New-York tribune., 1918-08-25
Shortage of Labor, {,
Drouth and High
Costs Affect Crops
Men and Women on Farms
Have Overcome a Trou-
BILE Triumvirate
By Archer Wall Douglas


nant factors of the ituation-drouth
scarcity of labor and high prices -ant
together they constitute a triumvirate
of trouble
Some three weeks ago, before the re-
cent rains, the drouth and its effects
extended in an irregular and spotted
fashion from the Pacific Coast to the
Appalachian ranges. It was local in it's
extent in many states, owing to the
scattered rains, instead of that wide
spread rainfall which attends the east
ward flight of the moisture bearing lows
from the Pacific. There are portions of
states and even counties where the
rain-soaked soil is cheek my jowl with
thirsty fields.
In the early spring this drouth near
ly wiped out the promise of the crops
IN portions of Oregon and Washington,
thence eastward along the northern
nnc of Montana and of North Dakota.
where it practically stopped. Mean
while it held much of Western Okla
homa in it's grip, and still prevails over
two-thirds of Texas, the western and
southern portions, with an intensity
aud duration unknown in the history Of
that state. So severe is it that the
goats of Southwest Texas, raised for
their mohair covering, are unequal to
the situation. And yet they usually
thrive under arid conditions when cat
tie and even sheep give up the fight
Vegetation Burned Up
In the great corn belt from Kansas
and Oklahoma eastward to Kentucky and
Ohio hot winds of exceedingly high
temperatures and intense dryness pre-
vailed early in August to an extent
that blighted the previous promise of
a record-breaking corn crop and burned
up growing vegetation as with the
breath of furnace. They took toll
likewise Of cotton in Oklahoma, Arkan-
sas, Texas and much of Louisiana until
even that hardy dry weather" plant
shed Its leaves and bolls because there
was no moisture for their sustenance.
1t is a colossal calamity farreaching
IN its effects. And yet there is much
cheer left in the general agricultural
situation. The drouth came when most
OF the small grain crops were made and
when much of the early corn was safe
from serious hurt. SO when the cas-
ualty list is in, and it is a long one,
there still remain rather more than
average yields Of most agricultural
productions, both the staple and sec
ondary crops. Tie rain area is spread
ing and pastures and ranges are re-
viving. Also there is the comfort that
the corn which remains-and it is still
large yield-will be of far better
quality than the great production of
last year.
Even IN the dry districts of the South
and Southwest the humble peanut made
good on something over 100000 acres
and with a yield of abclt 10000 900
bushels, totalling rather more than
that many million dc1lars. 1t is get
ting to be a national crop and an ever
present help in time of trouble. when
less hardy and more water loving
plants wither and die.
Each recurring drouth in the West
and Southwest has taught the farmer
the lesson of how to combat the hos
tile forces of nature; so TODAY there
are hfe savers and increased acreage
in peanuts, Kafr corn. alfalfa, Sudan
grass, velvet beans and all that tribe
OF th-resistng plants that icons
OF natural selection have evo]ved in
the dry places of the earth. So, after
all, we shall go into winter with an
abundance of food of all kinds. if onlv
there follow those reyiving rains which
are the usual sequel to a dry spell of
TINS extent and severity.
Labor Scarcity Felt Everywhere
Labor scarcity is everywhere wide
spread and severe, save in a few incon-
sequential localities where there i ro+
much doing. 1t is not only EXPENSIVE
because of raising the cost of produc-
uon' but completely demoralizjne in
towering the general standard of off.
ciency. 1t is restless to an extent b;tb-
crto unknown, shifting from one en
ployment to another, for all mannor of
reasons and for no reason at all. An
extreme racial and temperamenta1 case
Is that of complaint from busy c;tv
IN mississippi thut, being able to earn
enough In two days to keep him for a
week, the negro laborer is prone to
work two days and then quit for the
rest OF the week. As in "Patiencc i,
threats. prayers, entreaties. all in vain
Nothing moves him."
notable and interesting feature of
now to accomplish things was Furnished d
by the embattled farmers. who were as
truly enlisted in the war as in the davs
OF Lexington and Concord. They had
10 raise great food crops for two
WORDS, and with much reduced force
o. available labor and they got away
with 1t, not by elaborate schemes of ef-
hciency, for such things were foreign
20 them' but merely by the old-fash
ioned way Of a desperate spurt and sus-
famed, unceasing, intelligent industry
livery man, woman and child of Thorn
'es out an extra link" Of steady appl
cation, and the job was done.
he whole labor situation is ,o,e
ana more imbued and Dcrrroat.d ,,;4h