Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-02-25

appear to offer a field in which we
can hope to dispose of a great sur
plus of food, raw materials, or man.
ufactured products, though they
wish to purchase what we have to
offer in far larger amounts than
their credit will permit. We cannot
expect, therefore, a great revival of
trade with Europe unless some i'm
mediate remedy for the credit sit
ustion can be found. If we can do
reasonably good business with
them on a satisfactory economic
basis we should be we'll satisfied.
While there is reason to hope for
the continuation of business with
Europe on a plane approximating
that of the year 1921, there is no
evidence to supper. the contention
that there will be a great expansion
of trade in that direction in 1922.
Whether we like it or not, it is our
duty, as well as our necessitous priv
ilege to aid them to get back on their
feet, to extend them the maximum
OF credit possible, and to encourage
the return of normal conditions by
every possible agency at our conf
mand.
/ believe this summarizes the sit
uation abroad fairly well. The out
look there is not as bright as We
could hope or desire. On the other
hand, it should not discourage us
because [ am still inclined to think
that the tide of unrest and calam-
ity has reached it's height and that
we can probably hope to maintain
trade relationships with Europe and
the remainder of the world as good
as pertained previous to 1914. The
sooner we recognize that we must
adjust production and distribution
to a program of this character the
better off we will be. We cannot
hope in the immediate future to
monopolize the markets of the world
or to dominate its trade and in
dustry to the extent we did for
time during the war period. We
must expect from this date forward
to compete with foreign nations for
our share of the worlds trade. To
do this effectively we must lessen
production costs materially, a fact
which our people seem slow to
recognize.
This brings us to a consideration
of the fact as to whether there is
a great over-supply of food crops
and animals in the world at the
present time. In so far as the ma
tons as a whole are concerned this
question can be answered in the
negative. Many will be surprised,
no doubt, by this statement and dis
posed to contradict it because of
conditions existent in their own par
ticular community. Conclusions
formulated on such basis are al
ways misleading. In formulating
opinions on questions of this char
acter we must always consider the
world as a unit. The foregoing
statement is therefore predicate1
entirely on the report of our own
government which has presented in
it's Handbook of Foreign Agricul-
tural Statistics all the available
data in existence with reference to
crop and live stock production in the
principal countries of the world. A
perusal of this report is edifying.
1t shows, for instance, that the yield
per acre of many crops is still no.
toriously low, that the gross har-
vest of many of our principal food
crops in 1920 was greatly surpassed
in previous years.
In the matter of live stock Aus
tralia now reports 78,000,000 head
of sheep, as compared with SS, OOO,-
900 in 1919. Belgium harvested T.
948,000 bushels of wheat, as COM
pared with an average of approx
imately 100000 in apre-war times.
Brazil showed an increase of sew
eral million head in cattle, but a
notable decrease in all other classes
of live stock. Canada showed a fall
ing off in live stock. The yields in
France were much below those of
| pre-war times. The same is true
of Germany, where the number of
swine showed a falling off of nearly
six and a half million as compared
with pre-war figures. The number
of cattle and horses in several Eur J.
pean countries is still much below
that Of 1914. The yield Of all cereal
crops in Germany was notably low.
as compared, for instance, with that
of 1914 or even 1915. Japan, though
practically undisturbed by war con-
ditions, showed no appreciate in
crease in agricultural or live stock