Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1909 — BIG DECREASE IN WHEAT EXPORTS [ARTICLE]

BIG DECREASE IN WHEAT EXPORTS

United States Is Consuming More of the Cereal Thao Erer. PRICE TO STAY OVER DOLLAR Secretary Wilson Thinks the Record of Production For This Year Will Exceed the Mark Reached In 1908. Other Countries Are Supplying the Foreign Demand This Country Did Not Care to Satisfy. Washington, Nov. s.—The continued decline in the exportation of breadstuffs lends Interest to a statement just prepared by the bureau of statistics of the department of commerce and labor which shows a steady increase In the share of the wheat crop of the United States consumed at home. The exportations of wheat for nine months amounted to 27,768,901 bushole against 68.178,935 bushels in the same months of 1908; and of flour 6,288,283 barrels against 9,428,347 in the same months of last year, suggesting that the calendar year 1909 will show a smaller exportation of wheat than any year in the last decade with the exception of 1904 and 1905.

Good Prices Maintained. This reduction seems to be due to increased consumption at home rather than to any decline in production. Nor can it be said that the decrease is due to low prices offered in other parts of the world, since the price at which the exportations of the year occurred ranged from 98 cents per bushel in June, 1908, to $1.23 per bushel in June, 1909. The very fact that the home market consumed an unusually large part of the product indicates that the prices paid at home compared favorably with those offered abroad. The shortage which this increased consumption by the United States causes in the supply of wheat available for other countries is, apparently, being met in part by Increased production and exporations on the part of certain other countries, especially Argentina and Canada. Australia, Russia and India show in 1908 wheat exports materially below their average for the immediately preceding five years. Will Stay Above Dollar Mark.

Secretary Wilson says an Increase in population in the United States is bound to overtax the ability of the farmer to provide for its sustenance, but that that day is remote. “Will American wheat go below $1 again?” Wilson was asked. "Probably not,” replied the secretary. The secretary showed that the value of the American farmers’ output for the calender year of 1908 aggregated seven and a quarter billion dollars. Having in mind the higher prices of the present, the total for this year he thought to be as large or larger. The prospect for a great increase in the production of wheat is excellent, in the opinion of Secretary Wilson.