21 



$ 46,000,000 Wasted Annually. 



The figures adduced and the calculations made 

 nated from most reliable associations and individuals, 

 and had been under-estimated in order to avoid 

 possible exaggeration, even so, the sum total of 

 the losses sustained under the heads enumerated, some 

 forty six millions annually, were so impressive as to force 

 the State not to postpone for one instant the construc- 

 tion of elevators. 



WAR LOSSES versus WAR GAINS. 



Again in 1914 in a pamphlet published under the 

 title of National Wealth Prostituted, in a plea for sane 

 and scientific methods, I computed the losses on wheat 

 alone, based on a possible contingency of the war not 

 proving our salvation as then proclaimed, as follows : 



Difference in prices through forced selling, that is 

 between those ruling on the European markets and here, 

 allowing for the expenses of transport by sea and land, 

 etc., $200,000,000. 



The loss through deterioration of crop, through de- 

 layed despatch and sale, and from non-grading and 

 wastages, by insects, rotting, damp grain, etc., 

 $150,000,000. 



The waste of money over the use of sacks, by their ad- 

 ditional cost, and by the speculation, the delays they 

 <cause, etc. $45,000,000. 



The overcharge in ocean freights, that is the differ- 

 ence which we would have to pay over and above the 

 nigh freights ruling during a war (at that time no one 

 foresaw that freights would actually reach the rates they 

 ^id) on account of the absence 'of facilities for loading, 

 etc., loss of rapid dispatch money, and demurrage cost, 

 etc., $5,000,000. 



The extorsions of the Monopoly, or Grain Trust, 

 and the gains of all those who deal in grain, taking ad- 

 vantage of the situation, over and above legitimate pro- 

 ts, $100,000,000. 

 Total $500,000,000 annually less than should le earned. 



That without elevators and without warrants, which 

 alone are possible through elevators, the farmer would be 

 deprived of the means of defending his crops; That his 

 losses which in normal years amount to one third of the 

 sum he receives for his wheat, that is where he netts $12 

 instead of $15, would be double the total value of 

 the crop during the next few years of abnormal war 

 trading, that is to say for a crop which in 1913-4 was 

 worth $200,000,000, he would not get a cent more despite 



