The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, December 09, 1914, Image 11

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WE ARE LONG ON PRODUCTION, SHORT ON DISTRIBUTION. By Peter Radford Lecturer National Farmers' Union. The economic distribution of farm products is today the world's greatest problem and the war, while it has brought Its hardships, has clearly em phasized the importance of distribu tion as a factor in American agricul ture and promises to give the farm ers the co-operation of the govern ment and the business men the solution of their marketing problem. This result will, in a measure, com pensate us for our war losses, for the business interests and government [have been in the main assisting al most exclusively on the production side of agriculture. While the depart ment of agriculture has been dumping tons of literature on the farmer telling him how to produce, the farmer has j been dumping tons of products in the i - x ~ ' nation's garbage can ior want vl a, market | The World Will Never Starve. At no time since Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden have the inhabitants of this world suffered from lack of production, but ;some people have gone hungry from the day of creation to this good hour :for the lack of proper distribution, i Slight variations in production have j forced a change in diet and one local-; Ity has felt the pinch of want, while : another surfeited, but the world as a k whole has ever been a land of plenty. We now have less than one-tenth of: the tillable land of the earth's surface .under cultivation, and we not only have this surplus area to draw on but | it Is safe to estimate that in case of, dire necessity one-lialf the earth's j population could at the present time' .knock their living out of the trees | of the forest, gather It from wild: vines and draw It from streams. No i one should become alarmed; the j world will never starve. The consumer has always feared that the producer would not supply him and his fright has found expres sion on the statute books of our states land nations and the farmer has been urged to produce recklessly and with out reference to a market, and regard less of the demands of the consumer.! Back to the Soil. The city people have been urging each other to move back to the farm, but vefy few of them have moved. J We welcome our city cousins back to ,the soil and this earth's surface con tains 16,092,160,000 idle awes of till able land where they can make a living by tickling the earth with a forked stick, but we do not need them so far as increasing production is con cerned; we now have, all the producers o <> V 0 o <> o o o o o o o o o o o 0 0 o o oar V V o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 Li We are still V <0 O O <> O 0 0 o o o o o o <> o Tobaccc we can use. The city man has very erroneous idesis of agricultural condi tions. The commonly accepted theory that we are slort on production is all wrong. Our f.nnual increase in pro duction far exceeds that of our In crease in population. The World as a Farm. Taking the world as one big farm, we find two billion acres of land in cultivation. 0;* this amount there is approximately 750,000,000 acres on the western and 1,260,000,000 acres on the eastern hemisphere, in cultivation. This estimate, of course, does not in clude grazing lands, forests, etc., where large quantities of meat are produced. The world's annual crop approxi mates fifteen billion bushels ot ce reaYs, thirteen billion pounds of fibre and sixty-five million tons of meat. The average animal world crop for 4he past five years, compared with the previous five years, is as follows: Past Hdlf Previous Half Crops? Decade. Decade. Corn (Bu.) 3,934,174,000 3,403,655,000 Wheat(Bu.) 3,522,769,000 3,257,526,000 Oats (Bu.) 4,120,017,000 3,508,?15,000 Cotton (Bales) 19,863,800 17,541,200 Tne world shows an average in crease in cereal production of 13 per cent during the past decade, compared with the previous, five years, while the world's population shows an increase of only three per cent The gain in prpduction far exceeds that of our increase in population, and it is safe to estimate that the farmer can easily increase production 25 per cent if a remunerative market can be found for the products. In textile fibres the world shows an increase during the past half