The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-07-16
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Accounts from nearly all parts of the
country concur in representing the
condition of the crops as highly favor
able. In Illinois and other Western
States, the wheat is more than half har-
vested, and the quantity and quality
are both above the average Of the most
prosperous years. The other crops are
for the most part large, with the excep-
ton of barley.
In New Jersey, New England, and
Western New York, the crops promise
Iuxurlent yields. In the Pacific States
the harvest could scarcely be better.
The chief anxiety in California is the
inadequacy of the skipping accommo-
dations for the expectation of the inn
mense surplus of wheat from that
State.
The South will have enough corn
and cereals for domestic use, and to
spare; while the cotton crop will be
above the average of last year. In
nearly all sections of the county the
breadth of land devoted to the raising
of food is largely in excess of any for
mer year. There are grumblings in
certain localities respecting the drought,
but taking the country as a whole this
year will be very profitable one to
farmers. ..-.--.., -r.,,-
The good harvest this year will be OF
lncalculable service to the country. Its
benefits viii be felt by all classes. II
will give new life and activity to bust
ness, and will settle many vexed ques-
lions of national finance. We can only
measure the extent of the benefits of a
prosperous harvest by the conse-
quences of a deficiency. For several
years past the crops have been below
the average, SO that the reserve supply
of grain in the hands of farmers and
dealers has been almost exhausted.
Another short crop this year would be
national calamity. Itwould serious
~ arrest the progress OF industrial. de-
velopment, make employment scarce,
and food; high, and paralyze trade
But the favorable harvest enables US
to regard the future with reasSured
hopes. The country at large is still
very far from having recovered from
the losses of the war; tits probable that
Americans of the present generation
were never before so destitute of the
comforts of life. They are worse clad
and worse housed than at any former
period. The war drained them of all
but the mere Immediate necessities of
existencei :and its close devolved upon
them the onus OF going to work to re-
pair losses. There was no capital to set
in motionfthe springs of industry. 1t
had been expended in carrying on the
war.
There is cry of scarcity of currency
in the West. The real trouble is that
the farmers had no products 10 eX.
change for the cotton cloth, clothing,
and other commodities of which they
and their families stand in pressing
need.
A good harvest will change all this.
1t will give the farmers and planters OF
the West and South surplus of food
and cotton, which they can exchange
for manufactured goods. There Will be
demand for merchandise for the tnte-
rior, which will start the Eastern facto.
ries into renewed activity. Thus all
classes participate in the benefits of n
good harvest. ma
Tho revival OF business may, and
probably will, not be immediate; but Il
gradual improvement may be expect
ed, notwithstnnding the usual draw
backs ofthe Presidential election excite
ment. The first signs OF returning pros
perity are APPARENT There is an active
demand in Wall street, and in the East
generally for money to move the crops
from the West to the seaboard. The
breadstuffs that have already begun TO
arrive will extinguish this Indebted
ness of the West TO the East, and then
large portion of the funds now going
West, will find its way back in eX-
change for goods which the farmers
ii 81. .EsN-
Commodities, not money, constitute
true capital, and II is to the advantage
OF all sections toexchange Them freely.
It is as advantageous for the West TO
exchange its surplus produce for East
ern manufactures, as 1t is for East
and the Old World to buy western
food. A good harvest renders this pro-
cess practicable and advantageous, and
it is this that constitutes its highest
benefits. zf5 z4I Era5 -tA1.