Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1922-04-20

tIHle AFTER CnaL GATE, but IN the last
decade it has been steadily and ever
more rapidly falling. No wonder
THAT when the Secretary OF Agricul-
Iture stated that the United States pro-
| duced 70 per cent of the wheat, 60 per
Icent Of the cotton, and IS per cent of
/ the corn of the world, with only one
sixth of its population, the nation
SHOULD feel it was on firm founda-
ltion and its future prosperity as
sured"
Balance Lacking
In the mean time, standing still as
an agricultural producing nation for
decade, our population has increased
fourteen millions. DR.. Ball further
Isays:
What does this mean to the ma
Itlon? 1t means a reorganization of
our entire national life. 1t means
that the farmers interest in foreign
markets will have disappeared. 1t
means that the price of wheat in Chi
cago will be the price of wheat in
Liverpool, plus the cost of moving it
from Liverpool to Chicago, where
now the price in Chicago is the
price IN Liverpool less the cost of
moving it there"
What little opposition one hears
seems to be centralized in what is
known as the corn belt. This corn
belt section is standing in its own
light Much of the country's stock
IS finished with corn. If the West did
not produce feeder stock, Iowa, Hi
nois, Missouri and the other corn
belt states would find a greatly re-
duced market for this crop. The crop
| III the irrigated section most respon-
sible for the development of live
stock and the production of a finished
market in the central states is alfalfa.
We feed, but do not ship, alfalfa in
quantities. The United States is
| big importer of wool Alfalfa is
raised in irrigated sections to feed the
sheep in winter. In summer they are
fed on the forest reserves. Millions
of acres of forest reserve would be
useless as wealth producer if we
did not have alfalfa to feed in win
ter. We raise sugar. The country
is big sugar importer There is
not single crop but wheat which
O4o11 i
competition. Let the statistician in
form you that the production is so in
fllnltesimal in the worlds supply as
to make no impression. We are fast,
indeed, coming to special crops, be-
cause our remoteness from market
eats up the profits in staples and will
not bear the cost of production. In
one irrigated section Of the West
they are raising long staple cotton
produced nowhere else in the United
States. The fruits raised in the West
are bringing comfort and pleasure to
the less fortunate sections Of the
country.
What Might Be.
Today we have but ten per cent of
the possible territory irrigable by
the government in cultivation. Yet if
we had all of it we would not add as
much as the farm area of the state
of Indiana to the total agricultural
area of the United States. At the
same time, practically every dollar of
production in this highly productive
country would go back to the East for
cash purchases, making one Of the
most stable markets in the world.
While we would add no more than the
agricultural area of Indiana to the
farm stretches Of the Union, yet there
would be three times as great a pop
ulation supported as within the state
of Indiana
We claim this development will
ring the cash register of the East.
Better say-we know it. Fifteen
years ago where Twin Falls, Idaho,
is, was a barren sage brush desert.
The site Of the town was siXty-fOur
miles from a railroad. Last year the
Twin Falls section sent thirty-six
million dollars out of Idaho to pur-
chase goods. [ know personally hun
dreds of farmers in Idaho who had
hand in spending that thirty-six mil
lions, and | do not know one who
had as much to spend in his old en-
vironment.
Periodicals are flooded with sug-
gestions which would open up foreign
trade. We hear much of South
America. Our political officers are
deeply interested in this foreign
trade, and most big businesses have
departments with many employees
working on trade extension. Yet the
irrigated states of the West last year
bought more than all South America
purchased from our manufacturers
and jobbers. No other country, with
the possible exception Of Great Brit
ain, begins to form the market the
irrigated West does. IF | ran a big
business, | would consider the reclaim
alton of the West as important a di-
vision of my sales development as for
eipn trade