The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1894-03-30
MANKAro FREE PRESS.
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1894.
THE LOW PRICE OF WHEAT.

Clapp & Co., bankers and brokers OF
New York, in their weekly market
letter for last week in speaking Of
wheat says:
More than two-thirds of our visable
is in Chicago. Minneapolis and Duluth.
More than | per cent. as much as any
worlds crop is now in Chicago. The
stock there equals more than half Eng
lands 1893 crop. 1t exceeds the crops
of Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Den
mark, Portugal and the Netherlands.
Belgium never grew as much. Ger
many only grew in 1893 about four
times as much We cut wheat in
some one of the twenty-Seven wheat
countries every month in the year.
Four of them have but recently fin
ished harvesting; their combined
crops equal about Is per cent. of the
yearly average amount grown.
The carrying of such large stocks in
speculative centerS so near the pro-
ducerS is as new feature, tn ey say, in
the grain market, as the unusually low
prices. The present indications are
that this years crop will be an average
one. and with the various conditions
new and unnatural, they do not seem
to feel very confident as to material
advance in prices in the near future
at least. This same view of the Situa-
tion is taken by the ST. Louis Globe
Democrat in an editorial reviewing the
low price of wheat and the causes
therefor. 1t says:
At the present price the production
of this leading agricultural staple in
the United States is improbable, and
the large area of land devoted to that
purpose can not be expected to yield
any return to the owners. The queS-
tiOn of the cause or causes of this re-
markable depression therefore be-
comes very important one. There
is nothing else in which the farmers
are more deeply concerned than the
matter of learning why wheat raising
has ceased to be remunerative, how
long this condition is likely to last, and
what can be done to counterfeit or
modify the misfortune. The subject
is not one to be treated in theOreti-
cal manner, strictly speaking; the in
formation desired is of the practical
kind that the average citizen
can readily comprehend and apply to
his business. There can be no dispute
about the proposition that more wheat
is being produced than is required for
the worlds consumption. This is the
controlling fact in the case. 1t does
not mean, in any appreciable degree,
that less wheat is being used in pro-
portion to population, but it does sig
nifty that the supply has increased
more rapidly than the demand. The
Wheat-growing districts have been
largely extended, and this has crowd
ed the market price below the cost of
production in our country. Our
farmers have'the advantage of i'm
proved machinery, but it is not suffi-
Gent to insure them profit as things
now stand, and the situation can
hardly become better for many years,
if ever.
1t is reasonable to believe the time
has gone by for selling wheat at dollar
a buShel-the price the American peO-
pie ought to have in order to make
the business pay in satisfactory
measure. The present phenOmenally
low price will not continue indefinite
ly,we may assume:but it will rise slow
ly, and it will stop at point cOnSid-
v
years are concerned. Those who pre-
dict that it will not again go above T5c,
except in special instances of general
scarcity or of sudden excessive de-
mand, have good Justification for their
opinion. 1t has been cOncluSively
demonstrated that the product of the
United States alone no longer governs
the market. The regulating influence
eS are beyond our control: in other
words, we are practically at their mer-
cy whether we raise much or little. 1t
is hardly worth while to attempt to
solve the problem by holding surplus
wheat with view to forcing higher
price when other countries are able to
furnish all that is needed. The fact
that other countries are thus prepared
to keep the supply up to the demand,
regardless of our relation to the worlds
markets, is the force that fixes the
price for all the wheat that is pro-
duced, and we are really powerlesS to
to manipulate the circumstances that
determine the question for the whole
universe. There are countries where
wheat can be raised at a cost which
implies inevitable loss in this country,
and in the nature of things they are
sure to keep the price down, if not to
the present level or lower, then so
much below the figure of good profit
for our farmers, at least, that the crop
cannot be counted upon as one of the
substantial sources of agricultural
success, taking one year with another.
The prospect is not an agreeable one,
but it is one to be considered in can
did and sensible way.
-------
CoXEY is marching his army of
trampS toward Washington for the