Evening star., 1939-08-15

last night in the National Radio
Star Staff Photo.
Of the Sahara, and the Cobb, once
teemed with human life. The Ara
bian Peninsula. about 1000 years
ago, maintained an enormous pop-
ulation. Now, only few wandering
Bedouins are there to fight for ex-
lstence-to fight for every patch of
productive land, every drop of water
and every sprig of vegetation re-
naming in this land that was the
cradle of the human race.
Civilizations Dug From Eroded Soil.
The Sahara Desert has recently
given up monuments, ruins Of cities,
temples and even trees that were
cut by man. Archeologists had to
dig through 18 feet of a covering
blanket of eroded soil to unearth
parts of the once magnificent CITY
OF Antioch. where ST. Paul strug-
gled so valiantly to establish the
religion Of Christ.
| But those civilizations used their
lands for thousands of wears: we
have used ours-most of it-less than
a hundred years.
In such a situation, there is ONLY
one answer: With over half of our
1arm and range land already dam
ageo, we must conserve our remain
ing good soil. What we have. we
must use carefully, for there is none
TO waste. This is possible, and en-
tlrely practical. but it isn't easy. In
some localities in the West, for ex-
ample, men are trying to farm dry
land in the same way they farmed
the Wetter lands of Eastern United
States. The dust storms of recent
years have proved that this kind of
thing simply can't be done without
drastic injury to both soil and men.
In many places, farming custom
has sent the plows straight up and
down the hillsides, so that everv
furrow is gutter to carry off rain
water and valuable topsoil. Slopes
TOO steep for cultivation have been
ploWed, and tens of thousands of
farmers are trying to till land that
is completely incapable of giving
them a living, They have become
bankrupt farmers on bankrupt land.
But the list of land problems is
too long to run through here. Added
up, they create complex situation
In which economic instability. social
circumstance, ignorance, greed and
many other forces are pulling
against the conservation of our land,
To iron out that situation and put
the land of this country into good.
healthy, conservative use, is one of
the most urgent problems confront
ing us today-actually the most
urgent single problem. It's not Just
job for the Government. It's a
job that has got to be shared by
every one of us; for, let me remind
you again, all of us are dependent
on the land-the men and women
OF the city just as much as the
farmer.
Farmers Organize to Fight.
In the last several years the farm
ers OF this country have begun, for
the first time, to fight soil erosion
on big, effective scale. And during
the past two years l65 soil conser-
vatlon districts, covering some 1OO,-
OO0,OO acres of land, have been
formed by farmers themselves under
the authority of soil conservation
laws passed by 36 States. Through
these local districts farmers are
carrying out their own programs of
soil defense, working in co-opera-
ton with the Department of Agri-
culture and State agricultural agen-
cies. They are shouldering a real
share of the responsibility for pro-
tecting this country's soil resources,
not only in their own interest, but
in the interest of the general well
fare.
They are working out the proper
use of their land with the help of
trained agricultural technicians.
And they are helping one another
get the needed work done. What |
this means, in practical terms, is
that farmers are joining together,
locally, to fight soil erosion in the
most effective way and with the
most effective weapons available.
I'd like to tell you about just one
of the many localities in which this
kind of work is now going on. Near
Temple, Tex, farmers who have
been plagued for long time by the
loss of soil, began several years ago
to cooperate in a soil conservation
demonstration project of the Soil
Conservation Service. They agreed
to work with the technicians of the
service in carrying out a complete
soil conservation program on their
farms. AS the idea of safeguarding
the land spread among them, a
remarkable spirit of friendly Coop
GRAFTON developed, so that it was
possible to extend the work not
only over each farm, but over whole
blocks of farms covering two COM
plete watersheds. That, of course,
is the ideal approach to the problem
OF soil conservation, because rain
fall, wind and erosion pay no atten-
ton whatever to artificial boun-
diaries, like farm lines or county
and State boundaries.
boundaries overlooked.
Today, in these two watersheds
in Texas, 165 farms covering total
of 10000 acres in a solid block, have
been completely treated for the con-
servation of soil and water. Every
acre has been protected. Every
gully has been stabilized. Even
roadside bitches have been filled in
and seeded to soil-binding grass.
Farm boundaries were overlooked
and, in some cases, as many as six
farms are involved In one terrAcine