decade in produc tion of 15 per cent against a popula tion increase of three per cent. The people of this nation should v adaresS themselves to the subject of 'improved facilities for distribution. Over-production and crop mortgage force the farmers into ruinous com petition with each other. The remedy lies in organization and in co-opera tion in marketing. Removing Fcreign Bodies in the Eye, Usually the eye can take care of it self as the lid is very quick to close and protect it from foreign substances. But there are times when a tiny bit will get embedded and if you are far from a doctor, home-made helps must be applied. Occasionally you find a family medicine which contains an eyestone, but its use by an amateur is never recommended by an oculist. It has been discovered that the most j fl comforting thing in the case of some- j v thing in the eye, is to have a friend | apply his or her tongue to the eyeball. I * Tt fives immediate relief! the foreien I ^ body is found at once and taken out, j ? the warmth of the tongue is very | ^ grateful to the inflamed surface, and ! the secretions of the tongue are very : ^ healing, as is well known. The red- i s ness leaves in a few minutes. This : 0 safe suggestion is generally available! c and is worth remembering. c v We A irge Assortment of I V)U Cc If ange dispensing the b ( HIS EXPERIENCE By PETER HICKUM. I don't propose to make myself ex ;ra ridiculous by calling myself a ? rttt/v nAlUntiir wrifolooa fiVlO fOllOC 1C1U. iUJf auutcu/, Ui&ciwoa va*ui,vuv> n this secluded grove must not b iscribed to poverty or misanthropy is I own several nice farms and would jraciously permit any middle-aged lady ;o superintend the said real estate and ny piano; but my solitary life is due o my two besetting sins?having oved too many girls, and having been .00 good. I am myself too far advanced in ife to gain benefit from my sad expe ience, but it might be of value to hose who are not too old to learn. My childhood shall be skipped, with he laconic allusion that I wasn't the vorst boy in my native village on the thine. When a^ked what I intended to nake of myself, I always answered iy looking at the nearest girl handy, tfy father, who was a physician ol :onsiderable fame, had a burning de lire to have me, his son Peter, be :ome a doctor of medicine and sur gery. He sent me at the early age of eventeen to a celebrated medical col ege, accompanied by his warmest veil-wishes and a bundle of rules in egard to my behavior while away rom home. My arrival at the seat of earning caused some head-shaking .mong the skull-capped professors and onsiderable giggling among the stu Qnfo T<-> ramnva mv Vinahfulnpsn T yas ordered to occupy a dark corner if the Bchool-room?all to myself? vhere I was. told to study the anat my of a grinning monkey, and to tell ^hat I knew about the bones when he teacher came around. But, alas! I was disturbed In my natomical studies by a rattling noise n the back yard. Casting my eyes rom my subject into the back yard, espied a fair maiden pumping cis ern water with all her might. She joked up and I again looked down, ntil the fair pumper had filled the iucket and pumped my heart clear ato the back yard. I forgot to peruse any moro the rightful skeleton, but my eyes con tantly explored the contents of that atal back yard. , . The fair pumper, my first love, was een by me no more. I pined and be ame haggard-looking; my teachers Bit my pulse and shipped me home without delay. I recovered from the fever In about wp months, and went to a circus. I ecame greatly interested in the wax gures of Cain, who killed Abel, and 1 the eleven good apostles. Bui.the curtain rose, when, lo and lehola! there stood a lassie iwith hining golden hair. I loved her with ut the least preliminaries, and ouldn't sleep for many nights on ac quit of_the charming circus-girl. _ ? re rveciuy .OWNEY'S CANE innot afford to s, Bananas, Grc ?x 4-1 KM til II IKS III II i Cai STEVE I TiiPif.1T ernfgrateTTo (Rf? country, | where I have been entirely too good, | and loved fair damsels by the score. I i Ua ! ilUn'f T +Vti?lr fViof Vi v nnrrvlncr lltl' V1IVA11 t. X IUJ11IV L&1MV MJ VM,? * J * ? 