The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-12-01
CORN AND WHEAT FALLING.

A very serious condition as regards
wheat and corn exists In the United
States at the present time. In the
past two months there has been q
loss of nearly % cents bushel in
wheat. while corn, one of the coun.
try's great staple crops, has declined
nearly % cents bushel.
To add to the seriousness of the
condition, there seems to be good
reasons for believing that there will
be further decline in the prices OF
both wheat and corn.
Why these tremendous declines
There are reasons:
First-Because the United States
today is fully 5 cents per bushel
I out of line with other wheat-export-
ing countries.
Second Because the United
States is being undersold by other
countries in the great wheat markets
of the world.
AS conditions exist at the present
time, the United States Is unable to
sell any great amount of It's bread
stuffs on account of competing coun-
tries. These countries are selling
States cannot meet.
There have been big crops of wheat
in the wheat-producing countries
other than the United States-the
Argentine Republic, Australia, Rus
sia and India. These. big crops
as a consequence have forced the
United States out of the running.
Farmers of the United States have
been receiving abnormally high
prices for their grains for q long
period. Now the American farmer
is allowing rival exporting countries
to all up importing countries at
lower prices than he will accept.
We are out of line on our export
business and there will have to be a
readjustment before conditions will
improve.
The worlds supply of breadstuffs
is much larger now than at tho same
time last year. The harvesting of
the wheat crop in the Argentine re-
public will soon begin. Wheat cut
ting in the northern section of that
country begins about November 10,
and by December Is the cutting of
wheat will be general. BY January
the movement of Argentine wheat
to importing wheat countries will
be well under way.
The Argentine republic has not
the wheat elevators that we have;
neither has the country the storage
facilities. Wheat there is piled on
the ground or Is shoveled into bins
in the open air. Thus the grain is
forced into the market at once.
The exporters surplus of wheat in
the Argentine republic is estimated
at from 80,000,0O0 to 12O,000,OO0
bushels. The very fact that there is
much grain to be sent to other coun-
tries will spur the countries that have
wheat for export to sell their grain
and without delay.
Again, corn conditions in other
wheat exporting countries were never
better and come near being ideal.
The dry spell was broken by heavy
rains at just the right time and the
wheat is reported as better than the
average in quantity and quality.
1t must be remembered that land
in these countries is cheaper than
land in the United States; that la
Dor is cheaper and thus the Ameri-
can farmer is placed at another dis
advantage when it comes to prices. |
These countries are also able to
market their grain in Liverpool and
France cheaper than the United
States can market its product in the I,
same cities.
The visible supply of wheat in the
United States is double what. it was
a year ago. The visible supply in
creased over 100000 bushels dur
ing the past week. 1t Is now 49,
10000 bushels, as compared with
~ 100000 bushels a year ago. Chi
cago alone has 100000 bushels of
wheat of all descriptions.
At the present time, too, there
are 38,700,000 bushels of wheat
atloat> on the oceans: /
These facts explain why the wheat
situation in the United States is so
much out of line, why there has been
the decline in prices, and why the
outlook for the future is not con-
sidered by good judges Of conditions
to be bright.
The trade in flour never before
has been so dull for q period of six
months as it has been this year.
Local millers, as well as millers in
the northwest, have sold enormous
quantities of -four for future de-
livery, but they. as one man say
that 1t is impossible to secure ship
ping directions from the men who
have made the purchase. This re-
fleets lack of demand for -four.
Flour as we'll as wheat Is out of
line from an exporting standpoint.
Mills are idle and the market is al
most at standstill.
The decline in the price Of corn
results from the fact that the largest
corn crop in the history Of America
has been raised this year. The crop ;
Is estimated at the enormous. total
Of 3,100,000,000 bushels, as against
2,772,000,0Oo bushels last year.
To complicate matters, the corn
crop in the Argentine Republic that
comes into direct competition with
Dur corn has also been exceptionally /
large.
The cycle Of high prices must be
followed by cycle of low prices. /
A big corn crop means lower