Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-12-30
WHEAT AND COTTON.

mercial sort tnaG mas cFer JULIO o'et tnlS
country is the fact that at the time of year
when exports of breadstuits are commonly
most active an absolute torpor has fallen
mon the market, and this not in conse-
ouence of any shortage of the visible supply
nor in consequence Of any unusual abun-
dance in the European harvests, but solely
because other countries are underseliing us
in the English market. Our visible supply
ia Is 600 600 bushels greater than it was last
wear at this time, 90, 900, 900 greater than in
1883, and 10000 greater than IN 1857.
English requirements are even larger IMAM
last year, but we are not supplying them.
India, Australia, and Russia are. This nap.
pens, too at time when the price OF Wneat
| is phenomenally low, 81 shilllngs per quar-
ter in Liverpool, Oil cents per bushel in
81 shillipgs per quarter Great Britain is gett-
ing all the wheat she wants. Her people
are fed with Indian and Australian wheat as
cheaply as we are supplied with that Of
Minnesota and Dakota. The only cereal
that we are exporting in any considerable
quantity is Indian corn, which at 4S cents
per bushel in New York foreigners are will
ing to take from US in somewhat larger
quantities than last wear. We still have a
virtual monopoly Of this article, but in the
supply of wheat we have distinctly fallen
behind.
Formerly we commanded the markets of
the world as producers Of wheat, cotton,
petroleum and tobacco. These constituted
three-fourths of our exports. Foreign coun.
tries could not do without them-could not
do without the portion which we produced
in excess Of our own requirements. 1t ap-
| Al, a. IL
It is feared that they may soon be able to
do without our cotton the potential supply
from Egypt being limited only by the facili.
ties for irrigation which can be furnished by
capital, and will certainly be furnished if
England retains her hold upon that coun-
try. (There is no prospect OF her sur
rendering it, India also has great capabil.
tiles for cotton growing, and has been def
cient hitherto only in means OF trausporta
ton. These are now being supplied, not
rapidly, perhaps, but steadily. The Russian
production of petroleum is increasing in
spite of all the obstacles which low stage
of civilization puts in its way. The article
being abundant there it is only a question
Of time when the facilities for producing aud
transporting it will be as perfect rs they are
in the United States. There will he pipe
lines and refineres and whatever else Is
needed to make as good and as cheap an ar
ticle as ours. Three of our four monopolies
are therefore either doomed or threatened
A world wide revolution ofcommerce is TAX
ing place, akin to that which followed the
opening of the Suez canal-a revolution not
to our advantage. What are we going TO
do about it?
The first fact that strikes us is that our
competitors in the production of wheat and
| llv "a " ahnrerS'
that we are ever brought into commercial
contact with. The Indian ryot and the
Egyptian fellah work for less pay than any
other laborers in the world except possibly
the lowest classes of Chinese in their native
land. No Chinaman in the United States
ever works for such pitiful compensation.
1t follows that the American farmer and
planter are competing with the cheapest
: labor in the world, and chat there is no way
to protect them. We can neither tariff
nor mob the paupers of India and Egypt.
We have got to face the fact that wheat
sells in Liverpool at SIS. per quarter, ard
cotton at sd. per pound. There is no
certainty that prices will be as high next
year as they are now. The chances are
that they will be lower ten years from now
than they are to day, since the facilities
which have given us the advantage in the
past are gettiug into the hands Of our rivals.
The gain which these countries have made
by the mere introduction Of law and order
is very great. Nobody can compute the
commercial value of justice when substitut
ed for rapine in a semi-barbarous country,
but every body knows that it is immense.
India has secured this advantage, and Egypt
will secure it soon. Law and order pave the
way for railroads and labor. saving machi-
| fol in
We have got to compete with these c0un.
tries in the production ofwheat and cotton.
There is no getting around that fact. If thsy
can furnish these staples cheaper than We
can, they will take the market away from
US. 1t is needless to speculate on the gold
supply or to discuss the silver question as
factor in making prices. Whether the gold
supply be more or less, whether silver be
coined or not coined, the superiority of the
Indian and Egyptian producers, if they have
a superiority, remains the same. Whether
wheat sells in Liverpool at 81 per bushel, or
at 50, or at so cents, the relative positions Of
the rival producers are unchanged. There
is do way under heaven to recover our SUI
periority if we have lost it, or to retain it if
we have not yet lost it, but to sell at lower
prices. This, we are told, cannot be done
because the farmers and planters are max
ing no profit now, are hardly getting back
the cost of production, and in many cases
not even that. But there is one way to sell
at lower prices, and that is to repeal the
export duty Of so per cent. on wheat and
cotton. But there are no export duties"
says some startled farmer, or planter, or
shipper; "the Constitution expressly forbids
export duties" Yes; but what is the differ
ence between paying 80 per cent. duty
on rhot you send abroad and paying
80 per cent. on what you get in exchange?
Suppose and B are trading wheat tor Cloth.
A gives B a bushel Of wheat for yard of
cloth. Somebody intercepts the cloth and
cuts off third of it, so that A gets only
two-thirds of yard. The result is the
same to A as though onethird of bushe
of wheat had been taken from him, and his
cloth had been let alone The principle
holds good as to all our exports, whether of
agriculture or of manufactures, of forests or
of mines. There is, as to the nation at
large, an export duty averaging 80 per cent.
1