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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1911)
i.. t. THE OREGON7 SUNDAY. JOURNAL.! PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, MAY. 21, Mil. .: f -James :J, Hill ; Issu; V : Ctiyktion Of Laiici Is Necessary T Insure Food ? Vl vS t "TJT'ii 'i to', say thaV eiO.009.00 "bushel ''!, our '.Vountr'- W th' world. 7SoraV -of. our wlw nor to tax th conclusion prophecy of disaster, but a plain ofnh department of egrlcultu Supplyi For Yeairs; K r By Jamea J .Hill, Copyright. 19U by C J.'Mtr. for Pubj , : uaner rresa. " ,v- . -T IS wall that the eyes of the Amert- can people should d tumea on me mmm nf th. nnuntrv .'as Mr. t)aven- port has so graphically depleted in the picture, lor upon io tuiun u th farm " and tha farmer depend In largo measure the future of our coun try. I It as well assured as 'any future event can bo that the population of the United1 States will be 300,000,000 by about the middle of tha -present cen tury, or In less than 60 year. This, is proved by the ratio of Increase in the peet, .- f '.. ?'-.-.'!-t;,& i . It may come few yeare" later or a few years earlier, according to clrcum stanees, for good times lift both the Im migration total and the domestic birth rate, while depression decreases both. - Hoever,tbla is Immaterial ..Millions., of persons now living will see the t00, 000,000 people here; and the first ques tion Is how they are to be fed. There will be many grave problems In such a human growth, but we may for the time being dismiss all the others until we have considered the primary one of the bare maintenance of life. The food prob lem Itself has many collateral Issues, but for the sake of simplicity we may here consider only the matter of bread. Where and how are-we to obtain loavea . enough to feed these coming millions? to, say that 810,000,000 'bushels Is, our courvtr. In the world. , Some or our wise nor safe to tax these conclusions a prophecy or aisaster, out a piain oreaent average capacity. -' Of .course, .states already ,, have over, twice- that, at .their, face "alue and declare, without , statement or iact inat any man can .i.w . v..ii. a minr., iRnMin aurh nnhulatlon 11 this, further lanulrv that avarvthlna- la arolna- Veriry ror nimseil. I ne figures are ail TV II ,UILIVBWU V'US1VH 1 w . . w - - --- - w - w iV - v somewhat .Increesedf total prodnctlpn,- none aucn as we musi ineviisoiy sxpacv ;ni. vuv mr un ui uv though ,pwm as many suppose. We grew 04 itfhM Aiiv.lwiniiUHnii 2,000,000; and f3,097,000 busneie in wa apply o jna man mat v-iu 190T JS. years later. -.The Increase 4n scientific development, ' of . .Intensified wheat yield ' during theae years, when cultivation, of rigid economlo bsndllnf; much of .the tiew lands of the west was that has become the rule in all -other . "i . . : MiilBla.aa h, , i , j Tlttlj Tover 11 - per cC while population' We cannot support our omlng popu- In bushels or pounds. Wealth i aggre- ductlve power of the earth la lessened, advantage of noarness to markets, from Hncreased 83,000,000; or over ti per cent, latlon upon the crop yjjd per acre mat Obviously supply ana .demand for Dread ," . not advance as rapidly in the united sutes oy me mwaie or v "r" . TTi. . .. , thourht. care or direction on our oart. - : . - . tne- preaent century, caa oe "'"' A nd onlv orlnarv bu.lnea. .ana. ,185,470- bushels in lJgZ. uniess we improve ana. Keen on iroprwr- .n.Tv.- h. ,ti,,. drawn from the official publications of the United States government. The situ ation Is In no sense desperste, because we. know exactly how It can be met; but If we are Intelligent men we will see where we atand with reference to .we u rainy ana inquire wnai we ougnt the future. - Fluctuations In prices may change to- . . . , , tals expressed In dollars into something Two Causes of Agricultural Decay. very different when they are expressed There are two ways In which the pro of the department of agriculture said: "One of the most Important causes of deterioration, and I think I should put this first of all, Is the method and sys tem of agriculture that prevails throughout these states. Unquestion ably the soil has been abused." . The richest region of the west Is no more Exempt than New England or the Mouth. The soil of the west Is being re duced In agricultural potency by exact ly the same processes which have driv en tha farmer of the east, with all his We" trans- gates may be swollen by marking up goods as, well aa by adding to stock i. mwA an nana. cnnvmtiua tinna nnnn nrna. ,WM not keep pace tsrougn tn worKing "" '" --- r. .,, i. u .tin