New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-07-02
THE STAFF OF LIFE.

1dG STAFF w Liz L.
Bread is POLITICALLY called the staff of
life, and sufficiency thereof is matter
of the very first concern among all ma
tons, tribes and peoples. Wherever a
regular and abundant supply is assured,
the probabilities of comfort and the pos
sibilities of success are brought within
the reasonable reach of effort. But if
food be essential to successful prosecu-
ton of the pursuits of peace, it is none
the less so to the management Of defen-
sive or aggressive warfare. The rations
of the soldier are as necessary to him as
his arms and ammunition, and if either be
wanting his efficiency is speedily de-
stroyed.
In this connection the war cloud in the
East, though not likely to assume such
formidable proportions as were short
time since anticipated, is yet a matter of
some importance to the productive and
commercial interests Of this country.
War creates demand for food, and, to
the extent that our markets are effected by
| such demand, the result can not fail to
prove beneficial.
In the great abundance Of our produc-
tive resources we sometimes forget the
important part We play in supplying the
world with food. Less than century ago
good wheat bread was rarity in England,
even among the comparatively wealthy,
and among the poorer classes, both there
and on the continent, meat was luxury
but rarely INDUCED in. Barley, oats and
rye, in one form or another, constituted
the common food of the people. In 1897,
according to reliable authority, "only a
wealthy family could afford in Cumber-
land peck of wheat -four yearly, and
that at Christmas. Not penny white
loaf was to be found in towns as large as
Carlisle" Even the nursery rhyme Of
Little Tommy Tucker" shows that when
it was coined by the Peter Pindar of a
distant day, black bread was the rule and
white bread the exception. The changes
since are certainly striking.
From the time that America promised
to become the granary Of the world, the
hopes Of the hungry were turned toward
her. That she was land of freedom at
tsacted many; that the was land OF
plenty attracted more. Where the toiler
is stinted in his supply of food and not
unfrequently threatened with absolute
famine, he has little heart for those higher
efforts which are directed toward mental
and political enfranchisement. Hence
came the freedom-loving and the hungry
hither, and to their joint endeavor is due
the fact that our wilderness of century
ago now blossoms as the rose.
Westward the march of food produc.
ton, and with it the march of empire,
holds its way. There are those among US
who remember Chicago as an Insignificant
Indian trading post, and who in 1888
watched with peculiar interest the first
expectation of wheat from that point-a
trifing shipment Of but seventy-eight
bushels. In less than a quarter of q
century from that period the annual ex-
portation from Chicago had increased to
twenty-three million bushels, and at pres
emit the West could, if necessary, supply
the whole world with bread.
The immense productiveness Of our
grain fields means not only an abundance
of food for our own people. but cheap
bread for the toiling millions in other
lands. BY our crops the price of food
throughout the world is regulated, and
relying on regular supply from this
country European lands, hitherto devoted
to wheat culture, are now given up to
grazing, and, consequently, to the pro-
duction of meat and butter.
Even in the purely agricultural regions
of Europe, American competition regu-
lates the price Of grain, and has enforced
higher type of cultivation. From re-
port on the grain trade, prepared at
Odessa last winter, we learn that in the
year 1867 Russia supplied forty-four per
cent of all the corn imported into Great
Britain, while the United States furnished
only fourteen per cent. Six years later
the respective contribution of each to the
British supply was entirely reversed.
Russia then supplied only twenty-one per
cent, while the United States furnished
forty-four per cent.
It will thus be perceived that the Amer
lean producer can successfully compete
with his European rival, notwithstanding
the distance he is obliged to overcome in
conveying his grain to market. To this
successful competition is due the cheaper
ing of bread in all the densely populated
portions of the Old World, and largely
also, that increase Of comfort which is
everywhere observable among the toiling
millions By the great food-producing
capabilities of this country, the world has
guarantee against famine such as never
existed in olden times-a guarantee, too,
which in every passing decade will be
materially strengthened. In this connec-
ton, it must be remembered that with the
increase of production there are also in
creased means of transportation and dis
tribution, and that these tend directly to
facilitate intercourse between producers
and consumers.
Should the pres ent threat of war be-
tween Turkey and some of her outlying
European provinces be realized. it will