Evening star., 1933-05-02

culture and the colleges have been aware
of the problem. They have tried to
meet it by helping the individual farmer
adjust his own production to changing
market needs. They have hoped that
advice and complete information on
supply and demand would suffice.
Where they have been remiss, In my
Judgment, is in declining to face the
fact that the individual farmer cannot
adjust his production intelligently un-
less he knows, with some degree of cer-
tatnty, that his neighbors will do like
wise. And it is to face that fact realis-
tically that the new farm bill has been
drafted. The essence of 1t is collective
action, By all the producers, to accom-
modate their production to the market
that actually exists.
Our expenditures for science, our ef.
forts at increasing productive efficiency
have in no sense been unwise. Ger
tainly no thoughtful person could ap-
prove the abandonment OF scientific re-
search, or the relegation OF our ma
cnines to the ash-heap. To do that
would be like abandoning the use Of
automobiles because we have automobile
accidents AS a rule. the fault Is not
with the automobile, but with the
driver
Controlled Emcency Sought.
1t is not the fault of science that
we have unused piles OF wheat on Ne
braska farms. and tragic breadlines in
New York City at one and the same
moment Rather 1t is because we have
refused to apply science to the de-
velopment of social machinery, ma
chinery that will regulate our economic
system to the end that what We pro-
duce, can be eouitably divided.
l am not one TO ask for less efti-
cheney. I want more, and l know that
We can get far more. But l want the
efficiency to be controlled in such u
way that 1t does more good than harm.
/ want to see the farmers of the South
grow 300 pounds of cotton per acre
instead Of $50 pounds, and the farmers
OF the. North SO bushels of corn per
acre instead of 35 bushels. l want
TO see the average milk COW yield 400
pounds of butter fat per year instead
of 200 And I see no reason why our
hogs eventually should not produce 100
pounds of pork on the average from
6 bushels Of corn, instead of from 9
bushels
These things can all be done The
research now going on will make it
possible and will pave the way for
COullItSS lltN dSllCuIlul dl dCiiIcNcHitlleS
as we'll.
Only the other day I learned that re-
search now in progress indicates that
crops grown in some regions Of the
Nation have higher nutritional value
than do apparently similar crops grown
in other areas. If further study bears
this out. the consequences will certainly
be far-rea ching We may have a new
agricultural map decade from now.
The research Job, far from being
done. is only well begun. We shall
need new varieties OF cereals and
grasses to resist diseases better than
those we now have. We shall have to
keep cutting costs of production by in
creasing yields per acre. Methods of
cultivation. like methods Of feeding and
managing live stock, must be subject to
continuing Investigation if We are TO
keep abreast of the continually chang
ing economic world about us.
When our chemists. not long ago,
discovered an economical method by
which bagaSse a sugar cane waste could
be made into high-cuslity cellulose,
suitable for rayon, We patted ourselves
on the back for an achievement of con-
siderable Importance. But over in the
Bureau of Chemistry and Soils is a
small bottle OF brownish cellulose