Evening star., 1934-04-07
WHEAT CONFEREES|
SEEK [ K PRICE LEVEL
Six Nations at Parley. Re-
ported to Favor Minimum
Export Cost.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
ROME, April THE World wheat
Advisory Committee, under the presi-
dency Of John Van Antwerp Mac Muir
ray, American Minister to Estonia.
Iatvia and Lithuania. dug at once
today into the question of establish
Ing a minimum export price for wheat.
Most delegates seemed to regard this
as the most important item before the
meeting.
Andrew Cairns of Canada, secretary
OF the committee, announced after
ward that six nations had participated
in the discussion and that they were
generally sympathetic toward the idea
of minimum exports and price
agreement. However. they differed in
regard to the measures to be employed.
Four Plans Studied.
Four plans were placed before the
commission. The first is a definite
price agreement for each grade of
wheat and flour. The second Is an
indirect method Cor reaching higher
export prices by adjusting the export
quotas so as to keep exports at Ger
from the importing countries. The
remaining two are combinations of the
first two.
Countries which are subSidizing ex-
ports were inclined to favor indirect
methods since their subsidies give
them an excellent control over export
movements.
Sessions End Next Week.
Todsy's meeting was limited to one
session and there will be no meeting
tomorrow. On Monday and Tuesday
the delegates will meet and on We'd
nesday they will visit Littoria, little
city risen out of the reclaimed Pontine
marshes. They will conclude their
meetings Thursday or Friday.
Much progress was made today in
reconciling the various points of view,
but today's discussion revealed that
there are many arguments on both
sides.
The American delegation was in
clined to take the view that an inter-
national agreement to reduce acreage
ought to precede an agreement on
minimum price, since the latter might
preclude the reaching of the former.
Wheat Flour Included.
The agreement under discussion
would include not only wheat, but also
wheat flour, whole wheat meal and
semolina.
The Canadian and Australian dele
gates, John Mcfarland and F. L.
McDougall, were wholehearted sup
porters of the minimum price.
Arguments in favor of the project
advanced by various delegates were
that higher fixed export prices would
add greatly to agricultural purchasing
power. This in turn would have
beneficial reaction on industrial ac-
tivity.
The same exponents asserted that
this seems to be the only method of
halting the depressing effects Of sub
sidizing exports.
Answering the American argument
they said that better prices will in
duce farmers to proceed with acreage
reduction. They declared that II
prices remain low the burden of
acreage reduction would be too much
for the farmer to bear.
Cost High in Europe.
Higher prices, they said, would not
reduce human consumption of wheat
in Europe, because the internal prices
in Europe are already so enormously
above>the world export price that q
Is or 80 per cent increase in the
export parity would make little diff
ference. Wheat in Germany and
Italy, for instance, costs three times
the world parity; in France. three
and-a-half times.
They admitted consumption might
be reduced in the Orient by higher
prices. Oriental countries have de-
veloped liking for wheat in the last
few years owing to the abnormally
low prices. They suggested, there
fore, that a lower minimum export
price be fixed for the Orient than for
Europe
Delegates who doubted the efficacy
OF the export minimum price plan
advanced some powerful arguments.
They began with the fundamental
premise that 1t does nothing to re-
move the present discrepancy between
supply and demand, and that it would
mean further government interference
with international commerce.
They then went on to say it would
be very difficult to maintain q fixed
minimum in world market. Certain
sellers and certain buyers might bring
the plan to naught through evasicns
They further said that countries
whose exports are not limited by
quota, as per the London agreement
Of last August, might 60 into the wheat
export business in view of higher
prices.
The use Of wheat might give way
to the use Of rye or maize in some
European countries, which did not
feel themselves able to pay for the
higher priced wheat
Production in low-cost producing
areas OF the exporting countries might
continue. instead of being curtailed,
as is the general desire.
Will Resume Imports.
The commission had promises from
France. Italy and Germany that the
three countries would return within
a year to the status of importers of
the worlds most important cereal and
cease efforts to become sen-suficient.
The commission coupled with these
promises approval of a plan to use
wheat for production of pork and beef
aiming in that manner to remove
from the market a large quantity of
low-grade grain.
The wheat used for animal fodder
would be treated with chemicals to
render it unpalatable to humans, thus
guaranteeing its removal from the
dourmakers' market.