The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1933-01-26
By WAYNE GARD, in the Baltimore
Sunday Sun, Jan. %, 1888.


nation. Homesteading, which began
in 1862, had just about run its course;
the desirable free farm land was al
most exhausted. But irrigation-that
was the new key to agricultural and
even national prosperity. The desert
would be made to blossom as the
rose" and two stalks of grain would
be made to grow where only one had
grown before.
Benevolent Uncle Sam already had
begun to respond to the plea for drain
age and irrigation bitches, but in this
period he financed new digging in
almost every desert or craw-tlsh
swamp that had two or three squatter
residents who knew how to pull Con-
gressional strings. AS result Of this
policy, the Federal Government has
reclaimed from the deserts, by irri-
CATION, lands which together form an
area larger than South Carolina.
Moreover, it has reclaimed from
swamps, by drainage, land equal in
area to the State of Nevada.
This work of reclamation has had
obvious benefits, and few will take ex-
ception to the wisdom of its spon-
sors. But today conditions which de-
termine land and agricultural policies
are far different from those which
prevailed at the turn of the century.
At present, some agricultural author
tiles believe, the need is not to bring
more land under cultivation but to re-
move from cultivation large amount
of land which is now being farmed at
a loss and for the products of which
there is no market demand.
If the American farm surplus could
be sold profitably abroad our overex-
pansion in agriculture might be a
blessing instead of blight. But in
recent years, in the face of increased
production here, our agricultural ex-
ports have been falling off. European
countries have been increasing their
own farm production and have been
buying from other countries rather
than from US. AS result, American
growers lately have had to sell their
wheat at from 20 to 80 cents bushel
and their corn at from to 8 cents,
the price varying with the grade OF
the grain and the distance from the
market In most cases such prices
are so far below the cost of ,produc-
ton that they mean ruin to thousands
of farmers.
1t would be unfair, Of course, to
hold reclamation responsible for the
current overproduction in agriculture.
The yield from land reclaimed by the
Federal Government is slightly less
than one per cent of the total. Yet
even a surplus of one per cent may
have a severely depressing effect upon
prices In view of the present agricul-
tural overproduction and of the fail
ure of many holders Of irrigated land
to pay water fees due the Govern
ment, the continuation of reclamation
has been attacked as absurd. But
pork-barrel demands from the West
ern states seem to prevail unless I'M
usual pressure is used upon Congress
and upon the Department of the In
terror by those opposed to further rec
lamation.
The present situation, in the view OF
many students of agricultural prob
lens, calls, first, for definite termi-
nation of demonstrating; second, for
a shelving of further reclamation
plans until an increase in population
or change in market conditions war
rants the cultivation of more land,
and, third, for the encouragement Of
hungry land-seekers from settling on
improbable land. This last step can
be furthered by providing an unbiased
information service. In the past rosy
pictures painted by chambers of COM
merce, railway settlement bureaus and
State immigration agencies have often
resulted in agricultural overeXpan-
sio nand economic tragedy.
After these negative actions have
been taken, it is argued, it will be adj
visable to take positive steps toward
removing from cultivation-tem-
porarily, at least-from ten to fifteen
per cent of the land now being
farmed. This submarginal land can
be used for grazing, for forest cul-
ture, for recreational parks, for hunt
ing preserves, or for a combination of
several purposes.
The overproduction of various
grains results largely from the plow-
ing up of pastures and the cutting of
forests to increase the land under Gull
tivation. Between 1890 and 1920 pas
ture land was decreased by 81,900,00
acres. Crop land was added to dur
ing this period at the rate of about
100000 acres year. Two-thirds of
this increase came from pasture land,
he remainder from timber land.
r. 7.