LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
[Letters of the length of one of our leading; paragraphs are often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.]
VICTUALLING THE NATION.
[To THE EDITOR. OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—"The individual when encouraged, or even merely left alone, will do great things. If discouraged or driven too hard, he simply throws up his hands in despair and does nothing but lay up his talent in a napkin " (Spectator, April 7th). I have read the article on the above subject several times, and with increasing interest and appreciation of its wisdom. It ie not the wisdom of the Government! In early January the President of the Board of Agriculture publicly promised that no potatoes of the 1917 Jersey crop should be commandeered or " fixed-priced"; in March, when the Jersey farmer had planted every available acre, the War Office sent down an A.S.C. Colonel, and he is reported to have told the farmers that unless half the crop were sold to the War Office at 48 103. per ton they could not expect transport for the remainder of the crop ! The whole crop is fifty to sixty thousand tons, deliverable from the end of May to middle July, a period when there will be practically no other potatoes on sale. The Government could have bought (and can still buy) the .e hole crep at cost price, plus a percentage, but prefer to allow one great Department to amuse itself by ignoring the pledged word of another great Department, to anew the farmer to be crushed, and to sanction a "contract" obtained in a ' manner altout which the least said the better. - Farm land in-Jersey rents at from .212 to .217 per acre, fertilizers are very eipensive (sul- phate of copper for spraying is .25S- per ton), and there is little labour of any kind. To place the produce of one acre on the transport will not cost less than £70, and in an average year an acre will not produce more, and possibly much less, than eight tons of "ware." Produce of one -acre, £68; cost of ditto, £70. "Here is a wonderful opportunity for you to make a fortune out of potatoes. This is what we are going to do for you" (Spectator, April 7th); but the War Office says : "Give your time, your money, your thought, work early and late, and at the very best you need not lose more than 40s. per acre. If the crop is not a good one, you can turn to Job, chap. i., verses 20 and 21, and take his words to heart."—I am, Sir, &c., BERTRAM G. FALLS. House of Commons.
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