The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1920-06-03
The Coming Food Crisis.
Front Springfield Republican.

ne vdence o seems overwhelming that considerably less food will
70 produced IN North America this year than last year. The southt emper
sae one la Just completed a crop season N its two great surplus food
= "Ws coun1resb Argentina n Australia, report disappointing harvests.
u the united States Canada, tn m y icuIt countriesr enafning
~ ne world upon whcht the human ace depends Tor a large exportables sur
prus' Inc spring conditions. are unfavorable The planting season is very
N a' me railroad tt ups and freight congestion have seriously delayed the
ssMpmentso fertilizers 20 the farms of the country; farm labor is unprece-
ueieoy scarce costly and the tendency is widespread for the smaller
I aAMe.s 20 cultivate only sue an acreageo of land a they IN care o with
% expected this year, or perhaps mex year from eentrala and easternE u-
ope .Rumania Hungary before the great war could b depended upon
LOT "neat.a 8 tn middle n western European countries could be depended
upon oh 1r beet sugar ut Runania and Hungary must be dismissed for the
bt tn new. Polish war of conquest as far south a Odessa is not the right
sort of spring planting. The come back Of Russia as a food exporting coun-
Try on a large scale still seems rather remote, regardless of bolshevisnn. II
a new cycle OF var must be fought for the political control Of the rich vest
I'm zone Oft III old empire stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
The economic chaos and dismal social misery of eastern Europe is now
SO extreme tina one might see in this condition the clear warning of the
doWnfau Of civilization. It is many centuries since the situation of a vast
population ws more critical Those wretched human hcsdcs now more than
naI starved be kept aive in the next few FEARS, il they ire to u
vtve, by means of the surplus food grown elsewhere-whch is where America
ONE in. 1t is futile perhaps in these lays to talk about attaining a higher
civilizations; the present task is to hold OF to what civilization thu world al-
ready has. The first essential of civilization is food.
Newspaper headlines suggest that here n the United States bread may
before long g o up to IS cents a loaf. This fear is lot based N the short
worst season imaginable % feed its W people a a price by no means x
cesave, provided that little wheat or wheat -four were exported. The trouble
O. anticipated arises, first from the European demand for American -four;
second, from the end on, June of the regulation Of wheat prices by the
United States government. $3.50" E&
The question Immediately arises whether government control of the
market should not be continued, if such consequences Of its expiration are
threatened. After the armistce, the cry arose that h government should
get ut Of business Immediately n the government did get tut of BUSH
ness is fast as it could. But there were SOM disastrous results, a s in the
cs of sugar. Everybody now wishes that sugar had been kept under direct
government control The railroads ave gon back, Also out railroad trans
portaton suffers 1t may turn out that a monumental mistake will be made
in letting government controlo OF the grain market prematurely expire.