The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-29
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
CROPs AND POPULATION.
FREDERIC ]. HASKINs Director.
Washington, D. c.


reports of large crops in certain sec
lions of the country are misleading is
the opinion of agricultural experts
here. a big wheat crop in the north
west, and less difficulty than was ex71
pected in obtaining harvest labor, are
being taken offhand to mean that
there will be plenty to eat this winter
and that food will be cheap.
Officials of the National Grange
say, however, that the food situation
will continue acute turnout the winter
and indefinitely, until life on the farm
can compete in attractiveness and re-
Enumeration with the city and it's high
priced jobs.
Census figures are expected to show
an increase over 1910 of at least 49,
900. 900 population. At the same time,
it is prophesied that there will be a
smaller number of people engaged in
agriculture than in 1910. Consider
that in 1920 81 per cent of the per-
sons engaged in remunerative occu-
pations were classed as farmers, land
that every census since 1920 has
shown a decrease in this percentage,
until in 1910 it was only 30 per cent,
and you will cease to wonder that an
insignificant slice of watermelon costs
more than the whole fruit once SOLD
for, and that the more necessary po-
tato now has to be pared with razor
in the interests of economy.
It is neither necessary nor deSlraDIe
that ST per cent of our people should
be producing food now The colonial
land owner was incidentally his own
clothes manufacturer, soap maker
butcher, baker, and practically every
thing else assisted sometimes by a
retinue of servants, sometimes only BY
his large and energetic family. SUI
since his time the age of speciansts
has come ard other industries rightly
nf z cent
labor that used to be on the FARMS
The trouble is that the pendulum has
swung too far. so that even with ma
| chinery and the mass of technlcal
knowledge recently acquireo mere - -
not enough land under cultivatiop 70
meet the needs of 107, 0OO,0OO peopIe.
The situation right now IS that the
wheat crop in Kansas is being nan
died more easily than had been anti
| cipated due to the fact that the wheat
ana straw are light this year, and
| therefore 20 to IS per cent less LABOR
! is required than was needed last year
| Tho grain is reported to be satisfac-
tory -., 1oa -
The truck crop is hit harder. Low
prices which the farmers have been
getting have so discouraged them that
! a good many cut down truck produc-
! ton to what they themselves could
consume, and what they are sure OF
selling.
garded as unpromising. Last sum
mer.- Europe cut off Sher meat and
stock imports from this country. the
prices were impossible for her to pay,
| partly because of the high rate OIL ex-
change. This resulted in a depression
| of prices in this country and de-
cline in the number of animals kept
and produced last winter. Farmers
are now debating whether stock pro-
duction is going to be profitable IN
1.-THE near future, or whether 1T VIII
be aslosing game as 1T has peene re-
tcently.
Among all the clouds of food crises
and calamities there is one ray or
| cheer. Milk is reported as adequate.
l This, one agricultural seer points OUT
| is the effect of the dairy men getting
together to fix prices at rates where
thew will be sure Of a return on their
! investment He further adds that
i when other branches of agriculture
are similarly organized we--may- ex-
peet more stable conditions in farm
Industries than at present
Everybody knows why farmers
have been leaving home for the city.
but it is not so generally known that
in the past twelve months the exodus
has been greater than ever before
lin New York state alone there are
h24, 900 vacant farm houses, and It IS
estimated that within ten miles q
any city in the country, possibly ex-
cepting New York, there are many
thousand acres of untitled land, and
many vacant houses This is a clue
to the reason for the labor depart
ment's reports that the cost of food
has advanced nearly every month
since the war ended.
To get the small farmer to return
to his land is less important to the
country as a whole than to see an in
| crease in the commercially run farms
/ The farm of from so to $50 acres
run by the farmer and his family
without hired help, produces com
paratively little food for the city. A
good part of his crops are consumed
at home, and what little is left is ex-
changed for the necessities at tbs
store and with neighbors. Every
small farmer is one less consumer aJtc
one more producer, it is true, but NJ
is not the vital factor in feeding fht
masses of workers who are not foo(
producers.
BIZ Farms Need Hired Men.
The difficulty connected With th'
: commercially-run farm which spe
cializes is that it requires hired labor
and labor is still scarce. Stories o
= harvest help are somewhat confus
= ing. Farmers of one section repor
. say that they cannot get any kind o
{ help, and others want only skilled
? hands and refuse city vacationists
One editor Of a farm journal, VIII
tried to get the harvest hand and tn
1 farmer together, says that he got tn
r addresses of workers and then wa
: surprised to find that almost none o
. his farmer readers asked for them
r This is only the story of harvest labor
: There is an undisputable shortage o
= regular farm. help, estimated at be
= tween 20 and SO per cent.
L Increased Immigration is being sug
|. gested as a means of bringing labo
5 to the farms, but it is doubtful if tn
ordinary run of immigrants could b
e attracted to farm life under presen
h conditions. In recent years ifnni
f grants have avoided the country be
= cause the cities and industry promise
/. La better chance of prosperity
: this was never truer than now. an
y as the foreigner is usually we'll awar
o OF At when he comes, the farms coul