

THE FOOD CRISIS AND 

 AMERICANISM 



" 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 

 Where wealth accumulates, and men decay ; 

 Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade; 

 A breath can make them, as a breath has made; 

 But a bold Peasantry, their Country's pride, 

 When once destroy' d, can never be supplied." 



CHAPTER I 



THE most serious and one of the most pressing ques- 

 tions of to-day is, What is the matter with Ameri- 

 can agriculture, that it is breaking down at the most 

 critical period in the nation's history? 



After twenty-two years during which time not a 

 single State has suffered a general crop failure, but in 

 the main crops have been unusually abundant, why was 

 it that before a battalion of our troops had reached the 

 firing line, our Government was suggesting and has 

 since made compulsory a restriction of wholesome 

 food in our homes ? Our country has an almost limit- 

 less area of fertile soil, with a topography in the high- 

 est degree adapted to the use of farm machinery. 

 Climatic conditions are highly favorable to the produc- 

 tion of all essential foods. Our farmers are the most 

 intelligent the world has ever known. All this, coupled 

 with the inventive genius of our people, should enable 

 the American farmers to feed the world. Yet there 



