The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-07-17
Creating the Cobb

During the drouth and dust storms
OF May, frequent reference was made
to the fact that Americas great
midwest seemed on the verge Of be-
coming another Cobb desert.
The phrase rolled from many
tongues, even though few Of US knew,
except in hazy way, what the Cobb
desert is and how 1t came to be one
OF the most arid stretches Of land on
the globe.
william Philip Simms, a leading
American journalist just returned
from China, casts some light on that
subject In q special article for the
Washington News. Despite rains which
have somewhat alleviated the situa-
tion, he contends the possibility still
exists unless the trend Of what we
have been pleased to call agricultural
development Is changed. In the past
every time a bit OF prairie sod was
broken we have thought Of it as an
advancement. Simms contends that
this practice is advancing us toward
a period when the meteorological rec
ord will be one Of recurring drouths
and floods with little agricultural
production and the fertility Of the
fields swept away by dust storms.
Commenting on the situation In
China and It's lesson for us, simms
said:
Recently I was in Tentsin, North
China. Despite two unusually large
windows in my outside room was
forced, at midday, to turn on the
lights to see what was doing.
outside thick, yellow fog drifted
across the city, completely shutting
off the sun. did not need to ask
questions. This was just another
dust storm blowing in from the Cobb
desert, hundreds of miles to the west.
"Once all China, including the
Cobb, was a fertile, tree-grown coun-
try. Centuries Of paying no atten-
ton to what happened to the forests
and fields, however, have done their
work. The answer Is irremediable
erosion. disastrous floods, calamitous
famines, accompanying scourges,
starvation and death.
To-day much OF the country IS
either sun-baked mountains or tree
less mud plains. Sometimes almost
whole provinces are covered with wa
ter. The flood extends, like the sea,
farther than the eye can reach.
Sometimes the fields are parched,
like they are now In the American
west. every stalk Of grain or other
crops burned to a crisp. And some
times, Of course, there are harvests.
But at no time can the Chinese be
reasonably sure.
when 1t rains. the drops splash
against the mountain sides like they
were falling on concrete. Down the
gulles and gulches the water rushes
TO the rivers. These rise almost as
II . dam had burst somewhere above.
Nhen, almost as suddenly. the flood
subsidies. Little or no moisture re.
anains behind to keep things green
the rest Of the season.
dust storms. like tho ones which
recently visited the United States,
are common occurrences In China.
Chinese weather, scientists claim, has
been entirely changed, thanks to de-
torestation and careless farming.
Summers are hotter, rains more
krratic, floods more destructive.
THE Tientsin dust storm mention
I'd above lasted about five days. Said
q Chinese scholar, educated In the
United States:
These drouthS, dust storms anc
9amines are just what you Americans
are in for unless you wake up in time
can understand them In China BE-
cause the damage was done centur.
les, even thousands Of years ago
before people knew what deforesta-
ton and bad farming could do to Z
nation. But I cannot understand 3
country like the United States allow
ing such a thing to happen.
"'China ought to be the horrible
example in this respect to all the rest
Of the world"
The analogy Is too plain for Amer
leans. particularly we in North Da.