REPORT OF TEE STATISTICIAN. 199 



panies against the interests of tliat city. Although the terminus of 

 fifteen raih^oads, Saint Louis has been treated as a way station. But 

 this discrimination has finally been removed through the energetic asso- 

 ciated efforts of the mercantile interest so far as the lines running east- 

 ward are concerned, and the same benefit is expected to result from the 

 influences brought to bear upon the southern roads. The Mississippi 

 Eiver remained open during the year up to December 3, and steamer 

 freights were reduced to a point which threatened at times to ruin the 

 river-carrying trade. These are some of the changes to which may be 

 attributed the great enhancement of the flour and grain trade in 1876. 



Flour. — The flour trade shows a decline in all its branches. The 

 receipts from other points were 1,071,434 barrels, a reduction of 228,947 

 barrels compared with 1875 ; 1,441,944 barrels were manufactured, or 

 42,877 barrels less than the previous year 5 254,596 barrels were shipped 

 by Saint Louis merchants from country mills direct to eastern markets, 

 or 60,125 barrels less than in ]875. The total number of barrels thus 

 received, manufactured, and shipped was 2,707,974, a decline of 321,949 

 barrels compared with 1875. 



The decline in the receipts is greatest in the spring- wheat brands from 

 the North. This is supposed to be due to the general adoption of the 

 "new process" in the northwestern spring- wheat region, especially to 

 the west of the Mississippi River. The receipts of this class of flour 

 amounted to only 65,958 barrels in 1876, against 142,393 barrels in 1875. 

 To » great extent, however, this falling off was compensated by an 

 increase in the receipts of brands made of low-grade and rejected winter- 

 wheat. The receipts from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois also declined, on 

 account of the short crops in those States and the inferior quality of the 

 wheat harvested. Eeceipts by the southern roads also declined, but 

 those from the West slightly increased. 



The falling off in city manufacture is largely due to the destruction by 

 fire of the Anchor Mills, the largest in the city, which in 1875 pro- 

 duced 186,867 barrels. These mills were not rebuilt till the close of the 

 year. There are now in the city twenty-five flouring-mills, with an 

 aggregate capacity for the production of 10,350 barrels per day, or 

 3,239,550 per annum. Allowing each mill sixty days in each year for 

 repairs, the milling capacity of Saint Louis may be approximately 

 stated at 2,500,000 barrels per annum. Less than half this capacity 

 was used during 1876, for a variety of reasons. The wheat-crop of 

 1875 was injured before and after harvest by incessant rains in the wheat 

 region tributary to Saint Louis manufacture. Business depression also 

 restricted trade to an unusual degree during the first half of 1876, and 

 produced very unsatisfactory results. But the crop of 1876, constituting 

 the greater part of the wheat ground in the latter half of the year, was 

 of excellent quality and seeui-ed in good order, but heavy rains loft the 

 wheat jxnarketed in the earlier part of the season too tough for good 

 grinding, except at the rate of two-thirds the usual daily production. 

 The flour produced during this period of enforced slow grinding proved 

 to be of excellent quality, which induced large purchases by eastern 

 dealers, especially in New England. Toward the close of the year it 

 was not unusual to find the product of both city and country mills sold 

 ahead for two to four weeks. This demand, in part, resulted from the 

 threatening ai^^pects of the European eastern question and the proba- 

 bilities that o)dy the sword could disentangle its complications. But in 

 November eastward railroad-freights made a rapid advance, which 

 caused a corresponding advance in prices and a consequent decline in 

 purchases. Several causes conspired at the close of the year to enhance 



