The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-06-13

habitants; but very little inquiry and
a very simple calculation would suffice
to convince US that tfiis can never be the
case with numerous people, This
dangerous condition has now come to
pass in this country in a very remarka-
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
stuffs 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 244, 400 bushels From that
very time, however, a considerable in
crease set in, and in 1910 it had reached
over 100000 bushels, a figure that
had never been approached before. The
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 to the extent of two-thirds of the
whole bread supply, may be of interest.
In all the calculations, wheat, meal, and
-four 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 S.
currency, the shilling to twenty-five
cents, and the penny to two cents of
American money.
From 1860 to 1770, the United King
dom exported wheat and -four to the av-
erage quantity of 1, 107 900 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
344 800 bushels yearly. From 1880 to
1870, six years still showed balance of
exports of wheat and flour, but the re-
cord for the decade is again on the side
of the imports, and the average excess
of import amounted to 1856, 400 bushels
| yearly. In the last decade of the centu-
ry, only one year showed an excess OF
average excess of imported wheat was
2,572,800 bushels a year. Since the
year 1900, England has exported wheat
but one year on balance. That one
lucky year was 1908. In the first ten
years of the century the import was very
high, owing to the war. The war con-
tinued through part of the next period,
and the average import was now 4, 1885,
! 600 bushels. From 1920 to 1880 the
record is better, and the average import
reached but 2,945,000 bushels. A re-
markable decline in the wheat import
now set in, and in 1885 it was but 227,-
! 864 bushels. The import of the follow
ing year, though somewhat larger, was
still ridiculous,y small. The Britons
were then trying to keep out foreign
grain altogether by their Corn laws. 1t
really looked as if they meant to raise
all their own bread. An increased i'm
port soon began, however, and in 1888
no less than 14.824,000 bushels came
from abroad. From this time the av-
erage increase has been very rapid.
In the year following the repeal of
the Corn laws the import of wheat and
flour nearly doubled, and in 1849 it was
| 37,254 900 bushels. Until 1860 this last
figure was rarely equaled. In 1862 the
import was unusually large, being over
SO, ,OCO, 900 bushels. In the next ten
years this was not equaled, the usual
import being about 65, 5,000, GOO bushels
yearly. But in 1873 the import of 1862
was exceeded, and since that year a
level has been permanently reached at
least 30,000,000 bushels higher than in
previous years. In 1877 wheat and
wheat -four were imported to the guam
tity of 115,3OO, 900 bushels, valued at
/ $203, 115, 600. The wheat grain alone
amounted to 100, 100, 900 bushels, valued
at Sl69, l00,0 900. The flour amounted to
over 1924, 900 barrels, valued at $34,-
015,000. The import of wheat and
-four in 1877 exceeded that of the previ-
Gus year by more than 18,600,000 BUSH
els. give the import of wheat, and
not of other grains, because, though i'm
mense quantities of corn and oats are
imported, they are not here classed as
breadstuffs, though large amounts OF
both are, in fact, used as human food.
If the population of the United King
dom were increasing at like pace with
the consumption of foreign bread, all
these figures would 60 for nothing. But
the population is not so increasing. In
1S4l it was 26,751, 900, in 1877 it was es-
timated at 80, ,444 900 by the usual rate
of increase. Each person consumes an
nually on an average about 800 pounds
of wheat or other bread grain. In the
4 first 10 years of this century the average
annual import of wheat was slightly
more than peck a head. In the second