Evening star., 1959-11-18
Austrians Fail
To Solve Theft
0fU.S. Grain
BY .. J. HANLN

NoEh AhaetlCan newspaper Alliance
VIENNA, Nov. 18.-Austrian
officials have given up trying to
get to the bottom of what hap
pened to IS carloads Of Ameri-
can Northern spring wheat
which were shipped here via
Czechoslovakia.
"All we know is that the
wheat disappeared somewhere
IN CzechoSlovakia," an official
said. I'VE consider the case
closed and the Austrian gov
ernment will foot the bill"
The great grain robbery"
took place during the summer
months and was one of the
smoothest operations that Aus
trians can recall. The Austrians
buy about q. 900 tons of Ameri-
can, Canadian, Australian and
Argentine wheat yearly to mix
with their own lower quality
wheat. According to Austrian
law 80 per cent high grade
wheat must go into locally
made bread.
rs Carloads Missing
'The missing IS carloads of
northern spring were part of
$4,000 tons of surplus Ameri-
can wheat we bought last sum-
mer." the official explained.
This wheat arrived in HAM
burg. Some of it was shipped
by rail through Germany and
the rest Of it went by barge
up the Elbe River to an un-
loading pier north of Prague. |
There it was supposedly placed
In railroad cars and shipped
through Prague to Vienna"
When the 25 carloads of
American wheat" arrived inl
Austria, railroad officials
readily signed for them and
distributed them according to
a prearranged plan to Aus
trian mills. The mill owners,
In turn, accepted the "Ameri-
can wheat" and only later,
when they began to make -four,
did they realize that what they
had was extremely poor grade
Asian wheat.
The Austrian Ministry of
Agriculture was flooded with
angry protests from mill
owners. Not only did the mill
owners pay 48 cents more per
220 pounds of American wheat,
but they were caught lacking
the necessary high grade wheat
to make flour. 1t was a double
loss financially which the Aus
trian government partly made
up by quickly distributing re-
serve stocks Of high grade
wheat.
Czech Answer
Meanwhile, the Austrian For
eign Ministry asked the Czech
Foreign Ministry what hap
pened to the IS carloads of
American wheat. The Czechs
were little more helpful than
they are about Austrians who
disappear" along the Iron Cur
tain border.
Its a mistake" the Czech
government said. "Czechoslo-
vakia merely transported the
wheat America shipped to you"
The American Government
was interested, too. At first, it
appeared hat'the United States
had panned off deteriorated |
wheat on Austrian mills. But
the fact that the American
wheat which arrived in Austria |
via other routes was of superior
quality belied this.
Furthermore" the Austrian
official went on, I'VE found slips
Of paper in the wheat written |
in Czech which analyzed its
quality as Asiatic wheat. The
Czechs would have no business
or reason to analyze wheat they
were merely transporting"
Gang Is Blamed
What did happen to the
wheat? Agriculture officials and
railroad police believe that the
Czech government had no part
in the grain switch.
THE Czechs want this trans
port trade too badly to ever
endanger it by a switch like
this" the official said. ZAP
parently it was the work Of a
highly organized gang inside
Czechoslovakia. 1t was a big
operation and called for inside
men who could change railroad
records and even switch rail-
road cars. But there is nothing
we can do about it,"
Meanwhile, mill owners have
warned the Austrian govern
ment that they will place no
more purchase orders for
United States wheat that is
brought to Austria via such Sin
explicable detours." Actually,
the Communist detour can be
explained. The use of the Ham
burg port is cheaper to Austria
than nearby Trieste due to
special rates offered by Prague
for such transport trade.