144 Tkansactions of tiik 



enormous oiit-tuni of wlioat from the uortlnvost. and tlic accessions 

 to stock troni Russia (which, not\vitlistan<ling tlit- war, kept cxixu-tinjx 

 grain), Australia, and India, was certain to tell in the long run, and 

 early in the spring the market began to decline, l»ringing heavy losses 

 to all hands. The tact is that, although the crop of the northwestern 

 States was known to be an exceedingly large one, no one in Liverpool 

 seemed able to realize how large it really was, and the absorhont 

 powers of the country had been so great that it seemed as though 

 Great Britain could take it all. This blinded tlealers to the reality 

 of the situation, and induced operations in spot wheat and cargoes 

 on passage in January and February, which were destined to result 

 in heavy losses. During these mouths, California wheat for ship- 

 ment fell from tifty-six shillings to fifty-two shillings jier (piarter; in 

 March and April, to lifty shillings; in May, to forty-eight shillings 

 and forty-seven shillings; and in June, to forty-six shillings and 

 forty-five shillings, which is about the rate at the close. 



Of course, this decline, while regular, was not uninterrui)ted. From 

 time to time the market rallied, and |>rices advanced six])ence to a 

 shilling a (juarter, bui always to retrograde again, and generally to a 

 lower point than that from which they started. Nothing, in fact, 

 could stand the immense volume of receipts, ranging steadily from 

 two hundred and lifty thousand to four liundred thousand (juarters 

 per week; and the wonder is not that the market colla[)sed, but that 

 it stood up as long as it did. 



The California crop of last season was a very poor one, the surplus 

 for exi)ort amounting to but a little over one-third of that of the pre- 

 ceding year. Our table of exports shows more than this, but included 

 in it are some forty thousand tons received from Oregon. We give 

 below tables showing the receipts and exports for a scries of years 

 past, which show at a glance the yield and surplus of each year, as 

 well as a detailed table of exports, to which we beg to call your 

 attention. 



The season opened in July under great excitement. During the 

 preceding spring, the war between Russia and Turkey had stimulated 

 prices in JCngland very much, ami the excitement resulting there- 

 from was heightened by a dry season on this side, and a very wet one 

 in Europe. Wheat in May had sold here for three and one-fourth 

 cents per pound, and, when nearly one-half of the wheat-growing 

 area of the JState i)roduccd iin(hi))f/,\t was not wonderful that farmers 

 who had any part of a crop at all, were disposetl to hold for cxtreuie 

 figures. 



The market opened at two dollars and thfrty cents per cental, and 

 by the middle of July had risen to two dollars and sixty-two and 

 one-half cents under the iulluence of reported heavy rains in 

 Fngland. When this stimulus was removed, a decline resulted, but 

 it was resisted most strenuously, and a large part of the erop was 

 ]tlaced in store under advances. Meantime the Chicago market was 

 declining rapidly, and the western farmers, more keenly alive to the 

 situation than ours, were ])ushing their grain forward to tide-water 

 as rapidly as po.ssible. Early in 8ei)tember, sales to some extent were 

 made here at two dollars and seventeen and one-half cents and two 

 dollars and twenty cents, but later on a bad turn in the weatlier in 

 England again set wheat up to two dollars and thirty-seven and one- 

 half cents and two d(dlars and forty cents. During (Jctober and 

 November the market experienced but little change, the decline in 



