Novemb~r 23, loa
'010 Arilculturnl HrAl
Dear Rill:
'he eneral reketion the ty Frattyl R noentiets have to the -rticle in
'i-, se! ms to be that A -  'atter of th-t amor'-e naaz-ine  i   s as far to
the right as  sborn an'! Vot have tt-use to th-- 'oft.  I f"l that the
article has thr-r- many of our -tudents into a state of menta.l confusion.
One girl, for instance, -ho aynrently is mjoring in soil bacteriolor,
tol4 -e last weekh th't h e author violated narly every    t thit she
h.d ever learned. Her -nrtioular thinking -roblem seened to be centerei in
the i trenceof Time that ton snil. ii not martioularlT a -recious resource
becauie frrern in 'ennsylv-nic seall it over yorr, anrd 'hio eanerimenters
can pet 86 bushems of corn rer 'crn from- their Atsoil. This type of think-
inp in a state such aq oirq eouli wiell rin iur agriculture in many regions
'ithin a century.
Timie says flatly th-a-t th- soils mer. !auh nt the famill-r ahrs "irrele-
able ton soil." I have not found that r.tute schrstt li1- Aaonhirn and
Ah1sren regard. it ,q a laughtnr matter. If, ho'eve, our peo-le rem-iin
-11r+ in th% '--e- of 'Itmeli -travagant olati, they must stand accused
of -Areeinv vith such propagana,.
P lot of Tie'* -i'cussion of soils is based on the beliefs of  allege and
alter. Its ho-,e that onil'tion levels will be stabilized by developImnt
of rusril:ntion in t;pic1l of the thinking of rvany of the Classical
economists. Industrialisation, ho'wever, in a -henoronon thiat can only
tWe ttee in nroximity{ to resources that an be develoroe into ower.
Wo in the -nited StF.tes, fail to reali-e how werek mnanation- are in this
1ast particuimr. ime :-ivas n hint .s to how inauxstry can be develon'.
in a country lie-o Perto Non, wMh nowi has a rotral tion density nquivalent
in teris of the area of the Tnited States, to on- billion, three hundred
million -eople. Of course, the arpument that China ha.s stabilized its
-o-Aulation in the last deca4e, irnoros the Ect that  ,rinr tis merio' the
cor"ntry was ravaged by var and the census figuree,at best, can only be
coridered an roximaite.
I       ,le very much interested in attendin, a meetig of --ocialists in the
Univorsity who could Analyze Time's article from their own background, in
mch better terms than I can. The vrtiole is certainly a c:;use 'f confvsion
to our students, and it is doing great hrm to thi cause of consorvation.
Yours for top soil and Eskimo curlews,
Jose:h 1J. Rickey
Assistant Professor