The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1879-05-22
AaW WHEAT Is AOLD.

Showing the Part that Railways, Canals,
Shins, Elevators, Telegraphs, News
papers, Bulls and Bears Take In the
Transaction.
The wheat crop Of the United States
for 1873 was 1000, 900 bushels. 1t is
easy enough TO write the figures, but Il
hard matter for the mind to grasp tile
idea of so enormous n quantity. 1t is
enough to fill to overtlowing granary 4
milo long, thousand feet wide and one
hundred feet high. TO transport it across
the Atlantic would require 6,DU0 of the
largest ships that cail on the seas; or,
loaded into frci ght cars, it would fill
Lest, 900 Of them, which would make q
train long enough to reach from New
York TO San Francisco and back again.
What becomes of this enormous CROP
Well, 4 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 l75,000,000 bushels is sent
abroad, chiefly TO feed the over-crowded
population Of Great Britain. 1t is this
exported balance that is chiefly interest
ing to the American farmer. Ifit brings
Il good price-if the wheat crUps of Eu-
rope are scanty, SO that people must sup
ply themselves from the United States or
60 without-then the American farmer
gets well paid for his whole crop, bot.
for what is used here and what goes
abroad. But if, on the other hand, the
European crops are plentiful, so that II
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 oflow prices, but most Of
the advantage of rise in value is often
reaped by merchants, spectators and
other middlemen, who stand between
the farmer and the foreign consumer, and
who, foreseeing 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 by
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 wanted by those of another;
the merchants who meet on Change to
buy and sell; the postofiice; 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
pensation for their labor. Every one of
them is paid, and justly paid out of the
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 cf1i-
cient servants.
To appreciate these truths, it is only
necessary for the farmer to suppose him
self deprived of the services of any of
these distributing agents, and see to
what n crippled condition he would be
reduced. Without our canals and rail
ways, the grain crops of the West might
rot upon the land. or be consumed rs
fuel; without elevators the annual labor
of transferring grain from one convey
ance to another would he largely in
creased; without the telegraph and the
postoflice to carry intelligence, and
newspapers to make it cheaply available
for everybody, no merchant could foresee
what he was likely to realize on his
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 very
door of the consumer, to carry with'him
sufficient money to defray all the px-
penSes of transportation and tranShip-
ment. and to spend the months that
should be occupied in the production of
Il second crop in endeavoring to dispose
Of the first.
Letus suppose that we have, in Chi
ca 20, lot of wheat, graded as No. 3
Chicago Spring, which is sold at the
ruling price of the day, eighty-siX cents
le' bushel. Now, what determines the
price of this wheat?
Before the days of ocean tclegraphy,
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 profit or loss. lie made the
best calculation he could about the price
grain would be likely to bear in the
English market ut t--c time his ship
mcnt should arrive there, and raised or
lowered his prices accordingly, en-
deavoring always to leave himself
fair margin of profit. But nowadays the
Atlantic cable has changed all that. A
merchant in London finds that he can
make contract to deliver a certain
quantity of grain, in London, six weeks
hence, at certain price. lie telegraphs
to broker in Chicago, offering to pay
so MUCH n bushel for No. , Chicago
Spring wheat, delivered in London on
a 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 ut
what price he can purchase the grain.
If the cost of the grain in Chica %, ad-
dcd 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 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