THE WORLD'S LOAF.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 50, 1 March 1922, Page 4

THE WORLD'S LOAF.

Rome of the States of antiquity would probably have given short ehrift to any such operation as the huge wheat manipulation deacri-bed to-day by the ■'Morning Post." Modern civilisation has advanced in many directions, but it has not yet disciplined those who gamble in the food of nations. The wheat corner described by the "'Morning Post" -seems to be much the most ambitious that hae yet been attempted. Individual speculators and groups have tried to corner national suppliee, generally, if not always, without success, but we do not know of any previous plan to hold up suppliee from Canada, the United States and Australia. This attempt to make millions at the expense of communities that are already hard pressed comes at a time when the use of wheat in the world is rapidy extending. Wheat, says an English expert in a recent article, is the aristocrat among grains. Throughout history "the poorer people of poorer races or nations have marked their rise in the world by a snobbish surrender of their native foods for this aristocratic grain. To-day this dietetic snobbery i3 | rampant. All about the world—in Japan and China, among the peasants of Russia and Germany—rye, rice and such lesser grains are out of fashion, and wheat is demanded as a symbol of wellbeing." Manipulation on a huge scale 'may therefore mean more distress than would have been produced a generation ago. The question is, can the manipulators hold on sufficiently long to make their millions? One great difficulty about j cornering wheat has always been that it : ie grown in many countries, and that a vacuum caused by ''cornering' , in one country ie apt to be filled by a wind from another. Thie time the "cornerers" I are spreading their net wide, but it is ! narrower than the fields of supply, and 1 this fact, combined with financial pressure, may defeat them. They must lean on credit tiil the time h ripe, and the givers of credit may not be entirely ' accommodating. One of the ironical j phase* of this immoral business ie that J the actual producer, who in Million*

lis feeling the pinch of reduced prices, ! will not benefit. If he did there would 'be less to be said against the "corner." The profit will go to speculating middlei men, some of whom may quite conceivably end up with a knighthood or even i a peerage.