The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1917-01-23
IS FACING
REAL FOOD CRISIS
CHIEF OF FORMER BUREAU
MANAGEMENT SEES NO RE-
LIEF IN SIGHT - BETTER
PRODUCTION THE REMEDY.

wv ~ ~ A|4N l..
NEW Worthwhile the war
wastage and the worldwide failure
OF crops this year are largely to
blame for the present high prices Of
foods, the United States is nearing
crisis in food production outside
of these unusual causes.
This was the conclusion of N. J..
Spillman, chief of the bureau of
farm management Of the department
of agriculture, in careful analysis
of the situation before the Society of
American Naturalists, for the ad-
! vantement of science He said the
remedy was better methods.
ut is a far cry from the 300
pounds of milk of the average Amer
lean cow to the $4,000 pounds of
Duchese Skylark Ormsby; from the
fifty or sixty eggs of the American
hen to the 314 of Lady Elegantine,"
he said, to illustrate the possibilities
OF intensive production, both of
meats and vegetables.
During the last decade of the last
century the average price of farm
land in the United States rose 1O8
per cent" said Mr.. Spillman. Our
ing the same time there was an aver
age increase of CT per cent in the
price of farm products. Thus far in
| The present decade both these rates
have been exceeded.
1T appears that we have arrived
| at a period, or at least rapidly ap-
preaching it, when increases in the
production of food in this country
no longer keeps pace with increase in
population.
The area of our wheat crop for
each of the last ten years, ending
with 1915, has been, in millions of
acres, AZ, As, 48, AT, 46, so, 81 and
90, respectively. The marked in
crease in 1915 may be attributed, in
the main, to the stimulating effect of
the high prices incident to war. If
we compare the average of the first
two years of the period with that of
the last two preceding 1915 there
| 10 N44 A4AN4 CSkoC VI 1O pei NGuH 1OI sew
en- years, rate slightly less than
that of increase in population. 1t
must also be remembered that by far
the greater portion of the land
brought into cultivation during this
| period lies in the western wheat pro-
| ducing era. We cannot expect the
present increase in the area of wheat
lands to continue much longer.
| While the production of wheat in
1915 shows that, under the stimu-
lus of high prices, American farm
ers can still produce a big surplus
of this commodity, there is also ev-
cry reason to believe that such stim-
illus is necessary. At present we
have reached a stage where any great
increase in wheat acreage-in fact,
where an increase proportional to in
crease in population-can occur only
by decreasing the area of other
crops. This means that unless we
are to have bread still higher in price
we must devise means OF increasing
the yield of wheat per acre.
while wheat is our most impor-
tant bread crop, corn is far more
important crop when considered in
its entire relational to our national
economy. 1t occupies nearly twice
the acreage of any other crop, has
a total value more than twice as
great, and is the principal basis of
meat production in this country. The
| per capita production of corn for tho
last four years are 35, "a, So and %
bushels, respectively. The total Weld
preceding 1915 has been, in hun
dreds of millions of bushels. 27. 20.
26, 27, %, 90, rs, 81, "a and 27.
These figures indicate practically no
increase for the last decade, during
which population increased prob
ably 20 per cent. Even the great
crop of last year, not incluGed in
the figures above, was smaller than
that of three years earlier.
ut is evident that we have reach
ed the point where increase in the
production of corn is not nearly
keeping pace with increase in popu-
lation. In fact, the statistics indi-
cate that it requires the stimulus of
very high prices to bring about even
small increase in the volume of our
most important crop.
Zone reason for this stimulation
is that the west, where most of the
lands now being brought into cuItiva-
ton are found, is not adapted to the
production of corn. The acreage of
corn is so large that any considerable
increase in it can occur only at the
expense of other important crops, ex-
cept as additional land is brought
into cultivation in the corn-produc-
ing states, and this must, in the ma