Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-11-06
Holding Back Wheat.


Inter- Ocean, sturdy champion of all
Western interests, and the true friend
at commercial court of the Western
farmer, to note the vast amount of
sage advice the Eastern papers have
for the Western farmer, whom, they
say, IRE Shedding back their wheat
Any amount of misfortune is prom
ised the said farmers by these ''Job's
comforters" of the Eastern cities as
a recompense for their contumacy in
not seeing the profit in not selling
wheat at SO cents per bushel at the
country stations in Minnesota and
Western Iowa. There is not single
prominent newspaper in any of the
Eastern cities that has not insisted
that it was egregious folly on the
part of the farmers that they have
not, and do not yet, send their wheat
all to market while lake freights are
low. These Eastern newspapers, how
ever, seem to take in only half of the
problem. 1t is well known that the
stock of wheat now in New York is
four or five times greater than at this
time last year, and several of the
prominent Eastern journals, who adj
wise the farmers to hurry their wheat
to market, admit the probability that
if the wheat does come forward in
anything like the usual volume until
the close Of lake navigation, New
York City would hold by the 1st of
December the extraordinary stock of
over 100000 bushels, against the
usual winter average of less than
100000. What wonld be the effect
Of this immense accumulation in so
unusual a place, and with the limited
storage capacity Of New York?
There can be no question that in the
present condition Of the market it
would depress the price of breadstuffs
SO much that the loss to all holders
of wheat in the cities would be so
enormous that it would cause many
failures, even if it did not cause some
thing of a panic. If the farmers
of the West should act on the advice
Of these Eastern newspapers, and at
tempt to forcstall further decline in
the price of wheat by rushing it to
market now, they would only force a
sudden and much greater decline than
is at all likely to occur otherwise.
1t is fortunate, however, that the
farmers of the West see but few of
these wise Eastern newspapers, and
seldom read any such stampede"
articles on the price of wheat as we
find in the New York Tribune and
several other papers lately. The
farmers of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wis
consin know that, taking one year
with another, their wheat averages
them from 80 cents to 81 per bushel,
and they will probably have the good
sense not to sell a bushel more than
they are absolutely obliged to now at
less than those prices. They may
have to hold their wheat until next
summert to get any where those prices,
but even if they are obliged to keep
1T SIX or eight months they would
make money by the operation. The
present low price of wheat, however,
is a loss which must fall somewhere.
If the farmers of the West are able
to escape a portion of it by holding
back as much as possible of their
wheat until they can get better
price for it, the holding of it back
will diminish the volume of trade
this fall, and so a portion of the loss
will be distributed on the mercantile
community generally. Though this
would be only temporary, because
whenever the wheat held back does
come forward at better price it will
be the basis of that much more trade,
whereas if the wheat is sold and the
surplus goes out of the
country at less than a remuncrative
price, it will be that much dead loss
to the United States, and would all
fall on the farmers, and thus another
cause would be added to swell the
tide Of emigrants now returning to
Europe because they are disappointed
in the United States.