Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-01-30
THE GRAIN BLOCKS ABE.

and its successful result is general topic of
conversation on Wall street.
THE GRAIN BLOCKADE
Opinions CT Ne,o York Men in Regard To 1t
New York Herald, Jan. 25.I
The excitement in shipping circles over the
grain blockade, especially among owners of
sailing vessels, still continues, and the great
est anxiety prevails to earn when the So
called syndicate will be forced to sell their
wheat and allow few of the vessels to de-
part that have remained here for months
waiting for cargoes. The agents of the large
steamship companies are not so loud in their
complaints, as they carry certain quantity
of grain right along; but in order to secure
it they were forced to reduce their freight
charges from 4d. to I'd. and Sc. per bushel.
Still, it is stated on good authority that they
would almost take it without any charge, for
ballast, if they could not get it in any other
way.
Several prominent shipping firms interest
ed in the carrying of grain to European
markets were interviewed yesterday, and
ton of the grain blockade depended alto
said that if the latter had money enough to
hold out longer than their European Gus
toners, they would be victorious; but from
present appearances it was almost certain
that the syndicate would be forced to sue
cumb before two months. Capt. Ambrose
Snow, of Snow & Burgess, said that such an
amount of tonnage now lying idle at New
York was never before known in its history,
and that it was the same in all other ports.
He was afraid that the blockade would last
for some time, as the syndicate were all
rich men and could afford to hold out, and
also because England was fully determined
not to yield, having made arrangements to
obtain their supply of wheat from British
India, Australia and New Zealand. He as
serted that, although the price of wheat was
dropping in Chicago all the time, of late it
did not have the effect of making the export
demand any better, because the English
grain dealers were kept continually informed
of the state of our markets by reliable agents
in the United States, and had made up their
minds to buy no wheat until the price suited
them.
Mr.. j. Ernest Miller, of Miller & Hough-
ton, denounced the members of the syndi-
cate for the injury they were doing the
poorer classes, and predicted that they would
soon have to give in. He said that business
was very good last fall, and shippers were
looking forward to an era of prosperity, but
the syndicate began to lock up the wheat in
the early part of December, and everything
was now in state of stagnation. 1t was
his opinion, however, that some of them
would be heavy losers, as they had bought a
part of their wheat at high prices, which they
would never receive.
MIR. S. G. Walker, statistician of the New
York produce exchange, seemed TO have q
better opinion of the whole business, and
claimed that there was little or no stoppage
in the export business from this country.
He stated that the total quantity of grain of
all kinds in store and afoat at New York on
the 18th of January was IL, 1926 bushels,
including S,903,129 bushels of Wheat and
], 429, 633 bushels of corn. The stock of all
kinds of grain, he said, at the Atlantic sea-
ports of New York, Boston, Montreal, Phil
adelphia and Baltimore was on the 18th inst.
only 16, 403, 1877 bushels, including II, 133. 1886
bushels of wheat and 2,322,628 bushels
of corn. He claimed that the ex-
ports from the Atlantic ports dur
ing the four weeks ending Jan. II,
1880, have been 40S,SO3 barrels of flour,
3,O73, O59 bushels of wheat, 6,15G, $50 bush
els of corn, 20O,534 bushels of rye, 154, $50
bushels of peas, 1882 bushels of barley, or
total of 9,629,319 bushels of grain and
4O8, 1903 barrels of flour. He insisted that
it was natural for large number of vessels
to be waiting for cargoes in great CONNER
cial port like New York, and claimed that
the majority of them were engaged in the
coasting trade and had nothing to do with
the carrying of grain freights. lie said that
since July, 1879, 127000,OO0 bushels of
wheat have been exported from this country
to Europe, and that 1t has accumulated
there, and for the moment the foreign mar i.
kets are oyersupplied, and hence there is no
strong demand for wheat for export.