Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-10-22

Chicago. Oct. 20.-tSpecial. 1.-The re-
cent advance of L. cents a bushei In
the price of wheat has given rise TO
| considerable discussion as to what ex-
tent the Republican managers have
participated in the advance. Many err
roneous statements are made. among
which being one attributing the ad-
vance to McKinley's probable election.
and the probable defeat of silver in Mo-
vember. One Republican paper gives
credence to the statement that mas
much as the value of wheat To the far
| mers in this country has increased in
the neighborhood of s1oo. Oo0. coo. there
can be no possible doubt but that the
| gold sentiment has done IL.
| The value OF wheat is gagged abso-
| lutely by the unalterable laws of sup
| ply and demand. aided temporarily at
times. 10y speculative influences. Spec
| ulators occasionally advance or break
the price of wheat, according to the oppor-
| tunities offered in the exercise of the
| business. There are evidences at the
| present time which show clearly that
either the Republican national COM
| mittee. or a syndicate in close touch
| with ii. has recently been partici-
pating in a speculative syndicate which
/
campaign capital in addition to- a few
dollars.
1t is often asserted that during the al
most continual decline in the price of sill
| Yer bullion since the decentralization OF
silver in 80. the price of wheat
| has advanced, and the differences II
relative worth have been gradually
| widened. That this is not true is shown
| in the report of the United States de-
partment of agriculture, showing the
| average price of wheat for the years
1856 to 1895. inclusive. Before silver
was demonetized it sold at Sl.29 pei
| ounce. From 1866 To 1869 the averag e
price of wheat was s1.lS bushel From
| 1870 to 1873. Sl.0i: from 1874 to 1850
50 cents: from 1851 tn 1855. 80 cents
from 1856 to 1890. - cents. and from
1891 to 1895. 60 cents. With the appre.
| citation in the price Of gold the tenden-
| cy is for higher prices for wheat. and
it is recorded shat in so far as money
can have any influence on the price
OF wheat. high prices for silver have
always brought high prices for wheat
| Such advance. however. would not bs
uniform with the advance of both sill.
YER and wheat. Under "a bimetalliC
system the premium would he removed
from gold. and silver. of course
would advance. This would in n meas
ure equalize the advance in the price
of wheat. According to the estimate
made by one Of the most prominent
grain dealers in Chicago. the advanc.
from 1o-cent wheat would he To- about
81. while silver would at once go q
sl.29.
The Wall Street Journal gives this
following explanation of the weakness.
in silver so far as il is considered a
q commodity:
The explanation given by dealers o.
the weakness in silver is absence al
demand FOR India. This is considered
confirmatory of the reported shipment.
of wheat from here to India and make.
the silver situation interesting. Here.
tofore India had wheat for export ant
| silver was in demand in London e
pay for India wheat. Having no wheat
now to export, the demand for silvei
has lessened. and India in buying
wheat. is buying it on a gold basis ant
paying practically sl.30 a bushel in sill
yer for what costs about 20 cents q
bushel in gold in Chicago.
We learn. however. that other fac
tors at this moment are more power
fully at work lesseninS the demand fol
silver. One is the heavy liquidation II
London within the past ten days in In
dia rupee paper. Ii seems that Lon
don operators during the summer. il
anticipation of the sweeping victor
in the United States for free silver
bought rupee paper as a speculative
> venture. These operators made :
= profit in this paper. sold il. and Indi.
, being the natural home for IL has be-.
|, buying. Another factor has been IN
very duh trade of East Indian coun
. tries and China and japan for ra'
, materials. such as teas. SILKS. etc"
. Aside from the speculative influence
. which have been at work in silver. IN
laws of supply and demand have un
doubtedly governed present prices q
= wheat Extraordinary causes are q
|, work this year to advance the price q
I wheat. and were it not for the depreS
sion which is due to the rise of tn
price of gold, wheat prices would no'
be very high. The wheat crop in III
United States is very short this yea
being $1,000 0oe bushels less than tn
> average crop for twenty years. TIL
: last government crop report placed III
: crop at All 600 900 bushels. Add to thi
, | the available supply of -. coo. 600. I'll
, official estimated reports makes the &c
tai crop 46s. 600. 600. The expectation {
. wheat has been phenomenal this yea
, and if Kept up a Z the present rate. wi
reach fully 100000 bushels. leavin
but 313, O0o. 900 bushels for consumptio
and seed purposes in this countr,
| which is not enough for the actuf
needs.
: Probably one of the greatest infiu
ences that have ever appeared in III
!, history of the wheat trade has bee
Argentina's production Of cnorrnou
quantities of wheat. which began
few years ago. and ever since tina
country has been factor of the firz
importance Last year she shippe
enormous quantities Of wheat and thi
year NOTHING, nor viii she. as her Gro
u practically ruined. The croo G