88 



raise all of this great new food supply without difficulty. 



We must now look for new food supplies. Wheat, grain, corn, 

 and the other cereals are not going to supply this country indefinitely 

 but the nut trees will. It is absolutely impossible to have over-popu- 

 lation. It can't be done. Over-population as a social matter relates 

 wholly to the habits acquired by people in using established kinds of 

 food, but with the development of the nut trees, which furnish the 

 appropriate starch, oils, and essentials of human diet, the danger of 

 over-population becomes absolutely nil. We can not have over- 

 population anyway, because nations of people reach cultural limita- 

 tion, just as breeds of cattle run out, just as a breed of dogs runs 

 out, just as a breed of any cultivated animal runs out. We are sure 

 to do that. In all of our cultural periods we are sure to rise to a cer- 

 tain point, decline, and go out, and somebody else will follow, so that 

 we never can really have over-population excepting as a matter of 

 choice rather than one of necessity. On the question of food supply 

 we may avert over-population by taking up something new to meet 

 the conditions. That new thing right now is the development of the 

 nut trees which furnish all of the food essentials and will take away 

 any fear whatsoever of any over-crowding of the people of this 

 country. 



EVENING SESSION, SEPTEMBER 8th, 1922 



The convention was called to order by the President at 8 :30 

 o'clock P. M. 



Mr. Spencer : Mr. President : I have an idea I would like to 

 present on behalf of the ladies. Quite a number of years ago I was 

 entertained at dinner on the plantation of Mr. John Todd, St. Mary's 

 Parish, Louisiana. It is on the banks of a stream lined with live 

 oaks at a point where Evangeline and the Arcadians passed on that 

 trip to the next county which is known as Arcadia. The whole 

 country round there is full of reminders of the Arcadians. 



Mr. John Todd has several thousand acres in his plantation and 

 four thousand acres are in sugar cane. When it came to the dessert 

 a beautiful two-storied white cake was placed on the table. After 

 eating it I turned to Mrs. Todd and said, " I dislike very much to 

 comment on a lady's cooking but I hope you will excuse me if I ask 

 you what this cake is made of. There is something peculiar about it 

 that I do not recognize." " Well," she said, " while you and the 

 other gentlemen were down inspecting the land that you came to 

 see, I had the boys go out and rattle down some pecans. They 

 cracked them, picked out the meats, and I put them in the oven and 

 dried them. I knew that they would not dry out ordinarily in time 

 for my meal. I then ran them through the meat chopper and 

 chopped them as fine as I could and then I put them through a very 

 fine sieve. The parts that were fine enough to go through I put in 

 the flour of the cake, the rest I put in the filler between the two 



