Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-03-14

nealnSt the gaverOMape
 ->~~-"o ~-~~~~-~o>~-o~--~----o~~ A~~o~>o~~-- From the report issued jy the De-
 partment of Agriculture covering
 the exports of American gram fol | the month of December and part of
 January, the ships of our new Amer 1 ican merchant marine have been { moving our surplus wheat at the rate of 36,000.G00 bushels a month This l is an export movement 50 per cent greater than the average for the Il months ending November, 1918, and for the entire year 1917. The grain
 grain indvdanaiovbgkqj vbgkq vbgk l in storage, on January 1 this year as compared with November 1, 1918 showed a decrease of 60,000,0O0
 January 15, 53,500.000 bushels went
 a'bhoad, most all of it being carried in the ne wAmerican ships.
 The accumulated products of the cattle growers required cargo space l urgently. Here was a commodity
 under handicap with other commodi- ties of less bulky character, and es-
 pecially so at time when foreign
 shipping could pick and choose among the multitude of bidders for
 space. But as more and more Amer ican vessels came out of the army
 service, and new vessels were de livered by American shipyards, suf- ficient shipping had been placed in
 the export service by January ,l3, this year, to decrease the surplus stodks of meat products by nearly i 100000 tons. Meanwhile the Ameri can dairyman profited from the fact that 10000 tons of surplus butter cheese, and milk were carried over seas by our new ships. These ves- sells also began carrying abroad B. 1 900 ,00O dozen American eggs month | ly.
 On the 1st of February the require ments of the newly-organized Euro pean food service, as announced to the Shipping Board through the Food Administration, called for the im-
 mediate export, chiefly to European
 neutrals, of half million tons of American flour, pork producas, and
 milk, and of a quarter million tons of fodsauffs. It Wos expected that l foreign shipping would be aailable
 to carry considerable share of this tremendous quantity of American l foodstuff, but so many of the foreign ships returned to their ante-bellum trade routes assigned, the bulk of the ! task fell to the new American mer- chant arinc.
 1 There were ill the European food
 relief service on February 17 of this
 year, a total of 1O9 vessels of S5S,- i 957 dead-weight tons. eBy nationali.
 ty they were as follows:
 [ Dead weight tons American t93( 3(------------ 733,9 ,94;
 Chartered:
 1 Dutch 12) ~--------------103, ,424 l Norwegian (4---------- 2l ,59(
 Of the American vessels engaged , in this eport service, 79 of 654,7S(
 dead-weight tons, came into existence . during the past year. During Feb ruary there were 23 newly built yes
 sells .en route from Pacific Northwes tports to Europe laden with Montana
 Oregon, and Idaho flour. Only uni 1 que chapter in the history of Oul
 new merchant marine began with $, I SOO-ton freighters proceeding direct ly from Seattle shipyards to the docks
 of that rapidly growing port, ther' loading with wheat, and then steom :, ing away for Saloniki and Trieste On the Atlantic coast another nav
 city was in the departure, one afte
 Hog Island fabricated steel ships carrying on their maiden voyages sur -' plus products of the grain belt. ;, Plus all the new vessels in the food
 carrying fleet, there have also beel allocated to Belgian relitf 59 foreigl
 vessels under charter to the Shipping :, Board, and they comprised on Feb ;, ruary IF, 70 per cent of all the ton :, mage in that service.
 ! A report from the Food Admins .tration serves further to shaw Wha the new American merchant marine done since December 1, 1918. in car ! y ing overseas the accumulated farT ; products of this country. Of all re lief foodstliffs scheduled for depart }. ure by the end of February, there re }, nlained in this country by the mid ] dle of February less than 200,00 :. tons The grand total exported b ! March 1 will Ice 100000 tans l, More than 80 per cent will have bee carried in American vessels-ant !, with few exceptions, in cahgo car ' riers built in American shipyard : during the past year.
 ' This unprecedsd export. service ha ,. teen provided for the American farm . CT and cattle grower at a time whe J Army needs absorbed between 2,oOO i coo dead-waoght tons of the Amer 7. can merchant marine. Up to Febrr ! ahy 1117, the Army han in trans-At | lantic service 354 cessels of 2,o62,9A i, dead-weight tons out of total of 1