Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1910-01-21

Il America was read by Iro1. w
Reach at the recent wheat con
Ent;on II was received so favor
ably by the big audience presen
Hi deemed Of such importanee
bat this paper was asked to pup
IT. # for the benefit of It's read
T. oil of whom are deeply m
Ierested in the future of the mar
tet for our greatest product. me
baner is here given in full:
1.-THE Future of the America
wheat Market" by w. &.
1 Beach.
| Among our resources the fertI.-
sy of the soil is Of first import
bnce. Man may get along without
hany of the products OF clylllZa'
Hon but he must have food. NJ.
nation has had a better endoW-
hpnt of nature in this respect
Aban has the United States, yet
Aoday we see ahead the inevitable
results of uneconomic use OF TINS.
great gift. Wheat is perhaps the
Greatest single food among west
FERN peoples, and the problem OF.
6bur wheat supply is interesting
hot only to us but to Europe,
(which we have helped so largel =
Ao feed. Recently attention has
Hbeen called to the fact that we are
approaching the end Of one great
era in American wheat production
hnd marketing. President James
1T Hill has sounded the alarm
Hin a remarkable article which has
attracted great attention, as WeA
las in a number Of addresses. AMI
president ". G. Brown Of the New
4 York Central railroad has taken
] up the same cry III an address be
fore the Railway Business Asso-
citation Of New York. 1t is argued
by these and other writers that
the time is near at hand when
we must stop exporting wheat and
begin to buy from other people.
What are the facts in regard to
Ills problem, and what the con
ElQuences?
IFhe first condition to be remem-
/ fered is that America has con
trolled the European market for
some time. 1t is the wheat sur
plus Of the United States which
has fed the city populations Of
Europe, and which has largely
determined prices. This has been
possible because of the opening Of
the rich Mississippi basin and the
region west to the Rocky noun
tans, and later the Pacific sea
board country. Particularly is this
true, then, since the Civil war, for
While we have been exporting
wheat since pre-Revolutionary
days, in the main European com
tries were then self-supplied and
purchased only a relatively small
surplus. 1t is indeed only since
about 1875 to 1880 that we be
came so extensive a wheat export
ing nation that we completely
dominated Europe in this partic-
uiaf The advance in increasin"
amounts in this export surplus
was made possible by the eXten-
sion OF wheat acreage in virgin
SOL, where yields might be at least
IIalrly large through farming on q
large scale and continuously using
Tie same soil; just as during the
same general period, but begin
nmg few years later, the Rus
sian peasants streamed into the
olack earth belt of central and
south central Russia. and as pro
uucerS OF wheat for the European
became the nearest com
petltor OF the United States. In a
slhlllar manner and soon after,
~ central provinces of British
ihuia began to contribute to the
stream OF the world s wheat en-
serlhg European markets; and
more recently we have been living
o = the same experience in Can
aaa and Argentine.
-, Acreage.
Inc problem in these past thir-
y years or more has been a prob
. - OF acreage" 1t was ques-
,loh OF finding new lands. Ten
seafs ago Sir William Crooks and
o Oe began to argue that the end
J u new lands was"in Sight. lie UNI
t HhOuotedly greatly underestimate
'"e extent of wheat lands in Can