Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 35, Number 270, Decatur, Adams County, 15 November 1937 — Page 18

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FARM HARVEST TO AGGREGATE ALL TIME HIGH Economists Say Total Production May Never Be Equalled .Washington. Nov. IS TUB — The Wtiited States this year will approximate the all-time peak ot farm productivity, economists of the Department of Agriculture believe. - None of the major crops established an all time record this year, het taken in the aggregate production was estimated at only 6 per cent below the record year of U2O. Economists believe it may never again be equalled. “■Estimated cotton production of 13.573.000 bales is the second largest on record and within 400,000 biles of the peak crop of 1926 Production of 249 pounds per acre tfas by far the largest on record Corn production, estimated at 15561,000.000 bushels is one of the largest on record. The yield per iftre approximates the all-time high. The wheat crop of 886,895,-] 000 bushels is the seventh largest] ever produced. Oats production was about average. Minor Crops Flourish Bumper crops were produced in rye, rice, peanuts, apples, peaches. I grapes. pecans, potatoes, sugar beets and other crops which, while relatively minor, add millions of dallars to farm income. trend in agricultural proaction was rapidly upward until T 926 and was stationary from 1226 to 1931. It was notably downward from 1931 until this year. The decline is attributed by Dr. d E. Baker, department economist, to drouth, low prices tor f*rm products, reduced production ueder Agricultural Adjustment programs, depletion of soil fertil-i ift and decline in rural wealth. "This years extraordinary pro ddction is attributed to abnormal ] ]y favorable weather, increased production per acre resulting from improved farming practices and lHgh prices induced by low reserve stocks of most farm products. Production More In Line American agriculture is shifting from “mass production" methods to more intensive cultivation. Pro dnetion per farm worker had declined from 1926 until 1937.] 2oduction is being more nearly justed to demand than ever ber*e. National farm legislation is ex

Ixical Beet Yard Considered A Model !■ Beets piled In the receiving yard at the Central Sugar Co., are unloaded from trucks and stored here until needed at the plant. The travelling conveyor in the background distributes the beets to desired points by means of endless conveyor belts.

I pected to result in a more even production. Scarcities, which result in higher prices and are reflected in larger plantings the fol-' I lowing year, will be eliminated, economists believe. > A more constant level of production. adjusted to demand, with fluctuations caused only by 1 weather condition, is expected Thus, economists argue, this country may never again experience the huge crops of this year. SECRETARY OF (CONTINUED FROM FAQS ONE) is a third side of the corn problem. This is the depletion of soil fertility resulting from keeping too much land in corn. In the Corn Belt nearly half the crop is grown on land so rolling that it washes badly. More than four-fifths is rais- ■ ed on land that requires rotations I including legumes and grasses and I the application of fertilizers, if fer- ' tility is to be maintained. Soil Destroyed Better modern methods of grow-' ] ing corn that I have just described may blind many people to the fact that loss of soil fertility is a real threat to the economic life of the I Corn Belt. Some people in the ] towns whose incomes are most endangered by this threat seem least I , aware that it exists1 ‘They de not realize that corn, unless its kept in its place by proper rotation, is one of the worst of all the soil destroyers. They do not

Decatur General Electric Employees fully appreciate that the expansion and development of the McMillen Mills has helped to make their community a better place in which to live. I To Dale W. McMillen, and to all those associated with the McMillen industries are extended best wishes for a prosperous future. GENERAL Q ELECTRIC DECATUR WORKS

11 realize that if the top soil is washed away as a result of continuous I corn growing, hundreds of small - 1 towns will also be washed away . and the business men in those small towns will wonder why it was. The eroded fields ot today mean the ghost towns of tomorrow. The fourth side of the corn problem is the extreme variability in the supply and price of com and , of the livestock produced by the use of corn as feed. Yisld Varies You men who grow corn have seen the production in the last five years vary by a million bushels from one year to the next. In 1933 the crop Was nearly two and one-half billion bushels; the foll- ' owing year it was less than a billion and a half. In 1935. the crop was up towards the two and onehalf billion level again; but a year later it was down once more to the neighborhood of one billion and a half. Now, this year, it is again above the two and one-half billon mark. Along with these extreme variations in production, you have seen extreme variations in prices. You have seen the farm price of corn go from 10 cents a bushel in 1932 to more than a dollar a bushel in August of this year, and then, a few short weeks later, back to 40 I cents. You have seen the farm price of hogs, within the same per- ' od. range from $3 to sl3 a hundred. .j Not only do you producers surfer: from these ups and downs. Consum-

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1937.

■lers in the great centers of popula 1 1 tion are also injured. A month a go I conferred with the Mayor of , New York City about the price of wellfipished kosher beef, which had climbed to 40 cents a pound | That price had resulted in a re tailer's meat strike which closed 4,500 New York butcher shops. Visits Here * iHPw f ■ ■ ■■ ./ ft Dick D. Heller, former Decatur ] newspaperman and iw»' secretly,, to Gov. M Clifford Townsend, rf] (one of the state officials visiting' in Decatur and Fort Wayne todey.

