Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1821-08-06
LETTER.

On the price Of Gran ''e europe
Communicated for che National Gazete)
On the 9TH or 9Th of March MIR. Cur
wen, in his place in Parliament delivered
a speech on the subject OF agricultural dis
! tress in Great Britain, in which, that hon
orable Member informed the House of
| Commons that wheat night be grown in
Poland at IS. per quarter and that Us per
| quarter would be an ample remunera.
To refute this Misrepresentation. or
mistake into which Mr. Curwen appears
to have been led, is the object Of the pre-
sent; knowing that it cannot be the inten
ton of the committee to rest the issue of
their report upon an erroneous statement.
1t would be easy to prove the fal!acy of
Dir. Curwen's assertion by taking gene
raj view of the present state of agricultu-
raj distress throughout all Europe; have
however, taken some pains to adduce even
more undeniable proof.
The average prices Of grain in 1920,
were,
For wheat 42s Sd. per quarter; for rye,
Gas. Cd. per quarter; for barley, ISIS. I'd.
per quarter; and for oats, l5s Tod in 1920;
ditto SIS ditto, lbs Cd; ditto l2s lOd;
ditto l0s.,-which shews that our prices
have in the last l2 months again declined
considerably. Recurring to the prices of
the last ~ years, from l770, to 1919, both
inclusive, (leaving out the year 1918, in
which prices of wheat rose to $4,000 per
last. on account of the seige) it is found
that the averages exceed those Of the last
two years by far, having been.
For wheat, Ass. I'D per quarter; for rye,
27s. 3D.; for barley, Cos. lod.; and for oats.
lSs lod. All these calculations are cor.
rectly made at the average exchange off24
DANTE. Money in gold, or flS per currel-
cy, which is about equal.
This statement shews at once that the
present low prices cannot pay the land
proprietor for interest, taxes, labor, &c
and that therefore they cannot be looked
upon as standard prices, for it must be
recollected that since the year ITO, the
price of labor, the taxes, and all other ne
cessaries of life have gradually been dou-
bied, and, and in some instances, trebled
Well as this is understood to have been
the case in Great Britain, it must not be
supposed that the continent has not I'm
dergone corresponding changes, as the
the same cause, have operated with US
The system of paper money having been
adopted by nearly every power in Eu-
rope, it has of course raised the value of
all the commodities of life.
From calculation made out by an emf
L.. iy,o
vince it appears that if land could Sc had
for nothing and reckoning upon no casa.
dlities, such as the failure of the crop,
extraordinary taxes, acquisitions, the
quartering oftroops and others, the mere
producing prices of grain would come
to-:
$500 Prus. cur per last of wheat, or SIS.
Cd. per Or. $50 do do. of rye, or l5s l0d do.
100 do do OF barley, or les. 3d. do 80
do. do of oats, or 9s. cd. do.
TO these must be added, according to
the distance and descriptions of grain,
from 4 a 6 per quarter, for bringing the
produce to market. and incidental expen-
ses on the same For the sake of unifor-
nifty have made this calculation at the
exchange of flS per currency, like the
former ones, athoug h the present ex
change is FL. 9gs.
1t appears that when agricultural dis
tress is felt throughout the principal en-
pircs in Europe that one or two states
cannot be exempt from it; or if such was
the case. on account Of the failure of the
crop in these particular countries, these
prices would soon be brought down again
by abundant supplies from their neigh
bors Poland and Prussia have not been
in this predicament, but have had average
crops ever since the year 1917 besides 6.
Britain, Holland, Spain and Portugal,
have had little or no occasion for our SUP
plies; yet, notwithstanding, prices have
kept much higher with us than what Mr..
Curwen represents to be an ample remu-
nerating price; what is the cau.e of this ?
Is it not the impossibility of growing
wheat at SO miserable a price, And is it
not nationally to be supposed that when
there is superfuity of grain in every
quarter of the globe, that prices must be
under their standard value. Our govern
ment, to prevent. as they hoped, the utter
ruin of the agriculturists, had, in the year
1914, recourse to very arbitrary mea-
sure. The king issued decree, called
the indulgence act. that no land proprie-
tor should be sued for interest and CAPT.
tai This act is now expiring and already
above an hundred estates are under Sc
questration, and will be sold by public
auction, as the occupiers have no means
OF satisfying their creditors even for in
terest; no more being demanded of them.