New-York tribune., 1918-02-28
yX WASHINGTON, Feb. Of
. Now come the food produc-


gloomy picture of breakdown OF
agricultural production this year and
wind up with n row of figures in
tended to prove conclusively that it
IS doubtful whether the United
States will be able to feed itself this
wear. to say nothing of taking care
of the Allies, the needy neutrals in
Europe, the Cubans and the MeNi-
cans.
They garnish their despairing talk
with melancholy tidbits about farm
ers of Oklahoma feeding wheat to
hogs, of corn rotting in the West, of
potatoes that will never reach the
consumer, of the impossibility of
farmers making money ON 50 wheat,
of the inability of agriculturists to
finance themselves, of the scarcity OF
seed corn, of the discouraging break
down of transportation and, finally,
of the vanishing of agricultural la
bor
To listen to the pessimistic reports
that pour into Washington from all
parts of the country you would think
that there was no hope left in us and
10 way Of importing any. This is all
very discouraging and exceedingly
DEPRESSING to one who doesn't know
farmers. Happily it is the business
Of the Department of Agriculture to
look after the production side OF the
food problem raised by the war, and
L knows farmers.
The farmer said a farmer to me
Z. the Agricultural Department. 'is
and always has been a crop bear.
Hard luck tales are his speciality.
just now, to listen TO all these stories
Of gloom. YOU would think that the
farmers Of the United States had
given up the ghost
Farmers Sincere II
Their Misgivings
No doubt they are sincere in their
misgivings. and it is true that they
are facing tremendous difficulties
which must not be be4sttled but their
present situation reminds me Of
fine young horse Of mine that got
tangled up in its halter strap and
was thrown in it's stall.
"it struggled desperately for
long time to get up. but all in vain.
When a stable hand chancod along
he united the rope, but the horse lay
perfectly still. No amount Of petting
ol prodding could make him move
muscle. Much alarmed, [ telephoned
ito veterinarian, urging him to come
at once lest the horse be dead before
he could arrive. He couldn't come,
and so he asked to tell him the
horses symptoms.
u related the circumstances. lie
said there was no use of his coming,
that the horses trouble was merely
mental one, and that the animal
had simply convinced itself after the
futile struggle with the halter rope
that it couldn't get up.
Leave him alone, the veterinari-
an continued. Pretty soon fly Will
light on his nose. and before he has a
chance to reflect that he is all in he
will Shake his head Surprised at
this evidence Of stil being mobile, he
viii get up, and that will be all
there is to your case Of dying
horse And such it turned out to be.
9ur farmers have had so many
1sdbles and see so many more ahead
that they think they are down and
out. However, after they get
through proving that such is the
case, they will presently go to work
with will, and the chances are that
the next time you hear from them
they viii be complaining that they
made the mistake Of producing TOO
much"
Let us look at some OF the troubles
'hat are making the farmers despair,
remembering the while that the
United States has in its Agricut-
urai Department and its thousands
OF ramlflcations a wonderful machine
Tor stimulating production and meet
ing difficulties.
Feeding wheat to hogs in Okla