WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 91 



upon the American farmer? We exported to England 

 alone in 1913 food products to the value of more than 

 $512,000,000. Does England expect to sell us goods 

 after the war? If so, what shall we pay her in? 

 What shall we do with those $512,000,000 worth of 

 food we used to send her? 



Well-founded rumor states that definite and large 

 plans have already been formulated by American manu- 

 facturers, bankers, and merchants, for a vast enlarge- 

 ment of our trade with South America. With what is 

 South America to pay us for the goods we send her? 

 Probably to a very considerable extent in wheat and 

 meat. Now these are among the great sub-industries 

 of our American agriculture. What effect will the new 

 trade with our southern neighbors have then upon 

 American agriculture? Our imports from South 

 America increased from $200,000,000 in 1914 to 

 $550,000,000 in 1917. To what extent was this in- 

 crease made up of food products that can be grown in 

 this country? Is there any one studying these currents 

 or tendencies, any one in touch with the South American 

 statesmen who are making their policies? Has the 

 war taught us nothing about economic preparedness? 

 Is agriculture still to be the last thing considered in the 

 business discussions of the world? Why should not 

 official representatives of our government, presumably 

 officials of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, be sent to South America as well as into our own 

 business circles, to discover tendencies, to discuss prin- 

 ciples and to help formulate programs with respect to 

 the effect of all these new plans upon American agri- 

 culture ? 



The whole world is talking " reconstruction." La- 

 bor has assumed that its intere:ts are paramount in 



