Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1857-11-11
Holding on for Higher Prices.

A large portion of the farmers in
'Trumbull County are 10 easy circumstan-
ces, and do not feel compelled to sell
their products for less than they think il
possible produce may bring in the course
of a year.
These are the men who raise the larg-
est crops and have the largest surplus
to dispose of. For the last four or FIVE
years high prices have ruled, and they
think that the present rates for produce
are too low, and are holding on TO their
produce with the full expectation Of re
alizing as much as before. Men seldom
take it as a favor to be told that expec-
tations of profit can never be realized,
but .ungracious as is the task in this in.
stance, we shall take The Liberty of doing
so; feeling fully assured that in the end
they will be better satisfied with us than
if We were TO take the opposite course
We are 10 spectators, and have no per-
sonal interests TO serve in having low
prices for produce rule, but on the con
trary, our business is always best when
the prices of agricultural products are
the highest. Therefore we hope u
farming friends will at least give US cred
it for candor, whether they follow our
advice or not.
We think that it would be wise for
farmers TO bring to market now, what
ever surplus grain and produce they may
have to sell, because We think 1t impos-
sible that prices can improve soon; and
fer the following reasons:
list, The crops this year thoughouI
the whole of the United States, and the
greater part of Europe, have been i'm
mense, and the prospects of the crops
sown this fall equally are as good.
end, Speculation in produce is at an
cad for the present, because speculation
never RACES with a falling market, but
always with q rising one, moreover spec
ulators have no money.
srd, The currency Of the country has
been contracted within the last three
months nearly one hundred millions of
dollars, and the effects of this contrac-
ton is only just beginning to be felt BY
the farming community, they being the
last class to be reached.
.4;h, Confidence in the whole trading
community is shaken, and the credit sys-
tim has received a shoek which it will
require a long time to recover from. and
there is not sufficient money in the couu-
Try to keep up prices even at their pres
ent rates. 4,
tth, The season of canal and lake
navigation has almost closed, two thirds
OF The vessels on the lakes are already
in winter quarters, and there are lens of
thousands of bushels of grain at every :
one of the lake ports awaiting shipment, /
which cannot be sent because neither J
nor consignee has money to pay !
he freight. T,
We have given these reasons for The 6
benefit of those who hold produce and Q
1--WE nothing, and ask them 10 look at the c
natter in this light, as well as in that of I
heir own wishes. /
But there is another and large class, c
Who do owe, and hold produce and can
lot pay without making sales. To them
say that by holding on, they are not
,nly injuring themselves, but they are
LONG rank injustice TO their creditors. T
We close in the words of the Pittsburg y
v
The country is laboring under a de fl
which extends to every man in 6
he land. The manufactures Of The q
country, which afforded the great source Il
If demand, have nearly al been stopped e
her workmen sent adIift, and many of "
Len from being have turned d
Money is growing scarcer "
very day, and is not likely soon 10 be "
The towns are emptying them
into the country, the whole ten b
lency being. everywhere, TO cut of de- C,
nand at the great source of consumption; Il
md when TO all this we add the great d
abundance OF breadstuffS, What is there c.
o build a hope OIL for higher priees?- e
The present depression is not a mere W
temporary che. 1t will take the country II
TO get over it; and the sooner we "
econ modate ourselves 10 our changed e.
tate of circumstances, the better it will a
for all parties concerned. Z
l.