| OCR Text |
Show FOOD SHORTAGE. Argentina has placed an embargo upon up-on the exportation of wheat and flour, not, however, for the purpose of carrying carry-ing out the recent suggestion of General Gen-eral Carranza, but because of drought and a raid of locusts. There is said to be less wheat in Argentina than at any time within the last ten years, and the government is very naturally desirous of conserving the supply in order to provide for the needs of its own people. peo-ple. The crop situation in Argentina is very bad. So long ago as the middle of last December it was officially calculated cal-culated that out of a total of 16,OSS,000 acres of wheat sown in Argentina, 5,487,000 acres would yield no crop, and that 2,042,000 acres of linseed out of a total of 3,207,000 acres under this cereal were lost. Later reports showed a still heavier loss in some of the provinces. Then hopes were centered upon corn, which is an important crop in the district dis-trict tributary to Bosario. There were (favorable rains in December, and farm-I farm-I ers who h,ad lost their wheat and linseed crops planted late corn. Then came a drought in January, followed by the plague of locusts. "When the drought was broken it was too late to save the crop, and it is now estimated that To per cent of the corn is lost. In some of the provinces the situation is serious even now, and the government cannot ' be blamed for placing the embargo. ; There are other bad features of the : foodstuff situation in Argentina. Stock-raisers Stock-raisers have also suffered severely from drought; mortality has been high among stock, and many raisers have been compelled com-pelled to sell their animals under most unfavorable circumstances from lack of feed. In view of a probable food shortage the world over, the farmers of the United States are urged to till every foot of soil possible, and we believe the agitation will do some good. So urgent has the matter become that the secretary of the National Agricultural society has declared that farmers should not be allowed to enlist, even if a call is issued for 1,000,000 men, maintaining maintain-ing that the withdrawal of any considerable consid-erable number of young men from the rural districts would show a corresponding correspond-ing decrease in the grain and foodstuffs grown on American fields. There may be some sense in the suggestion, but it would be impossible to keep the farmer boys at home while the young men of other classes are marching to the front with colors flying. Anyway, there are more than enough loafers in the United States to supply all the demands for labor on the farm and in the factories, and it will be just as easy to draft these drones and set them to work as it would be to raise an army. In case of war those who are too cowardly to fight should be compelled to work, and we would not hold back a single young man who answers to the call to anus. |
