Evening star., 1939-08-15
Decadence Of u. ),
Seen in Wastefu|
Soil Erosion
Bennett, in Radio
Forum, Warns Thot
All Are Needed in Fight

Hugh Hammond Bennett, Chief O.
the Soil Conservation Service of ths
Department of Agriculture, discussed
soil erosion in an address last night
over the National Radio Forum, ar
ranged by The Star and broadcast
over a Nationwide network of the
National Broadcasting Co. His ad-
dress follows:
Good evening, friends of The Eve
ming Star Forum:
First, want to thank The Wash
ington Star and the National Broad
casting Co. for this opportunity to
talk with you tonight. I must con-
fess that my subject may be some
what dreary for a summer night, but
we in America, all of us, have got
to begin talking about soil erosion
and thinking about it much more
than ever before. I believe there is
no alternative, especially when you
come to consider that today-to-
night-the United States is a de-
clining Nation-in the sense that our
most basic asset, our one most in
dispensable national resource-the
land-is being impoverished by ero-
sion faster than we have been able
to establish defense measures out
over the far-f1ung fields and pas
lures Of the Nation. There are rea-
sons why We as a Nation might
easily be led into a national feeling
of false security with respect to the
permanence of our agriculture. Con-
tinuing crop SurpluSeS-abundan
of almost everything that the soil
produces-is one of the things that
might twist our thinking.
We cannot afford to take chance
on the loss of our soil in order to
determine whether or not nation
can survive the downfall of its land.
Since there would be no possible
purpose in such an experiment, and
since no civilization anywhere on
earth has ever survived the down.
fall of its agricultural land, we, of
course, are not going to make the
experiment. There is every reason
why we must stop at once any fur
ther neglect of the sofia neglect
that began with the first clearings
along the Eastern Seaboard; and let
me say here, that I am convinced
we most certainly are going to pro-
vide security for the agricultural
lands within our boundaries, to the
best of our ability. AS a matter of
fact we already have demonstrated
that it is practical to do this. And,
aSsuredly, we have too much pa
triotism, too much business sense,
to permit the continuation of an
evil that already has brought severe
hardships to thousands of hard
working Americans now trying to
exc out living on land hopelessly
Impoverished by erosion.
All-Important Resource Wasted.
know it is hard for many people,
especially those living in the great
cities, to become very excited about
anything so commonplace as the
soil-this common material beneath
our feet that we have been inclined
to look upon, when we have thought
of it at all, as a part of the natural
order OF things-something perma-
nently dependable, like sunlight.
But shall try to show you how
important soil is and how exceed
ingly wasteful we have been with it.
Nearly third of the people of the
Nation till the soil-they take their
living from 1t with their own hands.
The rest of us depend on the crops
the soil produces for our everyday
needs and for our very existence.
The soil feeds us and provides us
with the clothes we wear. 1t pro-
Vides the principal bulk of the raw
materials of trade and industry.
The steak you had for dinner came
from a steer that fed on grass and
corn produced by the soil. Even
the table you dined at and the
cloth that covered it were products
OF the soil.
I think you will agree that the
soil is essential to you and to me
and to our families. 1t is equally
important to the life of our Nation.
But this is big country, and there
seems to be plenty of land; so YOU
might ask, why worry? That's what
I want to talk over with you to-
night.
This is a big country, to be sure,
and, from the standpoint of total
output, we can produce abundantly,
But there is not as much good land
as we once had. If we're going to
Keep on being a great Nation, in
dependent and self sufficient, we've
got to keep our remaining good soil
at any cost. The conservation of
this basic soil resource is a Job of
urgent 1mportance-one we simply
cannot put aside for other things
Also, 1t is a job of prodigious size,
involving almost incomprehensible
difficulties.
Farms Disappear Daily.
wonder if you know that about
200 farms of 40 acres each are
washed away every day of the wear
AS measured in soil removed from
nelds and pastures? Do you realize
that as much as 30O,OOO,OOO tons
OF rich soil have been stripped from
the fields of the Southern plains
by a single duststorm? Do YOU
know that within the brief span of
our national existence some 280,O0O,-
600 acres of farm. grazing and
woodland have been so impover-
ished by erosion as to have little
further value for productive use.
with much of it permanently de-
stroyed? Do you know that erosion
Is now active on an additional u.s.
100000 acres? Do you know that
the United States has been wasting
its soil resource more wantonly, and
more rapidly, than any other nation
IN the history of the world? More
than half the land in the United
States has been ruined or damaged
by the loss of soil.
These are facts too few of us
know. But they are facts every
American should know and clearly
understand. They mean that this
land-this indispensable resource