98 



Now, when we apply the practical experience of the old world, 

 as well as the experimental evidence accumulated in Europe, to 

 our own conditions, it becomes evident that we in New Jersey 

 are neglecting a great opportunity in our failure to utilize the 

 salt marsh for agricultural purposes. While you, as members 

 of the New Jersey Mosquito Extermination Association, are 

 primarily interested in mosquito extermination as a sanitary and 

 economic problem, it would be well to realize that this problem 

 may be attacked from the agricultural point of view. The 

 problem promises a ready solution if that point of view is 

 emphasized, for the reclaiming of the salt marsh is worth while 

 for its own sake, to say nothing of the incidental benefits that 

 mosquito elimination would bring to the entire region. 



Much is being said and written at present about the high cost 

 of living. The man in the city, who is the greatest sufferer 

 because of the increased cost of foodstuffs, is apt to blame the 

 farmer, the producer of foodstuffs, for their excessive cost. 

 Now, there are so many factors that enter intO' the cost of food- 

 stuffs that it would be idle for me to attempt a discussion at 

 this time and place. I do wish to point out, however, that the 

 cost of food is determined in large measure by the labor which 

 enters into the production O'f that food. The farmers of South 

 Jersey are planning this coming spring to plant a smaller acerage 

 of potatoes in spite of the fact that the profits lately made' by 

 the potato growers of New Jersey were so very satisfactory. 

 The average grower feels that he is not able to till a larger area 

 because of the scarcity of labor. He has to compete with the 

 munitions plants at Penns Grove, where common labor is paid 

 at the rate O'f $3 or $4 or $5 a day, and he is unable to meet 

 the competition brought into being by extraordinary industrial 

 conditions. Farm labor cannot readily earn $3 or $4 or $5 

 a day. Thus, a part of the higher cost of foodstuffs is 

 directly attributable to the higher cost of labor and the inability 

 of the farmer to secure labor at reasonable cost. And yet we 

 should not forget that since 1856, and between the period of 

 1856 and 191 5, per capita food production in the United yStates 

 increased by 30 per cent. The number of males employed in 



