The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-05-08
HOW WHEAT Is SOLD.
showins the Part that Railways, Canals.
shius, Elevators, Teiegraphs, News
papers, Bulls and Hears Take I'm the
Trnl1snctipr,

| tFUnsucuOnt
The wheat crop of the United States
for 1878 was 400,OO0,00O bushels. II is
easy enough to write the figures, but q
hard matter for the mind to grasp the
idea OF so enormous n quantity. It is
enough to fill to overlooking n granary d
mile long, n Thousand feet wide and tine
hundred feet high. To transport It across
the Atlantic would require 5000 of the
largest ships that sail on the seas: or,
loaded into freight cars, it would fill
l,25O,O00 of them, which would make a
train long enough to reach from New
York TO San Francisco and back again.
What becomes of this enormous cropp
Well, II general answer to this question
is not difficult. We retain about $780,
100000 bushels for our own use, to be
ground into flour and used for seed. and
the balance of 5000, 900 bushels is sent
abroad, chiefly 10 feed the over-crowded
population of Great Britain 1t is this
exported balance that is chiefly interest
ing to the American farmer. fit brings
Il good price-if the wheat crops of Eu-
rope are scanty. so that people must sup
ply themselves from the United States or
go without-then the American farmer
gets well paid for his whole crop, botl.
for what is used here and what goes
| IT,.
European crops are plentiful, SO that !:
very small extra supply is needed, then
the American farmer finds prices low
and his crop for that year Improbable.
In theory this is absolutely true, but
in practice the statement needs some
modification. The farmer has to bear
the full burden of low prices, but most of
the advantage of IL rise in value is often
reaped by merchants, spectators ard
other middlemen, who stand between
the farmer and the foreign consumer and
who, forcsee'ng the advance in price, buy
cheap from the former and sell dear to
the latter.
| TO certain extent, this condition of
affairs is unavoidable; and, indeed, the
farmer should be the last man to wish
it utterly abolished. The machinery bv
which the distribution of the bulky pro-
ducts of the earth is accomplished, is not
only one of the wonders of modern civ
ilization, but il is civilization itself. The
railways that span the continent, that
bridge the vast rivers, and bore their
way through impossible mountains; the
canals that bear hundreds of thousands
of tons of freight slow moving from the
midland country to the sea; the giant
elevators that do the work of tranship-
ment so safely and so speedily; the ships
that cross the ocean; the telegraph lines
and cables that flash intelligence from
events. and tell the people of one place
what is wan,ed by those of another
the merchants who meet on Change to
buy and sell the postotfce; the insur.
ance companies that guarantee the mer-
chant against the loss of his cargo; all
those are necessary agents in the work
of distribution, and are entitled to COM
pensaton for their labor. Every one OF
them is paid, and justly paid out of tho
labOrs of producers, of farmers, miners
and manufacturers. The trouble is, that
they often get more pay than they are
entitled to, and, growing wealthy by
degrees, become the masters of the pro
ducers, instead of their faithful and eff
cient servants.
To appreciate these truths, it is onl,
necessary for the farmer to suppose him
self deprived of the services of any O.
these distributing agents, and see tC
what a crippled condition he would bt
reduced. Without our canals and rail
ways, the grain crops of the West might
rot upon the land or be consumed a:
fuel; without elevators the annual Labor
OF. transferring grain from one convey
ance to another would be largely in
creased; without the telegraph and tht
postotlice to carry intelligence, an(
newspapers to make it cheaply availabl,
for everybody, no merchant could forese,
what he was likely to realize on hi:
shipments, nor what price he could af
ford to pay the producer; without mer
chants, the farmer would be compelled
to accompany his produce to the yer,
door OF the consumer, to carry with him
sufficient money to defray all the ex.
penscs of transportation and tranship.
ment and to spend the months that
should be occupied in the production ol
second crop in endeavoring to dispose
Of the first.
| Let us suppose that we have, in Chi
cago, n lot of wheat, graded as No.
Chicago Spring, which is sold at the
ruling price of the day, eighty-six cents
Der bushel. Now. what determines the
| price of this wheat?
prices depended largely upon guess
work. A merchant who bought grain
in March to send to England, might not
know until midsummer whether he had
realized u profit or loss. lie made the
best calculation he could about the price
grain would be likely to bear in the
English market ut tie time his ship
mont should arrive there, and raised or
lowered his prices accordingly, en-
leavoring always to leave himself a
ialr margin of profit. But nowadays the
Atlantic cable has changed all that A
merchant in London finds that he can
make II contract to deliver certain
quantity of grain, in London, six weeks
hence, at "a certain price. He telegraphs
to broker in Chicago, offering to pay
so much a bushel for No. 2 Chicago
Spring wheat, delivered in London on
Il certain date. The Chicago broker at
once ascertains the lowest rate at which
he can contract with the railway and
steamship companies for transporting
such quantity of wheat from the ele-
vator in Chicago to the docks in London.
Next he goes upon Change to learn at
what price he can purchase til" grain.
If the cost of the grain in Chica %, adj
ded to the expense of transporting to
London, be less than the price offered
by the London merchant, the broker
concludes the purchase. and pockets the
difference us IL remuneration for his
trouble. But if the cost of the wheat
in Chicago, added to the cost of trans
portation, amounts to more than the
London merchant is willing to pay,
then one of several things happens. The
price of wheat may rise in London, the
English merchant making higher offer,
or it may fall in Chicago, or the rail
way and steamship companies reduce
their rates of transportation, until it be-
comes possible for the broker to effect
sale at a profit; or, if all parties re-