10 AGRICULTURAL MARKETING REVOLVING FUND
10 per cent in the wheat acreage to a decrease of 6 per cent, it would
appear that they are going in the right direction. Besides, you
have a lot of prairie that is just coming into wheat in Kansas, or a
lot of new ground. In view of that, a 6 per cent reduction in the
acreage is a substantial contribution. Mr. McLaughlin, out in
Nebraska, a State which produces only about half the quantity of
wheat that is raised in Kansas, says that they have raised their
winter planting.
Mr. Ayres. Did Mr. Mohler give any reasons for that reduction?
Mr. Leer. Not in detail. There are various things that con-
‘ributed to it. One, of course, is t"e econoniic reason, with the
price of wheat so absurdly low. )klahoma has made a larger
reduction relatively than Kansas. "hat is in the heart of the
Winter Wheat Belt.
Mr. Ayres. Yes; but they can produce cotton and many things
that we can not produce in the what-producing section of Kansas.
There is one other question: You made a very interesting state-
ment a while ago to the effect that the relative price of wheat during
this year has been about the same as in previous years—-—
Mr. Luger (interposing). Did I say that the price was about the
same ?
Mr. Ayres. That is what I understood you to say.
Mr. Lrcee. That is a mistake. I did not intend to say that.
Mr. Ayres. I may have misunderstood you. Was your state-
ment with regard to the wheat purchased in prior months?
Mr. Lecer. I was talking in quantities. I did not make any
statement with reference to the price, except I said that the price
aow is 20 cents per bushel above the export parity, or what it would
ring if it were shipped to the Liverpool market.
Mr. Ayres. Can you make a comparison of the price of wheat
{uring the months of July, August, and September, of this year,
#ith the price during the same months in 1929 and 1928?
Mr. Lace. They are very much lower than in either of those
previous years. That is practically true of all commodity prices.
Especially is that true when you make the comparison with 1929,
As you may remember, we had a little excitement in wheat in the
season of 1929, owing to a short production, which, it was thought,
would wipe out the surplus. Some of the oldest men in the grain
trade thought that it would wipe out the surplus.
Mr. Ayres. How much greater was the production of wheat in
the United States in 1930 than it was in 1929?
Mr. Lrcee. Do you mean how much it increased?
Mr. AYres. Yes.
Mr. Lecce. Only about 40,000,000 bushels.
"0, Ayres. How much was the vroduction in 1930 over that of
Mr. LrcGe. It was less than the 1928 production. 1928 was a
urna crop vear. In 1928 the production was around 915,000,000
hushels. .
Mr. Ayres. The world production in 1930 was about 30.000.000
sushels more than 1t was in 1929; is that correct?
Mr. Lrece. No; I think it is rather more. The world production,
so far as reported, exclusive of Russia and China is 5 per cent above
the production of last year.
