Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-12-12
THE WORLDS GRANARY.
Russia Unable to Compete with tn,
Vnitah Gfafaa

Russia Unable to Compete with the
United States.
st. Petersburg Letter (lYoU. s. to Ne,c YORK. sam.
Notwithstanding a very good crop this
year, we have now decided crisis in the
gram market The United States has
! squareIy 9eaten us in the European
market. Henceforth America is to ba tho
undlsputed granary of the world" This
Is the most significant aVOWal that has
ever been made by the Russian grain mer-
cnants, who, until this year. have
sincerely hoped ana believed that the
CHarss country would become the granarv
OF Europe, if not OF the world. In the last
hEe years. the control of the European
grain market has been quietly transferred
across the Atlantic, but the Russian grain
dealers were not alarmed, They calleS =
an accident and brought farwp ri anna.
rentlI &nple reasons to explain II H.
pointed TO- long series of short and had
crops, While thei"" trans tlantic friends ~i,s'
90 tney call the Americans. had good
"-ops. They recalled the deplorabIe war
with Turkey, which had exhausted the
resources of the country, and finally they
argued that the Nihilist movement, with
its ''crOwning deed" the killing of the
Gar, had alarmed the country TO the
utmost. No wonder that, under such cir
cumstances, the Russian grain trade had
collapsed.
But this year the Russians were an
parently prosperous. They had no war
on their hands, the Nihilists were quiet.
and the crops were very good. Up to Au-
gust l they exported 127, 200, 900 bushels of
grain; 100000 bushels more than the
whole export of last year. But notwith-
standing all this, what is the result? A
grain crisis! Russian farmers and grain
dealers and the public at large are panic
stricken, Millions of peasants have
hastened TO sell their grain i'm order To
pay the arrears of taxes and sundry debts,
But the prices have been exceedingly
low, and now many of them are DenniIess
and have no provision for the coming win
ter. 1t is even said that the Minister of
the Interior has already admitted that he
has not means enough to save the peasants
frOm starvation and to provide them with
seed for future crops. ''If in a wear of
comparative prosperity" they say, 1--WE
lose ON our grain, what can we expect in
years of short or bad crops"
"HOW do you account for the so called
grain crisisT l asked a Russian grain
merchant,
THE American cheap grain has COM
pletely undermined u.s." he replied. 'It
is clear that we cannot compete with our
transatlantic friends, at least under our
present circumstances. Do YOU think a
man with hoe can compete with a man
WIN steam ploWE That represents our
respective conditions. Our agriculture is
IN the primitive state, and our transporta-
ton IN Its infancy. In spite of dear labor
American grain costs producers only half
as much as Russian grain, and, besides,
in America an acre of cultivated soil
yields three times as much as we get from
our soil, which, as yet, knows no manure.
Then, again, the Yankees trade for profit.
and we export our grain to supply press |
ing needs. If we did not pay our foreign
debts and obligations in grain we should |
have to export gold, and that would bring |
instantly state bankruptcy. 1t is evident
that we must yield to America the honor |
and profit of being the granaFy Of the |
WOrIdr