"Son, you lose that argument," roared Anderson. "Me an' Lenore stand
pat. You'll sow more an' better wheat than ever--than any other man in
the Northwest. Get my hunch?... Well, I'll tell you later.... Now see
here, let me declare myself about you. I seen it worries you more an'
more, now you're gettin' well. You miss that good arm, an' you feel the
pain of bullets that still lodge somewhere's in you, an' you think
you'll be a cripple always. Look things in the face square. Sure,
compared to what you once was, you'll be a cripple. But Kurt Dorn
weighin' one hundred an' ninety let loose on a bunch of Huns was some
man! My Gawd!... Forget that, an' forget that you'll never chop a cord
of wood again in a day. Look at facts like me an' Lenore. We gave you
up. An' here you're with us, comin' along fine, an' you'll be able to do
hard work some day, if you're crazy about it. Just think how good that
is for Lenore, an' me, too.... Now listen to this." Anderson unfolded a
newspaper and began to read:
"Continued improvement, with favorable weather conditions, in the
winter-wheat states and encouraging messages from the Northwest
warrant an increase of crop estimates made two weeks ago and based
mainly upon the government's report. In all probability the yield
from winter fields will slightly exceed 600,000,000 bushels.
Increase of acreage in the spring states in unexpectedly large. For
example, Minnesota's Food Administrator says the addition in his
state is 40 per cent, instead of the early estimate of 20 per cent.
Throughout the spring area the plants have a good start and are in
excellent condition. It may be that the yield will rise to
300,000,000 bushels, making a total of about 900,000,000. From such
a crop 280,000,000 could be exported in normal times, and by
conservation the surplus can easily be enlarged to 350,000,000 or
even 400,000,000. In Canada also estimates of acreage increase have
been too low. It was said that the addition in Alberta was 20 per
cent., but recent reports make it 40 per cent. Canada may harvest a
crop of 300,000,000 bushels, or nearly 70,000,000 more than last
year's. Our allies in Europe can safely rely upon the shipment of
500,000,000 bushels from the United States and Canada.
"After the coming harvest there will be an ample supply of wheat for
the foes of Germany at ports which can easily be reached. In
addition, the large surplus stocks in Australia and Argentina will
be available when ships can be spared for such service. And the
ships are coming from the builders. For more than a year to come
there will be wheat enough for our war partners, the Belgians, and
the northern European neutral countries with which we have trade
agreements."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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