Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-01-31
PRESIDENT LOOKS
Continued from page ]

determine the issue. II has turned out
that the force, that fight for freedom,
, the freedom of men all over the world
| as well as our own depend upon us IN
nm extraordinary and unexpected degree
for sustenancc, for the supply OF the
materials by which men arc to live and
to fight and it will be our glory when the
war is over that we have supplied those
materials and supplied them ah'lnd-
antly and it will be all the more glory
because in supplying them we nave made
our supreme effort and sacrifice.
an the field o. ag~icultu we have
agencies and instrumcntalities fortunate
ly such as no other government IN the
world can show The DcI artmcni o.
Ag icultue is undoIotedly the greatest
PRACTICAL and scientific ag' cultural O.
ganization in the world. The
banking legislation OF the last two or
three years has given the tarme's access
to the yreat lendablc caTltal o' tie
country and 1t has become the dItv both
Of the men in cha, &c @ the Federal
Reserve b4nking system and OF the Fam
Loan banl ing system to see to 1T that the
'arme:s obtain the credit. both sho't
term and long term, to which they are
entifled
Both by direct purchase OF nitrate
and b, the establish ment of ants 20
produce nitrates. the GOV nment is do
ine its utmost to asSi in the problem OF
fertilization The Derartmert OF Agi-
cult re and ether agencies a @ actively
assist!nt the farmers to Late, SAFEGUARD
and secure at ,osi an ad".,u.;ta sup Is OF
Sound >eod. The dena tmert las 81
500 600 a;ailahla for this purnose now
and has csie.i tic Co"grcSs for S6. .OOo.-
900 more.
FARM LABOR HARD PROBLEM
Tho labor problem is one Of gcat
difficl'tv and some of the best nyen les
o. the nat IN are add cssing Themselves 10
the task OF solviny it SO ar as il IS pos
sible to sclvo t. Farmers have not been
eHemT ted from the Dir aft ! know they
would not wish to be. take 1t or
g-antcd they would rot wish to hc put M
class by themselves in this respcct.
But the attention nf the War De. AT. !.
ment has been very 81 -Iouslv Cente ed
u; on the task OF inte -cring with the
labo' Of the farms as little rs POSSIBLE
and under the new draft REGULATIONS
believe the farmers of the country will
find their supply o. labor is ve-y murh
less seriously drawn uron than il was
Under the first and iuitia' draft made
be!o-e we had had 'ur p cent full
exre len in these perpleyIng matters.
TIE s,p;ly of la or in oil Industries : a
ms tier W. NJ look O aCc 3 c looking
{ with '.iligen' care
"And let me say that the stimulation
of the agencies | have enumerated has
been responded to by the farmers in sp!en-
did fashion. | dare say you are aware
that the farmers Of this country are rs
efficient as any other farmers in the world.
They do not produce more per acre than
the farmers in Europe. Ii is not neces-
sary that they should do so. II would
perhaps be bad economy for them 10
attempt il. But they do produce by two
TO three or four times more per man, per
unit of labor and capital. than the farmers
OF any European country. They are more
alert and use more labor-saying devices
than any other farmers IN the world. And
their res sponse to the demands OF the pres
cnt emergency has been in every way re-
markable.
last spring their planting exceeded by
12,OO0000 acres the largest planting OF
any previous year, and the yields from the
crops were record-brcaking yields In
the fall of 1917 a wheat acreage Of AZ, TO-
600 was planted, which was one million
larger than for any preceding year, three
millions greater than the next largest,
and seven millions greater than the pre-
cedlng fve-year average.
HITS AT UNDUE PRoFTTEERrNG
But ought TO say TO YOU it is not only
necessary that these achievements should
lie repeated, but that they should be cx-
ceedcd. know what this advice involves.
1t involves not only labor, but sacrifice,
the paInstakIng application Of every bit of
scientific knowledge and every tested
practice that is available. 1t means the
utmost economy, even TO the point where
the pinch comes II means the kind OF
concentration and self-sacrifice which is
involved in the field of battle itself. where
the object always looms greater than the
individual And yet the government will
help and help in every way that II Is pos
sible
''The impression which prevails in some
quarters that while the government has
sought to fix the prices Of fOodstutts II
has not sought 10 fix other prices which
determine the expenses OF the farmer, Is
mistaken one As q matter of fact, the
government has actively and successfully
regulated the prices of many fundamental
materials underlying all the industries OF
the country and has regulated them not
only for the purchases of the government,
but also for the purchases of the general
public, and have every reason TO believe
Congress will extend the powers of the
government in this important and even
essential matter, SO that the tendency TO
Drofiteering which Is showing itself I'D too
.nanv quarters may be effectively check
ed. In fixing the prices of foodstufls, the
government sincerely has tried to keep the
interests OF the farmer as much In mind as
le Interests Of the communities which
are to be served, but it IS serving mankind
as well as the farmer and everything In
these times of war takes on the rigid
aspect OF duty.
Il will not appeal to you to continue
and renew and increase your efforts.
| do not believe 1t is necessary to do so,
believe YOU will do it without any word
or appeal from me, because you under
stand as | do the needs and opportuni-
ties Of this great hour, when the fortunes
Of mankind everywhere seem about to
be determined and when America has
the greatest opportunity she has ever
had TO make good her own freedom and in
making it good to lend helping hand
to men struggling for their freedom
everywhere.
"You remember that it WAS farmers
from whom came the first shots at Lex
ington, that set aflame the revolution
that made America free. | hope ard
b lev ! lat the farmers of America vii
Willingly and conspicuously stand by
to win this war also. The toll, the in
telligence, the energy, the foresight, the
self-sacri cp and deyotion of the farm
ers Of America will. | believe, bring to a
1nfr f,uf