Evening star., 1921-02-27

Hldy HdHS ever ike DiaCk
shadow over the land. Fifteen
years before keeping the ocean
ways open to our food ships may
be vital to our national life, call
ing for armaments which would be
an ever-increasing burden.
And it is fifteen years We have
in which to evolve and put in
operation an agricultural policy
which will save us from the fate
of Europe. For the possibilities of
food production in America have
only been scratched. The acres
now under cultivation are capable
of feeding 2oo,O00,OO0 or 100000 900
persons. There are those in au-
thority who say that American
farms can grow foodstdffs for a
population of a half billion. But
it never will be done so long as
farming remains gamble, in
which the farmer loses more often
than he wins.
X x x x
Agricultural progress in America
has been mainly toward increasing
production per man, and today the
individual American farmer pro-
duces more than any other farmer
in the world. Only secondary at
tention has been paid to increas-
ing production per acre. There
were SO many acres that it didn't
pay to work them overland. Eu-
ropean agriculture. though it pro-
duces much less per man. grows
two and three times as much per
acre as is grown in this country.
A national agricultural policy,
therefore, must look to increasing
the yield of land now under culti-
walton rather than the extension of
agriculture to new lands. Four
per cent of the land in Utah is un-
der cultivation today. Irrigation
projects would make. possibly, an
other 4 per cent available. And
that IS about Utah's limit. In Iowa
96 per cent of the land is under
cultivation. An increase of 10 per
cent in the yield of Iowa acres
would be worth great many
times more than all Utah ever
will be able to contribute to the
nations food supply. The Missis-
sippi valley is the worlds greatest
food-producing area today. and
there lies the hope of foodstuffs to
feed a multiplied population
AS to this part of an agricultural
policy there is but one answer. It
is scientific research. This coun-
try must give the same encourage
ment to it's scientific talent that
scientists ranked next to the rulers
of the empire and had material re-
wards. Our policy has been to be-
little their efforts and to stint
their compensation. A government
scientist doing research work
which will add untold millions to
the national wealth is paid less
than a bricklayer or plumber.
Private enterprise always is bid
ding for the services of the best of
them. Many go. and the others are
kept at their tasks only by loyalty
and devotion.
x x x x
A oon1nrebapsiyaa q aor;o,ltur,l po1
icy necessarily would call for a
simplified and less costly system
of distribution, giving to the pro-
ducer a larger proportion of what
the consumer pays.
1t would involve also some meth
cd of stabilizing the price Of farm
products, at least to the extent of
devising methods through which
disastrous depression of prices due
to the dumping of the years pro-
duction on the market for sale
during a few weeks Immediately
after harvest can be prevented.
What is needed is orderly market-
ing in distinction from seasonal
dumping. This is essential to the
welfare Of the farmer and neces-
sary to insure adequate production
of food for the consumer.
While the need of stabilization
is widely recognized, its advocates
are not agreed as to methods.
There is some support for the
theory that the government itself
should do the stabilizing by guar
anteeing the prices of staple crops,
but this smacks of paternalism and
class favoritism,s and meets with
opposition. The proposal that the
milling and packing interests and
other agencies of manufacture and
distribution should make advance
contracts for future delivery meets
with less objection, but still in
wolves many complications which
only with difficulty could be
worked out on an equitable basis.
x X X x
There are difficulties in the pro-
gram, of course. but difficulties
will have to be overcome. If
America is to go forward along
the road to which destiny beckons,
some means must be devised by
which her people may continue to
be fed from their own acres. Her
decline from greatness will be-
gin the day she becomes depend
ent upon other lands for staple
foOdstuffs.
Copyright. 1921, by The Washington Star.)
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