New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-24
FLOUR AND GRAIN.
REMARKABLE GROWTH OF THE EXPORT
TRADE.

|
MARVELLOUS INCREASE OF NETWORKS
COMMERCE. IN BREApsTUrrs - CHAR
ACTERIsTIC FEATURES OF THE
WORLDS GREAT FOOD
Sir William Crooke In his presidential address
| to the British Association at Bristoi recently
pointed out the fact that wheat Is the "'oS'
| sustaining food grain o. the great Caueasia"
race. which includes the peoples Of Europe. the
/ United States. Canada and the white popu'a''"
of South Africa Australasia, South An"e'i'A
and many European colonies
The individual consumption Of wheat has,
moreover. increased steadily. In Scandinavia
it has risen 100 per cent in twenty-five years. In
Austro- Hungary so per cent. In France ~ per
cent and in Belgium so per cent.
In 1871 the number of bread-eaters In the
world was 81 100000 and in ten years the
number had risen to 41G.OOO.0O0. In 1891 the
figures assumed 472. 100000. and at the present
time the number of bread-eaters may be placed
ut 5l6j00.00O
To supply this number OF persons, II each were
| 70 have n normal ration would require totai
of 2,23 100000 bushels
| The total supplies from the 1S!}1-S harvest
aggregated about | .921 .OOO,OOO bushels. ana the
deficit of 4O3, 900. 900 bushels Is explained py
pointing to the disappearance OF the surplus oi
over 300 600 900 bushels that existed Al the oe-
ginning OF the present year.
! With these facts in mind. IT is interesting te
take up the results of wheat planting IN Amer
lea since the first handful was given 10 'he
soil in 1902, on a little island in Buzzards Bay
Since that time the fruit Of the old Puritan IN
dustry has multiplied and been carried west
! ward with an increase far In advance OF the
| ratio OF population The surplus has poured
hack over the ever-lengthening lines OF trans
portation to the metropolis OF the East.
SOME LARGE FIGURES.
To saw that I. 123. 100 barrels of -four were re-
| ceiyed at New-York City during the year 1917
conveys very little real knowledge OF the magni-
tude of the quantity to mind not tra'heo III
statistical computations. but fancy tram OF
fifty thousand loaded freightcars train over
! three hundred and fifty miles long. reaching out
along the line of the New-York Central Railway
nearly to Rochester, and the great volume oil
the annual receipts OF flour at Newly YORK CITY
cannot fail Of appreciation. Yet TINS only
little more than half measures the tribute OF
the Western wheat fields to the commerce OF the
metropolis for to the receipts OF hour must De
added 80 40 80 bushels Of wheat received our
ing the same period. enough TO Ill f'''o'
frcightcars. and engthen the tram over three
hundred miles, through Buffalo ana 'ieVe-
land and vet forty miles beyond. Then the
! fertile. plains of Kansas and Nebraska gave up
only q tithe of their plenty, and added 3?,6}6,-
| S05 bushels of corn to the floWins stream oi
grain. 10000 cars extending along the lake
shore for three hundred miles to a point WITHIN
thirty miles Of Chicago. only to be still further
oupmcrted by ~ G2i 1876 bushels of oats and
moro than 10 900 900 bushels of rye barley and
malt
To move this mass Of produce, upon which
NeyYork City and Great Britain alike depend
for sustenance would require 1900 locomotives
and the employment OF 26 900 men in the capac-
itv of conductors engineers. fremcn and brake
men. and for every day Of the year II Would
mean the arrival in New-York City OF 4'o
loaded freightcars. twelve trains OF nearly
forty cars each.
From these figures the general mind may be
able TO realize the vast importance Of the bust
ness in brcadstufTs in this city. 1t is business
whose magnitude is little appreciated, as a rule,
because the enormous daily arrivals are divided
among A dozen great railway trunk lines. be-
sides the large percentage that comes in by way
OF the Hudson River. by the coastwise steamers
from the South and by the canals.
New-York City forms the mouth or great
funnel through which constant streams OF grain
end -four flow for distribution by great steam
ers bound for the English Channel. the Mediter-
ranean. the Spanish Main or far-distant Cape
Town nv means small proportion OF all
the vast product pauses by the way in the tall
elevators that guard the shores Of the North
River. in the warehouses that stretch for
many miles along the Brooklyn waterfront.
NETWORKS SUPREMACY.
II is worthy of note that with the beginning
of the expectation of -four was laid the founda,