The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1922-01-03

lease the surplus acreage to grow the
necessary food crops.
And when we remember that this
reduced production has its effects up
on the bankers, merchants, ginners,
oil mills, brokers, railroads, spinners,
clothiers and the public in general,
we see how the loss multiplies into
infn.ty.
In 1919 we came face to face with
one of the, smallest crops in history,
and the figures tend to indicate that
the average production in the United
States was only three-tenths OF bale
per acre. This is truly an alarming
situation.
When world commerce is again nor
NAL and the cries of distant lands Tor
clcth;ng are needed, we will be faced
with the demand for increased pro-
duction, and the knowledge that we
cannot afford to greatly increase the
acreage in cotton without greatly Jeo-
nardizing the production of the tood
crcps Of the Southern people.
Does it not become perfectly ap-
parent to everybody that we must 90
something little bit out of the ordl-
nary to meet this crisis? The people
of the United States have never fall
en- down yet on big undertaking
when it has been put to them proper
w. and we are going to tackle this
problem successfully, too, when we
oct down to it. The purpose OF Shls
naner is to show that now is the time
to get down to work in dead earnest
and save the reputation Of our nation
for efficiency. We are hearing on all
sides that governmental and state eX-
nonditures must be cut in order to
reduce the burdens of the people, but
there are times when only the eNpen-
diture of money will reduce the bur-
dens. and those times are when 1t IS
necessary to combat the ravages OF
some scourge. The boil weevll IS
heaping the real burden on the natlon'
and now we must assume a slightly
heavier burden temporarily in order
to be able to throw off the real our
den.
AS nation, we cannot afford to
let this state of affairs endure any
longer. Is not our national slogan,
conservation of resources and reduc-
ton of the cost of living? How can
we reduce the cost of living when in
one crop we have an annual mon
etary loss of hundreds of millions OF
dollars? How can the cost Of cloth
ing be reduced when cotton acreage
is producing at only a small fraction
Of it's proper efficiency? How can the
cost of foods be reduced when 1t takes
two or three times as many acres to
grow cotton as it should, and there
fore the land is not available for the
food crops? How can we say that
we are conserving national resources
when we permit such loss in one OF
the most important staples IN the
world?
Do you not agree with me that we
must seek new way of looking at
this 6oll weevil problem? The prob
lem is big in all its dimensions, and
the only way it can be tackled is by
looking at it as big problem worthy
of the most concentrated thought and
actions of the business men of the ma
ton.
When the boil weevil first entered
Texas, and for several years there
after, it was locked upon as merely
an chronological problem. 1t is an
chronological problem, but in the
broadest serse that entomology ever
affected the welfare of mankind. The
DOLL weev;l gives US the greatest &C.
oncmic chronological problem of the
ages to solve.