The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-10
HOOVER EXPLAINS
 THE EB|LL|ON-DOLLAR
 GUARANTEEING BILL
Food Administrator Says Question of Loss Will Re- vOlve Around Several
 Different Factors
By Associated Prsss

Paris, March 9.-Herbert Hoover,
 United States food administrators.
 asked here today whether the
 United States government would
 lose the s1,O0O,OOO.00O appropriated
 to support the guarantee for next
 years wheat crop. said;
 ''The question of government
 loss, if any, naturally will re-
 volve around seNeraf different fac
 tors. First. whether we or the
 world will have any surplus. from
 the 1918 crop to carry over int"
 next year; second, what the supply
 and demand will he for the 1919
 crop; and. third, whether the gov
 ernment should deliberately de-
 eide to take loss in order to
 lower the price of bread.
 "As to the supply and demand for the 1918 crop, changes in the world demand during the last month, showu by widespread investigation of ths food needs of Europe. indicate thal there will be no surplus to carry oy into the 1919 crop. The Indian fan '
  of the Australian wheat must go there at once. In addition, a considerable proportion of the Australian supply which has been piling up for years has spoiled.
 "The needs of Europe are larger than our previous estimates. All to- gether the balance of the supply and demand for our present wheat now looks as though we might see whea; at $3s5O a bushel, as it was in the spring of 1917, if there is a free market in wheat and uncontrolled prices. So much for the 1918 crop There can be no free market of 90 per cent of the worlds exports. Wheat in London.
 THE 1919 CROP
 "As to/the 1919 crop, it is of course too early to come to any precise con- clusion. Our crop looks anything from 10 to 20 per cent greater next year than last year. Before the war Rus sia, India, Bulgaria, Serbia and Ruma mia all exported large amounts of wheat. The war famine. loss of seed and lack of fertilizers. and anarchy have cumulated to turn these countries into importers of wheat for the whole of next year. Central European seed ing will be below normal. The Aus tralian 1919 crop is small; the Argen- tine crop is no larger than that oi Europe. Altogether it would appear now that there would be no bread to waste in any quarter of the world for the next year. even if the world had the money to pay for it and if tha bolsheviki did not get more territory.
 Therefore, to all present appear anceS it should be possible to market the whole of next years crop without loss to the government.
 AS to whether the government will deliberately take a loss below the price of $2.26 a bushel in order to lower the price of bread is, matter that will have to be determined by the officials of the day. It appears to me that the world price of wheat, if there is a free market. may be above $2.26 and in any event such loss would be direct subtraction from bread prices just as it is now paid in most of the European countries. There are very great tech : nical difficulties in the way of such procedure in the United States. Fur thermore it would. I believe, be proved upon investigation that to lower the price of flour by 50 per cent would only tcuuCS ltc pTlCc OI d OHc-pOuiu lOiA from 9 or 10 cents as at present, to ' or cents, because too large a pro- portion of the increased cost of loaf since the war is due to higher wages. costs and the cost of other supplies.
 "These problems will, moreover, need to be solved by someone else. because neither myself nor most of the men in the food administration will be able to continue in the service of the gov ernment after next July. We. also. must earn a liying''