The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1921-02-16
GRAVE PROBLEMS
FACE THE MILLER
And RICE GROWER
Fictitious Values Of Crop in
Past Have Proven
Downfall
UNWISE PICKERING
MUST NOW CEASE
Educational Propaganda Of
Wise Sort Must Be
Keynote

Popularize rice as an article Of
daily diet for the pepole Of the Uni
ted States, is now the cry among the
rice growers and millers of Louisi-
ana, Texas, Arkansas and other /
states that produce the crop. 1t is
necessary that this campaign Of edu.
cation succeed in order to place the
industry on a stable basis and make
the occupation OF the rice farmer a
less hazardous one.
A few years ago a similar cam
paign of advertising was started and
succeeded to such an extent that rice
was extensively used over the nation.
1t was hailed as a cheap" food and
a nutritious one, and so long as it re-
manned cheap in cost it was bought
extensively over the country. Then
came the war, and with it's coming
rice, like everything else began to
soar skyward in price. From a few
cents a pound for the best grades Il
jumped to seventeen and eighteen
cents and then its use became too eX-
pensive for the poor man and his
family, and not having been thorough
ly educated as to it's valuable quail
ties and properties htey could
not see the wisdom of continuing the
use of an article that had been often
derided as mere "moonshine" and not
having much value as food-it was
simply a filler" they thought.
The rice grower fairly revealing in
his tremendous profits in 1919 and
1918, lost his head and dreamed that
fortune if not fame was his and
wealth was coming his way in vast
chunks. He little dreamed that he
was in a measure signing his own
death warrant and that the crop Of
1920 would be drug on the market
| and despised by the majority who
once used it in great quantities. His
dreams of sudden wealth persisted
with the sudden revolution Of CONNER
cial affairs, and the wreck of his get
rich-quick schemes engulfed him with
an awful jolt.
The entire campaign of popularizing
rice among the consumers must all
! be done over again. The fortunes
and the failure of the pas tmust be
| forgotten, the slate wiped clean and a
scientific campaign to reawaken the
! American people as to tha many good
! qualities Of rice and the total absence
of poor qualities must all be mapped
out. Old methods and ideas should
be forgotten and i safe and sane pol
icy followed iD<the future, if rice is
to be made afstaple product of south
ern soil.
IL is useless for the rice farmer to
attempt to fool himself longer with
the Eea that rice is a popular arti-
clekof diet in America. If such were
the case the production of the ter
ritory devoted to its culture would
be only an infinitisemaI part of
/ the demands of thu American people.
In the far east, among the oriental
races, rice is consumed in great guam
| titles. The American people have
never followed suit, for if they had en-
Ormous importations would have been
necessary in order to supply the de-
mand.
There is nothing startling about
this statement. 1t is simply an incon.
trovertible fact, and it is this fact
that it is now up to the growers to
eradicate by intelligent education OF
/ the people Of the nation. The day OF
rank speculation as to the probable
! jump in rice values is past and gone,
and the cold, hard fact faces the
growers and millers that the indus.
try must be stabilized if its future sue
cess is to be assured. Placing ficti-
tious values on the cereal and on
those values basing the cost Of its
growing and harvesting means ruin
to the industry, and with its ruin hun
dreds and perhaps thousands will face
disaster. Countless thousands of
acres, mainly suitable to its growth,
will have to lie idle, and an infant in
dustry will pass from existence.
Solving this problem will call for
the exercise of brains and wise and
far-seeing brains at that. To face the
situation in any other way spells Ger
tain failure, and the rice growers and
the mfllers can not afford that now or
in the future. 1t is useless and will
serve no good purpose for conflicting
interests to accuse each other as be-
+ ing responsible for the sudden slump
for that viii not serve the purpose OF
rehabilitating rice growing as real
industry in Louisiana, Texas and 9th
err states. Theer are a good many
months ahead before the 1921 croT
is harvested, and there is ample time
for sober thought and wise action on
this absorbing subject. 1t win con