The Globe-republican., 1891-11-12


1As Only Hope foe the Farmsrs-ksls
and India Cs0psse In the ForsieD Mar
ket - Better Fricse b 10 Fo1n4 Only
Buy Food Grown ut Hom&
The American Economist has received
the following inquiry from Wilmington,
n. c.:
The free traders claim that II the duties we're
removed from farm implements and other
things used By farmers that they could make
the agricultural products so much lower that
there would be q demand in Europe. and on
account Of buying the manufactures In Europe
We could ship An equivalent In farm products.
What is your answer
If our correspondent had in mind
Roger O. Mills theory that larger pur-
cAases of manufactures from Europe
will persuade European countries to
buy more of our wheat and meats, his
first question is answered in the simple
fact that this theory is pure product
of demagogism. and silly beyond COM
pare. Black. the English cloth maker,
sells all the cloth he can to American
buyers without any reference to- the
transactions of Brown, the English
wheat dealer. Brown, on the other
hand. buys wheat of Americans only
when they offer it at lower price than
sellers of other countries offer it The
respective transactions of the two En-
glish merchants have no relation to
each other. and are governed solely by
the considerations of pounds and pence,
not in the least degree by sentiment
In 1880 we had the wheat market of
the world practically in our own hands.
Millions of acres OF our wild prairies
had been brought under the pillow, and
every bushel we could spare was ca
gerly'snatched up by Europe. But about
that time the wheat producing capacity
of Russia, India, Australasia and the
Argentine Republic started on their
course of development, which has since
almost crowded American wheat out of
the worlds market, Notwithstanding
the extremely low price at which it was
offered. According to the report on
Commerce and Navigation of the
United States" for 1890 the quantity of
wheat shipped from all the countries
mentioned was, in 1880. 2OS. 12l.3l1
bushels, of which this country supplied
60 per cent In 1855 the total quantity
shipped to the worlds markets from the
same countries had grown to 23l, l6a. 3S4
bushels, while our share of it had fallen
to less than 90 per cent.
At this point the disciple of Roger O.
Mills will break in with his Il told you
So We maintained our Chinese wall of
protection, persistently refused to buy
European manufactures, and as con-
sequence Europe has gradually stopped
buying our wheat" This theory is
doomed to the fate Of others built up
regardless of facts, for the record of
our dealings with Europe shows that
during this period, while EurOpe's pur-
chases of wheat from us were declining,
our purchases of goods from Europe
grew from Sill, ZOO, 900 in 1880 to S4o.,
600, 900 in 1855.
That sales by one country to another
have nothing to do with determining
its purchases from the other country is
particularly apparent in the history of
our wheat transactions with the United
Kingdom. From 1880 to 1889 our share
in supplying the British market with
wheat rapidly diminished The country
which took our place in furnishing
wheat to Britain was Russia, a country
with a more exclusive tariff than ours
and purchasing of British goods usually
about one-fifth of what she sold Great
Britain. The following table will make
these facts plain:
SHARE OF RUSSIA AND THE UNITED STATES IN
SUPPLYING WHEAT TO THE UNITED KINGDOM
SINCE 1880.