286 



FINANCIAL REVIEW OP 1891. 



failure of the London Bank of the Rio Plate 

 caused a flurry which, however, soon subsided. 

 On Aug. 28 the news of a decisive battle at 

 Valparaiso in which the revolutionists were suc- 

 cessful, thus ending the war in Chili, imparted a 

 firmer tone to all South American securities in 

 London. On Sept. 13 the Mitylene incident 

 above referred to temporarily affected the Lon- 

 don, Paris, and Berlin bourses. In October a 

 French syndicate undertook to place a Russian 

 , loan for 500,000,000 francs. It met with opposi- 

 tion from Berlin and London, and it was only 

 partially successful, the syndicate taking the 

 greater portion of it, thereby subsequently be- 

 coming embarrassed, and in the following month 

 a decline in Russian securities, which it was 

 feared would involve the syndicate in heavy 

 losses, caused a very uneasy feeling in Paris. 

 Toward the end of the month it was announced 

 that the Russian Finance Minister had agreed 

 to let about 200,000,000 francs of the loan re- 

 main until a more convenient season, and this 

 relieved the situation. Commercial affairs in 

 Great Britain and on the Continent were more 

 or less disturbed during the year by the opera- 

 tion of the new American tariff. The prohibi- 

 tion by Russia of exports of wheat and rye ex- 

 cited the grain markets abroad and stimulated 

 the movements of cereal products from America 

 to Europe. There was a general deficiency of 

 grain crops on the European Continent and al- 

 most an unprecedented yield of wheat, corn, and 

 oats in this country, making our economical con- 

 ditions surpassingly excellent. The export of 

 breadstuffs to Europe during the last half of the 

 year were enormous, although checked at inter- 

 vals by speculation, by a scarcity of cars to move 



the grain from the West to the seaboard, and by 

 an insufficient supply of vessels for transporta- 

 tion of breadstuffs to Europe. Our cotton crop 

 was large, and as there was an unusually heavy 

 yield in the previous season the supply 'was in 

 excess of the demand, and in the South" Atlantic 

 States there were some sections where the price 

 was so low as not to remunerate the producers. 



The following tabular survey of the econom- 

 ical conditions and results of 1891, contrasted 

 with those of the preceding year, is from the 

 Commercial and Financial Chronicle : 



The Crops. The cereal crops of the United 

 States were almost unprecedented as to quantity 

 and generally of excellent quality in 1891. Win- 

 ter wheat had a good start ; it grew rapidly in 

 the spring ; it was harvested under fair condi- 

 tions and promptly marketed. Spring wheat, 

 especially in the Northwest, yielded abundantly, 

 and only in a few sections was it visited by 

 frost, which, however, did little injury. Corn grew 

 rapidly, and it matured under unusually favorable 

 conditions, the weather during the latter part of 

 September and early in October being warm and 

 generally dry. The heavy yield of the crops 

 was not accompanied by low prices. The Euro- 

 pean demand for wheat was urgent early in the 

 season, owing to the deficiency in the foreign 

 crops and also to the prohibition of the export of 

 rye and wheat from Russia, and good prices 

 were well maintained, stimulating the market- 

 ing of winter and spring wheat. A partial cor- 

 ner in old corn in September carried the price 

 to figures which induced farmers to sell all that 

 they could spare, and the old crop was pretty 



generally disposed of before the new crop be- 

 came available. Then there was a fair export 

 movement of it to Europe, where it was used as 

 a substitute for other grains. Producers of cot- 

 ton were unable in some sections, particularly in 

 the South Atlantic States, to realize the cost of 

 growing. The large crop of 1890 depressed 

 prices, and the necessities of the farmers com- 

 pelled them to force the crop of 1891 upon the 

 market, and this caused a very serious fall in 

 prices, and late in December middling uplands 

 sold at 7f cents per pound. Taking prices in 

 New York Jan. 1, if the whole of the crops 

 could have been laid down at that point on that 

 date, the values would have been as in the table 

 at the top of next page. 



Manufacturing 1 Industries. Manufactur- 

 ing and mercantile interests did not experience 

 the full benefits from the excellent yield of the 

 crops. General trade was dull, goods sold at 

 very low prices, and the whole South, as well as 

 all cotton interests, suffered in the fall from the 

 decline in the staple, and print cloths, early in 



