70 THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 



south to get around Lake Michigan on its way to the 

 seaboard and our great consuming centers. So the 

 Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois wheat sent to Minneapolis 

 for milling, and later to the Eastern markets, must 

 be subjected to the unnecessary expense of freight to 

 and from the initial point to Minneapolis. Again, a 

 line east and west through the south point of Lake 

 Michigan is approximately the dividing line between 

 our winter and spring wheat areas, and as large 

 quantities are shipped from each area to the other 

 to be mixed in milling, this enormous expense can 

 be avoided by milling the grain near this dividing 

 line, or during the war, at least in the Allied 

 countries. They need the by-products, as well as the 

 flour. 



As every one knows, these uneconomic practices 

 were the result of specially low rates north and south 

 to meet " river competition " in other words, to rob 

 the public at large from the benefits of water trans- 

 portation on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. 

 With government control of railroads, it would seem 

 that there was no longer any possible excuse for con- 

 tinuing this unnecessary burden upon producers and 

 consumers taking from the selling price of the for- 

 mer or adding to the purchase price of the latter, and 

 continuing the waste of fuel, man-power and rolling 

 stock. As to the economy in milling, because of water 

 power, large capacity of mills, etc., one may not be an 

 expert, may even be a novice in the milling industry, 

 to see the fallacy of this theory. A few decades back, 

 local toll mills were all over the country, and few 

 States but what had laws governing them. In most 



