St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-08

a loss to the producer, is a blessing.
How far has the cheaper bread and
meat now enjoyed by the artisan of Eu-
rope and New England been purchased
at the positive injury Of the farmer
who produced the same in the Missis-
sirpi valleys andHto what extent has il
changed methods of buying, handling
and transporting the same? The prices
for series of years of London, New
York, or even Chicago or Minneapolis
are no measure of the relative prices
received in the corresponding years by
the farmers of the United States. In
the management Of railroads and the
amount of charges for carrying grain
thefe has been revolution in thirty
hVe years in all the methods of deal
lnS in grain that is almost beyond be-
het. 1t has been greater than was
dreamed of in 1866 to 1875 by the old
grange and anti-menopoly movement.
The burden of the complaint in those
days was that the middleman got. the
greater share of the money ultimately
realized for the fruit of the farmers
toll. The wheat or meat raised here
was sold in the markets of New York
and London for two and three or more
times the price for which the farmer
sold the same; so there might be a de-
cline IN prices in New York and Lon
don fairly revolutionary in its charac-
ter, and yet the farmer in Iowa and
Minnesota be benefited by the change,
provided the decline in London and
New York was all produced by de-
cine IN the charges of the middlemen
and not the prices realized by the farm
hiSSiSSinni
enough foodstuffs to feed the people of
Gleat Britain, and it's crops are the
controlling factor in fixing the prices
Tor all agricultural staples the world
over. The heart, then, of the discussion
Is whether the decline has been at the
expense of the farmers, or is the re-
suit OF changes of railroad rates and
methods of buying, selling and trans
porting the same.
TO determine the effect of price
changes upon the farmer the student
must consider the farm prices. In the
reports of the United States agricuI-
tCral department we have a most valu-
able collection Of data relating to these
Iarm prices. They give for each state
and for the nation, as a whole. for each
year Tor the ten leading staples Of ag-
rlculture, the acreage, the total product
IN oushels, pounds or tons and the total
Value and the average value per bushel
OF ton or pound, at which the farmer
could sell his crops at his own door.
In It's investigation Of the subject of
asrlcuitural prices the Minnesota
1,I bureau TOOK these reports as the basis.
Ihe states of the Union were senarated
into two groups. In one were incIuded
the ten great central grain and meat
producing states Of the Mississippi val
ley, ONO, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri.
Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota,
wisconsin and Michigan. The second
group Included the balance, of the
natlon. For each of these groups and
FOR the nation there was calculated for
each year from 1852 to 1895 the average
currency and gold values of the follow
ing crops: Corn, oats wheat. barley.
puckWheat, rye, hay, tobacco. potatoes
and cotton. The data arranged for
each year was further gathered into a
number of series of groups to better
snow the average tendency of any
price movement. Thus there were ar
ranged all the data in groups of four.
OF seven, OF fourteen and other differ
ent periods Of years. For each one of
these staples the bushels, pounds. etc.
IN which the agricultural department
reports the production, were reduced
10 tons That permitted the product Of
these ten staples to be added together
and combined into one whole in pro-
weight of each crop produced each
year Thus was calculated for each
group and for the nation the average
gold and currency value of a combined
ton of these ten staples, above men
toned Full data for such combination
is found for the ten Western. states
for all the years from 1862 to 1895, in
elusive. There were no figures for the
cotton crop before 1857, hence the
figures for the nation and for the
second group of states, outside of the
ten, are given for only the period from
1867 to 1894. The result of combining
these ten staples by tons and securing
the average gold value to the farmers
per ton is shown in the table.
Exhibit showing average home or
farm value inigold per tom of the COM
bined crops Of corn, oats, wheat, bar
ley buckwheat, rye, hay, potatoes, to-
bacco and cotton for the United States
and two great groups in the nation
from 1862 to 1895. inclusive:,