The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-05-11
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, ID. G.
THE CROP OUTLOOK.

/
bined with a shortage Of farm labor
make the outlook for food production
in the United States this year perhaps
the worst the country has ever faced.
This is the gist of an interview with
Leon M. Estabrook, chief of the bu-
reau of crop estimates of the depart
ment of agriculture.
Mr.. Estabr says that from now
on weather will be the decisive factor.
If it is favorable we need not worry;
we will have enough to eat and a
small surplus for export. If it is fair.
we will probably have just about
enough for our own use. If the grow
ing season is markedly unfavorable.
the United States may for the first
time in it's history fail to produce
enough foodstuffs for domestic con-
sumption.
| There are. Mr.. Estabrook explains,
three main factors in agricultural pro-
duction-the farm acreage, labor and
weather. AS a result of a labor
shortage and unfavorable weather
conditions. the acreage planted in the
NAL Thus all three factors are ad-
verse to large production.
Late Spring Serious.
| The chief unfavorable weather con-
dition so far is a late spring. The
| season is from two to five decks late
all over the United States. A late
spring in once section of the country
! Is not unusual, but a late spring all
over the country does not occur once
in twenty years
AS a result of this late spring, with
much rain, blowing and planting have
been delayed in almost every section.
Oats in Maryland and Virginia, for ex-
ample should have been planted
about March Is. For the most part,
the land in which they should have
been planted has not even been
plowed. The. land has been too wet
for blowing. 1t would not hold uP
horse" and besides if land is
plowed when too wet, it compacts and
cannot be cultivated. AS a result of
these. conditions, many farmers in
this section will not plant any oats at
all.
Cotton has suffered in much the
same way. An early planting of cot
ton is necessary, not only because
cotton needs a long growing season,
but also because the crop must be
matured early to escape the ravages
of the boil weeviI. In the more north
ern cotton states, it has been impos-
sible to plant the crop at the right
time. or even to pillow the ground. The
result is that some farmers will not
plant cotton, and that some crops will
grow up late at the mercy of the boil
weevil
These are merely examples. Many
other crops are equally threatened by
the late season. The thing needed
above all is a warm period without
rain. Farmers Say that it has rained
every Friday for months A couple
of rainIess weeks now would be
godsend.
Rain Needed Later.
The rain will be needed later. III
this late spring is followed by a dry
he 1nf a Ct NH O
cause the young plants, started late,
will be unable to resist drouth.
Aside from the 1ateness of the sea-
son, many farmers are forced to plant /
less this year than last because they
cannot get labor to help them in
not see much prospect of getting the
necessary help in harvest time. The
tendency, as shown by reports coming
to the bureau of crop estimates, is
for the farmer to plant just what he
can handle comfortably with the help /,
of his family. The fact that prices
of farm products are showing a ten
dency to fall without the ultimate
consumer getting any OF the benefit) |
is also discouraging the farmer from |
large planting. Prices of hogs, for ex- |
ample. have fallen % per cent, altho |
pork has not fallen nearly that much. /
And the farmer is told that prices of
foodstuffs are going still lower
Therefore he is not enthusiastic for |
large paintings.
Roads Rob Farmers of Men.
But the shortage of labor. next to /
the late season, is the chief factor in
keeping down the acreage. There are
several causes for this shortage. One
of the most immediate is the great ac
tivity in road building. In almost
every section of the country roads are
being built by federal aid. and farm
labor is turning to the roads. A hired
man on a farm makes from $65 to |
500 a month and his board. The road /
gangs offer him from 81 to So a day.
The workman prefers the larger cash
Industry in the cities is also drain
ing the farm labor supply, as it has
always done. A very usual thing these
days is for a young man reared on
farm, and having some aptitude for
tools, to go to the city and become a
mechanic. He makes from 81 to $12 /
a day, which is more than a whole
family can earn on a farm. Besides
this. he has more amusements and
more opportunities for education and
progress.
The draft took about two million
young men from the farms. While
they were gone, the old folks, the
women and the children pitched in and
worked as the farm population of this
country never worked before. They
were aided by volunteer farm labor
from the cities to some extent. They
not only kept the fields planted, bu1
increased the total farm acreage about
10 per cent.
Now, with no price guarantee and
with prices for farm products falling,
the farm people are not going to make /
any such heroic efforts again. And
the young men are not coming back
to the, farms. Discharged from the
army. they are staying in the cities +
finding places in industry. All of
these factors combine to make the
labor shortage really acute. The
bureau estimates that the farm labor
supply of the country as a whole is 80
per cent less than normaI /