The United States government generally tries to protect valuable natural resources. But one resource has been ignored for too long. In the United States, each bushel of corn produced might result in the loss of as much as two bushels of topsoil. Moreover, in the last 100 years, the topsoil in many expenditures for nationwide soil conservation programs have been less than the allocations of some individual states.
What this question is testing
Argument
The author argues topsoil is being neglected. The evidence stack: corn production loses topsoil, decades of erosion have shrunk topsoil depth, and — here is the closer — federal soil conservation spending is so low that some individual states spend more on it than the federal government does.
Evaluate
The question asks what the author does — identify a move actually present in the argument. Notice that last sentence: That is a direct comparison between state and federal expenditures, used to drive home how low the federal level is.
Goal
Find the answer that names this comparison — state versus federal expenditures.
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