0 j my whole early apple crop to those i three Sand Hill ladies the oldest ! would reciprocate my ardent affection? But she snubbed me as soon as the early apples ceased coming. And that preacher's daughter, whom i I first saw and loved at the Oak Hill ? camp-meeting. She came near spitting , In my face. The Dipperman girl held out seduc [ tive inducements until, when I popped - the question, she crawled away with [ my bleeding heart, telling me that she , couldn't leave her parents for such a , forlorn-looking wretch as I was. | The Fulton countv girl smiled as long as I let her father have his own L way with my corn and hogs, but talked bad to me as soon as I vetoed his , thievish proceedings. I don't wish to mention the four school-marms I once dearly but vainly adored, nor will I tell the particulars | about my short marriage with an ex war-widow, who cost me $7 for the knot-tying and $700 for loosening it. j I am now nearly seventy years of 1 age, lead a frugal life, supply several , destitute widows with fuel, and live a hermit life in this patch of timber which some sarcastic local newspa per writer christened Misery Grove, because, as he fiendishly explained, "Old Peter is a miser in misery." I will persist that I would be as happy as the majority if I were equal ly mean. But the way it stands I am , without a peer in this section, by rea son of having loved too many girls, and having practiced that other be setting sin, not having been good enough to myself, but too good to others. When Iceland Went Dry. The first European parliament to en force teetotalism was that of Iceland, where a law was passed two years ago prohibiting the importation or sale of intoxicating liquors; One effect of this measure was to deprive the foreign consuls at Reykjavik of their drink, so they protested to the governor, point ing out that such a deprivation consti tuted an Infringement of the rights of diplomacy. Permission was thereupon granted the consuls to import beer, wine and spirits, provided these fluids are consumed only on the premises to which they are consigned. Moreover, the total amount imported by each consul must not exceed 800 liters in a year, and the quantity required must be imported in one consignment. Only the representatives of France and Norway benefit by this concession. The other consuls are unpaid, and, be lllg JLiaUYUb ui xueiauu, wcic cAyi 0001; excluded from its benefits. \ Light Has Lasted Long. In the sheriff's vault in Vancouver, Wash., there is an incandescent light which has been in -use for 22 years, and is still good. It is -burned only when the vault is opened, but at times has been going for a day or two at a time. TT? He With our L M I1 ill )Y in handsome pac overlook us in I ipe Fruit, Raisins le city idyl G. PARTH NAN VISITS EUROPE By DOROTHY DOUGLAS. ( Copyright, 1914, by the McCIure News paper Syndicate. When Nan went on her first visit to Europe she had not the slightest hint that she would arrive in a land 'hrown into the horrors of war. She had taken her trip across the ocean on a long delayed holiday and had expected to find only joy and merriment, for Nan had a way of meeting happiness half way wherever she went. But in Belgium she had fled from the advance of the common enemy into Paris and from the gay city she had enjoyed a scant three weeks when with hundreds of other Americans she had scrambled onto safer Eng lish soil. London was a haven of -refuge to Nan, who had smelled the smoke of battle and heard the boom of dis tant fire. She had seen pitiful little families of Belgian refugees fleeing along the roads from devastated Vi/v*v?ftO Inairmrr f Vi r?m oil hfiQII. UUUiwOi icaviug UCU1UU bucul Uli ty and all hope and going they knew not where. But London was waiting with open arms to receive all of the weary refu gees from the courageous little coun try, and Nan found herself again face to face with the realities of war. There were no less than a dozen of these Belgians sheltered in hospitable homes in Norland square. It was in the acre of green park belonging to the square that Nan be came acquainted with little Jean Loman, a Belgian cmid wno naa oeen brought over from the devastated city of Louvain. Jean's mother was a French lady, who was sleeping beneath a flower garden in Belgium. Her father was a soldier, MaJ. Albert Leman. From that moment on Jean and Nan became fast friends. They romped and played and went on long 'bus ride's- through the city anc? out Into country lanes. When the wounded soldiers beg'an to arrive in trainloads, Nan