Evening bulletin. [volume] (Maysville [Ky.]) 1882-1883, 1882-04-28
The Farmers Interests.

is now gone, and the United States, which
grew three-quarter crops last year, begin
to feel the pinch in prices. We fed the
world last year. We have not this year
more than enough to feed ourselves. If
the demands of Europe wer e this year as
great as those of 1880 or 1881, and the
United States and England, which eat a
quarter OF the worlds wheat, were bid
ding against each other for the diminish
ing stock Of wheat, -four would be at war,
not to say starvation, prices AS it is,
steamers lying in New York harbor are
paying people to fill them up with wheat,
the call for wheat is so slack abroad !;
while the Chicago elevators grow emptier
and emptier, so little wheat is there in
this country. The chances are that supply
and demand will have close race in
meeting the supply of this country alone,
whose surplus enabled it year ago to
send abroad 175, 900 900 bushels, but which
this year, with the new crop three months
off, has just about three months wheat
rations. Any accident, May or June
drought, or one in July to curl the corn,
heavy rains at the wrong time, danger, or
the serious threatening of danger, to new
crops will drive food up to prices not reg
istered for years i'll this country. AS It is,
the United States, which consumed in the
last crop year 33O,O0O,0O0 bushels, has no
large margin this year, after starting with
100000, 900 bushels, all told, exporting TO-.
100000 bushels of this years crop and
adding from all sources, over 100000 to
its consumers. 1t will surprise no one
that nation, running so close to its food
margin, has in sight only half as mnch
wheat and two-thirds as much corn as last
year at this time.
In outline, this is the wheat outlook be-
cause it the key to the present situation.
The future is as secure as ever, and Uni
ted States bonds, whose value rests not on
this years profits but upon the averaged
resources OF a century, rose still higher
last week. So did bonds whichpartake of
the character But ali railroad stocks
whose value pivOts on the national truck
ruled lower. In a nation which sends
nothing abroad but its crops, railroad re-
ceipts must depend on crops, and the most
careless see, as the visible supply gets
lower, that there is less to move. Pur-
chases from abroad continue, sales to Eu-
rope are light, and gold would have gone
abroad la t week but for the fact that
steamers were charging one cent to carry
a bushei Of grain across the Atlantic. This
enabled the foreign buyers to pay the
American price-since the distance was
wiped out-and commercial bills eased off
the demand for exchange. In all centres
of distribution, the spring purchaser is
still just around the corner, and the chief
sign OF activity is in speculative purchases
OF food-grain and pork. After working
down through February, price in these ar
tic,es has been steadily working up, with
break occasionally. One came Saturday
but the break will not stop the advance,
who promises to make the next ninety
days pinching ones for all to whom the
current price of food is vital matter
Manufacturing runs along on its momen-
tum but the course of the cotton market