THE FARMERS OF THIS COUNTRY are as 

 efficient as any other farmers in the world. 

 They do not produce more per acre than the farm- 

 ers in Europe. It is not necessary that they should 

 do so. It would perhaps he had economy for them 

 to attempt it. But they do produce by two to three 

 or four times more per man, per unit of labor and 

 capital, than the farmers of any European country. 

 They are more alert and use more labor-saving de- 

 vices than any other farmers in the world. And 

 their response to the demands of the present emer- 

 gency has been in every way remarkable. Last 

 spring their planting exceeded by 12,000,000 acres 

 the largest planting of any previous year, and the 

 yields from the crops were record-breaking yields. 

 In the fall of 1917 a wheat acreage of 42,170,000 was 

 planted, which was 1,000,000 larger than for any pre- 

 ceding year, 3,000,000 greater than the next largest. 

 and 7,000,000 greater than the preceding five-year 

 average. 



But I ought to say to you that it is not only neces- 

 sary that these achievements should be repeated but 

 that they should be exceeded. I know what this ad- 

 vice involves. It involves not only labor but sac- 

 rifice, the painstaking application of every bit <>l 

 scientific knowledge and every tested practice that 

 is available. It means the utmost economy, even to 

 the point where the pinch comes. It means the kind " 

 of concentration and self-sacrifice which is involved 

 in the field of battle itself, where the object always 

 looms greater than the individual. And yet the Gov- 

 ernment will help, and help in every way that is 

 possible. — From President Wilson's message to the 

 Farmers' Conference at Urbana, III., January .»'/. 

 1918 