could no more have left the city of London than she could have cut off her own right hand. She simply had to re main. Something held her, she knew not what. It was during the sixth week of the war that Nan discovered little Jean Leman's photograph on the front page of the Sketch. Major Leman was anxiously seeking news of his little girl and had asked the papers to as m4<-i+ V? I *v? s\ onn r/iV* "NTn n rlM r>Af I DiOt Uilli 111 tlio ccai^u, * i au v**v* uuw wait to have her breakfast but went quickly Into the boarding house next door in search of Jean. Nan explained as swiftly as possi ble in her improved French that Dad dy Soldier was in London and that he | was looking for his little girl. "We will go down this morning when you have eaten your nice break fast," Nap, told, her and went off_to >adq .arge Stocl :kages, which mak vying your Chr and Fruit of all Our Ho [EMOS . ; ) ascertain"th^ locatlonof the King Ed- ( ward VII hospital and the quickest way of getting there. Jean chatted incessantly on the j journey down; she was so excited j that Nan felt her own calm engulf i her as if for the purpose of steadying | the child. Consequently, when they i arrived at the hospital and ap-1 proached the big Relgian officer whose head was swathed in bandages | and one arm pinned in like fashion j | to his side, it was Nan who displayed a most wonderful calm. Major Leman I broke down emotionally ? perhaps more than he had during the entire : weeks of fierce fighting?when Jean j was swept into his uninjured arm. ; Over her head, which he held against his breast, he looked at Nan and made swift apology for having conversed in a foreign tongue. "One is apt to forget convention in moments of great emotion," he added, i "In a moment I will thank you for I having cared for my little Jean." "You are not going away from me ! : again, ai*e you?" Jean was asking her father. "Yes, dearie, as soon as this arm is better, and the more often Miss Nan- j ny brings you down to see me the i sooner I can get back to help the sol diers at the front." So it was that during the long hours of convalescence Nan came to know love. The emotion was so great and wonderful that Nan was shocked at her own weakness before the attack. Jean did not know what her father and Nan were talking about, nor why her father swept Nan so suddenly into his arms, but she smiled for the pic [ ture was pleasing and Jean knew that all was well. Light Humor. In the latter half of the eighteenth century one of the members of a little scientific society in Liverpool, Eng land, laid a curious wager. He bet a brother scientist that he would read a newspaper by the light of a farthing dip at a distance of 30 feet. The B. S., finding the feat difficult at even a sixth of the distance, cheerfully accepted the wager. The layer merely coated the inside of a shallow wooden box with sloping pieces of looking glass, so as to form a concave lens, placed behind his farth ing dip and readily deciphered the small print at the stipulated distance. The experiment was witnessed by-a Liverpool dockmaster. He was a think* | ing man and saw great possibilities in ( this learned jest. He straightway j adapted the principle to lighthouse re-1 quirements and forthwith the modern: reflex light, with its mites of reflected' range and untold life-saving powers, eprang into being. Memory. The brain is like a phonograph. It is full of records and you need only to set the needle and touch the spring of memory to hear its melody. Of course this leaves you with consider able responsibility as to the choice of records with which you stock up. i of ) :e ideal presents istmas f Kinds | t Chocolates are Personally Conducted TOUR AND LOW RATES io JACKSONVILLE ST. AUGUSTINE PALM. BEACH MIAMI AND ONE WEEK IN CUBA HAVANA 1%/F a nn 4 vr nr a c? iUA 1AI^ iLiAO 7 - 19 VIA SEABOARD Air Line Railway Write For Rates to QATTIS TOURIST AGENCY Trmrfct* A rvonrir JL 1UV JL AgWiV J S. A. L. R'y Kaleigli, N. C. 1IIIBIIBHIIIII Wl III I I ?I?? . j i Germs Carried by the Winds. Tests by Irish scientists have shown ! .hat the wind will carry disease bao eria 200 feet and as high as 60 feet j nto the air. Jt Nothing Between. The mercantile world seems to b? made up exclusively of tired business men and .:uman dvnamos. o; o o o o o; o, o o o o p Unexcelled J k> o o. o o o o o o o o o o o 4> Cigars