The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-09-14
DOLD TO BURN CORN
THAT WILL BE ZONE IF IT GETS
DOWN TO TWELVE CENTS,

| Sc
Immense that the Grain will be Cheaper
to Burn than Coal, as Freight Charges
can be STRAIGHTFORWARD Opinion Over the
state is that 1t will Not be Practicable
in Making Steam-Some Testimony to
that Dispatches Telling of Ex-
periments in Several Kansas Towns.
If corn gets rown to u cents per bush
el in Wichita Jacob Dold and sons Of
this city will use corn for fuel instead
Of coal. That is the latest and it comes
by the way of Chicago. This is the
first instance on record where large
steam user ever proposed to use corn
for this purpose.
The Chicago Tribune was apprised of
Mr.. Dold's idea and yesterday published
a scare-head article on the subject with
several dispatches from all over Kan
sas on the matter. Most of these Kan
sas dispatches say that it is impractical
bic TO burn corn for making steam and
that it viii not be used for that purpose
at ali. The Chicago paper gives the fol-
lowing on the idea:
On a $500. 600 bushel crop the west
will have corn 10 burn. According to a
Kansas City dispatch a packing-house
| company has already issued orders to
its Wichita house to begin the use of
corn for fuel SO soon as il can be bought
for Il cents a bushel.
On basis Of May price, with allow
ance for freight and for discont from
contract price for off grades corn on
the western farm is not worth much
over 10 cents a bushel. Last year the
| unusual and abnormal feature in the
grain situation was the feeding of wheat
to farm animals. Little attention was
paid to it at first, except as an expert
ment. but in the aggregate ii amour ted
10 millions of bushels, and was reflected
| IN reduced stocks in farmers hands.
Burning of corn for fuel is less Of a
novelty than feeding of wheat to hogs,
as 1T has been general enough on sew
eral occasions to attract a grtat deal OF
attention. Both are direct results of
| oYerproduction. In wheat a series of
years of plenty followed the bumper
crop of 1891, which was figured by the
! government at nearly 6l2 600 600 bush
els. The Washington authorities placed
! the 1884 wheat crop at $50. 900, 900 bush
! els, and the trade was almost unani-
| nous in the claim that the yield was
| underestimate. All records We're bro
ken in the decline, which was only
checked early this year with cash wheat
| below 50 cents
The conditions in wheat which made
stock-feeding practicable are all pres
| ent in corn in an aggravated form TO
make its use as fuel in many sections
| feasible. The 1895 crop of corn is prac-
tically made, and without doubt it will
be record breaker. Even the late corn
| is well out of the way of frost damage
| Ia m h<a rrrlIr
states is matured. A month ago the
government placed the condition of
corn at 1923 points, or 21s points above
par. Tuesday it reduced the condition
TO 9S.4 points on account of damage
done in some quarters by drought, an
! injury possibly more than offset by ad-
| Vanced maturity in other sections. 1t
is figured that the total yield of corn
| this year will be 2,325, 900. 900 bushels. II
will not be far from double the quantity
of corn produced last year, and far in
excess of the quantity of corn produced
on any of the star crops in the history
| of the trade. The Washington esti-
mates on the corn crops of 1892, 1893 and
1894 were 1.s2S, 100000 bushels, 1913, OO0,-
600 bushels, and 1,213, 0O0,0 600 bushels re-
| spectively, three short crops in success
sion following a full crop of over 2,000,-
| 600, 600 bushels in 1891.
| Il YIN 1l(oT.
The depression on the 1891 crop was
| by no means so sharp as on the 1889
crop of equal size. The 1891 crop. ac-
cording to Washington estimates. rep
resented something like 1896, 600, 000
while the 1889 crop only represented
! $59S, 600, 000 What the 1895 crop will
represent in money is the question of
interest just now.
Prices have become demoralized
simply on anticipation. December corn
| touched 27Ia cents last week In 1873
same delivery sold at 81 cents and on
| the memorable 1889 crop the low price
of last week was just matched. The
bottom quotations for May corn on the
| 1888 crop was higher than the price a
which X sold last week. All the recent
low figures were again discounted yes
! terd2y when December corn sold down
| to 27i5 cents and May touched 2S7s
| cents 1t does not seem probable that
| the bumper 1895 corn crop will yield the
| farmers much more than the famine
! crop of 1894. The short crop of 1889
was poured out upon consumers during
! the cold season al a rate which fairly
| smoothered buying and made even some
| of the speculative bears ashamed to bid
| the prices which holders were only too
| glad 10 accept.
The pressure was so great to dispose
| OF the cereal that corn was used as fuel
| in many parts of the west. Farmers
| offered the grain at country points in
far greater quantities than the railway
could carry away. and then. after hav-
| ing depressed prices by the weight of
! their offerings, clamOred for lower
freight rates on which to move the rest
of the crop.
On the basis of the present prices
corn Will be cheaper than coal for fuel
during this fall and winter in states
west of the Mississippi river. II is
said that experiments have shown that
a ton OF dry corn will go further in
producing steam than ton OF coal.
PRICES FOR CORN AND COAL.
Anthracite coal laid down in Kansas
City even at reduced freight rates costs
SIS a ton in car lots. Al points in the
interior of Kansas, Nebraska and West
eTn Iowa IL costs all the way from 81
TO 50 a ton. At those same points corn
is worth only from $3.50 70 $. ton on
the cob. Iowa soft coal can be delivered
in Central Nebraska at about $3.50 a
ton and Illinois coal at s.. In Iowa
native bituninouS coal costs over 81 a
ton.
The oil in the corn makes 4 espec-
tally adapted for hot fires Il is clean
to handle and aim cst srnokeless. y
prominent operator on the board %
trade yesterday offered 70 forfeit $4,000
Il he could not furnish the Alley L"
road with corn for fuel a. a less cost
than that of the coal supply.
Il base my Calculations said the
trader. ION experiments I made on
corn was plentiful - neigabor offer
IL a I