Year: 1873

culated to have good effect upon our trou-
bled financial situation. The amount OF prod
ucts of the soil which we have to spare for for
eign markets and the probable demand there
will be for them, in consequence Of the short
| crops in Europe, as is now ascertained, must
have an influence in preventing excitement
and apprehension like that which prevailed
during the last fortnight. In fact, the calm
we see of the present time arises in great
measure from the contemplation of our crop
resources, the demand for them and the
balance of trade being much more in our favor
than for a long time past.


The average condition Of the wheat crop for
the entire country is ninety-fve per cent, one
hundred per cent being a full crop gen.
trustworthy and hattering prospect. We have
no means at hand of determining what proper
ton of this crop will be required tor home
consumption, but there can be no doubt that
the surplus will amount to hundreds Of mil
lions of bushels. Taking into account the
crops of other cereals and corn we could prob
ably supply bread food for thirty millions or





the WHOLE about the same as last year, but the
area under cultivation was much larger.
While we have this superabundance
ready for foreign market nearly all the great
and populous countries of Europe have short
crops, and will need breadstuffs from abroad
to feed the people. England particularly, it
is reported, will require little short of hun
e -l11- =
nearly half as much Germany, too it is
said will be short. Even Russia, which is
great grain-producing country and generally
q rival of the United States in supplying the
markets of the world, has this year short
crop. But, making every allowance for over
sanguine expectations on this side or exag-
geratons of the probable deficiency abroad,
there are facts enough to show that the de-
mand for our grain must be unusually large.


Supposing, then, an excess of hundred
millions OF bushels, or the equivalent in -four,
be exported this year, that would give us
money or credit to the amount of hundred
and thirty millions of dollars or more, if the
present quotations of the New York market
should be sustained. What the increased de-
mand for other cereals would be we cannot
say, but there will be, undoubtedly, a corre-
spending demand for them. The cotton crop,
from the latest and best reports, will be much
larger than last year. There will be, we be-
lieve six to seven hundred thousand bales
more. At least we may reckon upon near four
millions of bales. This crop ought to realize
three hundred millions of dollars. The largest
portion of this goes abroad. Though the cot
ton crop is in a manner discounted
abroad, and in our commercial and
financial affairs with Europe-that is,
by European exports to this country
being predicated upon it, still an unusually
large crop at good prices, in any year, gives
us greater means to pay our debts, an easier
money market and more favorable balance
of trade. The prospect, then, of great and
unusually remunerative cotton crop must help
considerably, in addition to the expected large
export of breadstuffs to withhold the exporta-
ton of gold, to make money easy and to turn
the balance of trade more in our favor than it
has been since the beginning of our late
civil war; As we are not going into general
review Of our commerce, it is unnecessary to
notice the other exports, such as tobacco,
petroleum, iron and other articles. These,
we suppose, will not, in the aggregate fall of,
and they may increase proportionately with
production and the growth of commerce.
The reference to the two great staples above
is sufficient for our argument.


While we have on the selling or credit side
Of the account with foreign nations such a
good outlook we are buying or importing less
This, too, turns the balance of trade still
more in our favor. Our merchants had con-
siderable stock of goods on hand, and our
manufactures are supplying more and more the
needs of the country. The very panic which
has just passed over US, will have the effect
to check extravagance, excessive importations
and overtrading We know of no time since
the catastrophe of the war plunged the coun-
try into difficulties and revolutionized our
financial condition when there was a better
prospect The country is prosperous from
one end of it to the other, the credit
of the government is on the most substantial
basis, the Treasury has always large surplus
on hand, and enough to continue the liquida-
ton of the debt, and there is nothing likely to
seriously disturb the general business or prog
ress of the nation. The panic among the
railroad and stock spectators, if even it did
reach some of the banks which had also en-
tered into speculation, or had for brief
period alarmed part of the community, was
only ripple on the surface Of our great busi-
ness and industrial interests


AS proof of the prosperous condition of
the country, Of the actual and prospective de-
mand for our breadstufs as we'll as other prod,
ucts, and of the balance Of trade inclining
greatly in our favor, England is shipping
large amounts of gold to the United States,