1368 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



stood against nor can stand against except by new and permanent methods 

 of agriculture such as have not yet been generally established. 



" We cannot afford to live in a fool's paradise in this matter. The day 

 of cheap meat is over and that of cheap white bread is passing, and unless 

 we can speedily establish a more permanent agriculture than has ever yet 

 been established, then will prices not only go higher, but the most of men 

 will be forced to subsist on the cheaper foods. This for sociological 

 reasons, as well as for considerations of humanity, is eminently undesir- 

 able. The era of high-priced food is fairly upon us in spite of our 

 'boundless (?) natural resources' and our 'inexhaustible fertility,' and 

 the most that we can do is to retard the speed and soften the hardship of 

 its coming by a timely and scientific attention to our agriculture. 



" Much is expected through reclamation of arid regions by irrigation, 

 but the areas are relatively small, probably all told not exceeding that of 

 Illinois, and the great staple grains, grasses, and meats will always be 

 raised on non-irrigated lands. These are largely occupied already. The 

 largest relief comes in breaking up the range for grain farming, but this 

 means the last of cheap meat, arid it means neither a permanent food 

 supply nor a final reduction in price. The permanent food supply is 

 attainable only by permanent systems of agriculture that increase instead 

 of decreasing fertility, and even these do not prevent population from 

 overtaking production. In the end high prices for food are inevitable, 

 and it looks as if we had fairly started on the road, and if that is so, the 

 only financial relief is cheaper food or less of it. 



" I am in all things an optimist, not a pessimist, but we cannot afford 

 to close our eyes to very evident facts. We have lived as have no other 

 people in a superabundance of food. That time is over. I expect 

 fluctuations in prices; but, for the reasons outlined, I believe that the era 

 of cheap food is past forever." . 



