LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE 



39 



ning of the present century. But instead of 

 increasing its floor space twenty-one per cent., 

 it increased it less than one-fourth of that 

 amount. There seemed only one way to make 

 up for the deficiency. That was to turn to 



u> 10 r- r r- r~. r~cocococooocr>cr>cococr> 

 ODooaooooocooOcOeooocococooocDeo ao 



From United States Crop Reporter, February, 1913. " * 



The weighted acreage yield of corn for the country as a 

 whole. Note the dip marking the middle period, due to 

 weather cycles. All crops in all sections of the country ex- 

 hibit the same general tendency, i. e., low yields during the 

 'eighties and 'nineties. The fact that this period of lowest 

 production was also a period of lowest prices illustrates the 

 extent of the over-development of our food resources at that 

 time. 



the exports of food-stuffs which have been re- 

 sponsible for the traditional balance of trade 

 in our favor. We had to retain at home the 

 food we had formerly shipped abroad. In the 

 last half of the last decade the exports of food- 

 stuffs began a rapid decline. 



Two things were bound to happen. First, 



