Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 August 1896 — FARM PRODUCTS. [ARTICLE]

FARM PRODUCTS.

Price? Have Pallets Itecause of lucreaaed Pre«luetioi| in All Parts of tlse World. Q.-4s it true that the price of wheat ami many other farm products has fallen heavily? A.—lt is. Q. — How are such declines;, in when;, for instance, to ‘ be explained? _A.--By the enormously rapid increase irf grain growiisg area througliout the world. o,—Has this'increase been espei ially rapid since 1872? A.. —The increase in grain growing area in this period, especially ih North Anierica. South America and Asia, has never been approached in any equal period iy the history of the world. Q.—How do we judge of sictual competition in the sale' of wheat? A. —By tlse supplies, thrbxvh annually ou the world’s great distributing markets. </.—What market in particular? A.— England; where most of the buying nations go to purchase their grain. Q. What are the figures? A. As recently as 1880 Llgi’at Britain imported, for consumption ami re-export. 55.261,924 hundredweight of wheat —a large increase over the preceding annnai average. In 1895 it imported 81.749,955 hundredweight. Q. What has made possible this remarkable increase in wlieat production? A. Tl* exceedingly rapid development of transportation facilities in newly cultivated grain countries: among them ’lndia. Russia and the Argentine Republic. &. Has there been an increase ip the I’nited States itself? A. An enoromus increase.

Q. How large? > A. In 1875 there wer 26.381.512 acres of wheat cultivated- in this country: in 1891 there were 39.916.897. an increase of 50 jhu' cent. Tile yield in 1875 was 292.136,000 bushels, a heavy increase over preceding, years. In 1891 the yield was 611,780,000. Even hist yhar with a greatly and a. partial crop failure, the yield was 467,100.000 bushels. Q.—Has the yield of other crops increased correspondingly? A. —-It has. Q.—(Jive instances. A. —The cultivated area of corn in the United States in 1871 wa5_34.091.137 acres: in 1891 it was 76.204.515; increase. 124 pef cent. The yield of corn last year was jnore than double that of any year prior to 1875. Both the acreage and the average annual yield of oats have doubled since 1871. Onr eertton crop in 1894-was 50 per cent, greater than in any year prior to 1887. • • Q. — Was a decline in graiW ami cotton prices under such conditions inevitable? A.—As inevitable as a decline in the price of T’ibthing or furniture or books (>r steel rails or nins when competition in their manufacture has extended enor- 1 ’ mously. Q. —Wor.ld free coinage help the producers of grain to a large profit under sjtch conditions? A. —Not in the least. K ' O.—Why not,? A.—Because if the noiniiial price of grain were to rise through inflation of the currency, the -price. <if overytltlntf olse would rise alsor and the farmer would be relatively no better oft’ tfian he was before. —New York Evening I’ost.