36 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



by insect and rodent depredation. The cry for wheat had 

 become insistent and every influence operated to put this 

 crop quickly and completely upon the market. It taxed 

 transportation to the utmost, particularly as we were still 

 in the war. The storage capacity of the country was not 

 equal to its reception and the problem at once arose of 

 getting rid of wheat in every conceivable way. It was for 

 this reason that Mr. Hoover took off the lid and told us to 

 eat it up, even while he knew that thousands of people 

 were in distress for the wheat that we did not need but 

 which they could not get. The same thing is true of other 

 products. We had fallen into the habit of saving w^aste 

 and as a result we have been overtaken by the flood tide; 

 and that is why we can pull down our conservation signs. 



However, should conditions suddenly improve across the 

 water and should the distressed people there be able to 

 transport and pay for the food which they sorely need, the 

 call upon America will be sharp and our supply will be 

 inadequate. That is why Mr. Hoover has said that when 

 the fixed price is removed, wheat may again go to |3.50 a 

 bushel. 



Taken all in all, the situation is no longer one of dis- 

 tress so far as the Allies and ourselves are concerned, 

 Russia excepted. So far as all other parts of the world are 

 concerned, food is yet the most critical question before 

 humanity. Such a war as this cannot be fought without 

 famine and its attendant pestilence. It has never yet been 

 done and doubtless never will be. 



From the standpoint of production, the great question 

 now is the rapidity with which the world can get ready to 

 buy. Europe clearly has need of food long before it can 

 produce it, so that if the world is to be fed in the next few 

 months it must draw heavily upon the United States, — 

 just how heavily no man is able to predict. 



