The Western news., 1935-05-09

concede that French wines are SUI
perior to Italian wines. they know that
France is suffering from the same dis
appointment
AS a Wine Market
A very important Italian official In
Washington recently dined with some
Italo-American friends. They had
all been born In Italy. and he pre-
sumed of course that their taste In
wine would be good.
"Maybe 1t was a hint. and | did not
recognize ii, he told the writer. May
be they thought | would at once send
them q case of really good wine from
the embassy. But the fact is they
served me some perfectly miserable
vine. think 1t was California Ger
tainly It was not imported. My own.
thought Is that If Italian people as
result Of American prohibition, have
had their tastes so impaired. what
hope Is there for our recovering even
the market for our wines that we had
before prohibition?'
California. and to a lesser extent
New York stute and some other sec
tlons. are certainly out to get what
ever market there Is In this country
for low-preed wines. Calfornlas
problem on this Is simple. but inter-
estlng. When prohibition came. many
California vineyards were plowed- I'M
der. Then arose a tremendous de-
mnnd for grapes from wonld-be wine
makers. SO the price of grapes scared.
California overdd the planting In at
tempting to meet this demand. but
this was not apparent until along
about 1880, because 1t takes grapes
some time to come into bearing
Then. to get rid Of the grapes at
some price or other, there developed
the business Of experts making vine
| for people In their own cellars, thus
avoiding the tolls of the law This
| business mounted to unbelievable pro-
| portions In the last two years Of pro-
| hibItlon. Then It blew up. and II be-
came necessary to market the Call
fornia wine IN the normal way. Which
/ California has been doing, to the great
distress OF foreign wine makers.
But any tinkering with the wine
tariff In behalf of Italy or France, or
any other country. will find solid
phannx of Callfornians ready to die
| In the breach, If necessary.
/ From Cotton to Corn
Prospects that the South will buy
less corn from Iowa. Illinois. Indiana
and other big corn raising states Of
the Midwest are already disturbing
i senators and members Of the house
e from that region. So far there are nc
political repercussions In the corr
| raising states, but they are scoming
unless some very shrewd observers
miss their guess very badly.
Wirat has happened is this: cotton
planters, taking money not to raise
cotton. In many instances have turned
to corn. This Is said to he true al
through the cotton helt- But the cot
ton belt has always been splendid
market for middle WESTERN corn. Jus
To cite n typcal examnle. Georgia for
merly honnht about G0MN,OO0 bushel
n year. though perfectly capable O
sunnlging her own corn needs wlthou
bringing In bushel.
So this splendid market for mid
west corn just may not be there thu
yeari Whereupon there will be yer,
loud outcries indeed against a govern
ment which has paid the southern
planters not to raise cotton.
1t is rather curious. but In the oil
days before the boil weevil bpcam
such menace In he southeastern
states, the Department of Agricnltnr
camnaIgned NIL the time for diverslf
cation. The department experts want
ed the cotton planters to turn to othe
crops. to produce their own pork. thel
own milk and butter their own corr
etc.
The boil weevil came along afte
years of intensive but utterly futile q
fort In this direction. Some section
were transformed. In one county 4
Georgia there Is monument to IN
holl weeyl. In a tribute to the IL
creased prosperity its ravages even
ually produced for that section.
Gets Another Push