The Good News

The miracle worked by sun, soil, rain and the hardworking U.S. farmer was almost awesome. For four years of war, despite woeful manpower shortages and the hazards of frost, drought, insects and disease, the nation's farms had produced bumper crops with machine-like regularity. Now, in defiance of the odds, the land was heavy with crops once more. They were so prodigally good that the U.S. would be able to go on feeding half a world and still provide bigger meals for the dining-room tables of its own wellfed people.

On the basis of conditions on Aug. 1, the Department of Agriculture predicted that the total yield would exceed 1942's alltime high by 3%. Most of the increase will come from record crops of wheat and corn. Wheat output is expected to reach 1,160,366,000 bushels, 28 million more than the July 15 estimate, some 37 million more than last year's record high. The Corn Belt looked forward to an even greater record: 3,496,820,000 bushels, almost 300 million better than the previous high in 1944.

Other crop reports made great expectations greater. In prospect are record yields of peaches, plums, truck produce and tobacco, near record yields of oats, rice, peanuts, potatoes, pears, grapes, cherries and sugar cane; average or better yields of hay, prunes, sugar beets and dry peas. July's milk production was up to 11,956,000,000 lbs., more than one billion higher than a ten-year (1935-44) average for the month; July egg production was up an astronomical 4,221,000,000, more than a half billion better than the ten-year average.

With the reports of bounty from the land, there was also good news from great & grimy cities. National employment for July was past the 60,000,000 mark, the figure which crystal-gazing Henry Wallace had hoped could be achieved by 1950 with the aid of pump-priming, full employment bills and more Government regulations. Better yet, the figure was not static; with wartime controls coming off, employment was rising steadily--July's total was 1,400,000 above that of June.

None of this meant that the nation's troubles were over. But for months, like a well-conditioned heavyweight taking punches in the early rounds, it would be able to afford knocks and jolts without real need for worry.

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