THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 21 



the average farm. Shortened hours of the town la- 

 borer give him vastly more time to care for garden, 

 poultry, etc., than the average farmer can spare. 



As a confirmation of my suggestion that the aver- 

 age yield and price of cereals, as given by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, was too liberal, I am in receipt 

 of a bulletin, No. 160, just issued by the Agricultural 

 Experiment Station of the University of Nebraska. 

 This shows the average yield and market price of the 

 three leading cereals in Nebraska during twenty-seven 

 years ending December 31, 1917. These figures make 

 the average annual income per acre of these three 

 cereals $9.80, making a gross income from eighty acres 

 $784, instead of $936.80, as above stated. In neither 

 of the above computations was the annual amount of 

 seed required taken into consideration. In wheat and 

 oats and other small grain this amounts to approxi- 

 mately 10 per cent, of the total yield. The apparently 

 lower income from Nebraska acres is not because the 

 soil, climatic conditions and husbandry are inferior to 

 those of other States, but can be accounted for only 

 because of a more careful and accurate method of se- 

 curing data by the Nebraska authorities. The state 

 authorities, having facts close at hand, rely more upon 

 facts and less upon estimates, than the Federal De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



In an agricultural country like ours, a republic worth 

 while cannot long survive an impoverished peasantry. 

 Recent events in Russia must remind every thinking 

 man that it is quite as important that democracy may 

 be made safe for the World, as that " The world be 

 made safe for democracy." 



