The San Francisco call., 1904-08-08
CROPS AND STRIKES.

erning factors Both being unsettled. business was
therefore also unsettled
The crop conditions may be summed up in few
words The wheat outlook is by means as bright
three weeks ago. but the condition of excel
lent and that of cotton brilliant The latest estimate
OF cotton crop is I2,5oo,ooo bales, which is much
higher than the estimate OF month that of corn
500 900 600 bushels and that of wheat anywhere from
525oooooo to 575oooooo bushels, the most san
guine estimate hardly venturing as high as
6oooooooo bushels whereas six weeks ago 625oooo 900
bushels was considered safe calculation.
While the disposition always is magnify any dis
aser a crop it is undeniable that the wheat crop
suffered much deterioration during the past few
days from The realization Of this caused sensa-
tiona furry on the Chicago Board of Trade, where
quotations for wheat advanced with violent daily uc
tuations and large volume of trading. Toward the
close of the week that Armour actively
tying up the September option enhanced the excite
ment and the shorts scurryng for cover, which
added fuel the flames All of reports
received from the spring wheat States, chiefly the
Dakotas, though Minnesota and Northern Iowa were
fair seconds Rust seemed to be in the air All crop
reports from these States contained the ominous
rust"
AS the reports multiplied and the scare increased
large operators chartered special trains with automobile
attachments and into the wheat fields of the
Northwest to for themselves All sent back gloomy
reports One from good authority in South Dakota
brought realize the damage wrought by An
other said that the berry small and shrveed and
there not much of this. Another said that
thousands of acres, promising few days ago, would
not be cut. Europe came along about this time with
reported large deficiency. chiefly Russia and the
Danuban provinces France cut down her estimates to
55oooooo bushels less than last year, and Chi
cago is nervous market best and these grisly crop
reports simply drove the Board of Trade into old
fashioned attack of Mysteries.
But there were some who did not scare very badly.
Snow the statstician, whose word goes long way in
the grain trade, said the damage overstated Wall
declined take much stock in the sensational
reports and remarked that this the time of the year
Tor crop scares Even Jones of the Commercial West
another recognized authority issued statement modi
flying his previous gloomy reports of rust. Still even
the most sanguine admitted pronounced injury to the
crop though they in crop of 55ooooooo bushels
a small surplus available for export
A rational view of the situation be that the
wheat conditions have become completely reversed dur
ing the past three weeks, both America and Europe
and that owing the impairment of the crop in both
countries Europe will have draw the United States
after all. The loss i'll weight will be largely offset by
the higher price, so the result of the year will be
far though many individual wheat growers will suffer
Regarded calmly, the situation does not appear very
serious the excellent outlook for and cotton
S powerful counterbalance This is the light in which
Wall street looks it. the stock market while it
wavered and hestated under the pessmistic crop
ports still retained the buoyant undertone which has
exhibited for weeks past
The labor strikes continue to exercise deterrent
influence on general business. East and West Chicago
of the disturbance and reports business
a vague and floating condition. with certain disagree
able features of which is that is accumuatng
in the local banks and depressing interest rates The
Western packers great borrowers only in Chi
cago but in other money centers, carrying permanent
of something like $Ioooooooo, of which
about $4ooooooo is carried by the Chicago banks Now
the strike by checking the operations of the packers
has led them of the market borrowers and they
are taking up their the of about $4,000 600
per week. the total since the beginning of the strike
being about $Iooooooo In other words, instead of pay
ing all this money in supplies and wages the pack
ers turning it the banks in exchange their
maturing The loss to circulation and general
trade must therefore be very serious. and illustrates
one Of the forms of mischief caused by great labor
strike.
the damage the wheat crop and the strkes-commer-
cal reports from most sections of the country con-
cheerful and indicate the approach of very fair
fall trade The best reports present from the
South and Southwest, where collections are good and
the distribution of merchandise excellent Good returns
are also being received from the Pacific Coast 1t is
curious o that the very cities in which, under the
deterrent crop and labor conditions would naturally
look for poor sending in larger bank clear
ings than last year, the gain Chicago during the past
week being Is per cent Minneapolis a per cent and
at ST Paul 54 per Now, Chicago is supposed to
be bearing double burden being the center of both the
wheat and the packers strike and still it shows
gain over last year All the Atlantic seaboard cities
show loss and the aggregated cearngs of the coun-
try are down again about ST., ,8oo,oooooo against a
normal aggregate of $2ooooooooo The failures for the
rs for he