The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1860-11-15
The Great West.

We have been in the habit for MANY years
Of calling the region beyond the Allcghanies,
the Great west, referring to the immense
extent of country and the prodig;ous enter
prise with which it was peopled and cultiva
ted.-But not till the present season have
we learned the true and full significance of
the phrase. These occidental districts are
the great west emphatica,Iy, as they are
now proving from day to day by the reports
of the incredible productiveness of the grain
CROPS. Once or twice before VIC have had
occasion to speak ofthe Importance ofthc last
harvest to the commercial and political well
fare of the nation and yet the more we con-
slider it, the more we are persuaded that we
have failed to impress upon our readers
all the bearings Of the facts.
The increased value of our exports Of do
mestic produce, from the first of July to the
9Th OF October, this year, over those Of the
whole of last year, is shown to be sI4, 4,772,-
1876; the gain being in wheat and -four, and
corn, and the loss being of cotton, 81 $780,
900, and of pork, $464,000. This export
providing for the balance due England, by
agricultural products, manifests its effects at
once in a decreased demand for the exports
of specie, to the amount of upward Of Sl9,-
000, 900, in the lower rates of exchange, and
the general calculations of men of business
on both sides Of the Atlantic. The foreign
creditor looks to the market and not to the
banks for his claims, and the domestic debt
or forwards grain, instead of gold, to make
good his Indebtedness.
In the face of this enormous drain of
breadstufs, however, no one is disposed to
feel uneasy in regard to the prices of the
home market. Flour commands no more
than the average prices Of the past ten or
twenty years. The consumer Of it at home
is not alarmed at the statement that Eng
land will require twenty four millions of
bushels, chiefly of wheat, to supply her de-
ficiencies, or that Ireland, since the failure
of the potatoe crop, will probably need some
fifteen or twenty millions of bushels of corn
in addition. The reason is that evety one
feels secure in the possession of the mex
haustible granneries of the west. A few
years ago that vast region bad scarcely been
opened to the wants Of the world; an unusu-
sual demand from abroad instantly affected
our domestic supplies; the price of -four
rose to twelve dollars barrel, and Of corn to
nearly two dollars per bushel; painful
stfingency of the market was apprehended,
and panic more or less severe was the con.
sequence. .s...
Now, we not only look without fear, but
with confidence aud pleasure upon any de-
mand from abroad, because we know that. no
demand is likely to cripple ou own resources.
As an evidence of the change, we may refer
to the city of Chicago, which, at the time Of
the Irish famine, was in rs infancy and
struggling for existence, but which now
sends forth ina single month more grain
than it did at that time in an entire year
From the crop of corn alone of 1859 that
center has already forwarded fifteen mil
lions of bushels, while it is estimated that
the crop of 1860, untouched by droughts OF
frosts, will be fifty per cent more than that
of last year. Indeed it may be said that
the State of Illinois alone could furnish
within the next twelve months to the con.
sumers of the United Kingdom the twenty.
four millions of bushels of corn, which it is
supposed win be needed, without interfere
ing in the least with the conditions OF the
grain market in the Eastern States.
Up to the 9Th Of October, we are told by
the reports, Chicago has received 10, ,794 i947
bushels of wheat, and 420,0s5 barrels o
-four; and at this rate, carried up to the Isl
of Decembe-, when the water transportation
may close, The export viii rise to seventeen
millions of bushels of wheat. But after that
the conveying of -four viii still be made by
rail, so that the shipments of it from Chi
cago this year may be safely estimated al
seven hundred thousand barrels. These
items put together will form an aggregate
Of twenty millions of fbushels-nearly equiv
| alent to the whole demand of Great Britain
These extraordinary shipments are only re.
tarded by the scarcity of lake tonnage, and
the consequent high price of freights, the
cost of bringing the corn to New York, du
ring the period, having often exceeded the
first ccstat Chicago.
That these calculations as to the future
are not exaggerated, is shown by the admit
ted fact that the supply in the storehouses
of the farmers Is larger at the present mo-
ment than at the harvest-time of any of the
three preceding years. Travellers tell us
that they are astonished by the stacks of un.
touched wheat which still line the sides Of
the railways throughout northern and south
ern Illinois and we cannot doubt it, when
we remember that the wages of laborers du.
ring the harvest ranged from one and hal
to two and half dollars per diem. AT the
close of navigation there viii still be we think
from twelve to fifteen millions of bushes sur
plus to come forward early in the spring
This, added to the amounts we have giver
above, viii prove conclusively the ability o
the prairies to'pfovide, through the port O
Chicago alone, for the foreign demand.--
Chicago, however the largest, is not the on.
ly grain-shipping port, but being Of itscl
adequate to meet the prevailing wants, there
| is no occasion for our referring to others.