Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1891-05-14
THE PRICE OF WHEAT.
AN ENGLISH ANSWER TO REP
RESENTATiVE MILLS.

i Down.
/ In the course Of speech against the
/ shipping bills, Congressman Mills (Con-
gressiondl Record, p. 5543) said:
@Why, sir. the distinguished leaders Of
the Republican party in the Senate made
a report two years ago that we could not
compete in the markets of the word
with our wheat, that twas q melancholy
/ fact confronting the American people
| that we must look to the home market
alone for the con sumption of our wheat,
that we must cease speaking about send
ing our wheat to Europe and exchang-
ing it for their calicoes. their woolens,
Their iron, their steel. What did those
Republican Senators propose to do in
order to relieve the situation? Why,
they graveiy proposed to send to Europe
and import her population to come here
and eat up our wheat!"
This distinguished advocate of British
manufacturing interests, who put into
the mouths of Republican Senators his
melancholy views of the results of our
controlling our own market, goes on to
ca 'culate that it will require 5000, 600
people to eat our surplus wheat: that
| 12,UOO, 600 of these will be producers,
who, with those we now have employed,
"would make twenty-one thousand mill
ions of manufactured products in place
of seven thousand millions, and where
will we get the market for it's Sale?"
Taking exception to the claim that the
people of America should manufacture
the cotton they export, he says, In effect:
| There is yearly surplus of 2,5OO,000,-
900 pounds; that though our people con-
sumo IS pounds of raw cotton year,
the people of England consume but 9
| pounds, and it would require the
| importation Of over 25O,000,0 600 people
ito consume the surplus of one years
cotton crop" At which the Democrats,
not thinking the immigrant would want
a second shirt after he had reached here,
applauded vigorously. But Mr., Mills
and most of the Democrats knew that
this statement is made in "EngIand's SUI
premacy" Harper & Brothers, reprint,
| New York, 1885,:
"For our cotton manufactures we i'm
port raw materials to the value of AZ
| millions sterling, and after clothing our
| own 81 millions of the people, we export
goods to the value of about CD millions
sterling, the difference between the two
sets of figures being mainly created by
industry"
This annual profit to England, after
clothing its own population, of $s0,000,
600, or enough to pay 100000 people
$500 each, Mr.. Mills wishes to keep
where it now is He would at the same
time keep the half million people en-
ployed in English cotton mills, with
those dependent on them, where they
use only half the cotton they would here,
and a part Of that half drawn from
India and Egypt, pretending that he
hiralF no an I1fa ut
here that is not worn here.
Herdpath's RGilocdy and Commercial
Journal, of London, in an article on the
| price of wheat, answers Mr.. Mills pre-
diction as to the consumption OF wheat
as follows:
"The causes which have communicated
more strength to the wheat trade are:
First, comparative exhaustion of
American supplies; secondly, the ten
dency of the Americans to engage to
| larger extent in manufacturing industry;
thirdly, the continuous growth of the
population of the United States,-which
Is advancing at the rate Of 100, 600 per
month; and, fourthly, the failure of the
winter wheat crop in France, in con-
sequence of the extreme severity of the
| past season.
"The increased tendency Of the Amer
leans to engage in manufacturing pur-
suits Is certainly also one OF the current
features Of American life. American
farmers have long been chatting under
the poor prices which they have obtain
ed for their products, and a movement
has been noticed of late from the West
ern States to the Southern States, which
has advanced almost by leaps and
bounds in the development of manu-
features of all kinds. The progress of
American consumption is also some-
what important factor in the situation.
A population which is growing at the
rate of 100, 900 per month must be con-
tinually absorbing more of the current
production of the United States, and
some American economists go the length
of affirming that by 1895 the
whole of the annual yield of wheat in
the great republic will be consumed at
home, and that not bushel will be
available for export In another five or
| ten years, the same writer's contend
that not only will the United States have
ceased to be wheat-growing country
but they will probably even have to
draw supplies of wheat from other lands
" 1t is undoubtedly true that
| American merchants have shown them
selves comparatively Indifferent of late
to European wheat quotations, as the
| local demand has been sufficient to sus-
tain the markets of New York, Chicago,
and other great American industrial
centers n The effect upon the
Western States of America would be
still greater, as Western American agri-
culture would once more be placed upon
q stronger basis"
Under the teaching of free-trade econ
omists, the people of Texas have no
mills except Congressman Mills. They
export wheat corn, beef, wool, coal,
and they soon will be export
ing iron ore, If the haul is
not 80 long as to prevent. These COM
modities they exchange for the calicoes,
woolens, iron and steel made in other To-
calities, and depending on market out
side their borders for their raw ma
terials, they get no more for these than
the farmer or other producer who lives
within pistol shot of the mill which fits
them for use. As they have no factories
to compete with those in other States or
countries, the manufacturer sells mer-
chandise to them at the door of his mill
at the same price he sells to his nearest
neighbor. The Texan pays the freight;
he pays IL both ways; he pays 1t all the
time, and Mr.. Mills likes to have him
pay it.
The American Hog and Germany.
The announcement from Berlin that
a n ~ has klnG .,Sk