What happens
The Pacific Story presents a documentary-style episode on the soybean, from its history in China and Manchuria to its uses today. The narrative follows Chinese farmers attending conferences at a Japanese soybean research laboratory in Dairen, where they learn methods that greatly raise their crop yields. It then describes how Japanese interests come to control the soybean trade of Manchuria through the South Manchuria Railroad and the Bank of Manchukuo, squeezing out European and Chinese exporters. Commentary from W.J. Morse of the United States Department of Agriculture closes the episode, describing American soybean research and the crop's growing industrial and food uses. The episode first aired on June 2, 1946.
Manchuria, China, and the United States, with the Dairen laboratory and the South Manchuria Railroad as key locations
Characters: W.J. Morse, Dr. Charlie Piper, Chinese farmers, Japanese researchers, representatives of European export companies
Listen for: Morse's account of the soybean's history in America and the remarks on how its uses have grown
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.