Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-09-15

| stock on hand in this country a scant
one, and the stock on hand in the
markets which we supply reduced to a
low point. The great progress made in
| transportation has overcome the neces-
| sity which once prevailed for keeping
large supplies on hand. The transporta-
ton by sail of grain has so yielded to the
more certain and regular transportation
by steamers that orders for grain can be
now filed by the actual delivery of the
wheat in ten days, and hence the keep
ing of large stocks on hand is no longer
deemed a necessity. Under the COM
paratively high prices of last year no
large stocks were kept on hand, and the
English market was supplied from time
to time as supplies were wanted. The
crop of 1882 is now to be added to the
stock on hand at home and abroad, much
reduced in quantity.
1t should be remembered that the an
nual increase in the consumption of
wheat per capita is an important factor
in the quantity needed for home con-
sumption, and consequently in the guam
tity of surplus we may have to sell. The
increase in the consumption of bread
stuffs and other food products keeps
considerably in advance of the increase
of population. This is due somewhat to
the general prosperity, to the reduced
cost of transportation, and to several
other causes. Anything that tends to
reduce the cost of these articles to con-
sumers has the direct effect of increasing |
the quantity consumed. This rule not |
only increases the consumption per capita
at home, but also increases the con-
sumption abroad. The supplies of food |
from this country at prices so greatly
less than those prevailing abroad have
increased the demand per capita there,
and consequently increased the guam
tity needed to meet the deficiency.
This annual increase Of consumption at
home IS, even If estimated at a low per-
centage, large enough to necessitate an
increase of production of considerable
magnitude, and this, too, without meas
uring the increase of consumption per-
tanning to the increase of population by
immigration. We have, therefore,
this year an increase of pro-
duction, as compared with that
of previous years, to meet the
empty grain warehouses left by the
exhaustion of last years crops and
stocks, but also to meet the ever-increas-
ing consumption at home and in such
other countries as depend on the United
States for their needed supply. 1t will
not do, therefore, to say that we have
produced more wheat this year than we
produced in previous years. The guam
tity needed this year to fill this and for
eign markets must be much greater than
a year ago. and must go on increasing
year after year, and that too without
We will not venture to say how much
wheat in bushels we have produced this
year in comparison with what will be
needed to meet the requirements for con-
sumption at home and the quantity re-
1uired for consumption abroad, and to |
be supplied from this country; but we /
do not see that the very liberal yield of
wheat reported and estimated as pro-
1uced in this country gives any indica-
ton that there will be surplus so far in
excess of what will be needed as to sug-
yest that American wheat is to be drug
N the market. We do not believe that
here is any serious reason to suggest the
nurrying of wheat to market, nor any
.eason to believe that there will be such
/ surplus of wheat on hand from the |
present time to the next crop that wheat
will not pay the cost of storage, and
prove valuable investment to those
who hold it.