COMMERCE (INTERNAL) OF THE UNITED STATES. 



1,600 million bushels, France 520 millions, Ger- 

 many about the same, and Austro-Hungary 500 

 millions. The aggregate production of the 

 United States is 1,600 million bushels, about 

 the same as that of Russia. The production 

 averages 40 bushels per head of population in 

 the United States, and 16 bushels per head in 

 Europe entire ; and the average consumption 

 is about 15 bushels per head. The average 

 production of Russia is 25 bushels per head; 

 that of Germany and France nearly balances 

 the consumption, as does that of the whole of 

 Europe taken together. The production in 

 England is only 4 bushels per head, and that 

 country must therefore import three fourths of 

 the grain consumed. Russia exports, year in 

 year out, not as much as half its crops. The 

 production of the United States is nearly three 

 times the quantity needed for domestic con- 

 sumption ; nearly two thirds of the average 

 crop, or about 1,000 million bushels per annum, 

 can on the average be spared for exportation. 

 The best arable lands in the United States 

 have been or will soon be all taken up under 

 the stimulus which good prices and the export 

 demand for cereals have given to cultivation. 

 Large tracts of new land have been broken 

 in Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Dakota. 

 The wheat lands opened up along the line of 

 the Northern Pacific Railroad yielded in 1878 

 a fine crop, which made up for the great dam- 

 age caused by rains in the other parts of Min- 

 nesota. Kansas nearly doubled its production 

 of cereals in 1878, and took its place as one of 

 the chief grain-producing States in the Union ; 

 the crop of 1877 was 15 million bushels of 

 wheat and 103 million bushels of maize. In 

 1878, 679,331 acres of new land was plowed 

 up in that State, nearly all held in small par- 

 cels and in great part paid for. This gives its 

 farmers a great advantage over those of Illi- 

 nois and other States of the West, where the 

 ambition to cultivate huge farms, which in 

 themselves are often less economical to till 

 than smaller pieces of land, and the desire to 

 accumulate money, burdened many of the 

 farmers with loads of debt at high rates of 

 interest, while grain prices were high, which 

 at the present prices of produce are quite un- 

 manageable ; in such districts, in spite of the 

 enormous crops and the exports of 1877 and 

 1878, great numbers of farms have been sold 

 under foreclosure of mortgages ; and in some 

 parts of Illinois the price of land has sunk 

 from $50 to $20 or $25 an acre. 



The movement of grain for the past five 

 years was as follows: Western receipts: 

 1873, 167, 723,758 bushels; 1874,171,249,249- 

 1875, 154,063,413; 1876, 173,561,877; 1877, 

 169,431,733. Shipments from the West : 1873, 

 134,862,056 bushels; 1874,127,631,866; 3875, 

 124,443,329; 1876, 150,361,872; 1877, 138,- 

 386,343. Receipts on the Atlantic coast : 1873, 

 125,253,186 bushels; 1874,139,399,192; 1875, 

 136,963,146; 1876, 163,694,941; 1877, 166,- 

 728,169. The Western receipts in 1876 were 



composed pf 5,578,950 barrels of flonr, 55,834,- 

 141 bushels of wheat, and 81,054,249 bushels 

 of Indian corn; and in 1877 of 5,107,531 bar- 

 rels of flour, 53,776,909 bushels of wheat, and 

 77,995,208 of corn. The Western shipments 

 in 1876 were made up of 4,977,845 barrels of 

 flour, 48,799,613 bushels of wheat, and 75,010,- 

 881 of corn, and in 1877 of 5,340,423 barrels 

 of flour, 44,633,537 bushels of wheat, and 67,- 

 587,819 bushels of corn. The proportions in 

 the Atlantic receipts were: in 1876, 9,939,150 

 barrels of flour, 42,740,235 bushels of wheat, 

 and 86,775,163 bushels of corn ; in 1877, 8.546,- 

 349 barrels of flour, 46,000,508 bushels of 

 wheat, and 87,804,025 bushels of corn. A cal- 

 culation of the total receipts of grain at the 

 seaports, published by the New York Produce 

 Exchange, for the years ending August 31st, 

 gives: for 1875, 170,823,767 bushels; for 1876, 

 208,752,038 bushels; for 1877, 181,791,038 

 bushels; for 1878, 283,633,261 bushels. The 

 increase has been, therefore, 70 per cent, since 

 1875. The exports of wheat and flour from 

 United States ports and Montreal from the crop 

 of 1878 were before the beginning of Decem- 

 ber about 71J million bushels, leaving about 

 60 million bushels of the surplus available for 

 export still in the country. 



The commencement of the Russo-Turkish 

 war in April, 1877, occasioned a large spec- 

 ulative movement in breadstuffs and provi- 

 sions. The price of No. 2 spring wheat ad- 

 vanced from $1.44 per bushel in January, 1877, 

 to $1.53 in April and $1.65 in July, and then 

 declined, in consequence of the extraordinary 

 size of the new crop and a clearer estimate of 

 the European demand, to $1.35 in October, 

 and stood at $1.36 at the end of the year. 

 Indian corn, Western mixed, was 62 cts. per 

 bushel in January, 1877, 51 cts. in April, 60 cts. 

 in July, 59 cts. in October, and 66 cts. at the 

 close of the year. In the begining of 1878, on 

 the expectation of the early cessation of the 

 European war, there was a breakdown in the 

 prices of grain and provisions, accompanied 

 by an improvement in the cotton market. In 

 the middle of January, No. 2 spring wheat 

 sank below $1.30, and Indian corn below 60 

 cts. In the beginning of February wheat sold 

 as low as $1.22, but toward the middle of 

 that month the price rallied to $1.30 in conse- 

 quence of the diplomatic complications of 

 Great Britian in the Eastern question, but 

 gave way again after a few days. By the mid- 

 dle of March the market had again strength- 

 ened, with the price at $1.25; and new war 

 rumors caused an upward movement toward 

 the end of the month, and the market contin- 

 ued generally buoyant through April. In May 

 the price sank to $1.20, and the fluctuating 

 market, dependent upon speculations on the 

 prospects of a European war, gave place to a 

 steadily falling market ; and, when the expec- 

 tations of a still greater crop in 1878 were 

 confirmed by a generally favorable season, 

 prices sought a much lower level, sinking be- 





