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Show Agriculture the Basis of the Greatness and Stability of Modern Nations By FRANK 0. LOWDEN, Ex-Governor of Illinois. The common dirt from which vegetation springs becomes the meaa-nre meaa-nre of the gro;i th and greatness of any civilization. And in less than half a century Americans will have reached the saturation point of 200,000,000 in population, when we shall be pressing upon our own means of subsistence sub-sistence at the present standard of living. - The present difficulties of England are due to the fact that 6iie is a ' country overindustrialized and unable to feed itself, with no more virgin spaces in the world from which she can import unlimited cheap foods in exchange for her manufactured products. In the early days of what we now call the industrial age England was 6upreme. She was producing more economically than any mother nation na-tion in the world. And yet, after the lapse of a little while for what is a century in the life of a nation the most thoughtful men in England are today wondering if that policy was not a mistake. If England, with her unrivaled advantages, already has come upon evil days as a result of her policy, would we not in America do well tn stop and reflect before we adopt a similar policy? The problem of today and tomorrow is to balance agriculture with industrial progress. It becomes more and more apparent that a nation is only secure in time of peace, as well as war, when it is able to feed itself. Agriculture, therefore, henceforth must be the chief concern of any nation which would flourish and endure. 1 |