New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-10
WHEAT AND oFFYclAL STATISTICS

The logic Of events ia hard 10 answer, as the
wheat spectators are learning. After putting
ND wheat to 81 90 last October, they persisted
for months in the assertions that there was not
enough Of the grain to 60 around, that the
official reports Of the Bureau Of Agriculture
were ever 90 much less trustworthy than their
guesses, that the great millers in Minneapolis
really knew more than anybody else about the
size and quality of the wheat CROP that Europe
was short Of its regular supply by an enormous
quantity which could not possibly be obtained
from any other country than this. and that
European buyers would have 10 pay any price
holders saw lt to ask before the crop year
ended II Is supposed that somebody invested
many millions on the faith that these Storiea
were correct. On the other side there was
nothing offered Of consequence except the Off
cial reports and legitimate deductions from
them. But the people who sold wheat In the
faith that those official reports were subStan-
TALLY correct saw the price nearly 20 cents
lower before the end Of December.
The attempt to persuade people that
scarcity swas inevitable, that Government sta
tistics were crooked and that the millers knew
all about il, has been kept mp ever since this
year began. When the bureau represented tho
quantity remaining in farmers hands, that was
also pronounced an utterly Enthusiastically state
ment. though IL was easily reconciled with other
official figures. But somebody has been using
or losing several millions in attempts to control
the wheat market since January 1, and the
price on Monday was about / 8 cents lower than
when the year began. BY way Of further proof
that all the speculative predictions were In
error, Europeans have failed 10 come after the
enormous quantity Of wheat supposed to be
required, and have somehow supplied all needs
with smaller receipts from the Atlantic States
than have been recorded in any other year for
O long time.
The price obtained in markets East and West
indicates pretty clearly that the holders, trad
ers, and possibly purchasers, have all come to
substantially the same conclusion, that the OIL
cial reports were entirely correct and trust
worthy--or, at ell events, more trustworthy than
any Of the other socaled statistics published. As
this is not by any means the first time power
ful combination Of spectators has tried TO make
everybody believe the official reports mislead-
Ing and false, and as the result is Just what has
usually followed such endeavors, 1t seems to be
| In order to remark once more that the solemn
reservations or even the inspirational guesses
OF q Spectator do not as yet appear Of greater
practical value than the returns published by
| the Agricultural Bureau.
Whether wheat will mount up to-day or to-
morrow at Chicago, or sell for SO bushel be-
fore July it Is not the province Of public
journal to prophecy. What can properly be
| said Is that there is not now, as there has not
been since exports were arrested by the ad-
vance last year, any reason to fear scarcity
| Of wheat, unless the weather should prove ex-
ceptionally unfavorable. The acreage sown
| this spring appears to be larger than in any
| previous year, and the appearance of winter
! wheat Is such on the whole as TO indicate full
] crcp. Il the man who forced Door people b