v..,,.. of an v law of nature; . . productivity of our So)l under'contlnued Perlty are all right: but It la still better Moiever. the t Incwa'se of . posslbleVvatlon Into , .vrapld Increase. In to make sure that the prosperity is : wheat yield by increasing acreage 1. bfth - j - , , , , , ' - re' ' 1 J 1 r "" limits 'Wa. ! nn ih.,r n'Tiniim' ,' If the crisis can be eeen movfng upon Ther are. ten states In the Union In llmltari. ' Wa. hum nn Inhvar an' Unllm. Hed publlo domain awaiting the plow.s now- nd if it took .Oreat Britain There wllDbe some grown , upon re- Pver half century to raise her wheat filsimed arid buul though ibis is. mostly y'W from Jl..bishels to II i buBhelsper devoted to the raising of fruit and fod- cre.. we have no time to lose. Wbal de plants. There will beTsome .land . tobe coneldered, the keynote of all drained, and there are a few aclee of Prnt discussion, U not the dlfflcuUy publlo lands - left where .wheat may be but tn urgency of theHaak. The whole raised. - ' argument le-not one of despair, but of, But ' denser population makes new reassurance;: provided only ther we do demands upon the soil; and it le more he obvious, bidlspeneable and feasible likely on the whole that the wheat thing, and do Jt now. acreage will be reduced, for raising all ,.- T ' the other oommodttiee consumed by Wnat IS to UOne. 200,000,600 people, than that it will be , The demand. In the shape of Increased enlarged. population, le Reasonably definite; the .Nothing but material rise in price supply, in the form of food products. First, by erosion and the sweeping away of the fertile surface Intd streame and thence to the sea, and, second, by exhaustion through wrong methods of cultivation. The former proceas has gone far. Thousands of acrea in the east and south have been made upflt for tillage. North Carolina was. a century ago,-on of the. great agricul tural etates of the country and one of the wealthiest Today as you ride through the south you see everywhere land gullied by torrential rains, red and yellow clay banks exposed where once were fertile fields, snd agriculture re duced because Its main support has been washed away. Millions of acres. In places to the extent of one tenth of the entire arable area, have been In jured so that no Industry and no care can reatore them. Far more ruinous, because universal and continuing In Its effects, is the process of soli exhaustion. It Is creep ing over the land 'from east to west The abandoned farms that are now the playthings of the city's rich or the game preserves of patrons of sport bear witness to the melsncholy change. New Hampshire, Vermont, northern New York, show long lists of them. In western Massachusetts, which one supported a flourishing agriculture, farm properties are now for aale for half the cost of the improvements. Professor Carver of Harvard has de clared, after a personal examination of the country, that "agriculture as an in dependent Industry, able In Itself to support a community, does not exist In the hilly parte of New Kngland." The same process of deterioration is affecting the farm lsnds- of western New York. Ohio and Indiana. Where the field Within the last 40 years a great part of the richest land In the country has been brought under cultivation. We should therefore, In the same time, have raised proportionately the yield of our principal crops per acre, because . the yield of old lands. If properly treat ed, tends to Increase rather than dimin ish. The year 1908 was one of large crops and can scarcely be" taken as a standard. We produced, for example, more corn that year than had ever been grown In the United States In a single year be fore. But the average yield per acre waa less than It was In 1(7!. We are barely keeping the acre product sta tionary. The average wheat crop of the country now ranges from 11. In ordinary years, to 15 bushels per sere in the best seasons. And so It Is on down the line. , Nature has given to us the most val uable possession ever committed to man. It can never be duplicated, because there Is nons like It upon the face of the earth. And we are racking and Im poverishing it exactly ss we sre felling the forests and rifling the mines. Our soil, onoe the envy of evry other coun try, the attraotlnn which draw millions of Immigrants serosa the seaa, gave an average yield for the whole United Statee during the ten yeara beginning with lltf of 11.6 bushels of wheat per acre. Austria and Hungary each produced mor than 17 bushels per acre, France 19.8, Germany 37. and the United Kingdom 13.1 bushels per acre. For th same decade our average yield of oats