Evening star., 1916-12-03
BY JAMES B. MORROW.

n 7EN say on farms. their wives
INMI approving and villagers.
WWII catching and revoicing the
VIZ phrase, add their support to
the judsment-that anything solid and
salable is equal. almost. to ''old wheat
In the barn."
Superlatives halt there. Government
bonds, as standards of value and Sc
curity. are mysterious and far away.
Money in bank can vanish overnight
Nothing is comparable to old wheat.
unless. perhaps-and the adverb OF
qualification is always used-it might
be first mortgage on the land across
the road.
Such, then, is the standing of wheat
among those by whom it is Grown-old
wheat, dry wheat. my wheat" and
good as gold. Prices. be they high or
be they low, vary not the feeling on
the farm.
Wool falls and the thick. yellow dust
of hill roads marks the death march OF
countless droves to the pelt and tai
low men. So wheat. on the other hand.
through winters of thaws and freeze
ings. and summers of rust and drown
ing rains, the farmer. once fairly in the
business. is ever steadfast.
Wheat is dear in 1915. For thirty-four
years, however. during which genera
tion of time boys became men with
homes and acres of their own. the farm
price of wheat was less than dollar
a bushel. And yet wheat was grown.
Indeed. its acreage increased. Tine
day would come, so the theory ran.
even in the gloom of debts and unre-
o,,i.ed toll. when wheat would be vim
dicated in every market of the world.
1t Is here.
II wheat could be personalized. Its
biopraphy. spanning the ages between
Canaan and Kansas. between Ruth, the
cleaner and the millers at the Faiis
of St. Anthony, would be the greatest
of all books except the biole. flctori
allied, IL would show camels bearing
sacks across the deserts. far back IN
the centuries; a slave of Cortez plant
inx few kernels of Il strange gram
among the Aztecs and groups or ioheIy
and bearded Russians founding an IN
dustry on the semi-arid plains beyond
the Mississippi. out of which cities
were to spring almost mirsculousiy.
Contained in each grain OF whea'
the history of the human race
Ru, bread is six cents a loaf. In the
ancient red building, and the only one
until not so long ago. occupied py 'he
Department of Agriculture. among nun
dreds of books. pamphlets. documents.
curves and maps. all scrupulously clean
Of dust and methodically arranged, can
be found one of the worlds greatest
statisticians- l.,
charge of some of the crop records OF
the United States. Born in Indiana, ed
ucated at Johns Hopkins University.
he has been working with facts as e1
pressed in figures for more tnan TOUT
teen wears Give him the mathematics
of q situation and he can describe and
explain il. Ask him any ordinary aues-
tjon pertaining TO crops and he can an
swer It. with tables near % at hand, IN
less than minute. why mas "neat
mounted In price?
Let us eliminate the war in Europe,
he said. "the drought in Argentina. the
decrease Of acreage in the Australian
states and the estimated reduction in
the Canadian crop and find "A sufficient
answer In the fact that where we har-
vested ten bushels last year. We har-
vested only six bushels this year
How high in price has wheat gone
heretofore?"
Usually there are at least two prices
for wheat-the cash price. which may
be the speculative price. as. for instance.
when 4 corner Is being carried on. and
the farm price. which is the average
price received by growers in all parts
Of the country.
There was a Eutchins corner In 1888
Cash wheat then reached Sc a bushel
The Letter corner ten years later rar
the cash price UP to 31.s5 bushel
Such sporadic and abnormal perform.
ances of the market are without sig.
nifcance to the wheat-growing in
dustry.
Here. in the Department Of Asricul
ture. we concern ourselves but little
with speculative prices. noting them al
they Are made as incidents Of no prac