The sun., 1903-05-24

: flour, even at the rate Of one pushe' per
! capita, we in this country would nave 10 10
! go to eating corn pone We SIMPLY cou'a
F.! not sell it to them.
| "Tf We could sell thcn orc buShei per
capita it would take 10000 600 bu-he's
| to supply China and Japan alone. to say
| othing of the Straits Settlements and other
countries having large populations.
I'm the north and west parts OF emma
there Is an excellent farming country. where
corn and wheat can be raised. but the prod
ucts are 40 far from the dense populatloh
OH the seacoast that they cannot be carried
there We may perhaps fear that Russia
with the Siberian railway completed, may
enter into competition with us for the ASH
attic -four or wheat trade The transporta-
tion question settles that.
"The average rate on the Russian state
railroads is Is cents per ton per mile, ~
the actual cost of operation amounted
to but ,wo-thirds of this igure-l.2 cents
per ton per mile-this rate, applied t" the
distance from that part of Siberia where
the wheat is grown, would give transport
tation charge of 81 20 per barrel on flour.
while it should be carried from our Pacific
ports to Yokohama, Nagasaki, Kobe, Shang-
lldi dN'' Ii'iip hoiiS ''' 81 N''N7 - ''~'''''-
IS a ton, 80 cents barrel.
Russia is not IN a position to compete
with us at all even if the wheat and -four
We're carried for the naked cost OF its tralis-
uor;ution to the Government. What APP
plies in this respect TO our wheat applies TO
cotton from the South and 10 every other
article We export. even to iron and steel
If oul home market, which we have
nursed 50 long for iron and steel indust RES,
is o. so much value. let us now go on and
take some care of our agricultural interests
and not leave them where they are to-day.
without an iota of assistance from any
point.
e., wear go YOU could buy nails FOR 81 %
a keg: now they are s325. You know how
lumber has gone up and all other articles
of prime necessity Oh the prairie farm.
Fuel has advanced. Everything made Of
iron has advanced. Rut the wheat crop
ha. not advanced, because it is sold in open
competition with the product of the world
And until we get other people TO eat
wheat it will not advance and wo will g" on
hoping against hope. We will not get a
high price for our wheat ui.ti wheat IS
made scarce. II we could increase our eX-
port to the Orient by 50,0OO,oOO bushels, l
have not the slightest doubt that 1t would
advance the price of what we do send to
Europe Is or 20 cents.
an the first place, what We would send
to the Orient would go from the Pacific
Coast The grain of that coast is handled
at present in manner entirely different
from that which prevails east OF the Rocky
Mountains
Having to cross the Equator twice, it
must be carried in acks TO prevent heating.
and not in bulk in the hull of the ship. as
on the Great Lakes or the Atlantic. The
grain is practically all bought by three
concerns, two of them located in Liverpool
and also interested in line OF steamers,
30 that they can furnish their own ship
ping.
4The wheat is sen, to England and sold
for what it will bring. 1t acts as a damper-
a wet b!anket-on the entire market.
"The voyage around the Horn is four
months long, and by the time tho first car
goes are reaching port the last are leaving,
50 that it is all afloat at the same time.
The buyer in Europe knows what is afloat
Thus. the manner in which the crop is
handled breaks the market down more than
twice the same amount from Atlantic ports
There the buyer must send over and place
his order in advance Of shipment
with the Pacific Coast grain 1t must
sell for what It will bring. The ship cannot
be delayed and the grain cannot be stored
in sacks.
We can never get away from the prac-
tical proposition that we are in competition
with every wheat raiser in every country
the peasants on the steppes OF Russia, the
ryots of India. and the Argentine farmers,
most of whom went from Italy
I'VE are in competition with them on an
even whiffletree. We always will bs 70