The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-28
s7.6 $50 64.3 1873 ia 74s 72.2 1877 49,.
1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878
1913 s1.7 1877 Ss.7 $50 SIS $50 81

These are the figures used as percentases
to reduce the currency values to gold ones in
TINS report. In the case of the live stock
the ratio for any. given calendar year is al
ways the same as that given above. With the
agricultural crops the figures used are always
given Ia the above table for the year next
succeeding those given for the crops in the
general tables in other parts of this report.
That is, in reducing currency values for the
agricultural year 1862 to Scsd ones, the ratio
USED is .6s9. This rasio is used thus alike for
the I'VE STOCK reported January, 1863 and the
crops given December 1862 CORRESPONDING
ratios are used for all farm values for ali
other years.
REDUCTION OF ALL CROPS TO A COM
MON UNIT OF WEIGHT.
The agricultural department gives the
pro9uct OF corn, cats, wheat, rye, barley,
nay in tons, of tobacco in pounds and of cot
ton in bales and gross pounds To unite
THESE diverse crops into one whole in such
a ava, way as to compare quantities., as we'll. as
values, these bushels, tons, pounds and bales
are reduced to tons. and thereafter brought
Ior each set or states and for the nation into
four groups of crops. The first group in
cludes corn, oats and wheat. The second in
GUIDES the six cereals, the three included In
the foregoing group together with rye, barley
and and b tha wheat The third group includes
nine, the foregoing and tobacco, potatoes and
hay. The fourth includes these and cotton.
AVERAGE VALUES
each state and for the group it's average
value Fer bushel and ton in gold and cur
rency: The average value per bushel is OBJ
tanned by dividing the total value in gold or
currency by the total number Of bushels or
tons.
The tables, based on corrected values. fail
to disclose any general price decline in corn
in the United States In the past thirty-five
years.
On the other hand, there Is exhibited a
hxedness or general uniformity of prices that
cannot be duplicated in the prices for any
cereal. in any nation during an equal period
OF time, on the globe, before 1873 The sew
enteen states by the corrected values show.
when comparing the period 1926 With 1885
"a, decline Of only four millsra bushel If
the method of correction used is a valid one.
the corrected values for the nation show an
increase of two mills bushel. The ten Mis-
slssippi valley states show an increase in
the latter of these two periods on the farms
OF 1.3 cents bushel, while the seven states
are the only group that chronicles a decline
ana that OF six cents. The cause of this de-
cline is the effect Of Western competition
through falling railway charges upon the
prices of grain at the seaboard.
The tables show fluctuations from
time to time, due to good and bad har-
vests. Local prices are affected bv
changes in transportation charges.
The panic Of 1893 also created severe
depression, as crop failures in Europe
had raised prices during the four years
before.
Mr.. Powers finds too. that the an
nual per capita amount of corn raised
and its average value per bushel or
ton f1uctuate far more than does the
value of that annual per capita pro-
duct. Taking the three periods-lS67
IS, 1S74-S9, and 1SSS-94-there is noted a
continuous rise in the national per
capita product in tons that quite even
ly balances the decline in simple aver
age price per ton. The period 1881
to 1887 records a per capita yield in
tons about II per cent greater than
that of the preceding period, and Is per
cent greater than the succeeding per
led. Its value was 20 per cent greater
than that of the preceding. and "a per
cent greater than that of the succeed
ing one. This period, with per capita
product in tons and a value so much
greater than that of the others, is the
one which witnessed the large foreign