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Show Livestdl ' Recently the Writer, ' before the world-wide drouth, situation became o acute, hearkened back to the days of Joseph in pointing out that all through history there has been over-nroduction over-nroduction and undor-supply periods, iven to the point of famine in the countries of the world. It was recalled that when Egypt was faced with an oversupply of ' foodstuffs, the wise king- of that country appointed Joseph to find means of storing and later distributing the surplus. The wisdom of this decision was-found in ths years of shortage when all the nations of the earth sought the favors of Egypt to secure food supplies. Today we have every Christian nation praying pray-ing for rain and those who worship idols are beseeching their particular gods to Tjring' about moisture that the soil may produce and that livestock may survive. Good ra:ns have helped the central west recently, and if followed up will help the grain and forage crops. When we recognize that the drouth is World-wide we commence to see the forerunner of an international food shortage. Perhaps we should temper drastic steps for reduction of surpluses sur-pluses and production and carry on an agricultural policy directed toward surjplvimr the shortage which may occur both in our own country and nbroad. Throughout history cycles have ocr furred, always with peaks of production produc-tion and valleys of shortage. It seems paradoxical that the wants of so many, in the face of so much, should be answered by a possible shortage for all. Seemingly instead of a reduction reduc-tion of production policy w may well produce more bountifully in order that we may contribute to the needs of other sections of the world less j fortunaely situated. j It is true that the western states are feeling the effect of a water i shortage, but not so serious as the middle west. The history of agricul- : ture tells us that surpluses bring down price levels below the cost of production, automatically working to- j ward an adjustment of supply to meet j the demand and the ability to ab- I sorb supplies upon the part of the public. This is a natural and inexorable inexor-able law. Agriculture and livestock r.re the source of our greatest national na-tional wealth and the key to any well-balanced well-balanced prosperity. The natural law '.f compensation functions about as j usual, after all, whether or not it is ! tampered with. j One of the evils that was brought j out in the depression was one crop j farming. ' Diversified farming with livestock as a balance wheel has served serv-ed a great many farmers and live-I live-I stock men and may be relied upon in i the future for continued benefits. The late Jim Hill many years ago tested out the idea of diversification; furnishing fur-nishing pure-bred livestock for breeding breed-ing purposes, in order to encourage livestock on the farm. This principle was proven during a period of depression depres-sion when the wheat farmers went ( down with the price of wheat, while , the diversified farmer continued to: prodr.ee, having something to furnish 'besides a living for the family. j j That to my mind is a wise policy to !V;y.v in the west. Our future in the west les in developing our agriculture agricul-ture and animal husbandry and spe-; cializing to a point where quality will j preduninate rather than quantity, because be-cause only through our agricultural 1 structure may we hope to find an en- during prosperity. The wealth of na-' tions lies in our flocks and herds was said several hundred years ago, and , it is still true, as truths are constant ! in the general scheme of things. |