New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1918-02-23

Ginning. When the war broke out
France had a agricultural popu.
latio Of ten million people. She
has about five million farms of
which four and one-half million
are Of IS than twenty-five acres.
The first draft alone took three
million Of her farmers, and SUBJ
sequent drafts have left but a
fraction of them Not only the
labor, but the skill and knowl-
edge have been taken away from
her farms. And being nation
of very small farms, worked each
by one or two persons, France
had not the machinery that is
necessary for cultivating large
acres with a few men. That ma
chinCry is one valuable thing that
we can supply her. We have al
ready sent her 1900 tractors.
Perhaps if the war goes on long
enough. American brains and ma
chinery will make the farms Of
France yield as they should.
The men we are sending TO
France will help her food supply,
too. One reason she wants sol
diers even a few hundred thou
sand Of them-from America, is
that every one of these soldiers
will enable her to release a
French farmer from the trenches
and put him back on the land. A
few hundred thousand soldiers
will not go far toward beating
Germany on the western front.
but a few hundred thousand ex-
perienced French farmers can get
a lot of food out of the soil of
France. This was one of the
strongest arguments that the
French made last September when
we decided to hasten all of our
war preparations in order to get
men to France quickly.
From these facts it will be seen
that the Allies have no great adj
vantage over Germany in the
matter Of food. England is cul-
tivating her soil to the last acre,
but even so, she can produce on
about a fifth Of what she needs,
while France. which might pro-
duce goodly part of her own
food, cannot keep her land under
cultivation. That leaves America
as the only hope Of the alliance.
This makes it our most i'm
perative DUTY il wa are on;nu TO
see the thing through, to save
wheat. We have the substitutes
which would enable us to do this
without suffering. Our produc-
ton of corn is something like
thirty bushels per capita per year.
If each of us would eat bushel
Of corn this year in place Of that
amount Of wheat, enough wheat
would be saved to see our Allies
through until the next crop.
Facts like these point to ra-
tioning as the logical solution OF
the problem. The idea Of being
put OH compulsory rations is dis
tasteful to the American people.
Yet a reasonable rationing sys-
tenn. combined with more rigid
control of prices. which rationing
would probably make necessary,
would be the cheapest and surest
way to accomplish the thing we
have set ont to do.
But if it is impossible to starve
Germany, what is to be the out
come of this world fastingi
Pointing out the weaknesses OF
Germany has become rather a dis
appointing business. First she
was to starve, but now it is con-
ceded that she is not going TO
starve. Then she was to have a
revolution. but the way the iron
hand crushed the recent strikes
has discouraged that hope.
Nevertheless. Germany is weak
ening. and it may be said with
some confidence that machinery
and transportation are the sea OF
her weakness. It is known that
her transportation system is wear
ing out, and that she can spare
neither the metal nor the labor to
repair it. It is known that her
testile mills have practically gone
out Of business. and that many OF
her people are clothed in paper.
Here is matter in which the
alliance 10 reallv superior. Amer