Evening star., 1925-01-25
BY DREW PEARSON.
AN we bring about wheat crop
failures in Canada and
Europe next year?

~ AN we bring about wheat crop
failures in Canada and
Europe next year?
That sounds like part OF a
program of ruthlessness in
time of war. Yet that is what pro-
duced the prosperity of our wheat farm
ers this year. And if the crops in
Europe and in the great Dominion to
the north of us are bountiful next year,
the newly found good times of our
wheat farmers may come abruptly to
an end. We can't ruin the crops in the
other countries of the earth And we
wouldn't do it if we could. What then
are we going to do about it? How are
we going to keep our farmers happy
and prosperous?
That question, so vital to the heart
and pocketbook of every American, l
put to John J. Mitchell, who, as
president of the Illinois Merchants
Trust and foremost authority on
finance and wheat in the Northwest,
was about as capable of answering il
as any man in the country.
I'VE can't insure prosperity next
year by invoking the gods TO ruin our
nelghbors' crops" he replied thought
fully. mo, and we can't insure 1t by
planting more wheat here. either he
added quickly and with emphasis.
Prices Face Drop.
That's the natural tendency Of the
farmer, but it's a mistake. This year
Canadas wheat crop failed and Russia
didn't export, and We were called upon
to fulfill a shortage of 440 900, 600
bushels But all of Canada and most
OF the rest of the world are already
busy planting enough wheat to make
up for that shortage, and there is liable
TO be surplus this year. In that case
prices will drop and wheat prices will be
seriously depressed.
But the farmer doesn't realize that.
He seldom looks more than one year
ahead, and Ii wheat sells well this year,
you can't convince him it won't con-
tinue to do so-until next year, when
he learns through sad experience
Yet an understanding Of how wheat
makes or breaks the prosperity of this
country is the most important thing,
not only the farmer, but every business
man has to learn.
'To come down to plain unadorned
and unpleasant facts" concluded Mr..
Mitchell sternly, eff the weather is
favorable in Canada and Australia and
Russia, our prosperity disappears. The
weather is too uncertain a factor for a
nations prosperity to hang on
What are we going to do about it?''
I asked.
Rotate the Crops.
PLANT diversified crops" returned
Mr.. Mitchell, I'VE don't have to plant
so much wheat. We never did before
tho war. In pre-war days Russia
was not afflicted with boIShevism and
was able to supply most OF Europe s
wheat, so that we exported very little.
This year we shall have a crop of
about S5O,O00,OoO bushels. Yet we
,I1-,,
ourselves, leaving a balance of $780,
100000 bushels which we must
market abroad. If the world has no
wheat, it is compelled to buy from
us. But if the world has wheat, it
can buy at the same price, and usu-
ally cheaper, from other countries.
Upon that exportable surplus, there
fore, hangs our chances of prosperity.
Now my point is that we don't
have to raise that eXportable surplus
Let's go back to the crops we raised
before high war prices tempted us
into putting all our eggs into one
basket.
Its an old fallacy 1 remember
when / was a boy, and that was a
long time ago, how Pennsylvania
raised a large amount OF wheat for
export. Now she raises practically
none. Gradually the wheat belt
moved westward. 1t swept over Ohio,
Illinois and Minnesota and now 1t is
in the Dakotas and Montana. Gradu-
ally those States found that wheat
didn't pay, and they went over tc
other crops. Minnesota was among
the last to find it out. Last year was
the first she has really planted corn
and 1t turned out to be more valu-
able than her wheat"
Are not the nights in Minnesota
too cool for corn?" l asked.
Every one thought so, but the sur
prising thing is that Minnesota:
present crop averaged better thar
crops in old corn States like Iowa"
John J. Mitchell it should be noted
is not only a banker but a farmer
and his office walls are covered will
pictures of prize stations, Jerse!
COWS and psAi@reed bulls whose an