CHAPTER XIII 



DEVELOPMENT OF MICHIGAN WASTE LANDS 



At a time when Michigan, as elsewhere, is suffer- 

 ing from low prices of agricultural products, one 

 occasionally hears a protest against any agitation 

 for developing the waste lands^, whereby additional 

 farm products will be sent to a market already over- 

 crowded with unsalable commodities or those sal- 

 able at unremunerative prices. The man of the 

 north country must take a different view of this 

 problem. He observes that, in the end, it is de- 

 sirable to take the broad view of any economic ques- 

 tion; that the development of national resources, 

 wherever they are and of whatever sort, is the funda- 

 mental American doctrine and normal reaction. 

 Along this line America has grown great. If Michi- 

 gan agriculture is now suffering, this is primarily 

 due to defects of distribution rather than to over- 

 production. The present situation is undoubtedly 

 temporary and a normal basis of prices will be 

 reached long before any large portion of the cut- 

 over lands is brought under cultivation. Develop- 

 ment is a very slow process, and the products of the 

 new lands will only very gradually reach the outside 

 market. Indeed, much of this product will be lo- 



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