St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-16

year, for every one who actually
was here, it would not have affected
| the price of agricultural products
| perceptibly. The value of root and
vegetable crops, which this writer
| refers to particularly Is, as we have
seen this year. dependent principally
upon the nature of the season. When
| there is a good yield, it is so much
| in excess of all ordinary demands
that the market practically disap-
pears. Taking our correspondent
own statement, we find that pota-
toes and vegetables yielded so eX-
uberantly that there were not enough
people to eat them, and the price
fell to a point where it did not pay
to gather them. Obviously, it could
go no lower No matter how dense
the population, increased supply
could not have taken market value
from that which had practically no
lilCll NuluSs IAASoN pNtAJ ~'AANN
ishable crops, which cannot be dis
tributed evenly over the world, so
that an excess of production in one
section balances a deficiency in an
other. fluctuate according to local
conditions If there is a big crop,
the price falls to almost nothing.
,l,A
price rules high. Little or no
impression can be made on these con-
ditions in the Northwest today, no
matter what might be the amount OF
land. under cultivation. 1t is to be
remembe- ed, however, that the larger
the number of people engaged in
agriculture, the more rapid also will
be the growth of cities and towns,
and the greater will be their de-
mand for sustenance upon the fruits
of the soil.
On the other hand, taking into
question grain crops, it is equally
apparent that an increase of immi-
grafton could not cause any varia-
ton worth mentioning in their price.
These products represent the other
extreme. Their price depends on the
relation Of demand to supply over
the entire world. Take wheat for an
illustration. We have gathered in
this year the largest and finest crop
of wheat ever harvested in the North
west. The average price for it has
been materially greater than that
commanded by inferior and scanty
crops of preceding years. Why? Be-
cause the yield in other portions of
the United States, and other coun-
tries of the world, was so deficient
that our unusually large product did
not bring up the total supply of the
world to the customary figure. There
fore, the big crop of the Northwest
was to it an -unmixed good. 1t is
clear, as we have said, that if there
had been five times as large an area
under cultivation in Minnesota, the
increase in the total yield would have
made so small an addition to the
worlds supply that it would proba-
bly, not have affected the price by so
much as a fraction of a cent.
The advantages that come from
immigration have been presented al
ready at such length that we need
not dwell upon them here. The di-
versiffcatfon of industries, the in
creased demand of the cities and
towns for what the country pro-
duces, the multiplication of means Of
transit, the cheapening of freight
rates, and, above all, the increased
value of land per acre, as population
grows more dense, show the farmer
where he can make a substantial
gain. Looking at the other side of
it, as our correspondent presents it,
while we can see much in the farm
.er's position that might be improved,
and while we understand readily that
| those who have relied for their cash
income upon the marketing of vege-
| tables and root crops have been dis
appointed by phenomenal yield that
has sent prices out of sight, we are
not able to discover that these I'M
| favorable conditions would be i'm
proved if population were sparser, or
that they would be in any way in
creased or intensified by any addi-
tion, however large it might be, to
the number of our tillers of the soil.