Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-02-08

ernncent system down pretty fine they go;
up q bureau Of their OWL The tobacco men
have abated 0 of their hostility to Mr.
Dodge, n as no has recently criticised
the tobacco reports of the department a
sarcastic Kcntuckian wants 10 know if his
hostility dates back to that interview in
1887, when, says this member, ''we over
hauled him SO vigorously"
Sources of Error
This is given as an illustration of the
hostility between the bulls and bears, and
of course the same parties charge that Mr..
Snow fell into the hands of the Chicago
speculators interested in depressing tho
market, while the other side charges tho
department. with all sorts Of perversions
In the interest of the bulls. One thing is
oertain-there is a regular discrepancy,
the syndicate of papers taking the Snow es-
Inmates always putting the crop much
higher than does the department.. 1t Is
further certain that the trade movement
did for some years show a much larger
crop than the department estimates, the
excess being Al, 900, 900 bushels In 1850,
SO, 600, 900 in 1891, "a, 600, 900 in 1892 and
81, OO0, 900 in 1898; but, as aforesaid, the
indications now are that the dead weight
left over from the surprise years" is pref
ty we'll worked off, and that this year tho
trade movement will justify the depart
ment. A single item will show the drift
Of the evidence. On Jan. 10 the big ele.
vator firm of the northwest, which has 100
elevators On the Chicago and Northwest
ern railroad and branches between tho
Mississippi and Missouri rivers, reports
that 67 of those elevators are idle for want
of grain, and the firms secretary gives it
as his opinion that the crop of South Da-
kota was only 8, 600, 900 bushels, instead of
Is, OO0, 600, as reported.
One more source of error should be
noted. At first reports were obtained
largely from those in the railroad interest.
and the department had to be constantly
on guard against overestimates, but as the
machinery got in better order the reports
came in directly from farmers, II In
1890 it was discovered that farmers were
rapidly tending to underestimate. Tho
department., long accustomed to guard
against Il exaggeration, was suddenly
called on to guard against the exact oppo,
site, and Oh top of this came the "surpriso
crops Of 1912. Even so cautious and
experienced a calculator as Wood Davis was
badly deceived by this combination. He
had confidently promised that the grain
glut would soon give way, II that this
year at tho furthest would bring rising
prices. The Hungarian minister of agri-
culture and Fl. kains Jackson Of Eng
land, probably the best estimaters in Eu-
rope, raised his figures and put the worlds
yield of 1898 at something over 2, zoo, OOO,.
600 bushels, but the trade movements
showed that even they underesti1nated it,
and though our own crop was short the
world that year probably produced nearly
2,400, 600, 600. And only 45 years ago
but tho business was not h on a scien-
tific b~asis-experts estimated the worlds
crop of wheat at only 800, 600, 600. No
wonder it is cheap!
Laws Against Options.
A singular and rather amusing feature
Of the situation is that they are having
exactly the same kind of a quarrel in Ger
many, with the same complaints and al.
most tho same remedies proposed. The
latest communication from Hon. Charles
de Kay, our consul general at Berlin,
tells of general conventions of the agricul-
turists and presents figures showing that.
although they pay less wages than are
paid in England and but one-third of
ours, they are producing wheat at az
actual loss. Almost every remedy suggest
ed by the Populists and every bill advocat-
ed by Chairman Hatch has strenuous adj
vocates there, and the landowners con-
vention in SaXony early in January recon-
mended government silos and warehouses,
with certificates to the producer on which
he could borrow, while other conventions
declared for ~''strict laws against option
sales and a radical reform in the finances
Of the empire"
Mr.. de Kay hints that the disconnected
Germans go much further in the direction
Of socialism than any farmer in this
country has yet ventured to propose and
gives some long and unpronounceablc
German names of the societies they arc
trying to organize. All the farmers know
that the government estimates the wheat
crop of last year at AGO, 600, 600 bushels,
and that the rival bureau out west puts it
some SO, 600, 900 bushels larger, but the
Important fact on which all authorities
agree is that the acreage is not increasing,
and the crop average for the past two
years is decreasing, and that a powerful
economic law has come to the farmers aid.
Whenever al article Of general desire is
greatly cheapencd, the consumption in.
oreases greatly, but when the price agair
rises consumption does not corresponding
~ 1dll I'LL, lOf ZIG udDlU VI USE HAS UGGl
established. There are at least 100, 900, O0(
more people using wheat than there were
IL years ago, and yet 5000, 900 colorc&
people and l 200, 900 whites In the FIJI
south use corn bread almost exclusively
And this brings me to the greatest mys
terry in the business, and one which tho
department II M explain. 1t is the mos
notorious of we'll known facts that thu
corn crop has declined rapidly for fou:
years, and that last year it was at least A
per cent smaller than the crop Of 1890, ant
yet all the commercial results are til,
same as if there had been a great increase
The department estimates the crop of las
year at 1913, 600, 900 bushels, the smallcs
since 1881. In 1891 the crop was 1880,
600, 600, and in 1898 it had declined t
1,6l9, 600, 900. Now it is certain tina
there was no surplus left over; that tn
stock on hand at the beginning of thi
year is extremely small; that exports hav
decreased but a trifle, and that consumI
tion has been fairly maintained, and ye
the price of corn is steadily going dow1
1t knocks my arithmetic. Here is whcr
the silverites get in their work.. All "
oan say by way Of conclusion is that co,