The Washington herald., 1918-02-25
The Price of Wheat.

In the wake of the Hoover-McAdoo contro-
versy over food shipments, President Wilson fixes
the price of wheat for the farmers-and thereby
removes one pivot of the debate.
The farmers were reputed to be holding back
their grain pending the proclamation of the price
they would receive for their 1918 harvest If this
were true the even flow of wheat to the primary
should now be assured, since the question is set
tied Furthermore, it is settled justly. The farmer
might have wished for 4 higher price than that
granted him by the President-indeed, his spokes-
men in Congress were asking for 4 price from IS
to IS cents higher-but the present price should
engender no disgruntlement.
The farmer should bear in mind that If the huge
grain reserves of the world now cut off from the
international markets by lack of transportation
to be released, he is being guaranteed against
disastrous loss by the American government. The
present price is an entirely artificial one, due to
war conditions.
Therefore we get back to the original point of
controversy between the Food Administrator and
the Director General of Railroads. Is the transpor
tation of food shipments to the Eastern seaboard
during the next six weeks going to be adequate
to the commitments the nation has assumed, or is
it going to fall short? Despite the sharp warning
and the rather brusque pessimism Of Hoover, we
are inclined to think that he and Mr.. McAdoo
will be forced to patch things up" in man
ner, and to do good job of it. When two such
brains applied to given problem, is not fail
Creel-driven out of their vocabulary?
Think of what the railroads are doing! For in
stance, all fast passenger traffic between New York
and Chicago the most important run in the coun-
try, is to be concentrated a single line. Com
petition between the New York Central, the Penn
syIvania, and the Baltimore and Ohio in this traffic
is to be done away with for the One line
will have it all; and then all freight traffic will be
diverted to the other roads.
The stream of freight now passing along the
main east and west trunk lines of the nation sur
passes anything of the kind ever befor. seen in
America-or ever before seen in the world. The
transportation of the entire German army from
the Eastern to the Western front would be min
iature operation in comparison to it What does
it mean? 1t means that the United States is con-
centrating all its tremendous equipment of steam
railroads on a given belt of rail between the Mis-
sissippi Valley granary and the great ports of the
Eastern seaboard-that we getting ready to
pour foodstuffs into Europe on scale that has
heretofore been beyond the widest dreams of any
captain of industry.
Mr.. Hoover's structures the railroad situa-
ton involve mainly the question of time. He
knows the vital importance of the task getting
food in sufficient quantities to France and Britain
in time. The talk of Lord Rhondda, the British
food controller, has been blunt enough to give
Americans close view of the emergency. For
that reason are inclined to support the Hoover
policy of going to the public with the statements,
of laying all his cards the table, of letting all
the American people know where he thinks trouble
may lurk in their path.
He is wise in sticking to publicity, for in that
he gets results. The public is competent to de-
termine the merits of any controversy in which he
is involved.