 

20 MACARONI WHEAT IN FOREIGN MARKETS.

MACARONI.

In a dispatch written by me April 19, 1899, and published among
consular reports under date of May 29, 1899, I suggested that this
variety of wheat could very probably be grown in the United States.
The same dispatch reported that the annual output of edible pastes
in France was estimated at from 120,000,000 to 170,000,000 pounds.
The consumption is constantly increasing, and is now largely in
excess of these figures.
The factories in France now produce about 330,000 pounds of
pastes per day. About one-third of this is exported—most of it to
the United States. The only other countries in Europe in which
edible pastes are made are Italy and Spain, the latter country producing
 barely enough for the domestic consumption. Italy exports
pastes to the South American nations and in a very limited quantity
to the United States. France exports some pastes to Austria, Germany,
 and Belgium, but her paste business there is not important.
Should the output of this article be increased in the United States
much beyond consumption, the countries in which to look for purchasers
 would be Belgium; Germany, Austria, and Russia. The product
 of France and Italy is far in excess of consumption. The probability
 is that the output of the United States will soon be so great that
we will be able to supply the rest of the world. It can not be otherwise
 than that our methods of manufacture will soon produce at
lower figures than France and Italy. They are countries of low
wages, which means little or no progress in methods of work. The
European producers expect us to excel them in everything.
When in 1899 I began studying this subject and applied to the
largest manufacturer of edible pastes in Lyons for information he
refused me admission to his works, saying:
You will interest Americans in this business; they will begin the manufacture
of pastes and in a few years will take all this business away from us.

Much of the extra quantity of hard wheat produced in the United
States this year ought to be worked up into edible pastes and find consumers
 among the growing population of the United States. Macaroni,
 in its various forms, is a most popular dish wherever it is known,
and is easily prepared and makes a wholesome and acceptable addition
to a meal in any grade of society. It can be preserved almost indefinitely.
 It would be welcomed on frontier posts and in the far West,
where delicacies are not readily accessible. In Italy, especially in
and around Naples, it is the chief article of daily food. While the
nobility and the wealthy classes generally find it indispensable to a
good meal all the year round, it is the main stay of the poorer classes,
who eat it in their homes, in all the large and small restaurants, and

on the street corners, where a soup dish of it, seasoned with tomato

 

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