The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-05-23
THE FOOD QUESTION IN ENGLAND.
Where Cousin John Bulls Bread Comes
from, and what it Costs Him.

Where Cousin John Bulls Bread Comes
from, and what it Costs Him.
London Correspondence New York SUM-
For at least a hundred years bread has
not at any time been cheap in England.
In recent years, facilities for the trans
portation of grain have been so nume-
rous and so good that the price of wheat
has not been so much in excess of con-
tinental prices as formerly, but in the
earlier part of the century the Germans
and French often paid no more than
one-third the prices then prevailing in
England. sc1T
The recent enormous development Of
the importation of foreign grain has
given some alarm TO statesmen and
economists, and they are beginning to
ask when this wonderful growth is to
stop. A very little over a hundred years
ago Great Britain was an exporter of
wheat. Now, instead of sending bread
TO other nations, she exports more than
two-lhirds of the bread of her own peo-
pie. Many economic writers insist that
a nation can not safely buy from other
nations any considerable part of its
food. As late as 1886, British econo-
mist wrote: An inconsiderable State
or colony may, it is true, without much
danger or Inconvenience, exist under
circumstances which oblige it to be
habitually dependent upon the soil of
other countries for the food of its in
habitants; but very little inquiry and
very simple calculation would suffice
TO convince US that this can never be the
case with a numerous people," This
dangerous condition has now come to
pass in this country in a very remarks
bic degree, for the United Kingdom to-
day buys fully one-half its entire food
supply from other nations.
Forty-two years ago, when that book
was written, such state of affairs SEEM
ed no way likely to occur. In the early
years of this century the war with Ma
poleon had made the import of bread
stutfs unusually large. From the close
of that war to 1886 the import of wheat
steadily and largely declined, and about
that year had dwindled to the small
amount of pa, 400 bushels From that
very time, however, a considerable in
crease set in, and in 1910 it had reached
over 100000 bushels, figure that
L
real development of the trade in foreign
breadstuffs may be said TO be wholly
within the last forty years. Before that
the consumption OF foreign food was
comparatively Insignificant. A brief
notice of the change, from being an ex-
porter of wheat TO becoming an import
er 70 the extent of two-thirds of the
whole bread supply, may be of interest
In all the calculations, wheat, meal, and
flour have been reduced to an equivalent
of bushels of wheat. That is the prac-
tice of the customs authorities Where
reductions of money have been made, the
pound sterling is considered equal IS
currency, the shilling to twenty-five
cents, and the penny to two cents of
American money.
From 1760 to ITO, the United King
dom exported wheat and -four to the av-
erage quantity of ], l07, 600 bushels an
nually. In two years only of that de-
cade did the import exceed the export.
In the next decade, five years showed
an excess of export, and the other five
an excess of import. The whole decade
gave an average excess of import Of
344, 500 bushels yearly. From 1850 TO
1870, six years still showed balance of
exports Of wheat and -four, but the re-
cord for the decade IS again ON the side
of the imports, and the average excess
of import amounted to 1S6, 400 bushels
yearly. In the last decade OF the centu-
r., only one year showed-an excess OF
Z EXPORT and Tor the4efitire decade the