Evening star., 1941-02-23
Agriculture Became G
Executive Branch
81 Years Ago

AS one farmer philosopher OBJ
served of the emergency created by
the boil Weevil and its effect, it
marked the passing of the clod-
hopper and the coming of the up
to-date farmer"
Becomes Big Business.
The World War afforded a pre-
view of the big business which
the Department Of Agriculture has
become today.
The three years preceding our
entry into the conflict in 1917 had
resulted in a vast drain upon our
agricultural stores and we had a
serious deficiency of foodstuffs to
reckon with as our armies sprang
into being almost overnight. Pro-
duction of leading cereals in 1916,
for example, was well over billion
bushels behind that of 1915.
Through the efforts of the farm
ers, guided by the department, pro-
duction of agriculture slowly began
to boom again until by the end of
the war 1t was Skyrocketing. Ger
ealS, to cite one instance, in 1919
were 35,000,000 bushels ahead of
the big crop of 1914 and COWS had
increased by 2,700000 head, swine
by 100000 and other animals by
8,500,000 over the same period.
The Bureau of Chemistry of the
department gave aid to our armed
forces through research in such
essential matters as airplane dopes,
waterproofing and f1reproof1ng of
materials, refining of wood turpen-
tine, leather tanning and develop
ment of various types of paper and
fiber containers.
The Weather Bureau again dis
tinguished itself and did great
service this time for our ships OF
the air as we'll as those of the sea
The department and the science
of agriculture expanded and pro-
gressed almost beyond belief tc
meet the crisis of IT.
We did not realize until the 30s
however, that production of agri-
culture had gone too fast in the
cycloning years of the war Then
as people by the thousands began to
desert their worthless farms, did
We understand how topsoil had been
ruined in the press for speed, how
lands had been planted which
should never have been touched by
the plow.
And so there came another and
extremely grave national emergency
which was the personal property
of the Department of Agriculture
How it met the crisis of the 30's is
still current history and in some
quarters controversial. No one can
deny, however, its profound influ-
ence upon the Nation in the past
decade.
Now 1t is preparing to aid the
Nation in another time of stress
Here are some of the things it is
| doing:
Wars take a terrible toll upon
forests, and so, of course, must total
defense preparations. The Forest
Service of the department Is hard
at work day and night as hundreds
of thousands of trees are felled in
our forests to bolster the ramparts
of this Nation and those of Great
Britain.
Check on Supply.
The service must keep constant
check on our supply of various
woods, must see to the replanting
of new trees every time a grown
one Succumbs to the ak of the
lumberjack. Our wooded regions
are vast-some 63O,oOO,OOO acres
seemingly inexhaustible, but Ger
tain types of wood are of limited
supply and must be conserved.
For example, there is the Sitka
spruce, found only along coast
wise strip OF Washington State and
Oregon. Great Britain has import
ed millions of board feet of this
light, sturdy wood for use in her
trainer planes and second-line
bombers, and now as shortage
looms as a probability she has asked
us to use the somewhat heavier
Douglas fir for our own planes,
saving the Sitka for her
All of our planes need not at
present be as fast as England's and
so it appears that the Forest Service
will recommend that the Empires
request be granted. The service
first, however. studied Douglas fir
and reported that it was almost as
good as the high-grade spruce.
The service must be acquainted
with the general nature of all Amer
ican wood and be prepared to ad-
wise the Army, the Navy or the
Defense Commission on moments
notice, not only which lumber is
best suited for a certain purpose, but
how great is the supply. For in war
and defense, wood in it's natural
state is vital to an infinite num-
Der of undertakings, from ship ways
and ships to emergency curduroy
roads.
And, chemically, the service has
to keep up-to-date on such by-prod-
ucts of wood as gunpowder and
writing paper. Recently, for in
stance, laboratory researchers have
discovered a method by which al
pha cellulose (smokeless powder
when treated with nitric acid) can
be extracted from wood in Is per
cent greater quantity than before.
AS we face this emergency there
Is not shortage but a surplus of
agricultural products, and the at
tention of the department in this