waa less than 80 bushels, while Ger many produced 40 and Great Britain 43. Fpr barley the figures are 35, against tillage has been to. select the crop which would bring In most money' at (he cur rent market rate, to plant that year after year and to move on to virgin field as - soon as th old farm rebelled, by low ering the quality and quantity Of it re turn. It Ms still the practice, although diversification of Industry and the rota tion of crops have been urged for nearly a century and are today taoght In ev ery agricultural college In this country.' The demonstration of th evils of sin- gle cropping Is mathematical in Us com pleteness. At the experiment station of the agricultural college of the Univer sity of Minnesota they have maintained! 44 experimental plots of ground, ad joining on another, and as nearly iden tical In noil, cultivation and care as scientific handling can make them. On these have been tried and compared different methods of crop rotation and JertilizaUon together, with. systemsof single cropping. The results of ten years' experiment are now available. On a tract of good ground sown continuously for ten years to wheat the average yield per acre for .. the first five yeare was 30.23 bushels and for the next five 1193 bushels. Where corn was grown .continuously on one plot, while on the plot beelde It , com was planted but once fat five years In a system of rotation, the average yield of the Utter for th two years it was under corn waa 41.3 bushels per ecre. 1 The plot where com only wee grown gav 20.8 bushels per acre for the first five and 11.1 bushels for the second fir of theee years, an average of It bushels. -The difference of these two plots' was 82.2 bushels, or twice the total yield of , the ground exbauated by the single erop system. The corn grown at the end of the ten , years waa hardly hip high, the ears small and the grains light.' Bat th coat of cultivation remained the same. And the same Is true of every other grain or growth when raised continuous ly on land unfertilised. - We frequently , hear it said that tha reduction in yield la due to th wearing out of the soil, . aa If it were a garment to be, destroyed ' by the wearing. The fact is that soils , either increase or maintain their pro ductivity Indefinitely under proper cul tivation. ' If the earth, the great mother of hu- II -a -t -&5e032X4JzS S-J0&-sTZ& " 'v-, WwWat,fePa.- DRAWING BT HOMER JDAVBNPORT The average yearly. consumption" ot could accomplish this; and we may, per- depends upon two factors land and which the wheat crop was less In 1908 falling. Between 1880 and 1900 the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Nether- man and animal life, is to "wear out," wheat per capita varies considerably haps, assume that a steady and certain labor. It may be increased sdiae to than It was In 1888. Twenty years have land values of Ohio shrank $60,000,000. lands and Denmark a yield of more than what Is to become of the racer with eeasons and prices, but It rises price of II or $1.26 per bushel for meet theBa n6edfl of tne ruture it the cut this staple food product, in many Official Investlsatlon of two counties 30 bushels of wheat per acre has been ...... .. 4. , t eteadlly with our constantly advancing wheat may raise our total annual prod- th Droduc. ... acr6 of the land mnrK thnn n,,Qlf Tll. t , n,, Kw vn, hi. the average for the last five years. Two Available Remedies. , f standard of comfort. During recent uct to 900,000,000 bushels, which would cftn be. increased. years it nas oeen euner siigr or slightly over seven bushels end seed. Suppose that it li one half bushels per capita, which certainly within the mark. UUTing recent uci w ,v,vvu,v uubuhib, wmcn wuuiu pa h- lnoi.eii.iul 'Ph.ro iu tin nthnr .-, .L , . . ... , . . . , slightly under be 80 per cent more than its present " Ibfa aoluMon thLft the olJ" n1 1,orest "" ortin- t,0"of agricultural decay. In one land rmDOve,:shinir the SoiL ,hels for bread ver.ge. This 1. the extreme limit of U Tnonelaatlc. Our public lands tt,'y- l1 ? totaI crop of counry wa8 ,or 8le fr,Rnb0Ut thf .C8t f WhJ thTLt fertile .! " I'V?1 PblbU,t'r- . , are mainly exhausted. A few more " BJ ,le,d Pf f bave ben mAtn; provement s. snd 150 vacant houses were h ene most ferUle alts, which is The ' country could, under present ..r nrin u th. ln.t e th.n, tnj talned Vy resort to new soils not yet counted in a limited area. In the other woro proauces so mucn i methods, do no more unless it took land Je-t they Bhoul)1 not - be squandered robbed of their fertility. Iiiai asi naaaaeasH A Mka,i MitvMMeael ..." 