made to me on one
part of this point. l saw a huge pile /
of nitrates in a plant at Magdeburg, /
and was told that it would be set |!
aside for agricultural use in the /
spring. 1t was nitrate that had been .
extracted from the air, and the as
surance was given that where that .
had come from there was an unlimi-
ted quantity. Officers of the army /.
and of the War Office told me with .
the greatest emphasis that Germany /
had reached the point OF production |
of this nitrate where she could fur
nish all that was needed for muni- .
tions and have plenty left also for ag- .
ricultural use. Moreover, it was de- !
clared with great positivenesS that !
it could now be produced for less !
cost than the freight rates on similar ,
material from the nitrate beds of |
Chile.
Never again shall we be importing |
nitrates from Chile said an officer
attached to the staff of General Gro
ner.
We can make it cheaper now than !
we could bring it up from there, es- |
pecially with the high freight rates |
that will have to be paid for a long
time after the close of the war. l
know this is true because | am in a
cOIIpdut WHICH plOuuteS HltIdlSS
now out of the air. There are two
processes for its production. My
company has one process, and there
is another company which has diff
ferent and cheaper process. 1 am in
the wrong company, and after the
war the other fellows will put us out
of business. We can make money
now because we can get war prices
for it. But when the real competi-
tion begins, we shall have to quit"
Potash for fertilizer Germany has
in all sufficient quantities. She has
been the chief source of supply for
all the world. Here again it is
merely a question of labor, and un-
der the necessitous circumstances Of
the present there is no doubt that
the War Office will see to it that
, sufficient quantity of potash is sup
piled for proper fertilization of Ger
manys farm lands in 1917.
The third element of fertilization
is phosphate, and there Germany is
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