Evening star., 1926-05-20
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
By PIT l. ]. COLLINS.

There is no measure which has had
the attention of the present Congress-
affecting more people, than the que~-
ton of farm prosperity. II not only
concerns the farmers. but equally all
the consumers of food. When farm
ing suffers. food production must
languish and supply falls behind de
mand. with consequent effect in On
HANGING cost of living. So argue the
economists both in the Department o1
Agriculture and out of il.
To that extent there is no disagree
ment. but when Congress faces con
crete proposals as to how 10 meet the
needs in stimulating permanent pros
perity in agriculture there is almost
unlimited divergence of plans.
All the plans appear 20 assume that
agriculture IN it's present state Is a
fixture i'll general economies, with
methods and conditions unchanSinG.
True, there had been no change IN
methods for thousands of years until
less than a. century ago. IodaN one
needs but to cross the Rio Grande TO
behold the same crooked stick pioW
and mule beaten throshing floor that
was common in Egypt under the phd-
raohs. and is still found in the Old
World In Mexico, even today, gram
is harvested with a sickle.
our furefatherS used sCYthe anu
cradle and threshed with a fail. our
erandfathers used Il horsepower
threshjnC machine and "laZily' rode
a sulky plow. our fathers drove Their
tbreshers with steam and ploWed with
gang plows and four horses. Now We
plow with gas. and we plow. harrow
and seed in the same operation. IN
some of the dryer parts OF the coun-
try grain is cut and threShed IN one
operation. Nowhere i'll the world. and
certainly at no time in history. has
farming advanced as il has IN Amer
ica within the last half century. To
forward thinkers this radical develop
ment means that farming, Ike othef
professions. is undergoing further
change: only to the blind does II ap-
pear unchanging i'll the future.
American farmers are still depend
ent, not merely upon markets winch
they cannot control, but upon the uh-
certaintieS Of nature, which makes
production beyond the mastery OF
their utmost industry and most adj
vanced knowledge. American farm-
ers may learn that, in Holland ana
Belgium. farming, or at least eN-
tensive gardening. has gone beyond
dependence upon the weather ana IN
sect pests, and crops are raised ana
matured without the slightest refer
ence to such uncertain conditions.
Acres are inclosed under glass, and
artificial sunlight is turned on" from
arc lights, Just as freely as water is
showered from artificial rain. Tenn
perature is regula ted, not alone by
sunlight pouring through the glass
"sky." but is supplied from steam
pipes when the sunshine fails. Farm
ing in the future under some cover
better than glass. which will not
filter out the infra rays. bids fair to
become as radically different from to-
davis practice as today'S methods
are different from those of the Israel
ties in Egypt.
Electricity specialists in conference
last week discussed in great serious
ness the degree of electric light need
ed to make vegetation grow "a hours
q day, instead of suspending growth
at evening or when clouded. The
future food production will go on 365
days a year, "a hours daily, $3.50
hours instead of 900 hours q year, and
the time when population will out
strip the food production Of the
world, as so direfully predicted a
century ago by Mr.. Nautilus, will
thereby be set forward a few more
thousand years.
!; * X *
Farmers, today, insist that it is a
condition and not Malthusian theory
that concerns them. 1t is not a
question of production, but of sale
and distribution which will decide for
whom they will vote in the next
congressional election Wholesale