The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1920-03-05

Secretary John I. Gibson, of tn
Western Michigan Development Bur
eau, Traverse City, one of tn
country's leading apostles of the COS
pei of "Back to the Land" an,
Farm Under Uncle Sans Flag
brought an interesting message t.
the residents of Detroit who, perhap
are out of touch with the state
greatness in an agricultural way, il
these days when everything is sum
med up in the big terms of its titan
ic factories.
"Man is land animal. He can
not live apart from land. Abject
poverty is found mostly in large cit
les. The ownership of even small
plot of ground steadies life, lend:
ballast to existence, and is bono
given to society for good behavior
Home owning, whether in the coun.
try or the city, is the best specific
for social unrest.
''It is commonplace to say that
labor applied to land is the source
of all wealth.
Gall governments and policies
have their origin and depend on the
foregoing fundamental facts. The
prosperity of the farmer is coinci-
dent with the prosperity of the state
and fundamentally the welfare of
the people depends on the cultivation
of the soil. The late President Roos-
evelt put the matter very succinctly
when he stated, "the conservation of
our natural resources and their pro-
per use constitute the fundamental
problem which underlies almost ev-
cry other problem of our modern
life"
ave are being told by economists,
statesmen and those who are sup
posed to know, that the remedy for
the present high cost Of. living is
more production and greater econo-
my. This being so, our citizens
should be interested in putting the
millions of idle acres in Michigan to
work.
"The average citizen of this state
has no idea of its agricultural posi-
bilities. Michigan is not merely
state, it is an empire containing &c.
37O,779 acres, or $1,000 square
miles-an area equal to that of
England and Wales. In addition
the area of the Great Lakes is 94,-
$50 square miles. These are the
greatest bodies of fresh water in the
world, and carry the greatest vol
ume of commerce on their surface.
"The land surface of Michigan
would, if stretched out, form strip
two and one-third miles wide that
would reach around the earth at the
equator. We could house and warm
ourselves from our forests and our
coal mines; clothe and feed ourselves
from the produce of our fiocks and
herds, farms and orchards; could
build our railroads, telegraph and
telephone lines from our own iron
and copper mines. Food and recre-
alton could be furnished by our
lakes, streams and woods, while our
plants could supply |
us with every luxury from clothes
pin to an automobile.
Gin Western Michigan, there are
1,686,0O0 idle acres, besides 2,947-
439 acres of swamp land, all of
which are capable Of almost infinite
agricultural development.
"The value of the fruit crop of
Michigan for last year was $15,500-
300, which is more than the Emper-
Dr. Napoleon received for the Louisi-
ana Purchase. Our average potato
.rop for the last ten years was 3D.
$4,000 bushels. The ten-year av-
,rage production (1909-19) was 81
10000 bushels, with an average
Jield per acre of 81 bushels. This
,ield could be greatly increased by
he judicious use of fertilizer. If
his were done the farmer could af-
ord to take lower price, thus
bringing relief to the people in the
titles. The crop of 1919 was close
o 100000. These are only two
# the many crops that we produce.
We are now leaders in sugar beets,
we and coming up fast in legumin-
us crops.
"Our resort business, of which we
ave only just touched the edge, is
eve must have food and clothing
nd the necessaries Of life, and these
Kings can only be provided by the
armer.
apable of yielding an income, es-
ecially to Western Michigan, of
80, 10000 to $50,OO0,O00 a year.
at is unfortunate that so many Of
ur citizens have wrong notions a
out the northern part of the state
he cause of this can be traced back
, the report Of the first surveyors
tho came to the territory and who
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