The Russian Mystery.

These South American comings and goings are a reminder that there are vast continental trade-units which are beyond the orbit of Empire and which Empire policy cannot ignore. South America is one. Russia is another. Somehow, not much is known about economic Russia. In some quarters it is pictured as a land of famine, but suddenly one wakes up to find that the land of famine is shaking the wheat markets of the world. Are millions of people going hungry in Russia to permit the export of millions of bushels of wheat to upset Chicago, or has Russian agriculture got its costs down and its organisation up? This has certainly not been achieved by wheat growers in the United States, Canada, and Australia, who are clamouring for help. Tentatively, “bulk purchases” and a quota system have been discussed. But the wheat-growers want a cash guarantee of payable prices. And the United States Farm Board is reported to be buying wheat heavily to hold the market up.