The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-10-02

and that, low as they are now, prices
would remain stable and steady in the
future, then it might be possible on
land of reasonable quality to conduct
your industry on a ~business-like and
stable footing. Fresh arrangements
could be made, a general adjustment
would take place in rent, wages, in ex-
penses, and in all outgoings, and the
business would go on as before. It
would be a terrible state of things, and
it would entail enormous suffering.
The present generation of farmers and
cultivators would most of them be
ruined and pass away but still, if once
you could be certain that prices had
touched bottom, why, then, after a
general reimbursement such as 1 describe
on q certain quality of land, the indus
try could go on and be prosecuted in
the future, always upon the condition
that prices had reached their lowest
level, and could be counted upon to re-
main steady in the future. But that,
unhappily, is not the case. The fall of
prices has been continuous now for
many years, and is still progressing.
And in order to see this you have only
to look at the evidence of what is
known as the system ofindex numbers.
Perhaps 1 ought to explain to you what
that system is. 1t is a system by which
you ascertain what has been the aver
age rise or fall in the prices of a certain
number of different articles over a
given number of years. The method
you adopt is this: You take a certain
number of articles, fifty or one hun
dred, more or less, as many as you
like, and the price of each of them at
a given date is represented by a stan
dard number, say 100. Any variation
in the prices of these separate articles
which occur in each year afterwards
are made mote of. Thereupon you add
to or subtract from the standard mum
Der in each case according as there has
been a rise or fall, and by adding to-
gether the numbers so obtained you get
a general average of what the rise or
fall upon the whole of these articles has
been. Many different tables of prices
have been compiled in recent years
upon this system by a number of emf
nent men. The best known of them
are the tables Of the Economist, news
paper of DR.. Soetbeer, of Mr.. Giffen,
of Sauerbeck, M. Palgrave and others,
and they all show very much the same
result-namely, that the prices of com,
modities generally have been steadily
failing now for many years. The latest
table l have seen-that of Mr.. Sauer-
beek-shows that from 1873 to 1893 the
fall has been rather over 40 per cent.
and it still continues in 1894. Now,
take the case of one article alone, of
wheat, for instance. Wheat, in spite
of everything, is still an important crop
in some of our Scottish and English
countries. There are some parts of
Great Britain where the land is capable
of growing first rate crops of wheat,
but where it is fit for very little else.
Now, what has been the course of the
prices of wheat for several years pastR
You will probably remember that
when Mr.. Glare Read and Mr.. Albert
Peil went out as sub commissioners to
America for the Richmond commission
in 1879, they left America under the
impression that wheat would not be
sent to England from America in the
future under 4Os. a quarter. 1t began
to fall, however, shortly afterwards be-
low that price, and it went on falling
till it reached 30s. some two or three
years ago; and / remember quite well
pointing out to the great conference at
st. James's hall sixteen months &
that it had then come down to 25s.,
and I saw no reason why it should not
fall to 2Os. Well, now, what is the
latest intelligence we have on that
point9
ION December 18th of last year 1 got
information from a friend, a reliable
correspondent at Bristol, who is kind
enough to keep me well informed upon
these matters. He wrote as follows:
Several of our leading corn importers
have purchased cargoes of sound, dry
Russian wheat for delivery in Febru-
March and April next at 22s. Cd.
and 2Ss. per quarter of 492 pounds, and
to day sundry cargoes and parcels of
similar wheat are in offer and obtain.
able at 22s. Sd. The impression here is
that bottom has at last been touched
but he added a word of caution-'the
same impression existed when wheat
was at 3Os. a quarter Oaughter.)