Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-05-01
|MR. HOOVER TELLS
OF. WHEAT Saving
Food Head Proud of Record j.:
This Country; Big Harvests
Expected During Year.

y tho Aeoecsaeed xteee
NEW YORK. Nay LII the govern
msnt had allowed the commerce ~
wheat TO take its untramm slsd course
-four would be selling 1t the mill doc
today for $50 to $50 a barrel. instead
Of SO to 5000. and probably "riotine
| would have been experienced In all our
centers Of congested population, OF
violence that leads 70 blood in our
cutters" declared Herbert Hoover. fed
eral food administrator. in an address
here yesterday.
Mn Hoover spoke at . conferences OF
100 representative American grain
dealers and oficials Of the food ad-
ministration's grain division. called to
discuss grain exports and regulation
Of cereal consumption in this country.
$1s.7b . barrel at tho mill door last
May and resulting hardships dislocatsd
our entire economic life. Mr. Hoover
said he did not accuse the grain trade
Of having been responsible for the sit
uation. but rather blamee the fact that
the allies had to have wheat and were
| prepared to pay any price for 1t.
mo Concerted Manipulation"
"A series Of sreculations sprang mp
that were deplorable beyond words"
he said. but only . microscopic portion
| Of this speculation was Of deliberate
or vicious nature. There was no con-
disturbance to the law of supply and
demand"
Taking up the question Of why the
allies cannot use more corn And leave
said that corn was short lived, and
dimoult to ship in the terminating sea
son ana that the allies, with little
equipment for homo baking, are ignoT.
ant Of the art of making corn bread
He added that while the United states
output, the allies have done their part
by reducing their cereal consumption
80 per cent. to provide America with
ships for more soldiers.
have reduced consumption here by
rationing, BY ALLOWING the market to
take its untrammeled course" or by
voluntary conservation. he asserted
that ANY system of positive rationing
in the United States bristles with dim:
"A large proportion Of our popula-'
ton produces its own breadstuffs." he
said. Generally speaking. the less
the purchasing power the greater the
| reliance on bread in diet. Any national
ration would be filled with inequalities
and injustices to be avoided to the
last moment"
If price levels had been allowed to
have paid in suffering and the rich
in price, he said. adding that ''any
repetition Of rising price levels such
as those Of the 1916A1917 harvest year
| would have meant an enormous proflt
to the middleman and would have in,
| spired the foundation Of social discon.
tent from this reason alone. II No
On q Voluntary Basis.
other"
| Therefore, he said. the government
had placed reduction in Consumption
on a voluntary basis.
II don't believe there IL another ma
ton in the world in which the proper
tion of individuals Of 80 willing . sense
Of voluntary self-sacrince 10 % high a.
this people OF ours, and nothing has
demonstrated 1t more finely than the
conservation in wheat" he said. To-day
there is no suffering in the United
States and We are actually shipping
so per cent Of our monthly mill output
to the allies.
"The sole question 10 the relative evil
Of the various courses with which We
were faced. The greatest danger in all
such operations is the sitting Of pro-
duction. The existence today OF prob.
ably the greatest growing acreage OF
wheat in our history would be the mai
AT the present moment, cur crop
prospects look anything from 100000
900 to 900. 100000 bushels OF wheat. Tho
harvests Of the allies also look prom
Using. With this prospect We now have
selves and our allies, and instead OF
famine, we can look forward to an en-
| tirely different economic situation this
year from that which confronted US In
the summer Of 1917"