The Washington herald., 1918-09-26
BIGGER WHEAT
YIELD URGED
Railroaders Predict Short
age of Grain in U. S.,
Says Holland.

Much Of his time while serving as
president OF the Vanderbilt railroad
system William c. Brown gave to an
exhaustive study of the possibilities of
greatly increasing our wheat cultiva-
tion. In the last four years of his
presidency OF the Vanderbilt system
Mr.. Brown visited many parts of the
country for the purpose Of discover
ing whether there could be an i'm
pOrtant increase in the production of
wheat and whether this could be ac-
complished without relying upon
reclamation Of arid land i'm the far
West or especially In the Northwest
At the time Mr.. Brown was thus
engaged there was no thought OF war
in Europe. But there was appre-
hension that unless we increased our
wheat supply rapidly the time was
not distant when We would be COM
PEELED to import wheat.
In this view Mr.. Brown was IN
entire accord with James J. Hill II
was his apprehension that the growth
OF our population might exceed our
wheat supply each year. which led
Mr.. Hill earnestly to advocate the
opening up to cultivation in the far
west, especially in the DakOtas, of
vast dItdS WHICH AAic AACll VI SNACAANI
whom he employed to make investiga-
ton reported to him contained virgin
soil very rich in the qualities needed
for the successful cultivation of
wheat. Mr.. HIPS appeal to the farm
ers was successful and his advice was
reiterated by Howard Elliott. who at
that time was president of the North =
ern Pacific Railroad Company.
BookwnIter Urges Action.
% In the mid -nineties John w. Book
walter. at one time Democratic candi-
date for governor Of Ohio. made an
extended trip throughout the Western
part Of the country for the purpose of
learning what the possibilities for the
increase Of wheat production were.
Mr.. BoOkwalter's investigations justt-
fed him in speaking with some alarm
of the condition as il then existed.
He estimated that within a few years
the growth of population in the United
States would so far exceed our wheat
supply that we would have none for
export. but on the other hand would
be compelled to import wheat from
Argentina and other countries. Mr..
Bookwalter said that when this crisis
came it was inevitable that a demand
would arise that Congress impose a
tax upon imported wheat for that way
alone the American farmers could be
protected
Notwithstanding a considerable emil
grafton from the United States to the
newly opened Canadian wheat fields,
nevertheless immigration more than
made up for the loss of our wheat
farmers and the sturdy Swedes. Nor
wegians and others who were familiar
with wheat cultivation undertook to
develop wheat lands in the far North
west. They were so successful that
il was possible to report a few years
later that wheat cultivation in the
United States would be, for some
years at least, sufficient to meet the
demands of the American people
although there would be a cons tantly
lfminiFhin- surplus for export.
Mr. Brown as a result Of his Invesd-
Gtion felt justified in saying that it
vas not necessary to reclaim arid
land or to open up new wheat belts
in districts remote from convenient
trans sportation. He pointed to the fact
that in Great Britain the farmers
have cultivated wheat for more than
LOO years and were still producing
large crops and that it was only the
comparatively small area of England
which made it impossible for the Eng
Hsh farmers to raise wheat enough
to meet the demands Of the British
people.
Cultivation In East.
Mr.. Brown estimated that through
out the East and especially that rart
of the East where in earlier d1, :
wheat was successfully cultivated
there existed what in the aggregate
was a very large acreage which could
be put to successful wheat cultiva-
lion. In New England Mr.. Brown
estimated that wheat could be Gu
.ivated in fields which for many
years had not been devoted to wheat
sufficient in amount to meet the de-
MINDS Of the people Of New England.
He also advocated the return to
wheat cultivation upon a large scale
N western and northern New York,
N Pennsylvania and in Chic. II was
recently stated that in the great
central agricultural belt stretching
from the Crest Lakes to the Gulf
here is a very large acreage OF land
which IS not now and which has rot
Tor years been put to cultivation and
{ is lard adapted to wheat The war
and IFe sTpeal Of the DepaI trncnt CT
Agriculture are likely to result in the
resumption of wheat cultivation upon
large scale east of the Mississippi
md especially east of the Alleghamy
Mountains. The Department of Agri-
.ulture has recently asked that the
farmers increase their acreage de-
Toted to wheat so that not less than
100000 acres will be utilized for this
purpose and IL possible 100000 acres
more
The estimate Is that II the farm
lrs do as the Department of Agri-
culture urges, then. making due al
CONTINUED on PAGE SEVEN.