5 86 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



at the principal shipping ports of the United States in 1885 for 56 

 cents less per bushel than in 1874, 32 cents less than in 1882, and 20 

 cents less than in 1884.* " I have calculated that the produce of five 

 acres of wheat can be brought from Chicago to Liverpool at less than 

 the cost of manuring one acre for wheat in England." Testimony of 

 W. J. Harris, a leading farmer in Devonshire, England, before the 

 British Commission, 1886. And what has happened in the case of 

 wheat has happened also in a greater or less degree as respects meats 

 and almost all other food products ; increased supplies having occa- 

 sioned reduction of prices, and reduction of prices, in turn, ruinous 

 losses to invested capital, and l-evolutionary disturbances in old methods 

 of doing business. The Bessemer rail, the modern steamship, and the 

 Suez Canal have brought the wheat-fields of Dakota and India, and 

 the grazing-lands of Texas, Colorado, Australia, and the Argentine 

 Republic, nearer to the factory operatives in Manchester, England, 

 than the farms of Illinois were before the war to the spindles and 

 looms of New England. 



Changes en the Relations of Labor and Capital. Consider 

 next how potent for economic disturbance have been the changes in 



* The average value of the wheat exported from the United States in 1885, according 

 to the tables of the United States Bureau of Statistics, was 86 cents per bushel at the 

 shipping ports. This was a decline of 20 cents from 1884, 26^ cents from 1883, 32 cents 

 from 1882, 66 cents from 1874, and 61 cents from 1871. 



The export value of corn was 54 cents in 1885, showing a decline of 7 cents from 

 1884, 14 cents from 1S83, 12 cents from 1882, 30 cents from 1875, and 15 cents from 1872. 



The export value of oats was 37 cents in 1885, showing a decline of 2 cents from 1884, 

 13 cents from 1883, 7 cents from 1882, 20 cents from 1875, and 14 cents from 1871. 



The export price of bacon was 9 cents in 1885, showing a decline of 1 cent from 1884, 

 2 cents from 1883, 2 cents from 1875, a rise of 1 cent from 1872, and a decline of 6 cents 

 from 1870. 



The export price of lard was 7 cents in 1885, showing a decline of 2 cents from 1884, 

 4 cents from 1883, 6 cents from 1875, 3 cents from 1872, and 9 cents from 1870. 



How closely the decline in recent years in the export prices of American cereals has 

 been followed by corresponding reductions in the prices of cereals in the markets of Great 

 Britain is exhibited by the following table (published in the British " Farmer's Almanac" 

 for 1886), showing the average prices per quarter of wheat, barley, and oats, in Great 

 Britain for two periods of ten years, commencing with 1865, with a separate estimate 

 for 1885 



Cebeals. 



Wheat. 



Barley. 

 Oats. . . 



Price per quarter. Price per Quarter. 1 . . 



Average for the 10 Average for the in ,f'"f 1 ToSf 



years, 1866-1875. 



s. d. 

 54 7J 

 39 2 

 25 \0\ 



years, l?"itS-l>;>5. 



t. d. 



43 9f 



36 5 



22 8* 



quarter for 18b5. 



t. d. 



32 10 

 30 1 

 20 7 



Similar tables given by the same authority show the gross value per annum of the product 

 of wheat, barley, oats, beef, mutton, and wool, in Great Britain, to have been 35,000,000 

 ($175,000,000) less in 1885 than were the mean returns for the ten years 1866-1875. 

 According also to data given in the returns of the British Registrar-General, the average 

 prices of beef by the carcass in the London market were 58 5s. 7c?. per ton during the 

 ten years from 1866-1875, 57 5s. Sd. for 1876-1885, and 49 17s. 6c?. for the year 1885. 



