The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-01-01
OUR FOOD SUPPLY

When the Germans launched their Uboat campaign they
boosted of their ability to starve England in three months, and if
their theories had worked ont they could have done so. 1t proved
to be another case where the best laid plans OF mice and men 60
wrong. They succeeded in soaring the English and everything
was done to avert the calamity. The great navy was depended on,
but production was also invoked and every acre OF ground that
could be used to produce food was thrown open to those VINO would
till the soil.
This was the intention. but it was only partly carried out. The
public parks in the cities and the Fairgrounds for children were
taken over and spaded up and seeded, but the great hunting pre-
serves of the rich were held sacred and were not molested. Thou
sands of acres of rich lands are held out of cultivation in this way
that could be used to produce food. The rich products OF the little
parks and Fairgrounds for children showed what could be done by
intensive cultivation. Even the famous Kew gardens, or as they
are officially called, the Royal Botanical gardens, were made to
produce food of all kinds known to the vegetable kingdom. The
land of Europe is very rich. The dead centuries have fallen upon
it one after another to enrich it, The very atmosphere seems to
have rotted and cluttered the ground, forming a fertiizing humus
which enhances production.
Getting back to the normal is creating much confusion. The
children are clarnoring for their Fairgrounds, the public in de-
handing its parks and breathing places, and these are being re-
turned to their former uses. Allotments were made to individuals
who cultivated them and it was astonishing to see how much could
be raised on a plot of ground 40 or SO feet square. The English
man is deliberate. Temporary ~expedients do not attract him. He
may be nonagenarian, but when he leases a home to live in or a
piece of land to cultivate he wants the lease to run for 90 years.
The anotments made were for the duration of the war. The indi
vidual knew this, but he felt that they would last indefinitely and
he proceeded to spend money in improvements, in expensive wells
and walls, and he has not had time to reimburse himself through
production. He wants the government to give him more time to
do this, and the government would grant him more time because
the food question is still acute over there, but the public is insistent
on having the parks and Fairgrounds reopened.
Many people to whom aHotments were made find themselves
with nothing else to turn to. Their old jobs are gone, The old
way OF making a living no longer exists and they are about to find
their last condition worse than the first. Radical change of any
kind creates disorder and loss to some at all times, and it will take
time to bring about a readjustment and restore the normal. The
experiment has served a pood purpose in showing that so long as
people have access to the land they can dig out ofit food to supply
their wants, and that money won in industry to be spent again tor
necessaries in foreign countries is at best a hazardous and an I'M
certain proceeding. While there are men and women ready and
able to use a pillow, spade or mattock there should be no idle land
that is productive, no land held out of use for speculation or to
contribute to the pride and glory of the fortunate few. This is
especially true in populous countries where normally not enough
food is raised to supply the people and land should be accessible
to those who cultivate it and make the best use ofit. The war has
taught this lesson among many others. The human family is fed
and clothed from the generous increase of the soil, and where ,peo-
pie remain close to the soil there is plenty Of happiness and con-
tentment.
In this favored land of ours we have so much room and such
an abundance of rich land that there is little or no difficulty in find
jag enough to cultivate; but even here the lure OF the city is so
strong that the farms are being stripped OF cultivators, and only a
calamity like war can cause people to realize how dependent they
are on the soil for sustenance.
Happiness and independence may be had easier on the farm
than elsewhere, and the lights OF the city lead but to bewilder and.
dazzle but to blind. We are all dependent on Mother Earth for
support and nourishment, and these she will give us bountiiullv if
we treat her as we should. Our food supply is the first concern of
this and every other people, and when food is provided all other
blessings follow.