GEOGRAPHY OF WHEAT PRICES. 5 
regions. The flow of wheat is then from these areas to those of 
denser population and deficient supply. Price maps reflect regu- 
larly geographic relationship to this movement, the lowest prices 
appearing in the surplus-producing areas farthest from European 
markets or in those most unfavorably placed in the distributive 
channels. 
Map 2 shows the distribution of wheat production in the census 
year 1909. It will be noted that while wheat raising is generally 
diffused from ocean to ocean (except in the southernmost tier of 
States), only certain States which may be roughly described as lying 
west of the Mississippi and north of the thirty-seventh parallel pro- 
duce more than their requirements for food and seed. 
Table I (p. 8) presents in condensed form data relating to the 
geographic price alignments of wheat. To obtain representative 
measurements a five-year average was employed (1911-1915). States 
have also been grouped by sections of the country to permit of a 
general view. Population, wheat production, wheat requirements 
for food and seed, and surplus or deficiency are given in absolute 
figures as well as percentages of the United States totals. The rela- 
tion of production to population in each unit is indicated by the per 
capita figures. Commercial movement of wheat (with which farm 
prices are closely identified) is indicated by "shipments out of counties 
where grown;" and a rough characterization of this traffic, whether 
it be in the form of wheat or wheat flour, is obtained by com- 
paring the census data regarding wheat ground in merchant mills 
during the calendar year 1914 with figures for production and average 
requirements. 
A striking feature of this sectional grouping is the degree of the 
national dependence for wheat supplies upon the West North Cen- 
tral States, constituting about 17 per cent of the total area, and the 
concentration of production within a few States west of the Missisippi. 
The entire region east of the Mississippi, in addition to the southwest, 
produces much less wheat than it consumes. Here, too, the highest 
farm prices prevail. The North Atlantic States grow only about 
one-fifth of their requirements, comparing with Great Britain in this 
respect. Most notably deficient in production (showing also the 
lowest per capita consumption) is the territory comprised in the 
Atlantic and the Southern States (bounded by the Ohio and the Mis- 
sissippi Rivers) and the West South Central section, 25 States in all. 
These regions grow only 16 per cent of the national wheat (1911-1915), 
but contain 56 per cent of the total farm lands, 49 per cent of the 
total improved land (1910 census), and 60 per cent of the total 
population. In round numbers they total: Wheat requirements, 
305 million bushels; production, 129 million; and deficiency, 176 
million bushels. To the wheat drawn here to supply this shortage 
