New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-06-01
GOLD md WHEAT As EXPORTS.

Nothing more favorable to q renewal oil ac-
tiyity i'm business has happened in long time
than the collapse of the wheat speculation at
Chicago. Within fortnight the price of No.
wheat mt that point has fallen from upwards
of one dollar per bushel TO ninety CENTS The
Chicago spectators, by their persistency In
holding up the price in disregard OF natural
tendencies, had seriously interrupted the move
ment of wheat to the Atlantic ports. and also
the expectation of it. The rates charged for
carrying wheat by sea as well as by
land have been extremely low all Win
ter, yet the Chicago speculation pre-
vented the grain from moving freely. Rdicu-
ous stories were invented and put in circula-
ton about the ravages of the grasshopper ana
the destruction by the frosts OF almost the
whole crop of winter wheat The spectators
have nevertheless been forced to yield to the
pressure of events beyond their control, and
after they had accumulated at Chicago stock
of five million bushels of wheat and three mil
lion bushels of corn, against One-fOurth OF that
quantity of these grains ut New-iorb, the
price has finally given way as above stated,
and there is at last a prospect of the railroads,
canal boats, and ocean steamers having some
thing to do.
No doubt if Chicago had the capital and the
warehouse room it might sometimes be advan-
tageous, in time of low prices of grain like
the present year. to withhold large quantities
from the markets until the approach Of
period of scarcity. But Chicago has neither OF
these advantages. Her capital has hardly yet
recovered from the effects of the great fire,
and her elevators, though immense. are not
large enough to hold more than they now con-
tain without risk of injury to the grain by
heating during the warm months. Liver
pool, London, and Amsterdam are still
the best stOrehouses for surplus grain,
and as they are now Offering what
is far from the minimum price for wheat, we
cannot do better than to let them have what
we do not need for ourselves. We are sOlemnly
told two or three times a week that unless
sudden demand springs mp in Europe for our
bonds we shall be obliged to make great ship
ments of gold this Summer. 1t is plain enough
that no large amount of gold il available for
shpment and therefore we shall no: ship any
great quantity; but with wheat and corn we
seem TO he well provided, and wheat and corn,
in the natural course of things, should ex-
port. We shall not export gold in preference
20 wheat and corn unless gold is cheaper
that is to say, unless the sale of our gold is
more profitable II us than the sale Of our
wheat If one thousand greenback dollars
worth of gold will pay larger debt in Europe
than one thousand dollars worth of wheat, the
wheat will be kept here (or in Chicago and
the gold will I've shipped; but if the wheat will
pay more debt than the gold, the gold will be
kept and the wheat exported.
The Ovement ut short notice, of a greatly
increased quantity of wheat, presents more diff
fcultics than the transportation of an unusual
quantity of gold. There may not be- sufficient
shipping in port to carry out all the wheat
that il offered, and the freights for this reason
NAV be doubled or trebled. The movement of
gold is not liable to any such impediments,
but otherwise the laws which govern the ex-
portation and importation of gold are the same
as those which regulate the movements of
wheat and cotton. A speculation in gold, result
ing in putting up the price or making the
metal "scarce," stops the export movement
in the same way as q speculation in wheat or
cotton produces similar effects. AS wheat is
abundant it should be cheap, and as gold, for
the time being at all events, il scarce il should
be dear. But il is the cheap article which is
exported.