Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-01-25
THE WHEAT MARKET.

| a few of them have disposed OF their gram
at prices which a month ago they would
not have looked at. While it must be ad-
mitted that there are factors in the case
which initiate against the interests OF the
farmers, however, there is good ground for
believing that the statements put forward
by the Produce Exchange are not only
fragrantly exaggerated, but that they were
intended for no other purpose than to bear
the market. The Produce Exchange
does not inform its customers upon what
data it bases the assertion that the surplus
crop of 1850 amounted to 100000 tons,
and we do not hesitate to express the
opinion that no reliable data of the
kind are extant. There is in fact
no reason to believe that last years sur
plus crop came within 400, 900 tons of the
figures named. The President of the
State Agricultural Society in his annual
address stated it as his belief that the en-.
tire crop would reach 1000, 600 tons. If
his estimate was approximately correct it
would be necessary to deduct 200, 000 tons
from that amount for home consumption
and seed, which would leave surplus for
export of 500, 900 tons. We do not be.
lieve that the actual crop was in excess of
these figures, and as 100000 tons have
already been shipped, the most reasonable
calculation will put the remainder crop at
400, 900 tons. No doubt even this is a
large quantity, but it is fifty per cent less
than the estimate of the San Francisco
Produce Exchange, and we venture to
think that it is hundred per cent. more
trustworthy than the figures of the circu-
lar. The Produce Exchange represents the
wheat buyers, and their interest is to create
the impression that the farmers are in
danger of glut of wheat. For this reason
the calculations put forward by such an
institution ought to be regarded with dis
trust and sharply analysed at time like
the present.
The farmers, however, are unquestion-
fably In difficult position. 1t is not only
a deficiency of tonnage which affects them,
but the embarrassments consequent upon
borrowing on their crops, and the ap-
preaching danger of having the whole of
their surplus assessed for taxation. March
will soon be here, and with it the Assessor,
and between the tax on their notes and
the tax on their wheat, which the new
| Constitution compels, their prospect of a
satisfactory settlement is anything but
good. The wheat buyers undoubtedly
understand the situation thoroughly, and
they have timed their bear movement very
shrewdly. They evidently believe that
they have the farmers on the hip, and that
the latter, unable to face double tax
which threatens to absorb all their profits
on the last years crop, will be driven to
sell at whatever prices may be offered 4;
and prices at such times are never encour-
aging to the seller. The question of ton.
mage of course enters largely into the
present state of things, and it is upon the
deficiency there that the buyers may be
said to base their campaign. The recent
! fall in wheat has been entirely owing to
local causes, however, the Liverpool mar
ket having been firm and steady, and this
fact shows that if the farmers can over
come the difficulties put in their way by
the existing modes of transportation they
will be able, by concerted action, to COM
, mand Liverpool prices.
! Whether they can help themselves this
, year is not altogether clear. By next har.
vest it is to be hoped that the Southern
Pacific Railroad will be completed to tide.
water on the Gulf of Mexico, and thence
forward the farmers of California will be
relieved from the embarrassments to which
they have hitherto been exposed. There
can be no doubt of the ability of that rail
road to transport the crop at such rates as
will give the producer fair return for his
investment The one unalterable factor
of ocean competition makes it certain that
the overland freight rates will be low,
since the railroad must underbid the ships
to secure the traffic. The advantages
which the opening OF the Southern
Pacific will bring to the farmers are,
however, by no means confined to this.
The great saving of time in trans
portation will make it possible to hold
the surplus grain for a market much longer
and much more safely than ever before.
With the certainty of being able to deliver
his wheat at Liverpool inside of thirty days
the producer can afford to wait until his
opportunity for selling arrives. Under
judicious management the part of the
middleman can indeed be rendered super
fiuous when the new route is once in op-
GRAFTON, and the Changers may become
their own agents, and deal directly with
the European buyers. 1t will be seen
from this that the Southern Pacific is des-
tined to play most important part in the
development OF the cereal production of
the State, and that it must prove the most
valuable auxiliary the California farmer
has ever had.
Whether railroad transportation can be
called in to help the settlement of the
present difficulties, is another question
We are not sufficiently informed as to the
carrying capacity of the Central Pacific,
to be able to express an intelligent opinion
as to the possibilities of the case. It would
seem, however, reasonable to suppose that
if no question of deficiency of rolling stock
interfered, the corporation could well afford
to meet the producers in any proposition
looking to the carriage of considerable
quantities Of grain, either to Chicago or
the seaboard. OF course if any such ar
rangement was practicable, its mere an
nouncement would knock the bottom out
of the bear movement, since the main
tenance of that depends mainly upon the
assumption that the farmers cannot procure
transportation.
1t is necessary to point out, however,
that the new Constitution is just now
operating most formidably in the direct
interest OF wheat-buyers, and is literally
forcing the farmers into the trap which