Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1898-06-02
FACTS ABOUT WHEAT.
rne Increase I'm Price Helps the
Farmers and Hurts the Free
Sityerites.

A few years ago wheat was selling for
less than 90 cents "A bushel. The low
price was not due to the fall in that of
silver, but TO the existence of supply
in excess of a demand at remunerative
prices. Wheat was selling yesterday
for S15O a bushel. The sole reason
for the advance of $50 per cent. is that
the demand is in excess of the supply.
The war has nothing to do with it. The
conditions which prevailed four years
ago have been changed radically.
Ithappened that at that time there had
been succession of good crops in the
heat-producing countries of the world.
The wheat acreage had been increased
greatly. Countries like India and
Australia, which prior to the opening OF
the Suez canal never dreamed of send
ing wheat to Europe, became heavy eX-
porters of that grain and serious com
petitors with the United States. The
fertile lands of Argentina were reduced
to cultivation rapidly and that country
became an extensive wheat exporter.
The inevitable effect of this rivalry for
the business of supplying Europe with
:he grain needed by it over and above
what it produced was to beat down the
price to Improbable figures.
But in 1896 and 1897 there came a sud
den change in the situation. The Indian
crops failed and there was a famine
there. The locusts and bad weather
played havoc in Argentina. There was
a terrible drought in Australia, and that
part of the world, from being an eX.
porter of wheat, became an importer.
The Australians had to draw on the Pa
cific coast of the United States for their
supplies and have had to pay $20.000000
in gold for what they got. Much of the
California wheat used to 90 to Europe
for mixing purposes, the millers blend
ing it with the softer grain from other
regions. The Australian demand has
deprived the mllers of that source of
supply. Russia is another great wheat
exporting country. but the crops turned
out badly there-both of wheat and of
rye, the latter being the cereal chiefly
used for food purposes in northern Eu-
rope. During the last eight months
this country has shipped over S5,000,000
worth of rye to Europe to meet the de-
mands of a population accustomed to
live on it, instead of wheat. In Rus
sia, Germany, and other parts of the
continent, and in Great Britain. the har
vests last year disappointed the culti-
vators. Nor was the wheat crop of the
United States last year as large as it
was thought it would be at one time.
The farmers in some sections had unfa-
vorable weather at the last moment.
The advance in the price of wheat be-
gan in the late summer of 1896. 1t
plagued the Bryanites a good deal, and
they attributed it to manipulation of
the markets by Mark Hanna. That
advance was simply the first indica-
ton that the demand for wheat was be-
ginning to catch up with and outrun
the supply. The population of the
world had been increasing at the rate
of one per cent. a year. The produc-
tion of wheat had been decreasing on
account of crop failures. The crops
have continued to be short since the rise
in price began, and hence wheat has
gone up to $l.50 a bushel.
While that price is not to continue in
definitely, it is certain that cheap wheat
need not be looked for in the near fu-
ture. The American farmers need have
no fears about not receiving remunera-
tive prices for the wheat they are go
ing to harvest this year. For by the
time their grain is marketed there will
be nothing left over from the crops of
1897 There will not be stored up here
and there great surpluses TO eXerc;er
a depressing effect on prices. There
will be a lively demand for the 1898
wheat to meet immediate needs, and
since the European buyers like to have
large stocks in sight, so as to be able to
meet contingencies of crop failures,
these buyers will purchase heavily to
replenish their exhausted reserves.
The American farmers will bear in
mind also the fact that the domestic
demand is increasing. The population
of the United States is growing at the
rate of 100000 a year at this time.
That means an increased home con-
sumption of 100000 bushels. There
will be that much less wheat to be dis
posed of abroad.
AS long as wheat stays up, as it is
certainly bound to for some time to
come, corn will bring good price. In
view of the grand scale on which that
cereal is grown in the United States this
is matter of great congratulatfon to
the agriculturists. And when corn is
up meat is up also. Cattle, sheep and
poultry bring better prices, and those
who raise them for the market do not
think this is such bad world to live
in after all. and do not lend so ready an
ear to the destructive sophstries of the
Bryanites.
The farmers are in clover They had
Il hard time of it a few years ago, but
they are having good times now and
there is no likelihood of charge in the
situation. The Bryanites view rtlis
prosperity with sour faces. Agricul-
turaI adversity has been their stock in
trade for some years and now they are
deprived of it. One of their pet argu-