75 



population exceed the food supply; and just so sure as the in- 

 telligent and influential men and women of America continue 

 to ignore the material foundation upon which national pros- 

 perity depends, just so sure will future Dark Ages blot out 

 American civilization. 



That most of the lands that were once cultivated with profit 

 in the original thirteen states are now agriculturally abandoned 

 is common knowledge; that much of the land in all adjoining 

 states is in the process of abandonment is known to many; and 

 that the common lands in the great agricultural regions in cen- 

 tral United States are even now in process of the most rapid 

 soil depletion ever witnessed is known to all who possess the 

 facts. 



Already the question of food has begun to exert pressure in 

 this country. Already the masses, the common people, the 

 "ninety percent," must consider a reduction in their standard 

 of living. Poverty and degeneracy are even now making such 

 demands upon the revenues of the state that education and re- 

 search already suffer from inadequate support ; and the only 

 hope of the future lies in the application of science and edu- 

 cation to the control of industry and to the control of popula- 

 tion ; and let us never fo^rget that agriculture is the basis of 

 all industry, and that the fertility of the soil is the absolute 

 support of every form of agriculture. 



Some will say that the economic conditions have been such 

 that the depletion of the lands of the eastern states has been 

 a necessary sequence, and that the restoration of those lands 

 will now follow as an economic necessity. I beg of you, do not 

 accept any such theoretical deductions. If systems of perma- 

 nent progressive agriculture are ever to be adopted anywhere 

 in this country, it must be done while the landowners are still 

 prosperous. Some investment is necessary for the restoration 

 of depleted soil, and poverty makes no investments. Much of 

 the abandoned lands of America are far past the point of pos- 

 sible self -redemption. They were depleted not because of any 

 economic necessity but because of ignorance, and the fault lies 

 not with the farmers and landowners, but with the educators 