1. Tha tMaM na m - -Bsptoh nln mil . ! r Piitiira Rrea1 Snnn1v 1 V 1 quickly enougn, we not only orrer tnem future Breaa buppiy. , and devoted it to wheat raising. In t0 .yervbodv under conditions that in- few exceptions. Is falling in ordinary It will then require, unless we sre to that case It would only imitate the vit. .n(j reward fraud but when the years. Consumption per capita tends The two remedies are as well ascer tained as is the evil. Rotation of crops land In the ond tha ua of frtniiira ant u tanlxa counted in a limited area. In the other wrId produces so much less than that upon the soil. . We might expend our re the population in 1905 was nearly 4000 ?f poorer duality e sewhere. and this .0urce8 ftnd add bin.onB f dollars to 1p flmn in IRKS low yield snows a tendency to steady , . . Identical sol. conditions docllne. the situation becomes clear. exist In Maryland and Virginia, where we are ronDing tne son m an effort - ,-,. fall to a lower eale of living, a total man who tried to make the legrf of government finds lteelf burdened with 1 Increase, and new population adds lands sell at from $10 to $30 an acre. the largest cash returns from aa we liave the forests and the contents product of 1,300,000,000 bushels of wheat his trousers longer by cutting strips . nartlcularlv choice and valuable trat from' 13,000,000 to 16.000,000 bushels In a hearing before an industrial com- eftch acre of ground in the shortest pos- of the mines. , . , iur our vicnii aujpiy, 11 wb iiu uu bjv- in uuuura auu ocwiub iiiein aruunu -0f farm land It holds a lottery and dls- cvery your 10 mo aemana. inis is not mission ine cntf'i or ine Dureau or sons ,o V-a euuu uminy . iw v'"J port any. from iso Co isusmciusive tne waistoana. tribute it among Tom. Dick and Harry, our crop average? 21,73S, 000 bushels We are left,-practically, with a short- no matter whether farmers or speculat- aiinually. Twice only have we exceeded age of 400,000,000 bushels in our wheat ora after they have been collected from the 700,000,000 bushel mark. It is fair supply, even supposing that we coneume the distant narts of the country by orniy Bi.tu iiwi " ojiiuuiii. appealing to the passion for gambling, we should have to procure from some The areas to be obtained by reclamation uiiirr wiunn. wncre ore It, and how is it to be paid SONG FEATURE FOR NEXT SUNDAY "Does Anybody Want a Little Girlie?" as Introduced, by Ward and Vokes in "The Trouble - Makefs." ON OPPOSITE PAGE, MAY 28 laoor. Tnis sou is not mere dead matter, assertion that - the farmer could take subject to any sort of treatment with from the same area of ground in four uupumiy . years grain crops out of a total of aeven Chemically It contains elements which .. . .,. ,. . k. rti years as much as the whole seven years From the London Post. eroded and filled up a channel from 40 ,w. A,.ttin rk...in.i now give him, leaving th products of iie wner inreo years wueir in jaim l Notting New About Mere Man w o k i t . ,u T Z At : the Royal College of Surgeons to 50 feet below Its present level. Meas- lt iVmVdfl ud of 7 fT10 'r 7V l"ftt0Jf;k.?f frofesspr Arthur Keith, conservator .of ured at it. lowest estimate, the Thame. " .e.npaf nfa"?' Thin th vitiii miPiitinn; nri a. on Z" a71 , 7JL ,IZ' T " ZmI .T . T. a couege museum, aenrerea recently Ded nas Deen lowered and raised at leust nnA ", . f - - IO llllftl 1 1 III i L B BUTttUy in SIKni LU m ha firet 4 ml .m , T-V.- mm a . m 110 umcuiiw Lvimwiurui an w ..ws " V;t ,.:-i-vv a,. iswer is, imperative it la well that Quantity of tillable land. . '"Y, "o..Tr' L7 V 1- "Z2 ..t"I i. J'"vrj proper admixture. Is furnished by the While I have here dealt onlyX with ma unsiiiesi minus in ine Th nrndnetlvltv of th anil and fk , .1 . . " . : decomDoslt on of organic matter and the .h..i ih. umi li inn f atani. kmu -t- mo nunian remain ioudo in me upper limes, seeing now mue tne level and ,.,.-..,.,, , s.t ' r " R (100 foot) gravel terrace of the Thames aspect of the valley have altered since d"tf ration of mineral matter that cotton, tobacco, corn and the like, r ; - valley at Galley Hill, near Northfleet, the Roman period, and that there Is no prof , toKe'ner- Not only the economic but the-polltt- esta Chanted Methods Imperative. hltth sun. food. This rested from grain as a cleai profit due I,. nVynm I. in I AnMe,lt..un. 1 n tn K.ttfill. m.tlnUl. . .. ? ., T i J " tttiavKr ! Imnnllv It la w.ll thnt a.. m a,,,.., - " ui . m itviu. wn jii nu , i - - ...... uuanuiir ui iiiittuic iana. some of the brightest minus in the Th. nrnnxtiviiv nt tv anii oountry the turnfedT toward the farm food supply as compared with acreage