25 Apkh.. liilT.] Food Problems of the World. 195 



FOOD PROBLEMS OF THE WORLD. 



Hon. F. 11'. Uagellhorn, M.L.C.. Minister for Agriculture. 



At no time in the history of the world has there been greater 

 anxiety in regard to the food supply than now. In belligerent countries 

 the making of munitions, the building of ships, and the actual fighting 

 on land and sea have removed more men from their ordinary vocations, 

 and particularly from agricultural production, than at any other time 

 in the world's history. N^eutral nations are but little better off in 

 this regard. Large profits and high wages have depleted the agricultural 

 districts of their manhood in most of the large food-producing countries. 



Mr. William Robinson, of London, who is well known in Australia 

 and throughout the Empire as a very capable business man, writes to 

 say, " The greatest question facing the civili/ed world to-day is food 

 supplies. At the outbreak of war the food problem was attracting 

 attention, and most competent experts considered the position dangerous. 

 To-day no man who studies the position can regard the outlook other 

 than one of the utmost gravity, threatening upheavals the extent and 

 effect of which no man can foresee." 



Austria is on the verge of starvation; her allies are but little better 

 off. France and England, and all neutrals are, we know, having con- 

 siderable difficulty in regard to food supplies generally. The cables 

 inform us that strict rationing has for some time been in operation in 

 enemy countries, and has partially begun in Allied countries. 



Mr. Robinson further says :— " In North and South America, as in 

 all other neutral countries, the call for men, for metals, shells, ships, 

 chemicals, and every other munition, backed by big wages and big profits, 

 has drained the agricultural districts, and production has on one hand 

 suffered, and consumption, by reason of high wages, has increased. We 

 have to grow every ounce of food we cau. Every ounce Australia can 

 spare will be required, even though it may have to be temporarily 

 stored. The wheat crop of Australia, Canada, India, and the Home 

 country must be retained under State control, and used for the benefit 

 of the Empire first, and the Allies next. The same with meat and other 

 foods — not merely for one year, but for a series of years. The wheat 

 pool, or some adaptation of it, is going to live a long time. We are 

 in for a period of collective trading, if not actual trading, between 

 Governments in many of the staple products of life. We will certainly 

 have to see a rapid and complete change from our war policy of stimu- 

 lating the production of all metals everywhere, and replace it with a 

 policy of stimulating the production of all food everywhere. Never 

 was there a greater call throughout the Eni])ire for organization and 

 efficiency than now." 



To-day there is a world shortage of food. Tlie 1916 crop of the 

 Northern Hemisphere showed a tremendous falling off as compared 

 with 1915. The shortage in the six staple foodstuffs — wheat, oats, 

 maize, barley, rye, and potatoes — for man and beast, amounted to no 

 less than 2,200,000,000 bushels. The falling off in the wheat production 

 last year was over 800,000,000 bushels, as compared with the 1915 crop. 



If this represented the total shortage, the position would be serious 

 enough. We know, however, that immense quantities of food have 

 been destroyed on land, or have been sunk at sea. 



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