Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-03-04
PLANT MORE WHEAT.

PLANT MORE WHEAT.
1t is the duty Of the American farmer to plant wheat
this spring on every acre of ground which is at all suit
able for the production Of wheat. 1t is not q question
of profit. of convenience. or Of the following of a pro-
gram of crop rotation which has been decided to be
beneficial. 1t is a question of producing wheat.
The supreme need OF the peoples who are associated
with us in this war is for wheat, not that they may enjoy
an abundance of white bread while we are eating brown.
but that they may have a moderate quantity of this food
element with which, in combination with the other sup
plies which are available to them, to build up a sustain
ing ration. North America is the only quarter of the
world to which they can look with any measure of con-
hdence for the supply which they must have, and at this
time so far as human effort can influence it, the supply
Of wheat available depends on the manner in which the
farmers of our northern states and of Canada respond
to the demands which the democracy Of the world
makes upon them.
In ordinary times anything savoring of dictatiou as
to the character of crop to be grown would have been
resented as an unwarraned interference with private
business. Suggestions have at times been made in this
state that laws should be passed prohibiting the growing
Of certain crops on the same land continuously for more
than a designated number Of years. Such projects have
never got beyond the phase OF suggestion. the prevalent
belief being that the evil of improper agricultural prac-
tlces might be trusted to right itself either through the
enlightenment Of the individual or through his impov-
erishment to the point where he would be compelled to
yield his lands to others who would use them more
wisely.
But these are not ordinary times. They are times of
emergency, in which the government exercises its right
to advise, to urge, to command, and, in its discretion. to
direct through its own agents the manner in which every
business shall be conducted. In it's effort to obtain for
export the wheat that is needed for consumption abroad
our government has already hevond tho fold "a n
vice and entered upon that of direct and forceful action
Our millers may grind wheat freely, but for every 100
pounds of wheat ground, 80 pounds must be sold to the
government Any miller evades or disregards that reg
ulation at his peril. Again. the government has entered
every home in the land and has not requested, but or
dered that there shall be no more white bread. The en-
forcenent Of this decree is made absolute and inescap-
able by the regulation prohibiting the further manufac-
ture Of the fine white -four which, until now, was a
ground contains several pounds per hundred weight of
the coarser matter in the wheat than has been custom
airy in the highest grade dours.
Undoubtedly this darker flour is very nourishing.
1t may be more wholesome than the old fancy patent"
made, not as a health measure, but as a war measure,
and the government has ordered us-to eat something
that we have not been in the habit of eating in order
that a certain portion of wheat may be spared for those
VINO need 1t more than we do. And all of us are obeying
this order. We could not eyade it if we tried. And
most Of US are accepting it cheerfully, and are prepared
to obey such other regulations as it may be deemed
necessary to impose.
Similarly, while the appeal of the government for
more wheat, comes in the form of an urgent request, to
the patriotic man it has all the force of a command to
be followed religiously, regardless of all considerations
other than the public need and the ability Of the in
dividual to comply. The President was riph+ in be os+i
mate of the patriotism of the farmers of America when
he expressed confidence that they would respond to the
full extent of their ability to the demand for more -four,
for the farmers Of America, like the great masses of
every other great group in the country, are patriots first