The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1925-10-22
BARES
FOOD PROBLEM
Soil Production to Feed u.
S. Will be Task in Half
Century, He Says.
CONSERVATION NEEDED

Chicago.- The time is APP
preaching when no nation can main
tain a population beyond its ability to
feed it from its own soil, Frank o..
Lowden, former governor of Illinois,
made this declaration in addressing
the convention of the Audit Bureau
of Calculations here.
"This is a TRUTH he said, which
those industrialists who dream of imi-
tssting the policy of England adopted
the first half of the last century
would do we'll to heed"
In a. recent visit to England, he
said the remark he heard most often
from economists and publicists was
that England was over7industrialized.
"The. day of importing cheap foods
from new agricultural countries is
we'll nigh spent" the, speaker con-
tinued. at now becomes more and
more apparent that nation is only
secure in time of peace as well as
war when it is able, to feed itself.
Where Is Food Coming From.
In America, he said, our exports of
food products in recent years have
been negligible. Indeed there have
been times we have bought from for
eign countries more food than we
have sold foreign countries. It has
been calculated that with our present
rate of increase in population it will
reach 20O,0Oo,OOo in less than half q
century. Where is the food to come
from for these added millions?
The most fertile lands in America
are already in cultivation. Doubtless
their productivity can be somewhat
increased by more liberal use of fer
tilizers, by intensive cultivation, by
improved seeds and of scourse, there
are many millions Of acres of infer
Tor lands now idle which might be
made to produce food for man.
"Dr. Cyril G. Hopkins, of the Uni
versity of Illinois, demonstrated years
ago that we were rapidly exhaustins
our soils of their fertility. His ex-
periments were made in the heart of
the. Mississippi Valley. the ,granary of
the nation. He found that our soils
have limited amounts of three of the
principal elements required for pro-
duction, namely:. nitrogen. phosphorus
and potassium. M
Must Restore u. S. Soil.
"There is no more important ques-
ton before the American people than
a national agrarian policy which will
restore and preserve the fertility of
our soils. And the first principle of
this policy is that agriculture must
be made profitable. When agriculture
is depressed depletion Of the soils in
evitably follows.
"The farmer must increase his acre.
age of cash crops in order to meet his
cash outlay, though he may know, and
generally does, that his land needs
nitrogen, phosphorus or lime. These
cost money and he defers employing
them to another and more prosperous
year. The great agricultural plant of
America has been running down for
many years, but never SO rapidly as
during the last five years of relatively
low prices for farm products. This
is not the rconcern of the farmer alone
but should be the concern of all. For
sooner. or later that deterioration will
result in higher prices for food.
"Some way must be found to reason
ably stabilize the price of products Of
the farm. Within the last two years
the price of wheat has ranged all the
way from one dollar to. two dollars
bushel. During the same time the re-
tail. price of bread has fluctuated less
than fifteen per cent"