m n 11 in aii it 11 r liiri n r inn ann ninur Ttrnna m . . a . . M ' - - --- vo aowv si Tin wiin nnn i srinn nnrn natin ! . . . . . . . lama iu.nniai with th. f.tmin. i-i.r. 7!. . " ""..""r.. . " . . . . vaaiey at uauey mil, near xsortnrieec tne itoman period, and that there Is no " " toiai, agricultural proauct nas oeen The8e remains, which are now In the reason to oresutne that chan. in IpvM vvnaxever a.Biuroa euner racioroi tne ... ,,. of the country is involved. growing so rapidly and so immensly collection of Frank Corner, were found or In climate occurred at a faster rate- Pr0ce8- whatever takes out or the soli peopia evtr feit want of work or the that we find it hard 4To realixe that by the late Robert Elliott toward the in past times than In the present, one Rn excessive. amount, of one or more of pnch of poverty for s long time arithout Mills may be entirely consistent With end of 1SSS and although at flrnt a mav ..f.lv h. ..ih mnn . the chemical elements UPOn Which plant -..-hlna- out vlnleat hands aaalnat thvlr The true statement of th broad gen- failure, at th same time, to keep pace considerable number of geologists re- for every foot which the river had growth depends, ends In sterility. Any political Institutions, believing that they eral fact which It is most desirable that wth the growth of national needs. fused to regard them as equal to the worn away or laid down. On this basis agricultural methods that move in this ,gt,t find a change some relief from every one should understand it this; - The public is impressed by the state- J 00 foot terrace in point of time, . yl f -computation the antiquity of tli direction mean soil Impoverishment, xheir distress Although there hare been That tbls country cannot feed the popu- ment that the increase in the value of a fuller consideration of the evidence Oallev Hill remains may be estlmsttil present -returns at the cost of future moraents of such restlessness in our latlon t which it must necessarily have 'arm products in the eight years from produced by E. T. Newton, F.R.8., re- at 170.000 years Probably an under- losB. th exhaustion of the land exactly country, the trial has never been sos. within a comparatively few years, if it 18 to 1907 waa from $4,717,000,000 to cently convinced experts, both at home estimate. as the animal System is enfeebled by vere or so prolonged ss to pot us to the does not change its agricultural meth- $7,411,000,000, or 67 per cent, and that and abroad, that they were-embedded A consideration of the parts of the lack of proper nourlshment.r i" .V ode. The emphasis Is all on that con- from 1817 to 107 the strictly agrleul- when the level of the Thames waa 90 skeleton found at Galley Hill shows " 0r agricultural lands 'have I been Fa may - 4his day be from ua But ditlonai clause. , - turar orops-MSorn, hay. wheat, cotton, to 100 feet higher than It Is today. , how old the modern tvpe of man Is The abused in two principal ways? first, by? since the unnecessary destruction of our Germany, which sets the pace for the oats, potatoes, barley and rye in- The antiquity of the Galley Hill man. Galley Hill man, although differing la single dropping and, second, by neglect- land Will bring new conditions of dsn world An commercial expansion abroad, creased In value nearly two billion dol- said the lecturer, must be measured by several features, is essentially modern Ing fertilisation, v: It is fortunate ..for ger, Its conservation its Improverr - t nd tndustrlal activity at home, Jus Sfto lars, or 95 per cent. ; the work done by the Thame' lnce In type, and is the only representative u that nature is slow , to anger and to the highest pVjint of produrfu inhabitants to the square mile. There ' These are. facts that strike the imagiv that time. The river has not Only worn known of the thousands of generations that we may arrest t4 consequence of promised by scientific -.Intelllgr--. , are less than' 80 per square mile In the nation, and the Increase last year alone, its estuarian valley down 90 to 100 feet, of Englishmen which, span the vast pe- this ruinous policy befoVe it is too late, practical experiment spp'jrs. t i w.Ql --Tnite tt -1 eouldisupport of 1970,000,000 in tb value of farm pro--owing to an elevation of tha land, but rlod of human llf4n this country from In all paru of tha UnlUd State a. wlUi first rommamluf-afly-puIiUcal e isolated exceptions, sth system of worthy of the name. j i ' ?. 5. th quarejmll as easily as. a ny ducts is encouragtng. Tet it is neither , In " the , opinion of experts has also- glacial t aeoltthlo 'lmes. ' Only 1 - f , - , ' s - '.-.
