SYMPOSIUM OX SCIENCE AND RECONSTRUCTION 35 



sent to the bottom of the ocean some millions of tons of 

 perfectly good wheat and meat. It is there. Let them go 

 and get it ! Perfectly jnst though this might be, it is 

 neither foresighted nor diplomatic, and unquestionably 

 the Peace Conference is wise in doing everything it can to 

 establish governments in the defeated sections with the 

 greatest speed and the greatest certainty possible. If this 

 cannot be done, and if the Russians are to go on butchering 

 each other indefinitely, then the actual call for food, be- 

 yond that of our Allies, will not be large. 



It is fair to assume, however, that arrangements will be 

 made for feeding Ai-menia and for relieving distress in all 

 allied or neutral countries so far as credit can be arranged. 

 Even this will call for an enormous amount of food and if 

 in addition the Central Powers and Russia sliould succeed 

 in establishing stable governments in the next few weeks, 

 the call upon the United States for food will be enormous. 



We must not forget that Russia, next to the United 

 States, is the greatest wheat producing country in the 

 world, producing over one-fifth of the entire crop of the 

 earth, and yet, if she should establish a stable government 

 she will at ojice become an importer. 



Very mucli has been said of the Australian wheat crop, 

 but Australia under normal conditions produces rather 

 less wheat than Spain. Besides, under present conditions 

 the famine in India, which is the third wheat-producing 

 country in the world, is so great as to require that the 

 Australian wheat crop shall be moved in that direction. 



The last crop in Argentina is small. Even at the best, it 

 must be remembered that all of South America produced 

 less wheat than either Canada or France before the war, 

 and that Argentina produces less than Italy. 



Last of all, we are easily deceived about our own sup- 

 plies. The wheat crop of the Ignited States is harvested 

 during the four months from May through August, and an- 

 other month would include the entire Xorth American 

 product. Lender ordinary conditions, this crop makes its 

 way into the market somewlmt slowly, and usually a great 

 amount is held back by the producer for the increasethat 

 follows the harvest season. This year, however, the price 

 was fixed. There was no reason for holding the crop even 

 twenty-four hours, to lose in weight by drying or in amount 



