White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1924-08-22
The world is facing serious short


unconsumed is smaller than for years.
1t is now known to everyone that the
worlds crop of wheat is smaller this
year than last With the small carry
over from last years crop, there prom
ises to be shortage af bread all over
Europe The result is seen now in
rapidly advancing prices for wheat
which is commanding in many mar
kets As cents or more bushel than
when the new crop of last year first
reached the market.
What has become of that tremend-
Gus surplus" of wheat which was CIV
en- such prominence in every organ Of
publicity in the country year ago at
this time. Then newspapers, maya
zines and even farm papers, had long
articles about the great surplus which
was depressing the market Alledged
friends of the farmer, in political Of
flee or aspiring to it, were all urging
all kinds of remedies to meet this i'm
aginary condition, primarily legisla-
tion by congress.
At the time this was being given
the widest publicity, Director French
of the State Department of Agricul-
ture, who had given the wheat situa-
ton and the wheat market intensive
study, denounced this talk to great
surplus as bear fake, intended to de-
press the price of wheat to the farmer.
In the departments news bulletins, in
repeated interviews in the press,
through every agency of publicity he
could command, he endeavored to
show that there was no such thing as
a surplus of wheat, nor more wheat
than was needed to meet the worlds
demands for the cheapest and most
nutritious of all foods-bread. In this
news bulletin of August, 1923, for one
thing, Mr.. French assembled the facts
as to production and demand and add
ed: "Why in the teeth of these record
facts, wheat remains at persistent
low level, it is hard to surmise. One
thing is sure, however, no one is a
friend to the wheat farmer who lends
any further aid toward spreading the
vicious fake stories about a tremend
Gus surplus of wheat in the United
States, thus aiding the buyers and ex-
porters to buy at price far below
what wheat should command today"
In September, 1928, in this publica-
ton, he said
"For the past three months this de-
partment, through every medium of
publicity in which it could secure
hearing, has worked steadily to over
take the fake stories which have re-
ceived such widespread publicity about
the tremendous over production Of
wheat in this country and the heavy
surplus which had been carried over"
following this UP with the statistical
proof that the surplus stories were
fakes.
In October of the same year, also
in the news bulletin, he stated: "The
simple and honest truth of the matter
is, that outside of the Pacific Coast
States the United States has not pro-
duced this year enough milling wheat
to furnish the flour needed for our
home use. Even with the Pacific
Coast wheat it is doubtful, considering
the low grade of much of the wheat
raised elsewhere, whether we have in
the whole United States produced
enough wheat to furnish the flour for
our own needs"
In February of this year, warning
against the renewal Of the fake about
tremendous SURPRISES, Mr.. French
said in the news bulletin: There Is
not the slightest chance for world pro-
duction of wheat beyond the worlds
requirements for this year. The prob
ability is that there will be just as
large a demand for our wheat in for
eign countries this year as there was
in 1928, with practical certainty that
we will not have as much wheat with
which to supply that demand as we
shipped last year."
Everything which Mr.. French was
saying in this matter last year was re-
iterated in pamphlet issued by the
United States Department of Com
MERGE in April of this year. This
pointed out that save from
the Pacific Northwest the entire wheat
exports of the country were of wheats
which the mills of the United States
would not use, save in small amounts
as blends. This pamphlet went on to
say: There is distinct shortage IF
hard wheats for domestic
uses. At times there may also be an
undersupply Of strictly soft wheat al
so, but there is always surplus If
semi-soft wheats and low
grades of wheat that do not meet the
requirements of American mills. It is
largely through the oversee sales of
these latter classes of wheat that for
eign competition is brought. directly
to bear upon the American wheat
grower"
Mr.. French's fight, long continued,
only brought such results and recog-
milton of the truth of his position,
after the damage had been done the
farmers. 1t now is certain that we
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