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Show l: The Food Situation Secretary of Agriculture Says There ! is Nothing to Justify Hysterical Thinking or Action The Secretary of Agriculture, D. F. Houston, recently issued the following fol-lowing statement: There is nothing in the food situation sit-uation of the country which justifies hysterical thinking or action. This , is not a time for hysteria. Nor is this a time for the thought of the American people to be directed or dominated by those who have the interests of another country primarily primar-ily at heart or any selfish interest to further. The prices of foodstuffs are high. A full and satisfactory explanation of prevailing prices is not possible on the basis of existing knowledge. It is only recently that agencies have been created in the country to study food distribution, and we have not all the necessary facts to enable us to arrive at the truth. Where the food supply is located, who owns it, what may be the difficulties of securing it, whether the local market conditions are due to car shortaee. whether there is artificial manipulation or control, no one can state with certainty. cer-tainty. It is essential that we have the facts not only because of the light they might throw on present conditions but also because they are prerequisite for the working out of a permanent, just and economical system sys-tem of marketing. Therefore the investigation in-vestigation directed by the President ought to be made promptly, and Congress Con-gress ought to give the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Agriculture the necessary funds. Certainly such an investigation ean not furnish immediate relief, but it would be absurd to oppose it for that reason. It does not stand In the way of any other measures that may be wise. It does not prevent any constructive con-structive action on the part of any municipal or local agencies. We must have the facts and the sooner the investigation in-vestigation is undertaken the better. It is highly probable that as a result of It large permanent improvements may be made. Importance of Pood Conservation For partial immediate relief.every individual and community should consider earnestly the matter of food conservation and the limitation of waste. As a nation we seem to have a disdain of economizing. In many homes there is a strong feeling that it is "only decent" to provide more food than will be eaten and that it Is demeaning to reckon closely. The experts of the Department of Agriculture Agricul-ture report to me that the dietary studies made by them point to an annual an-nual food waste of about $700,000,-000. $700,000,-000. Of course, the waste In families of very limited means is slight, but in the families of moderate and ample am-ple means the waste is considerable. Even if the estimate were reduced by half the waste would still be enormous. enor-mous. The food waste in the household, the experts assert, results in large measure from bad preparation and bad cooking, from improper care and handling, and, in well-to-do families, from serving an undue number of courses and an overabundant supply and failing to save and utilize the food not consumed. As an instance of improper handling, it is discovered discover-ed that in the preparation of potatoes 20 per cent of the edible portion in many cases is discarded. The Position of the Parmer I am informed that the belligerents belliger-ents in Europe in dealing with their food situation have, up to this time, accomplished their purposes more largely through conservation of foods, regulation of the diet, limitation limita-tion of courses and quantities, and prevention of waste, rather than through direct control of production or regulation of distribution under any sort of dictatorship. Only recently re-cently has England indicated her intention in-tention to deal directly with production, produc-tion, and in doing so has recognized it as essential that she guarantee to farmers a reasonable minimum price over a period of years. Obviously, If farmers are to be induced to increase in-crease acreage, a guaranty of a reasonable rea-sonable price by the nation or the community seems necessary. Farmers Farm-ers are governed by the same thinking think-ing and motives as other people. Thoy are patriotic; but it is unlikely that they will undertake greatly to increase their output unless they are reasonably sure that it will be profitable profit-able for them to do so. One could no more expect a farmer greatly to Increase his product without a knowledge of the outcome than he , could expect a manufacturer to dou-blethe dou-blethe production of shoes unless he , knew that he could dispose of them j profitably. Those who are urging that farmers be induced greatly to ' increase their acreage beyond that which their own judgment indicates know very little about the psychology I of farmers, or of other people for that matter, or about the fundamental fundamen-tal necessities of the situation. As a matter of fact, farmers are going to j do their own thinking In this matter ; and will not follow anvhodv's dicta-1 tion. They are quite ajert to the interplay of supply and demand, and , respond quite as quickly as other people to the stimulus of high prices. Before touching upon this particular point further, a word should be said about the estimated food supply of the country for the current year. Estimated pood Supply for Current Year The weather conditions during the growing season of 1916 were unfavorable unfav-orable in many parts of the world. They were distinctly unfavorable in this country. Although there was a large wheat acreage, the weather conditions were such as to favor the appearance of the black-rust disease affecting wheat. The consequence was that although the acreage was large the yield was relatively small. The conditions were not especially favorable for corn and for some other oth-er important crops. Still the food output on the whole for the current year was not so small as to excite alarm. The corn crop was 2,600,-000,000 2,600,-000,000 bushels, nearly the five-year average. The oat crop was above the five-year average, the barley very nearly the five-year average, rye 10,- 000,000 bushels more than the five-year five-year average, ' and rice 40,000,000 bushels, as against 29,000,000 bushels bush-els the year before, and 24,500,000 bushels, the five-year average. The production of kafir corn, a relatively new crop, was 50,000,000 bUBhels. The production of peaches, 37,000,-000 37,000,-000 bushels, of pears 10,400,000 bushels, and of apples 67,500,000 barrels, represents approximately the five-year average, while the estimated estima-ted production of oranges was 23,-800,000 23,-800,000 boxes, or 2,600,000 more than that of the preceding year. The crop of sugar beets was one of the largest ever produced. Meat products prod-ucts likewise were produced in larger quantities, the estimated amount for the year being 22,378,000,000 pounds, as against a five-year average aver-age of 19,712,000,000 pounds,, or 2,000,000,000 pounds greater than the output for the year 1915. Dairy and poultry products on the whole showed a gain. Wheat The two food products which reveal re-veal a marked decrease were wheat and Irish potatoes. It Is evident that the public has failed "to look at all the facts involved, especially in the case of wheat. The wheat crop for the current year was reported to be 640,000,000 bushels as against a five-year five-year average of 728,000,000 bushels and the record crop of 1915 of 1,026,000,000 bushels. Apparently the public has compared the crop of 1916. solely with the record crop of 1915 and failed to take into account the unusually large carry over from that year into the present year of 164,000,000 bushels or more. Furthermore, Fur-thermore, its attention has been fixed on the large exports of the two years immediately following the outbreak of the war. The exports of wheat In normal times are approximately 105,-000,000 105,-000,000 bushels. The year preceding the war it was 145,000,000 bushels. In 1914-15 it was 332,000,000 bushels, bush-els, dropping in 1915-16 to 243,000,-000 243,000,-000 bushels. Looking only at the crop of 640,000,000 bushels and having hav-ing in mind the possibilities of export as suggested by the figure of 332,-000,000 332,-000,000 for 1914-15, the public naturally nat-urally apprehended that there would be a lack of bread. Dealers and others became unduly excited. The total available Bupply, including both the crop and the carry over, aggregating ag-gregating 804,000,000 bushels part of which, It should be said, was not suitable for milling purposes should have been considered as well as the relatively small exports for the first six months of the current year. Up to the 1st of January the exports were only 97,000,000 bushels, and they have tended to decrease partly on account of the disturbed conditions condi-tions since the 1st of January. Our normal domestic needs of wheat for human food, for seeding purposes, and for a reserve to carry over into the next year require 640,000,000 bushels. As I have stated, the total year's supply is 804,000,000 bushels. This would give us an available exportable ex-portable surplus of 164,000,000 bushels. At the rate of export since the 1st of July, with the tendency to decline recently, we should have enough-wheat in the country very nearly to supply normal needs. |