The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-09-14
CROPS IN THE NORTHWEST
By HOLLAND

New York. September 13-(Special) Dr. Harvey W. Wiley is not the only authority upon food who has pointed war will be won by the allies by means of food supplies from the wheat fields of the northwest. MT. Hoover has not said this publicly but he Is quoted as having intimated to his friends that the northwest must be depended upon for furnishing much the greater part of the wheat which is needed by the allies and their armies. Although there is disap- pointment that the climate was not a benefactor this year so far as the wheat harvest Is concerned, nevertheless there is an extraordinary discrepancy between the shortage of wheat and the wonder fully abundant surplus of other food products which have been and are now being harvested.
 It never can be reported with accu- racy what the harvests are until they have been gathered. The agricultural area of the United States is so great that 1t Is inconceivable that bad weather will seriously impair all our crops. Hot scorching winds did burn up consider able part of the Indian corn just be- fore 1t was beginning to ripen few years ago and yet the harvest of In- dian corn In that year was fairly good for in parts of the country where burn ing heat that lasted for weeks did not prevail corn yielded in abundance. We are to have this year another illustra- ton of the fact that preliminary reports of crop prospects cannot be relied upon. It has been very dry year Tn that part of the country which Dr. Wiley is reported to have said would furnish the chief means for making the war ef- fectiye. namely, abundant wheat.
 Notwithstanding the fact that for weeks there was little rain in the north west, nevertheless the crop reports which were received in New York since Sep tember i indicate that there will be a fairly good harvest and that the pros perity of wisconsin. Minnesota and
 South Dakota will be abundant. In fact, Minnesota and Wisconsin are now gathering crops unexcelled in amount py any that have been harvested heretofore in those states. So also South Dakota will harvest crop considerably in ex- cess of that of & good average year crop; and . part of North Dakota Is yielding abundantly to the farmers. Montana Is very disappointing. The har- vest there this year will show smaller yield than at any time since Montana became conspicuous as wheat produc- ing state The weather Is entirely 10 blame for that condition but those who are familiar with the agricultural pos- silibities of Montana are sure that the state will in the course of a few years take high rank among the wheat pro- ducing states.
 when 1t was reported from Washing ton that the government had established s2. 20 a bushel as the sprice for wheat, it was feared that there might be consid- erable disappointment manifested by the farmers of the northwest and that this would make them less disposed to invest some of their gains of this year in the second liberty loan than they would have been had the government fixed the price of wheat at s. or even s2.5O a bushel. This morning an authori- tative report came from John H. Rich, chairman of the federal reserve district of which Minneapolis is the center, which is gratifying because MT Rich says that the price which has been | fixed upon, although not entirely satis- factory to the farmers has ended mar keting condition which have been for i'm ma fn arc | are beginning to regard the price fixed
 by the government as a reasonable con- promise between their own demands and
 those which have been made by the consumers.
 i Throughout the northwest the money returns from the crops will be very
 large Therefore the outlook for busi-
 ness activity is excellent. The buying power of the people will be so well
 maintained and even strengthened that lit is presumed that the farmers will
 subscribe more willingly and largely tc the second liberty loan than they did
 to the first.
 l Shortly before he departed for a sum- | mer vacation .Chauncey M. Depew said
 that 1t was an extraordinary coincidence 1 that there should have been discovered an easy method of obtaining sulphur de posits in Louisiana and in Texas only 2 few years before the outbreak of thu war between the entente allies and Ger many and Austria. For in Senator De pew's opinion had 1t not been possible
 by means of science and capital to de vslop these very rich sulphur deposit
 it might have been and probably woulf