Show by GUSTAVUS myerl noted historian and research writer 4 a probable bumper crop of nt least bushels of bread grains expected from our farms this bear the american farmer Is showing what his contribution Is to the war for human free dom remote as he may be from the actual scene of conflict he knows that he Is a big part of the world battle line upon his productive efforts largely depend alie supplying of the allied armed forces and populations with food to the appeal food will win the war the american farmer has responded with splendid results but of course that appeal has its locations one proviso Is that food will go a long way toward insuring victory it ve have plenty of ships to convey it where it Is needed great fleets of ships have been or are being created bv the united states shipping board they are being produced at a record pace but to carry out our vast necessary shipping program with the fullest adequacy it Is vital that the earnest interest of ever part of our great country should be unceasingly enlisted far away from the seaboard as many of our farms ire they arc joined with the to a degree they never wre before the ships sup clement the plow and the harvester day and the farmer has been of how he could make his land more productive it Is a subject that never leaves alro the indications are tint so well has he thought it out that this years crop 0 winter wheat alone will b bushels more than last years large as that was and this Is only one part of the immense crops coming from american farms rrue there Is alwaes the gamble of weather con and the menace of insect depredations but the present promise Is a high production from our farms of itself this fact does not alarm the huns they know that our big food supply Is of no danger to them it we cannot get it across but what does fill them with dread and foreboding Is the knowledge that we are getting to gettier the ships that will transport it over the ocean to teed our troops and of the allies and the peoples of the countries banded to defeat hun aggression ahat will further make the huns quake Is the fact that our millions of farm ers are as determined to support the program lor vat fleets of ships as they are set upon raising vast crops the hun submarine murder campaign was undertaken with the express view of starving out certain countries and terrorizing the rest it aimed nt destroying the eliat could carry our supplies to I 1 drope it succeed an more in that design than in the effort to pre genf the landing of large forces in france but by its foul methods of warfare it has already eunk many millions of tons of ships not only has eliat florid loss to be more than made up but we have to provide a large further tonnage to keep on sending our soldiers abroad and ing them adequately we have the unprecedented job of not only feeding our own army but other armies and other populations also but the ships required for those purposes are only a part of what we need later on those ships will be necessary in bringing back our victorious soldiers from europe but at present and for some time to come the movement Is of full ships to europe and fairly empty ones back the united states Is now the great reservoir from which supplies must be drawn the enor gain in our exports shows how other nations are increasingly looking to us to sustain them although our exports may occasionally decline still on the whole there Is every probability of their increasing not only during the war but after the war I 1 arge areas of europe are dekop and devastated many of the rich wheat growing sections including almost all of the win ter wheat producing areas of russia are in the germans possession conditions in russia are chaotic the western european allies produced in 1917 about bushels less than the an nual prewar pre war average there was a great drop also in the wheat production of other european countries argentina australia and india are producing good crops but there Is no shipping to move it properly while the war Is on there Is a big enough de mand from our allies in europe for materials of all kinds we leave to supply coal abeel oil cot ton lumber rails locomotives and a great quantity of other products after the war when the job of rehabilitating europe Is put through the demand upon this country for raw and manufactured material of all kinds will be enormous we shall also am e to replenish the depleted herds of europe from our own cattle ours in tact will be the task of supplying most of the world so it Is clear that besides the millions of tons of shipping urgently needed tor the army and navy we shall need a great permanent merchant ma alne in 1914 only of the more than of our exports was carried in can vessels even now a great part of the cargo and passenger ships we are using are seized enemy vessels or requisitioned or chartered allied or neutral vessels kot only on the atlantic but on all oceana we must have an abundance of american ships the opening of the panama canal the at and pacific oceans have been linked by tho short route J t ama Jm ships have to ba used for imports as w ell as exports last year we imported worth 0 merchandise we need ample ships on the pacific to serve china japan the philippines russia and australia all of these countries as well as central and south america have materials or products which we need just as they need ours australia recently had a surplus stated to be bushels of wheat and another big sur plus in process of gathering there was enough in tact to feed angland and france for a year but it was of no practical use to the allies there were no vessels to be spared for tho long haul which takes eight or ten weeks from australia to england last year there was a surplus in java ot 1000 tons of sugar which other parts of the world needing badly could not get because of lack of ships great heaps of coffee were spoiling on the east indian wharves there was no shipping to move it to other countries pyrites which was badly needed here could not be brought from spain because of the want of ships these are but a few examples of what a ship famine means besides the many millions of tons of shipping needed for the purposes already described there Is also the pressing necessity for multiplying the number of ships tugs and barges for domes tic coastwise lake and inland waterway trans formation these are of the most vital imbor tance to the farmer our inland lake and ccase waterways can be used to transport vast quan titles of wheaT TInd other products and freight of all kinds can be sent back on the return trip this transportation will be cheaper to the farmer and greatly tends to relieve railway congestion in loss than a icara time the accomplish ments of the united states shipping board have been on an scale where in 1917 there were only cl shipyard plants in the united states there are now and moro are be ang constantly the united santes shipping board has ghen out contracts for deadweight tons of ships and has already jut in service deadweight tons ot new shipping this in addition to doad weight tons of neutral and allied ships under charter german and austrian ships seized and dutch ships luoner it Is launching new celpa and Is beginning to make provision for tugs and barges for inland and coastwise water traffic from the small number of men employed in american shipyard on april 1 1917 the force of shipbuilders ship builders in our bards has now increased to V this progress american farmers can look forward to the certainty of n great merchant toa alne built in american shipyards and carrying their products tho world over now and after |