that this would provide sufficient transportation, the problem was still only half solved. 

 No guarantee could be given that ships would not be requisitioned for war purposes. 

 Grain buyers declared "We will not buy a single bushel of wheat more than we have 

 ships to fill, and those ships must be allotted to us absolutely," — something that even 

 the Government could not guarantee. 



The Government therefore decided to assume the responsibility. The risk involved 

 many millions. Only the Government with the resources of the country behind it 

 could shoulder the responsibility of handling the entire crop and face the risk of lack 

 of vessels and a falling market. 



The scheme was a "pool" in which every farmer became a shareholder. First, 

 the Government took complete control of the crop and of its disposal. No one could 

 sell except to the Government; no one could buy except from the Government. 



It was then decided that the farmer should be advanced 75c. per bushel on his 

 wheat, less freight from his station to principal shipping points. Arrangements were 

 made with the Associated Banks to finance the undertaking. Farmers were to deliver 

 their grain to the mills or railway stations, receiving the usual certificate, and on pre- 

 senting same at the bank, were paid the sum called for. 



For the money provided by the banks, amounting to millions of pounds sterling, 

 a charge of 5% is made, which is a much lower rate than could have been secured by 

 independent buyers. 



Through agents, the Government undertakes to receive, forward and market the 

 wheat. When the crop is finally disposed of, the balance, if any, over and above the 75 

 cents advanced, will be paid the farmer. He will thus receive all that the wheat realizes, 

 less cost of handling, ocean transportation, marketing, and the 5 per cent, charged by 

 the banks on the money advanced. Should the crop realize $1.14 net per bushel, there 

 will be a dividend of 39 cents payable on each bushel. Not only will he get full parity 

 price for the wheat shipped out of the country, but also for every bushel used in internal 

 trade, provision having been made for supplying millers at a price to be approximately 

 the London parity. All will receive the same equitable treatment. 



In normal seasons, ocean freight rates average from 16 to 24 cents per bushel. 

 In December last the rate was quoted at 60 to 70 cents per bushel. Such tonnage as 

 was available cost, including insurance, about 70 cents. According to the Journal of 

 the Victoria, Australia, Department of Agriculture, the farmers were receiving the 

 benefit of a reduction of from six to twelve cents per bushel in ocean freight, as a result 

 of doing away with competition between dealers for vessel space. 



The undertaking may be defined as a co-operative realization of the harvest, with 

 the State acting as manager. Had it not been for this scheme, more than half the 

 farmers of Australia would have faced ruin, with disastrous results to the whole com- 

 munity, a situation which, it is conceded, justified the Government in taking action 

 looking to its control. 



Will it work out? It will, provided the Government can get the shipping. That 

 is the risk the Government, or rather the country at large, must take. 



THE WHEAT CROP IN RUSSIA 



W. KOTCHETKOV, Assist. Agricultural Commissioner from Russia to the 



United States 



Wheat is cultivated in almost every part of the Russian empire, but the principal 

 regions of this crop are the provinces of black soils (tchernozem) of European Russia. 

 The distribution of the area under wheat crop in different parts of the Empire is shown 

 in the following table, according to the data of the Yearbook of the Russian Department 

 of Agriculture for 1912: 



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