The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-08-03

Wheat, The Hunger Killer.

! India gathered . good crop !,
March and April. In Australia II i,
now winter, and heavy acreaees AZ
being seeded There was 4 rrs.s
accumulation Of wheat in An.s
traliA when the war came 10 !,
end, because there were no shins
to carry it.
The latest reports from Euron.
are universally encouraging. r.
France and Spain there are bumn.
or crops. and Prussia reports eood
Yields. While there is an absencs
Of Information from the rest of Ger.
many there Is the assurance that
the thrifty Hun is raising food for
his own use. Czecho- Slovakia hs,
. good crop. Roumania, banner
wheat country Of the Balkans, will
make a fine showing. Only Italv
has q crop that is below the aver.
age, and Algeria is alone in being
rated poor.
= Filling the Empty Barrels,
The demand of late has been
from these countries, from the
armies, and the unreconstructed
peoples that live within their bor-
ders.. There will be more than the
normal demand until the -four bar
rels in all the grocery stores and
the bins in all the homes are filled
But Europe will now produce a
good part of the wheat that II
uses, and the rest Of the world win
find its responsibilities lightened.
In the background of the wheat
situation there always turks the
shadow of Russia. The far-reach-
ing steppes of that great country
are the only region over which the
American prairies have no advant-
age. Iowa can be duplicated a dozen
times to the north of the Black Sea
The door of exit for wheat from
Russia has been closed for sir
years. When Turkey took her place
beside Germany, Russian wheat
stopped coming through the OAR
danelles. When Russia became a
land Of chaos the wheat of the
plains ceased to flow even to
Odessa, Moscow, and Petrograd.
There is lack of reliable infor-
nation as to what has been going
on in Russia. The country is SO
vast that it is difficult to see il in
perspective. 1t would be unwise to
draw conclusions with relation to
the whole wheat supply from re-
port on portion of Ukraine as biz
as Pennsylvania, or after taking
stock in port like Odessa. When
British reports say that there are
vast stores Of wheat in Russia, the
fact must be borne in mind that
Britain is buyer of wheat and
would like to drive the price down.
Russia Will, Be Slow.
But it is improbable that the Rus
sian peasant has stopped growing
wheat It is likely that he has
goodly stores of it in reserve, but
if the nations were to resume trade
with Russia today it would be a
long time before this wheat reach
ed the market. Odessa would have
10 prepare for handling it, the rail-
roads running into the country
would have to be reestablished,
and the lethargic peasant would
have to be aroused to the chance OF
of his grain. Therefore
Russian wheat will not figure in the
market Of the present summer.
Back in '93 wheat sold as low as
so cents a bushel Prices around
60, 20 and so cents bushel have
long been the rule. Dollar wheat
was a golden dream. 1t was the
third year of the war before wheat
pa ssed that point Then we went
in and the price skyrocketed. Fin
ally the government set the price
at 1920. This year, when the gov
eminent guarantee expired, wheat
still went up. Now that the supply
continues large, and the demand is
falling off. what will happen to the
high prices that have prevailed?
Here is question of vital interest
10 many men in many lands.