Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-28

Instead of increasing, like other ex-
ports, the shipments of -four have fallen
off. Mr.. Goetzmann secretary of the Mil
lers' Federation, when he was here the
other day, spoke particularly of Belgium,
and said that the people of that country,
where formerly many thousands of bar
rels of American flour were annually sold,
are buying practically none today be
cause the government has recently placed
duty on flour, while wheat is admitted
free. With this protection the Belgian
millers are making all the flour they can
sell from our raw material Last year
Belgium imported S., los, S0J worth of
American wheat to be ground in its own
mills and only So7,56o worth of flour.
Our relations with Belgium are particu-
larly important, because the millers there
control much of the German trade"
We are now shipping no flour whatever
to France. Exports have stopped because
of the high duties imposed by that coun-
try. If reciprocity treaty negotiated
several years ago had been ratified by
our Senate. American flour would have
been admitted free, and we might have
had a very profitable market. Last year
we shipped $3,1I9.65S worth of wheat to
the millers of France.
Next to Great Britain, Germany is the
largest market for American breadstuffs,
and during the last fiscal year we ex-
ported $4,S0O,3N worth of -four and So,-
631 ,675 worth of wheat to that country.
The Netherlands is another country
which prefers to take raw wheat to be
ground in it's own mills rather than our
-four, and last year bought from US So
211,112 in wheat and only $747.205 of
flour.
Brazil used to be quite as important
customer as any of the European coun-
tries except England, but we fooled away
that market. In 1887 we shipped to
Brazil So. 596,2O4 worth of, flour. The
Blaine reciprocity treaty. which was made
few years later, caused an enormous
increase in trade, and the export of flour
in 1893, the year following its ratification,
amounted to S4,972,539. We might have
monopolized the market had not the
Cleveland administration and a demo-
cratic Congress revoked that treaty and
thrown the wheat and flour trade of
Brazil into the control of the Argentine
Republic, which is a large producer of
breadstuffs, and now monopolizes the
market of Brazil.
Foreign Mills Established.
China and japan are both large buyers
of breadstuffs. Last year we shipped
s10,070.124 worth of -four to China and
s., S22,575 worth to Japan, but -four mills
are being established in both countries.
and they are beginning to take our wheat
and make their own flour. Mr.. A. H.
Rennie, a Canadian, who formerly rep
rese nted the Oregon millers at Hong
Kong. has recently organized a syndicate
for the construction of flour mills, and
Sir Paul Chatter, an Armenian multi
millionaire. the richest and most enter
prising foreigner in China. who is known
as THE King of 'Hong-kong.''' has fur
nished the capital. The -four Is sold in
the local market, and the refuse is feG
to dairy cows. pigs and poultry. Some
years ago Mr.. Weston of Minneapolis
put up -four mill in Japan.
The farmers of this country suffer a
double loss when wheat is exported from
this country, because they can get
higher price from the mills than from
the export merchants. The miIlers get
the feeding value of the by-product and
the fertilizer, which is worth $13 a ton.
1t is entirely useless for the Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor to send an
agent abroad to work up a market for
American flour so long as the Senate of
the United tSates refuses to ratify trea-
ties that make concessions in favor of
the trade. The first steps would be to
put Congress SIS right.
The ORIGINAL of Fa1sfaff