Show sharing of wheat supply has complicated aspects I 1 j sis S is distribution of surplus to nations needing flour Is vital problem nazi film Is scare drama I 1 by BAUKHAGE national form farm and home hour commentator service 1343 1313 H street N W washington D C today there are hungry millions in belgium france spain and elsewhere for many people in the world there is starvation just around the corner at the same time in the united states canada australia and argentina there is a wheat surplus for export or carryover carry over of bushels an all tim time high but there is little chance for many of the hungry mouths to be fed by the surfeit that is the topsy worlds answer to mans ancient cry for bread haltingly gropingly with small hope for any answer to the surplus problem except plow it under the representatives of the four four 1 wheat powers have met again in in washington for the first wheat conference since 1938 they examined the question from the production point of view for distribution of the earths abundance to the worlds starving is a problem too complicated for any one group to solve it is quite probable that the conference will have dissolved without taking any constructive action by the time this appears in print before long however it is expected that there here will be an international agreement on world quotas angly sly perhaps canada australia and argentina will be forced to join with w ith the united states in a division of such world market as exists I 1 use the word forced purposely for it is the big stick labeled export subsidy in uncle sams closet which will bring the competing nations to yield to the american farmer his share of the world market an export subsidy would permit the american farmer to sell his wheat regardless of the wor world id price for he is then paid the differential by the government this means that as much american wheat can be sold as the government is willing to subsidize and the market can absorb U S subsidized export although it was not expected that an agreement on quotas would come out of this summers conference such an arrangement is assured before long for one was on the point of consummation when the war interrupted why because when the united states in 1938 1933 subsidized the export of a million bushels of wheat just one million bushels had to remain unsold by the other wheat growing countries unless by mutual agreement the world market is shared uncle sam can again cut under his competitors and make up the difference to the american farmer out of government funds but even if an agreement on world quotas is reached that does not so solve ve the problem of surplus wheat to raise raise prices substantially production will have to be cut down and as for the hungry consumer then even the faint hope of obtaining his daily bread is removed the farmer in the united states at the present time is able to make up in part for the loss of foreign markets and low prices by obtaining government loans on his wheat crop at higher than market prices wheat prices higher according to ti the ie report of the department of agriculture for june computed on the basis of export values current prices of wheat are now about 40 cents higher than existing export price levels at the present time market prices in the united states are below the loan values established for the 1941 crop but no government can go on forever taking the surplus wheat crop and piling ing it up there are not sufficient storage facilities on the basis of the new crop prospects stocks will be increased another million bushels to a quantity almost equal to a whole years domestic needs and so as you know the department of agriculture is encouraging the reduction of wheat encouraging cou raging the raising of other products instead and establishing wheat quotas within its own boundaries it is hard enough to carry out such buch a policy of controlled production and distribution in our own country how much more difficult it Js is to obtain such a working arrangement ran gement where clashing national interests interfere in spite of ma bority agreement on method among our own farmers some threaten to burn their wheat rather than withhold it from the market how much more of a problem it is to reach an international understanding restricting the market or cutting down acreage in countries like argentina and canada where wheat is the very backbone of the national economy 0 victory in the west Is real scare drama the other day I 1 sat with a group of invited newsmen and a few army officers and watched a movie called victory in the west it was a german propaganda film showing how the german army smashed through the low countries and france it was seized as it was being smuggled into south america to impress our southern neighbors with german might and well it might the film was a wonderful job in propaganda photography and scare drama the military efficiency revealed in that picture is a partial answer to why the rivers of western europe and later russia usually considered such powerful obstacles against an advancing army were crossed so easily by the germans the movie showed the german advance in the low countries with dramatic shots of engineers swimming rivers crossing in frail rubber boats and building bridges under shell fire the german propagandist explained P pla bained ined the men were led not by officers using telephones and written orders but by officers who lay beside their troops in the same dirt later an american official familiar through long study with german military methods gave his explanation of german successes he said the germans were led by trained warriors not one of whom ever had a clerk or a desk today in washington there is a quiet but persistent movement led by general marshall chief of staff to get rid of american officers who have difficulty functioning without desks stenographers clerks and caddies for a long time the general has been working with congress for legislation which would make it possible to remove officers young or old whose records show that they are incompetent such a measure is pending but there is strong prejudice against it in some circles an appraisal of hillers Hit lers business methods truth is anything that helps the german cause thus hitler and douglas miller 15 years in the american embassy in berlin commercial for last five years during the nazi regime tells the following story in his new book which has made a considerable stir in washington you cant do business with hitler little brown co while the commercial treaty with germany guaranteeing the united states equal treatment with other nations was still extant mr miller discovered that denmark was being given preferential treatment in regard to importations of lard by germany he called on the foreign office to protest and was told that america was treated precisely as any other country mr miller produced evidence that denmark was given a 25 per cent larger quota than the united states I 1 quote the rest from mr millers book the german official appeared to be only slightly embarrassed he reached into his desk and pulled out the german text of the identical treaty and explained that was the way things were done nowadays 1 I said well what can we do now he said you can file a protest yes but we have already filed a great number of protests many of which have not even been answered and none of which appeared to do any good I 1 took my hat and started for the door the official accompanied me to the door and said 1 I hope this little incident will not disturb our friendly personal relations because I 1 want you to remember that I 1 have to earn my living somewhere |