The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1894-03-15

,ot ,onc DO sold. have been exploded
| and wheat has continued to iail; no"
Ionr this condition of depressed prices
viii last is a question that lnteres >
lmo,.ican farmers, who devote oo,o ~
| ono acres every year to cultlVatlnS lhc
co,oal TO merchant in the lana. anu
Incidentally, to speculate the "oFl"
over. ;.aua,ooa
that have contributed. and there are
any number of them. it would appear
that a new level tumble is about to be
established for wheat, beyond when
| il i, not likely to rise except by ire
| holdast manipulation. and then only
for brief periods. There are specuia,
for, who believe that those good oid
DAYS when 81 n bushel wa the rule
will never come again, aud that sew
| entv-fye cents may be looked to as Inc
| future t~op-notch quotation. these
men are by no means bears. Tor thcy
corcede that wheat cannot hover long
around the depressing figure to-day:
They have ran ,ackcd the statistics Oh
the world. and claim to have discovered
| that the cheap product Of Russia, lndla
and the Southern hemisphere, when
has lately turned an almost mex.
! haustiblc supply into the markets OF
Europe. will finally drive the American
| crop out. Exposed to that fatal com
| petition, they argue thai wheat rals-
inc will some day become an American
question, to be treated without refer
ence to the export market, and on the
| theory that Europe will be supplied
from the tie ds that skirt the J altic,
from the rich plain, Of India and from
| South America. 1t may be said that
this gloomy view is not shared ty the
professional bull, who, with all his
bu yancy, offers no promise OF an early
return to prosperous prices.
1t is conceded by all SPECTATORS, as
well As by those whose interests are
greater than margin profits on losses,
that wheat declined during the panic
through sympathy with other stO ks
and comm dities. 1t would BE- unrea-
sonable to expect it to stand firm and
alone in the general collapse that ar
ried everything else down, but the de-
| cline cannot be charged exclusively to
the panic, nor is its continued prostra-
| ton, after other st cks rallied, OK
| planned by tho e who point to that as
| the cause of prices prevailing now.
The acreage and the yield of wheat
| in the United States was le s in 1893
| than for any year since 1850. and yet
the farm price, 81 cents, was far below
that of previous years. 1t is undeni-
ably a iact that the tremendous over
production of 1892 and 1891, which left
a larger visible supply than the coun-
try had ever known. is responsible in
, ,,no,,,nn fn,. Tho rr,n.nnf lou, nnnfn-
ii n.
yield and farm prices from 1856 to 1898,
of which follows:
In 1885 the acreage fell to 81, lS9, 2.4G
and the yield to a5I. III, 900 bushels,
but t. G farm prices reached III cents.
From that time back to 1850 thu are
age never fell below 36. . $40, and the
lowest yield was $50, .S0, 900 bushels.
The iarm price ranged from 64.5 cents
in 1854 to hob in 1881. Only twice
since 1850 has the Unit d States crop
fallen below the figures of 1893, and
that was in 1885, when the farm price
was Ill cents. and in 1881, when the
yield wa, 50. 2S0, 00), and the price at
The farm ll0.3.
In 1887, with a visible supply of 61.-
49, 00, the high and low price record
was 749. ~, and the Herald reasons
that the present phenomenally low
prices are not unreasonable in view Of
the glutted condition of the principal
wheat-producing sections. and that tho
fact of the cereal being worth less
than the actUal cost of production will
but tend TO divert the present acreage
to the production of some more profit
able crop.
1t is said, as an instance. that of the
23,000.0 coo bushels raised in Michi-
gan, only 100000 have been brought
to market. These figures may not
be correct, but the impression is
general that farmers are housing
a greater reserve now, in anticipation
of higher quotations. than they have
eve held back. Mysterious arrivals
at Duluth. Minneapolis and other
heavy trading points to the north,
seem to add weight to these sus-
plclons.
Board OF Trade men, however, are
agreed that better times are ahead,
and that the effect of these low prices
is. by no means, as disastrous as might
be supposed.
CLnT nONyN At TIE DO,,C