Evening star., 1917-12-09

tCopyricht. 1917 by Frank G. Carpenter,
MINNEAPOLIS. MINI.
81 AM at. the nozzle of the great
grain funnel OF the northwest
Minneapolis is the wheat and
q -four center'of the world. and in
our task of feeding the armies and
peoples of Europe it stands first in
Importance among the centers of food
production today. Il has been said
that there are but three factors in our
war with the Germans. These are
funds. munitions of war and food. That
we can supply the first two is being
proved daily by the success of the lib
erty loans and our great shipments of
guns. shells and explosives across the
ocean to the battlefields of France and
Italy. -
The question, of food is not so easily
disposed Of THE demands of our allies
are enormous And the whole woI id
is on the edge of q famine. Nearly
forty million men have seen ia ken
from the occupations of peace TO make
up and equip the great fshiing forces.
The ranks of the food producers have
been materially thinned and the wom-
en- have been forced into the fields.
Every nation in Europe is on a war
diet, and England is said 10 have food
for only three weeks ahead. Now more
than eyer do the armies march on
their stomachs. and in the war OF to-
day it is not only the soldiers at the
front who make up the armies, but
also the men and women who work to
supply their equipment. These armies
must be fed. and the United States is
the store from which their food must
come. 1t is not q question of generos-
II Ia nat
less day or the meat,ess day from un-
selfish reasons. Tine conservation of
our food is a grim necessity, and upon
it depends the future OF our country
and that of much of Europe besides.
Feeding the world. That is the task
that has been ser Uncle sam, The
great wheat and grain resources of
Russia. the country second TO the
United tSates. have been cut off by
the Germans. Russia is virtually unable
to get the wheat of her South to her
arctic por.s for shipment to the
armies on the western front. Arch
angel is as Ia: freFn TIE grain fields OF
south Russia as is ALASKA from this
-four city OF the ,aofthwes' ard Ger
many has successfully cut off nearly.
100 .o0o,ty0 bushels from the western
allies.
The wheat crop in Canada is officially
cstims cd at less than half the crop Of
l?ta, and reports from. Arsen:ina also
slo% waterial decrease. The only
o.hcr wheat countries OF Importance
a.e Australia and British India. Aus
ala is three times far from Eu-
rope rs tte United States. and trans.
i)ortation from there as well in. Russia
!, ,,,ocket. by 5na Germans
have before lae an. estimate made
by t'ocd Commissioner Hoover; He
says that the wheat crops of Europe
will this yelr tell 500. .0o0,0 900 bushels
below their normal production. and
that as q minimum We must snip 10
them 22J.10G.0o9 bushels of wheat. And
then there are the great armies. Uncle
Sam expects to have n million men at
the front as soon as they can be trained
and transported; despair OF making
you appreciate the enormous quantities
of food needed to supply q million men.
1t wct.id take 5.T7l pa rreis Of flour
every twenty-1our hours. or the entire
crop from 8 wheat field almost four
miles square. When baked in the army
ovens this -four would make nearly two
million loaves of bread, which. placed
two deep and four high, would fill a
bakeshop counter reaching all the way
from Washington to Baitimore.
But let take look into our ma
tional flour barrel and see where these
enormous supplies are to bG. found.
Even with the bumper crop of 1915.
which left surplus of 1G4.000,000
bushels to be added to the 1916 crop.
we had on hand last March less than
enough to supply our own yearly need
OF 500, 100000 bushels. The great ship
ments abroad and the amount saved for
and before the crop OF 1917 became
available tircle Sam mad TO scrape the
last bits o. flour dust from the bottom
OF his barrel. The official estimate for
tie crop of 1917 is placed at $4,000. 900.
bushc els or only f53.0D0,eo0 bushels ,
more thaa we. usually consume here at