The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-08-01

not believe that any prices are low that
leave American resources undeveloped
and American workmen unemployed.
| (Applause.) Republicans point with
pHrdonable pride. sir, to two undeniablo
facts namely, that under Republican
| rule the prices of manufactured goods
have greatly fallen, while on the other
hand the wages of workmen have great
ly risen. (Applause.)
Mr.. Picker. How about wheat?
Mr.. McCleary of Minnesota. My tai
ented friend from North Dakota (Mr.
Johnson) answered that question so ably
last week that it seems unnecessary for
anyone else to discuss that su bject again
this session. But there are a few points
relnt to the subject which l had
| Planned to consider in another connec-
tioh. This matter ia important, and
in the hurry might forget it. So, as my
| friend from South Dakota (Mr. Picket
has brought tho matter up, and as 1t
has certain relevancy here, l shall ask
attention to it now.
| CHANGES IN WHEAT PRODUCTION.
have here Senate Elk. Doc. 81, of the
second session of the Fifty-third Con-
gress, prepared by the Treasury Depart
mont, showing the imports and exports
of certain countries by years for the last
! quarter of a century.
This report shows that the guam tity of
wheat exported from Russia in 1878 (and
| thus coming into competition with our
wheat) was &, 957, 1854 chetverts; while In
1891 er'export of wheat had risen to
10, zoo, 700 chetverts, or Considera bly, more
than double.
The wheat exported by India in 1873
was 1894 010 hundredweight; while in 1892
it had risen to 30, 306. 700 hundrsdweight,
OF almost eighty times as much
But the report from the Argentine Re-
| public is even more startling. In 1873
she exported not bushel of wheat. She
| began to compete with us in 1876. in
which year she exported 90, S6S kilos.
But by 1892, Mr.. Chairman. her export
OF wheat had risen to 470, 100, 617 kilos, or
more than twenty-five thousand times as
much as in 1851
| Moreover. Mr.. Chairman, the produce
tion OF wheat in this country has grown
enormously and its methods have been
evolutionized.
Taking the States by groups, we find
thatthe annual wheat crop of Maryland,
New York and Pennsylvania increased
from 3D. 272, 900 bushels in 1872 to 49,, 604,-
600 bushels in 1891, or about so per cent
The production of the second group
comprising the States of Wisconsin,
| Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Ken
tuoky and Tennessee, increased during
the same time from 1l6, $50. 600 bushels to
201, AIS. 600 bushels. OF over 70 per cent.
| Jaking as the third group California,
Oregon and Washington, we find that the
| production of this group has increased
from 49, COG, 900 bushels i'll 1879 to 81, $780,
/ 600 bushels i'll 1891, or about 100 per cont.
And in the fourth group, comprising
| Minnesota the Dakotas, Iowa, Nebraska,
| Kansas, Missouri and Texas, the in
crease during the same time is from 5S,
| 067, 600 bushels to 269, S51, 600 bushels, or
nearly 400 per cent?
And in these years have come mighty
changes in the methods of producing
and handling wheat. My colleague may
make light of these ehanges; he simply
shows thereby now little he Knows from
actual experience what these changes
have really been. His statements would
provoke smile from anyone who has
| had actual experience in wheat farming
during the last quarter of century.
He speaks of
THE THRESHING MACHINE
as having been drought to perfection
in 1853" I am charitable enough to be-
lieve, Mr.. Chairman, that my colleague
really read that statement somewhere
But every man who has been around
threshing machines very long knows
that even as late as the seventies they
had as rule 2S-inch cylinders, were
driven by horse power, and had capaoi-
| ty of about 500 bushels of wheat per day,
If the horse power did not bother too
much. Now, the thresher is driven by
| steam, works untirinSly. has q 40-iDch
| cylinder or larger, and capacity of LOGO
to z, QUO bushels of wheat per day.
1t Is true that the fundamental idea of
the reaper had been invented before the
war, but the reaper itself had not come
into general use even in 1870. A large
part of the wheat was then 'fcrad led, !"
another large part was cut by the old
| hand rake" reaper, and the rest by the
wonderful self rake reaper, then be.
ginning to come into use. All the bind
| ing was then
| DONE BY HAND.
| Even after the self-rake reaper came
into use, in the later seventies, it took
four horses and five men to cut and lind
as many acres as three horses and one
boy can now out cleaner, bind more firm
~, and leave in better shape for shock
| ing.
BY the use of Iabor-saving machinery
wheat raising has almost ceased to be
farming and has become in large meas
ure manufacturing.
| The wonder is not that tho price of
wheat has fallen somewhat Though the
actual farm price has not fallen SO much
as we are sometimes led to believed; the
wonder is that the price has not fallen
much farther. That it did not, up to
1891 is evidence that the standard of
living had been rising. More people
were eating wheat bread than formerly.
and they ate 1t in larger quantities.
| (I may be pardoned for remarking in
this connection that the chief cause for
the lower prices during the last three
years is that people have been eating less
and poorer food
THE NET RESULTS OF 1871 AND
THOSE OF 1891.
| And now, Mr.. Chairman, let US COM
pare tine actual net result of wheat rails
ing in 1871 (the last year whose crop was
marketed before the act of 1879 with
those Of 1891 (uhe last year whose crop
was marketed under Republican rule. J
The average export price of wheat in
! 1871, as shown by the reports of the New
| York Prod uce Exchange, was 81 367 (It