THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY TUESDAY, AUGUST 31. 1909. THE PRODUCTION OF WHEAT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9582, 31 August 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY TUESDAY, AUGUST 31. 1909. THE PRODUCTION OF WHEAT.

The statement, made by Mr Hill, the president of the Great Northern Railway ot Canada, at the Science Congress banquet, as mentioned in the . cables on Saturday last, to the effect that by 1915 the United States would have ceased to export wheat, is of the utmost significance to all the food producing countries. Mr Hill may not be exactly correct, for he is necessarily inclined to believe tftafc Britain will soon have to depand for the bulk of its bread upon the districts served by the railways of North- Western Canada. But in 1915 or in 1925, sooner or later the population of the' United States will be large enough to eat its own wheat, and the moment that time is within touching distance the United States ceases to beta' dominating factor in the wheat market. American wheat production, being of such stupendous •roportion in comparison to the size of its market, has had a most depressing" influence upon the wheat irmwing industry of the world. Wheat, prices have been so low that nh»at growing has been avoided wherever possible, and what was or.ce the (ending branch of agriculture, the growing of the people's bread, has become one of the most unprofitable and uncertain. American vital statistics show that the American farmers, once the longest lived of the population, are becoming the shortest lived; this because of the prolonged and unceasing toil made inevitable by modern conditions and low prices. It is ridiculous to imagine that any good is effectad by a cheap loaf, which enables degenerating millions to swarm in the slums of cities at the cost of the health and happiness of the sturdy tillers of the soil. The day of the inordinately cheap loaf is departing with the elimination of the United States from the wheatexportinc; nations, and no intelligent patriot will regret this; but this is no reason why there should be an inordinately dear loaf, if the desirable lands of the world are opened to settlement, and if agriculture is thuß enabled to take advantage of rising prices and to stop them from becoming starvation prices. Canada is doiner her best to open her waste lands. What is New Zealand c'oing?