Evening star., 1900-08-11
Crop of Bread Stufs Will Be a Re-
markable One.
LARGEST In HISTORY OF AMERICA
More Than One-Third of the Yield
is Sent Abroad.
PRICE ADVANCED 13 PER CENT

Written for The Evening Star.
All the reports received by the govern
ment statistical bureaus in Washington in
dicate that the cereal harvest of the pres
ent year will be by far the most remark
able in the history of America Although
the people of this country do not begin to
compare with Europeans as bread eaters.
the United States has enjoyed for several
years past the honor of being the creates,
producer Of breadstuffs on the globe. This
year the remainder of the world. by rea-
son of the famine in India and other infiu-
ences. will be especially in need of the
products of our vast grain fields and the
exports of wheat which, for some time
past have exceeded those Of any other
country. will Rave to be heavier than ever.
There have been reports of a partial faii-
ure of the cereal crops in some portions of
the country. notably in sections of the
northwest. but 1t seems likely that the
shortage thus created has been more thar,
counterbalanced by the exceptional yield
of other areas devoted to grain cultivation.
Finally. the good prices prevailing are re-
lied upon to give the annual output an
aggregate value considerably beyond tina.
of any of its predecessors.
If every hushel of cereals produced in the
United States is traced to its final destind-
tion it will be found that more grain Is
grown than is consumed therein More
over. the foreign grain trade is actually
growing far more rapidly than the dOmes-
tic demand.
In the years Immediately following the
civil wa less than one-siXth of the wheat
crop Of the country was sent abroad.
whereas al present considerably more than
one-third of all the wheat raised in America
IS ultimately served, in one form or an
other, on the tables of our cousins across
the sea There is almost as much corn ex-
ported as wheat and -four combined. so that
not only has this commodity an even better
foreign record than the much-discussed
American hog, but the future growth of the
tidde Is expected to attain to gigantic pro-
portions rhe center of cereal production
steadily westward. hut IL is still so much
nearer the European markets than the
wheat fields of Australia. the Argentine
Republic and India that there is little doubt
but that the Yankee purveyor of bread
stufs Will maintain his supremacy on the
other side Of the Atlantic for a long time
II come.
Then, too. the superiority of American
transportation facilities has helped mate
rally in this conquest of the worlds mar
kttS. and right h-re il may be we'll to con-
slider for moment some revolutionary in
licences which have lately made their an
pearance in this sphere. The Erie canal
Which for many decades served as the great
highway for the grain brought from the
Middle west to the Atlantic seaboard for
export. has been virtually declared anri
qua'ed, and has lost its trade So raDjdIv as
10 seriously alarm the commercial interests
OF New y 0rk city. simultaneously the shiDs
on the great lakes which formerly carried
nearly all the grain to Buffalo. where it Was
transhipped in canal boats. have expert
enced a falling off in business of such pro-
pCrtlons that they now carry less than half
~ 'he grain shipped from the northwest.