DECATUR KNOWN ASCONVENTION CITY OF STATE City’s Many Industries Are Interesting To Visitors — Decatur’s reputation as the convention city of this section of the state has been due largely to the unusual number of outstanding industries and the Decatur Homesteads project, which have made | It an interesting spot to visit. "A tour of the city to see its industries. homesteads and other points of interest” has become almost a standard phrase in all of the convention programs. Usually from a few hours to a half a day is devoted by convention visitors to the inspection of the city. Perhaps no place else in the 1 ] country is it possible to find as wide a diversification of industry in such a small area. The products of the city vary from agricultural - to industrial materials. Some pro- ; ducts are complete and ready for . the market while others are parts or stages in the process ot manu--1 factoring or processing. Any person, who could thoroughly master the technical process of] I the city's industries, would have a better education than could be ob•tained in any college or university. The McMillen plants are now so extensive that it is easily possible to spend a half day in them without observing any considerable part of their entirety. They have been especially interesting to visitors because here agricultural products are manufactured into such items as sugar, which is a table necessity of every American. REMINISCENCES — (OOMTrNUKD FROM FAO* chinery was shipped Into the city. | Merchants became optimistic. Farmers began to see prospects |of the first good cash crop In ] years. On the strength of the sugar beets, new and much needed | farm machinery was purchased. The denouncement of this epic of industry came at a huge mass meeting held in the Decatur Catholic auditorium when 2,000 farmers, county and city officials joined to pay tribute to Dale W. McMillen .before AAA officials. On the! of rhfcs endorsement <a I I sugar beet acreage allotment | was given the Decatur factory area I

| They Shall Not Pass F araßW*** ifMBB ....... JI ** 1 This magnetic separator extracts metallic objects which may have ■ Inadvertently strayed into feed ingredients. It is but one step in the , • careful preparation of Master Mix feeds. , ■„ ■

' tjie first year. Sugar beet checks became a reality as business in De- ■ catur further Improved. Before the community realized 1 it, addition followed addition, new ' plant followed new plant until the McMillen industries reached the 1 point of leadership in the country 1 they hold today. Dale W. McMillen richly deserves the tribute being paid to him today for what he is and what he will do for the community, but nothing he can ever do will be as dramatic and important as the day he announced the purchase of the | old Holland St. Louis Sugar company. The stage was set for the appearance of a leader among men ] —one who was not afraid to start ] off the parade of recovery that I others might have the courage to I I follow. o “NO SUGAR BEET fr-nWTTNTTWn FROM PAGE ONE' crop, it loosens up the subsoil, making the ground more porous and growers have found that it gives an excellent chance for a catch of clover or alfalfa If sown in oats or wheat, following beansBeet tops have a considerable I ’vi/lIA- 'as a feed for cattle and sheep. Being available at a time | * when pastures are drying up.'

growers have found it to be quite an advantage to be able to turn their livestock on to a field of beet tops. Beet growers will have an added advantage from the Sugar BiTl that was passed by Congress last summer which provides for a benefit payment to the farmers of 600 per 100 pounds of sugar produced. It also provides for an excise tax on sugar manufactured. This will lower the amount that is paid by the. factory to some extent, but the net: result should be that the grower ’ will receive about SI.OO per ton i more than he would under the old fifty-fifty contract. This is aside] from the soil conservation payment. o Pumpkin Faces Grown By John Czeszciczki Ashtabula, O. Nov. 15 — Making faces is a business with John M. Czeszcziczki. The >lB 4 year -old nurseryman grows pumpkins with made-to-ord-, er faces. CheszcziczM|. four years ago conceived the idua of raising ( pumpkins with home - gYown faces, using a cast-mask to force his tfitehtiona upon young pump- ] kins. 1 Czesczcziczki first cast in a type |

WINSM HCLUII •■'(ls Gain j. 71 Rapidly I Lafayette, l nd „ N I X b ’“ h nual Hoosier F " th “ Indianapolis Henry Mayo. p u 7u„ ll ~,al h «"ba.drym an A new feature in ta. 1M ., 1 er Eat Steer Show qu,red '« win 6M 1 to show ti me q,, ,1 U toUld fl In the auction. Only 11 JI of Med tom'M The heaviest gain WlI J « western Hertford S t w J ed by Joe Cotto., jr 7.1 member from Rush cJ] <’ a >f weighed 420 1936 and by the dayotthJ I weighed 1240 pounds, tj gain of S2O pounds ot uj of pounds per day. 1 Eight steers front ly made gains ranging hl to 770 pounds from Oct 1 1 to Oct. 28, 1937, th, ai! ,1 show. Sullivan County fcl steers which placed high ten in the show Vi steers. Twelve steers from Wi W | ty made gains ranging fm| 715 pounds between Oct 1 i and Oct. 28. 1937, The weight feature v a , J ered one definite step fm, the Beef Cattle Club, ft, rate of gain which a stwi is probably the most ms, dication of the quality ot wwt ] a beef calf club member lai j ' says Mayo. I of plaster or clay the liivt 1 the mask he wished reprdai blank faced pumpklm. 8t had the mask cast in ntlta position. altMilnum, brani , lead, glass and coihNi : experiments resulted in ti . degrees of success. Glass 1 I bronze was found to be till i practical. The inventive nurseynurf I the brass mask on sttuSJ pumpkins. He wain li ml the pumpkin to grow into«s The mask is taken off nil pumpkin has a new face.