The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-02-04
TEUTON FAMINE IS
 INVERTED BY GRAIN
 SOLD IN ROUMAN|A
Germany and Austro-HungaIy to Divide One Billion Pounds of Cereal to Be Shipped Via Danube.

1 D6AIAOAOCs
 Bucharest, Rumania, Feb. 4-Fifty 1 thousand carloads of cereals, or about | 10,000,000 hunderweight, go to Ger | many and Austria Hungary from Ru- mania. as the result of negotiations | which have just been terminated. An option for another 5O,O0O carloads has also been secured by the agents l of the Central Powers The Ruma;nian 1 government has sanctioned the trans l action, and export begins immediately. ] A great deal of grain bought by the l Central Powers months ago, but so 1 far unexported for various reasons, 1 will also be moved now. Shipment will be made over every available railroad and on the Danube.
 l Negotiations were conducted by the 1 Ruman1an Grain Sales Commissi on l and the Cereal Central of the Ger man, Austrian nd Hungarian gov I ernments. The grain consists princi- pal1y of Indian corn, wheat, barley, beans and lenti1s- It will be paid for ! partly in gold, but the greater share of the purchase price will be in Ger man paper currency, marks. The transaction is remarkable for the fact that for the cost of the cereals the Rumanian government will get credit on the Deutsche Reichbank in Berlin, for which the Rumanian Ma 
 these notes reaching the sellers of the grain.
 The foodstuffs so procured will be divided among Germany and Austria Hungary as follows: Six cars of each shipment to Germany and five to Aus tria and Hungary. Cars and means of 1 river transportation will be provided by the Central Powers.
 With another 50, GOO cars held on option by the Central Powers. and with Turkey and Bulgaria also in the market, Rumania disposes of her en- tire 1915 crop, of which but little had been moved. Available also is which Rumania was not disposed to sell to the Central Powers last spring and summer, owing to the belief that the Dardanel1es would be forced by the Allies. Some of the cereals sold to the Allies were moved via Turn Severin and K1adowa. whence they were taken over the Serbian railroads to SaIontki. The conquest of Serbia closed this route.
 With no prospect that the 1915 crop would be sold to neutra1s or the Entente group, Rumania was obliged to sell to the Central Powers group, at a. price which is said to be very ad- vantageous to the latter. Figures are not available, however. But that the Central Powers drove a hard bargain is said here to be indicated by the fact that very little gold changed hands, whereas all previous purchases in Rumania by the Central Powers were made with gold as the only ac- ceptable equivalent.
 The transaction was discussed in the Rumanian parliament and was stoutly opposed by the friends of the Jonescu, Torna Jor1escu, IeiIfpescu and Mile. Government members and the grain and landed class interests took the position that Rumania stood in sore need of the revenues to be deriv- ed from. the sale. these being the only income .Runania has with which to cover imports. Very stormy scenes ensued, but the opposition lost.
 Runania's position is due to her complete isolation from the worlds grain consumers. The closing of the Dardane1les left Rumania no other route than that through Serbia, which is now closed also. To the Central Powers, Rumania would not sell, and what little was bought had to be taken at prohibitive prices to which vast sums in the form of extortion of one sort or another had to be added. It is believed that the present trans : action cleans the slate.
 Agents of the Entente governments were active to prevent the sale, but were defeated by the fact that Rus sia, the only Allied power with whom Rumania now has physical contact and communication, does not have to buy grain in foreign markets. The possibility of moving the grain over i the Russian railroads and, through Russian port into England and France was then held up by the En- tente agents. But RuInania grain pro- ducers could not share this view, nor were they able to see their interests cared for by storing all the grain on options. They were willing to sell their products and store them on a cash-in-hand basis. Many of them had lost considerable sums by storing their grain in 1914 under an arrange mer1t with Entente agents, who later refused to take up their options and promises on the plea that faulty stor- age had spoiled the grain.
 Negotiations will soon be under taken for the sale to the Central Pow CTS of about $50, 900 tons of benzine and gasoline now held in storage, and the monthly output of 25, 900 tons of the same fuels. The export of Ru- manian meat cattle is also being dis cussed. Rumania's position is such at present that, as opposition members pointed out, she has become the ally of the Central Powers economically if the military situation does not change in favor of the Allies.
 This, is true also in respect to Ru- rnanian imports which at present come from Germany and Austria Hungary and which. with most stores virtually depleted, will go far in off, setting the cost of the grain bought by the Central Powers.
 
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