Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1934. WHEAT SURPLUS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 91, 27 January 1934, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1934. WHEAT SURPLUS.

"Every way of disposing of the surplus wheat in America has been tried except the obvious one of eating it," says a writer in an important publication in the United States. He points out that the annual per capita consumption of wheat is now four and one-fifth bushels compared with five and one-fifth before the war. the one and one-fifth being the surplus, and proceeds: "That we once ate more bread and hence consumed more wheat than we do now proves that we could do it again. The drop in wheat consumption was caused by several things. First, war propaganda (‘Conserve the wheat for the men lighting in Europe.’). Next the slenderness fad, which put millions of women on diet. Also, the prosperous years taught us to eat mainly new and more expensive foods and cut down on other foods in which wheat is the largest ingredient. All these results were accomplished by propaganda — a form of advertising and what advertising has done, advertising can undo. The people can be brought back to wheat by the same means as they were weaned from it. Only a part of the immense sums spent to peg the price of wheat would be needed to advertise it back to its former popularity, and the Government would not only have solved its emergency problem, but also provided a future market, instead of being left holding the bag.” Another view of the cause of the surplus attributes the present position to mechanised production. Mr Arthur Capper, a Senator from Kansas, in the same publication presents a comprehensive argument in support of his opinion that large-scale farming cannot last. The corporation farm, consisting of thousands of acres, has been organised for the one purpose of growing wheat, he writes. It is completely mechanical because operation on this scale is possible only with large units of power machinery. Labour employed is not resident on the land and has no interest in it. other than obtaining wages. For months during the year the land is unoccupied and the labour is dispersed to be recruited when needed. Conditions .which make possible profitable production of wheat on a large scale suddenly change. Perhaps fertility seriously declines, or drought comes, or prices drop, and profits no longer can be made. The corporation farm is not adaptable. It must stick to wheat. It has not a ghost of a chance to compete with the individually-operated farms when conditions are adverse, and no more than an even chance when conditions are favourable.