The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1879-11-21
LONDON LETTER.
From our regular correspondent.l
LovDox Oct. Both, 1879.


LoNDoy, Oct. Both, 1879.
Successive additions to the price Of
the quarteru loaf during the last few
weeks. have brought home to the feel
ires of the English consumer. in an
unpleasantly practical manner, the I'm
mediate consequence of the late de
fieieut harvest. [, is not so clear,
however. to his mind that this advance
in value is wholly natural The pros
peetive supplies of grain are moro
than ample for every conceivable want.
In many countries besides England
in France. for instance. Spain, Italy,
Switzerland. and even Huugary-the
harvests of this year have been bad,
and large imports from other sources
are required TO feed the people; but
with a curiou, facility Of distribution,
Nature has again illustrated the com
peusa,ory principle which runs through
all her arrangements, aud has struck
z Lair average by blessing certain eoun-
tries with an abundance which moro
than counterbliauces the deficiencies
ia others First in the list Of grain
producers l. America which has had
for three years IL succession maguiG
cent crops over constantly expand
ing area The United Suites alone
have a surplus available Tor export,
which. fabuiou, a. it looks, has. sin2u-
Iariy enough, the faculty Of rather in
creasiug ,hnu diminishing, as statisti
cal returns become more elaborate Ga
. previous occasion | alluded 10 an es~
timate that the Great Republic had
available for shipment lrom the last
harvest surplus of ;weuty million
quarters But trustworthy informa
,lou has enlarged this figure by the
uusold surplus Of The 1873 crop, rals-
,ug the total to twenty five or even
thirty million quarters ou hand a the
begiouing of the present month. This,
however, is not all By coincidence
which may be pronounced suPremeiy
fortunate, not merely for the English
consumer, bu; also for the interests of
reyiviug trade. certain grain producing
couujries-such a. India aud Egypt
which for tso years u succession had
10 struggle against the ma!ign ibfu
ences OF scanty harvests, have this
year been favored with abundance and
sn exportabe surplus. Russia, too,
has considerable excess to be dis
posed Of, aud has already sent Of large
quantities. Remoter sources, like
Australia, Chill, aud other countries,
have something 10 spare 1t may be
said that France, Spain and Italy com
pete with England Tor assistance from
these eyerfowing natural granarie-
81 they do. but the severest stress of
that COMPETITION - sa-,'--.
countries in question having supplied
themselves TO an enormous extent dur
ing the past two months. Francs,
Euglaud's principal rival. has followed
her usual pau on such occasions Of
measuring her possible wants before
her own harvest i fully garnered, and
of promptly forestailiug market con-
tiugeneies by large purchases for fu
ture delivery These operations Of
French buyers would two months ago
have bad very decided effect on
American prices, aud that they had
not ihi- effect Il Que proof Of the over,
whelming abundance IN the United
States. The position. then, Is that 10
the future the other European coun-
tries which suffer from deficient har-
vests will have their remaining wants
supplied nearer home, without serious
ly ,renchiux upon the really prodig-
ious surplus known 10 exist in the
United States, aud even leaving out Of
the calculation such "unconsidered
rifles as a few million quarters to
spare iu Iudia, South Australia, and
America.
Il may well be asked where, assum'
ing these ckonings to be approx
mately accurate, was the basis for that
speculation which appears to have
convulsed ali the corn markets during
the last few weeks There Is no doubi
that speculation iu produce, the mar
! kets for which are so extensive with
/ the civilized world, has, since tele-
graphic communication reached it;
present perfection, risen to the dignity
of fne art. 1t appears 20 be quite
possible to engineer" rise in marke
value by judicious series of collusiv,
sales among con federates, duly report
ed 10 the newspapers as business
done, and promptly communicated by
telegraph to all centres of trade.
woman and Newspapers.
The man who does not furnish hi,
family with paper stands in his OWL
Iight Monav Soont thi. uay hiring