THE PLIGHT OF THE FARMER 10S 



per cent. Nevertheless, such was the shortage, ex- 

 cept in the case of corn, that the total return was 

 smaller than it had been for a year or two before. 

 In 1891 bumper crops of wheat, corn, oats, rye, and 

 barley drove the price down on all except wheat 

 and rye, but not to the level of 1889. Despite a 

 much smaller harvest in 1892 the decline continued, 

 to the intense disgust of the farmers of Nebraska 

 and Minnesota who failed to note that the entire 

 production of wheat in the world was normal in 

 that year, that considerable stores of the previous 

 crop had been held over and that more than a third 

 of the yield in the United States was sent forth to 

 compete everywhere with the crops of Argentine, 

 Russia, and the other grain producing countries. 

 No wonder the average farmer of the Mississippi 

 basin was ready to give ear to any one who could 

 suggest a remedy for his ills. 



Cotton, which averaged nearly eleven cents a 

 pound for the decade ending in 1890, dropped to 

 less than nine cents in 1891 and to less than eight 

 in 1892. Cattle, hogs, sheep, horses, and mules 

 brought more in the late than in the early eighties, 

 yet these, too, showed a decline about 1890. The 

 abnormal war-time price of wool which was more 

 than one dollar a pound in October, 1864, dropped 



