Show AUTHENTIC STATEMENT special to THE BABSON DISCUSSES THE WESTERN DROUGHT SITUATION BABSON PARK MASS A sound of rejoicing P I 1 today echoing across the western great plains mother nature at loog long last has showered down copious rains and heavy snows upon areas of that drought stricken regin As a result soil moisture conditions in much of the great plains are more encouraging cou raging than they have been in several years but h 1 the drought broken farmers and businessmen living in the great plains naturally are greatly concerned as to whether these much improved moisture conditions are a mere flash in the pan or the real thing crops in some instances have been hard hit valuable topsoil has been blown away cattle have starved or farmers have been forced to liquidate them for lack of feed and some people living orabe on the land are facing poverty although this five year drought has been less destructive on the whole than the disastrous droughts of 1934 and 1930 1 30 it has been severe I 1 can well appreciate the mounting hope in many hearts that it may now be ending I 1 wish I 1 could give them definite assurance that the wont worst Is over perhaps it Is however I 1 am a statistician and not a weather forecaster at least not a very good one professional weather forecasters tea tell me ine that it takes about six months of above normal precipitation to end a major drought if so in this respect at least there Is still some distance to go before we can know for a certainty that the drought has ended incidentally there are still sizable sections of colorado new now mexico nebraska texas and ohio that remain parched the one sure thing is that overall over all moisture conditions have materially improved the trend is in the right direction the drought is old and this is another favorable factor by the law of averages it should not last much longer farmer farmen gaining drought whether recurrent droughts will ili ever cease to plague the wes western te rn great plains is a secret burled buried deep in natures crysta crystal ball perhaps scientists some som e day will come up with something very constructive meanwhile farmers arc are learning more and more how to live with droughts and come out ahead or at least break even they have come a long way in this respect since the dust bowl days of the thirties when about all they could do was to take it lying down or pull up stakes end and migrate to other more favored area areas the smart farmer of the geat plains no longer plows and plants indiscriminately he ile knows the value of soil boil conserva tion met method hodg of irrigation of modern farm tools of contour plowing and terracing of sowing drought resistant cover crops where and when needed and of shelter belts of trees he also now gears the kind of crop planted to soil moisture condl condi tiona ting ng at the time ol 01 planting and utilizes moisture conservation techniques and dl versi hed fed fanning farming by these and other modem modern agricultural methods and nd practices designed to lessen the risk of farmers and crops from drought or other de tive forces he is making real progress under all conditions trend to langr farms will win continue these various modem methods of farming and of minimizing the affect of droughts or other adverse conditions all point in one direction toward larger better equipped and more skillfully managed farms the one man farm form even now is as outdated as the one boss shay this farm revolution has made rapid progress in recent years there are for instance a million more tractors on U US farms today than there were in 1650 1950 percent more pickup pick up hay balers 51 percent more corn pickers 39 percent more more grain combines and 12 per cent mode more milking machines on the other hand the num ber of US farms has declined 11 percent since 1050 from to yet total farm area haj has not changed since then therefore the size ize of many farms forms has increased it Is only on these larger well managed farms that the full benefits of mechanization and modern techniques can profitably be utilized such farms are in a much better position to survive prolonged drought or other adversities than Is the small poorly managed aarm ann they are here to stay fanning farming in america now is big business 1 I therefore forecast another relatively lat ively good year for lor most american farmer farmers they are a sturdy intelligent industrious and god fearing group this is a combination of qualities hard to beat and one america sorely needs today |