328 



FINANCIAL REVIEW OF 1888. 



average was uniformly low, but the harvest was 

 better than was expected, the average yield 

 being about twelve bushels to the acre. Spring 

 sowed wheat started in good condition, and the 

 highest average was in July. During the fol- 

 lowing month there was a material reduction, 

 and in September there came frosts in the 

 extreme Northwest which caused irreparable 

 damage in some sections, the extent of which 

 was not fully revealed until after the harvest. 

 Corn planting was delayed in the northern por- 

 tion of the belt by reason of low temperature, 

 but favoring suns and rain aided in a rapid de- 

 velopment of the plant, and the condition was 

 high during the entire season with the excep- 

 tion of Kansas where hot winds and local 

 droughts did some damage. The crop was 

 gathered under very favorable circumstances, 

 and the bulk of it was out of the way of frost 

 before the advent of freezing temperature. The 

 oat crop was unprecedented, being estimated 

 at about TOT, 737,000 bushels, that of barley at 

 50,000,000, and that of rye at 25,000,000 bush- 

 els. Cotton was late in coming to maturity by 

 reason of heavy rains during September. The 

 indications early in the season pointed to defi- 

 cient crops of wheat in all the importing coun- 

 tries of Europe, and this news stimulated a 

 prompt movement of the grain to market, and 

 our farmers generally obtained good prices for 

 their product. Toward the close of Septem- 

 ber speculative manipulation, based upon evi- 

 dence of a shortage in the crop of spring sowed 

 grain carried the price to two dollars for the 

 options of that month and correspondingly 

 affected the price for later deliveries. This 

 checked exports and caused a sharp advance 

 in the price of flour. Of the 3,568,650 bush- 

 els of wheat exported during October only 303,- 

 300 went from the Atlantic ports, the remain- 

 der being shipped from San Francisco and oth- 

 er Pacific ports from whence the exports for the 

 corresponding month in 1887, were only 668,- 

 654 bushels. Of the 2,733,694 bushels of wheat 

 exported in November, 2,382,522 were shipped 

 from the Pacific coast. For six months ending 

 December 31, exports of wheat were 28,220, TTO 

 bushels, of which 1T,584,316 went from Cali- 

 fornia and Oregon, against 44,6T9, 666, of which 

 10,340,417 from the Pacific ports, for the same 

 time in 1887. "Wheat -flour exports for six 

 months this year were 4,843,790 barrels against 

 6,235,926 for the corresponding period in 1887. 

 Taking the prices in the New York market 

 on or about January 1 in each year and the 

 totul yield for the previous season, we have 

 the following approximate results : 



The Stoek-Markct for 1888. During the whole 

 of April and July, the greater part of January, 

 June, August, and September, and the latter 

 portion of December, the stock-market was 

 strong, while in March, May, November, and 

 October it was weak, and in February the 

 tendency was generally downward. The de- 

 clines were at intervals arrested and the cur- 

 rent of prices changed by favorable news, 

 manipulation of specialties, and the temporary 

 removal of causes of depression. The cutting 

 of rates by Western, Northwestern, and South- 

 western roads continued almost without inter- 

 ruption from the beginning to the end of the 

 year, and the lower revenues resulting there- 

 from compelled a reduction of dividends to 

 such an extent that, in one case that of the 

 St. Paul the European stockholders were 

 induced to unite for self-protection, and in 

 December prominent banking-houses, who rep- 

 resented large investment interests here and 

 abroad, felt called upon to interfere and insist 

 upon the ending of the disastrous . rate-war. 

 Through their influence a pledge to restore 

 tariffs was obtained, and the railroad situation 

 improved toward the close of the year. While 

 the principal transportation lines were unfa- 

 vorably influenced by rate- wars, the stocks of 

 the coal companies reflected the harmonious 

 management of this important interest, and 

 the market-values of these properties almost 

 uniformly improved. There was a more con- 

 fident feeling at the opening of January re- 

 garding the immediate future. This was based 

 upon the expectation of continued ease in 

 money and upon the conviction that the pub- 

 lic would soon come into the market, first as 

 purchasers of bonds and then of stocks. There 

 was a good demand from investors at home 

 and abroad for railroad mortgages during the 

 greater part of the month, but it was not until 

 the third week that the inquiry for stocks 

 grew important. Then the market became 

 active, and it continued strong to the close. 

 Reading was unfavorably influenced early in 

 the month by the strike of miners in the 

 Schuylkill region of Pennsylvania, these men 

 demanding an advance in wages and insisting 

 upon the reinstatement of train employes who 

 had been discharged for cause. This strike re- 

 sulted in a virtual suspension of mining by the 

 Reading during the entire month, but the other 

 coal companies were not unfavorably affected, 

 because the demand for coal was in excess of 

 the supply. Later in the month the very en- 

 couraging annual reports of the Delaware, 

 Lackawanna and Western and of the Delaware 

 and Hudson stimulated good buying of these 

 properties. Cutting of rates by some of the 

 Granger roads encouraged attacks by the bears 

 early in the month, and later there was an 

 assault upon Reading and the Gould specialties, 

 but the short interest was so largely increased 

 by these speculative sales that the bull party 

 were enabled to turn the market upward dur- 

 ing the third week in the month, the prop- 



