Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1869-12-09
The Wheat Trade--sometiiingA About
the situation.

ously low price which the farmer obliged
to sell has received for his wheat, has
been the subject for wonderment. specu-
la,ion and much anxiety. After The ex
pense of sowing, reaping, thrcshing and
hauling to market had been deducted
from the amount received per bushel,
no system of mathematics could be APP
piled which would make tho receipts
moro than balance the expenses.
But calculate and speculate as they
would, no single reason could be formed
for the bottom falling out" SO complete
" from the wheat market. That some
thing however. about the machinery Of
b ,siness was out Of gear, Yearly ali
would admit, and that it was not the
law of supply and demand alone that
caused the panicky state of the market,
seemed equally apparent.
Ii is our purpose in this article, to
show what we b.licve TO be some of the
causes for the low price of wheat.
The estimate first made of the wheat crop
in Europe rs well as America, were taken
before the grain was harvested. 1t was
found after the crop was threshed that
the yield fell far short of what had been
anticipated, and that nowhere would it
reach the estimates made. Here in tho
St. Croix Valley we know this TO be The
case. In the eastern and middle states
it is no better, and information from re-
liable sources indicate that only two
thirds crop was gathered in California.
And this is truer of Europe, if Ios 'ible,
than of our own country Russia, the
great wheat growing country across the
sea. will not furnish its usual quota, and
England, from the first estimates, re
quired from this country alone, seventy
millions bushels of wheat; but later and
more reliable information makes the
amount much larger.
1t requires no great effort to see that
il was an easy matter for spectators to
take advantage of those first erroneous
impressions, and manipulate the market
as they saw fit.
The large amount Of capital which
was required in the southern states to
remove the cotton crop has undoubtedly
had its effect upon the price of wheat.
This is capital which had before been
principally used in the western states,
and the withdrawal of it of course took
away just that much competition in grain
and other businesses. For instan ce, the
firm of Kellogg & Mann, alias the MI
waukee e. St. Paul R. r., nearly monop.
olizes the wheat trade of Wisconsin and
Minnesota, principally because of the
lack of competing capital. Now when
this capital in use at the south is released
and seeks other investments, there is but
little doubt that the wheat trade will
come in for a share of benefits.
The fluctuations in the price of gold,
we believe to have had their effect in
causing the distressingly low price of
wheat. The farmer has paid high cur
rency rates for producing his wheat,
while the foreign buyer establishes the
price on gold basis. BY the terrible
and disgraceful proceedings of the gold
gamblers in New York few weeks since
the price of gold was diminished, aud
10y Secretary BoUrwELL's more recent
weekly sales it has been reduced still
moro. Now il is claimed that the cur
rency price of wheat has been reduced
in exact proportion to tho reduction in
the price of god, and that this will con-
tinre TO be the result rs long rs paper
currency is not Withdrawn from circula-
ton by tho Secretary, in the Same pro-
portion that The price of gold is lowered.
Again, tho exorbtant charges made
for transpo: tat;on are just causes for
complaint by the farmer. Where corpor-
atoms can with IMMUNITY charge from
fifty 10 seventy five cents for carrying
bushel of wheat from here to New York,
it is very evident that they have onclud-
ed that lhe farmer possess no rights
which such rsscally thieves as themselves
are bound TO respect; and it is equally
rs plain that the immense amount over.
charged-immense in the aggregate
is Just so much taken from the farmers
pockets, by reducing the price of their
wheat. Railroads hold the trump cards,
however, at present, and there seems no
relief except in building more roads and
thereby lowering rates by competition.
Now in reviewing the subject even
thus briefly, it can readily be seen that
in the present low price of wheat there
is a glaring inconsistency. When com,