Evening star., 1934-09-27

the farmers OF this country have to
face. As a Nation we must realize
that the control of soil erosion is vital.
We must realize that the improper
use of land, unless corrected, will doom
US to steadily Increasing costs and
privations in the production of our
food supply.
Millions upon millions Of tons of
that all-important top-soil disappear
every year. Most Of 1t is washed away
by the rains. but wind can be Just
as destructive. Remember those dust
storms of the past Summer which
swept a blanket Of darkness over the
whole Eastern part of the land. Those
swirling clouds of dust carried away
untold riches in Middle Western soil
to spread it over the industrial East
and out on to the Atlantic Ocean,
where it can never profit any of us
ever again.
Things like this have begun to make
us erosion conscious. I think we all
realize today that erosion must be
checked, but do we all know that land
is the basis OF our national growth.
It is our soil, more than anything else,
which has gone into the creation of a
great Nation where once a scattering
Of colonists grappled with q primitive
wilderness. All Of our food and more
than one-third Of the raw products
used in industry come of the farms.
Our land is our capital-and we
are wasting It'll Our farmers have had
to waste it to make ends meet. The
economic system under which We have
lived has forced us to destroy our
capital and has made long-range con-
servation Of this precious gift impos
sible.
All Must Understand.
Unless this fundamental truth is
grasped by the country at large-not
just by the farmers, who already
know what is wrong, though they are
powerless to correct the evil without
economic readjustment-but by every
one throughout the length and breadth
Of our land, we will never fully over
come the virus Of our recent distress.
This is one Of the projects We are
working on in the Tennessee Valley
Authority which is Of concern to every
man, woman and child in America.
Especially is this important to the
children of today. for it is they who
must reap the harvest of our collective
heedlessness II we do not take meas
ures while there is still time.
In the Tennessee Valley Authority
we are attempting to take such meas
ures as will insure a better use of the
land. We seek to make it possible for
the farmer to live up to his sacred
stewardship Of that land that it may
be handed down to the generations to
come in better condition than We re-
ceived it.
If our generation nsglects this trust.
there will come a generation which
will find it impossible to maintain the
decent standards Of life we have SO
painfully achieved. The intelligent use
and conservation Of our land is the
most important kind of social insur-
ance we can practice. For, once we
dissipate the growing power of our
soil, every other advance in our civili-
zation becomes futile. We will wake
some day to find ourselves on the
down grade as so many civilizations in
the past have found themselves
doomed by their inability to nourish
their citizens.
These are sweeping statements, but
every word in them in justified.
Not Too Late TO Save.
We can save our land. 1t Is not yet
too late. There are well-known, scien-
tific methods of maintaining and i'm
proving land under cultivation. Soil
isn't like coal or other mineral, where
every time you take some away you re-
duce your supply by just that much.
Soil can be improved while it is being
cultivated-provided the steward OF
the land has the incentive and the
knowledge.
With patience, knowledge can be
brought to the corners where it has
not vet penetrated. But the slow and
steady growth of tenancy-often shift