The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-07-07
In and Out of Wall Street.
7r0m the n. Y. San. July 2.

4
The beginning of July is usually considered
as the time when more or less trustworthy es-
Inmates of the years prospects can be formed.
So far the indications in regard to the crops
are most encouraging Hardly any produce
of the soil threatens a bad harvest The sup
ply of fruits and vegetables is ample. The
crops of wheat and corn promise to be excel
| lent, and the crops of hay and oats unpreee-
dented. Food ought, therefore, to be cheap
and the country happy and prosperous. Every
branch of legitimate business out to revive,
and the probability of continued overpro-
duction is the sole danger. American Drag
gadocio and the American craze for gambling
are the only enemies Of this wonderful coun-
try Its inexhauStible resources have made
us believe of late years that the world could
not live without America to supply it with
food Consequently everything has been
overproduced, Overestimated, overtaxed, over
capitalized. and overcharged for. We are
taking yearly hundreds Of thousands OF use
less mouths away for Europe, thus max
ing more room from her, and reducing her
requirements for the necessaries of life. She
had lot of money to spare, and we borrowed
all we could get, both legitimately and on
false pretenses. With extra hands and money
thus obtained we began to produce, raise,
/ build and gamble upon a scale that amazed
( the world and set us crazy ourselves, TIL all
moral balance and common sense seems to
be gone. Because an American stock jjObber
chooses to pay a fabulous price for Euro
pean work of art, or the wife of an American
pork packer for a European dress, we seem
to expect Europe to pay us equally fabulous
prices for worthless stock or adulterated lard
We demand for our breadstuffs some 20 per
cent. more than it costs Europe to raise them
or to import them from any other part OF the
world As a matter of course, business
basis of this kind is impossible, and Europe
politely refuses to have anything to do with
us till we begin to show more common sense
and more honesty in our dealings. She re-
turns us our worthless securities and buys her
necessaries of life elsewhere. The natural
consequence of such condition of affairs Is
that, even with the best possible crop pros
poets, we shall not be able to turn the balance
| of trade in our favor until much lower range
of prices has been established for every one
! of our articles of export, and that means, OF
course, partial disappointment to the produ-
Ger as well as to the speculator.
1t so happens this year, besides, that Eu-
rope does not stand in need of us. The crop
prospect throughout the Old World is excel
| lent As matter of course, in climate like
that of the British Isles, the crops are never
safe till they are gathered. A general blight
or a deluge of rain during harvest time may
spoil the present brilliant prospects. But
apart from something of that kind, the crops
of Great Britain according to all the state
ments of the English press, promise to be the
richest that country has had for years AS is
pointed out by one of the London journals,
the evidence in regard to crop prospects this
wear sis much less conflicting than usual; in
deed, we do not remember in any previous
season to have noticed greater similarity III
reports from all the English counties south of
/ Yorkshire and the Welsh counties on the one
! hand, and from the northern counties and
! Scotland on the other; The season was
late, but the abundance of sunshine since the
! early part of May has done wonders for the
winter wheat. Spring wheat is in admirable
! condition. Both France and Germany have
! felt the same backwardness of the season, but
have fully recuperated through the admirable
weather which has prevailed there for the
/ last two months. 1t has also been discovered
! that in France the surplus stock of wheat
! from last year was underestimate by some
/ 20,000,0 900 bushels. In Hungary, Austria,
and Russia the weather has been unusually
/ favorable, and the reported damage by rust
and insects appears to have been greatly eX-
aggerated. since it was confined to only a few
districts The reduced acreage, both in Great
/ Britain and France, according to the London
| Miller, does not represent more than &c, 00O,
600 bushels Infguring out the British wheat
stock up to June l, the same authority places
the total on hand at sc, 900, 900 bushels, against
an estimated requirement of 4S,000,O 900 bush
| els to the close of the season. 1t becomes
evident that both Great Britain and France,
which are the two great wheat-purchasing
countries, are in q position to dictate their
own terms to the grain-producing countries,
and that the suppOsltlOn OF our spectators
! that an immense export demand would be
created the moment wheat touched 81 bushel
at Chicago was wrong. Wheat sold down to
ninety eight cents last week, and the demand
did not come; and it looks now as if it were
not likely to come even at ninety cents. The
| Miller of June Is says that 1.-THE present bust
ness of the Exchanges of Great Britain is be-
coming almost unmanageable under a bulh-
ness of stocks that is quite unusual in June,
/ except after couple of abundant harvests.'
| Keeping in view that the United States have
| lately been sending only five per cent. of the
total of grain received in that country, the po-
! sition does not appear to be particularly Ell
couraging to the corner makers of Chicago.
A leading shipper in this city received the
other day the following lacOnic but explicit
cable from Liverpool: ''No use offering
wheat Too much of it.
The recent reduction of rates for wheat
transportation on Indian railroads must also
greatly affect the price of wheat in the Euro
pean market. Shipments from Bombay and
/ Calcutta have already increased
( All this ought to settle the question as to
/ the amount of confidence to be placed in the
/ circular dispatches of the Chicago manipula
! tors who advise speculative purchases of
/ wheat, saying that those who buy wheat now
are buying gold at par. 1t would be much
nearer the truth to say that they are buying
trace dollars at par.