Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1895-07-10

|
his home and his food and
Is benefited in turn by the low
quotations for the things he buys, but
needs a money-making crop for his
interest payments and for his small
cash purchases. So long as by re-
duction in this cash margin he buys
less manufactured goods, the volume
OF farming trade will not reach the
high level of the prosperous years pre-
ceding 1893
| 1t is well to note what other people
are saying about this question. A
paper sread before the Royal Statisti-
cal Society of London in February by
Mr.. K. F. Crawford, and entitled "An
inquiry into wheat prices and sup
ply, has been printed in the proceed
ings OF that society. Mr.. Crawford
pointed out that the annual supply
OF wheat grown in England has fallen
from 123,000,000 bushels to $4,000 900,
while the imports of foreign wheat
nave increased form So ,000, 900 to 49,
OOO,OOO bushels. In this increase of
foreign wheat the United States has
been the dominant factor. But what
Oh the future? Mr.. Crawford spent
much time in attempting to compare
costs OF wheat production, and his con-
cIuslons must interest us. He arranged
the principal producing nations by
per centages as below:
Cost OF Wheat Production in Percent
ages.
England .................... 100
western states of the United States. 70
DonOIa ''...'..'....... DO
AAuid' TO
&SuoSio ''''''....-.... 54
Argentina, it will be noticed, was
LETT out by the compiler, though doubt
less 1t would figure among the low
cost countries. India, Mr.. Crawford
does not consider a serious competitor
OF the United States, but with Russia
the case is different. The paragraph
on Russia is as follows:
"One OF the greatest drawbacks to
the development of the wheat-grow-
ing industry in Russia has been the
lack OF facilities of transit. Until COM
paratively recent times the whole of
the grain was conveyed in the interior
ON the canals and rivers. The cultiva-
ton OF wheat for export was accord
ingly confined mainly to the neighbor-
hood OF navigable rivers, with which
the country is richly endowed Eng
land has one mile of railway to every
six square miles of territory, and Rus
STA one mile to every los square miles
OF area. But Russia is improving in
this respect, both as to extension of
railways and decrease in the cost of
freight. The development of the fertile
region is not yet complete, and as facil-
tiles increase for carrying their grain
to market, it is safe to predict that
Russia will produce grain at a lower
price than will transfer it out of the
United States, except, of course, in the
condensed form of cattle, hogs, and
the products thereof"
In the discussion which followed the
paper one of the members remarked
that "in spite of some advantages which
India has and which the Argentines
are developing. Russia stands the best
chance in the future of securing the
largest share of the 1S1 900, 900 bushels
OF wheat which the United States i'm
ported into Great Britain last year"
We may read this opinion without
| agreeing with the conclusion, though
it would be foolhardy for the United
States to rest secure because of our
| former easy supremacy. There is yea
son for believing that the belt of wheat
lands which exists in the northwestern
states and in Manitoba extends also
across Siberia. If SO, the question will
become one of cheapness of production
and transportation.