Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 248, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1918 — Preventable Waste to Amount of $1,943,000,000 Going on in America [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Preventable Waste to Amount of $1,943,000,000 Going on in America

By Prof. E. B. HOUSE.

ObMp .VicnWl College. Fort Coffirw. Colo.

In this country we waste $500,000,000 annually in soil erosions—a loss that could be stopped by the farmer. We lose $238,000,000 a year through floods, and at least $100,000,000 of this could be prevented by ; proper farm draining. Each year insects destroy our crops to the value of $659,000,000. Live stock diseases which, are preventable cost us another SIOO,000,000. Weylose $40,000,000 a year by the careless handling of eggs. Rats, mice, gophers and other small animals destroy crops to the value of $100,000,000 a year. These could be controlled and totally external*

natecL A great deal of fruit and many vegetables are wasted on the farm These could all be canned at home, and we would have a saving of a hundred million dollars. America’s annual bill for not taking the right care of farm machinery amounts to $25,000,000. America’s careless and wasteful handling of apples and potatoes makes at least "another $10,000,000. Authorities state that the sum total of our neglected fences, roads and farm buildings represents another loss of $250,000,000. It is a simple problem .in arithmetic to sum up all these. Sum them up and you will find that they total $1,943,000,000—a sum that is certainly worth thinking about. \ -