Farmer Protected from Imaginary Danger. 15 



sion of being crowded out of European markets by Brit- 

 ish India wheat. Apart from the testimony given by 

 trade figures, which show that British India is called 

 upon for wheat only when other supplies have been 

 exhausted, we have the testimony of experts who are 

 almost unanimous in declaring the inferior quality of the 

 Indian product. " » 



A single sentence in the Statesman's Year Book, 1902, 

 would indicate that little need be feared from wheat pro- 

 duced in Russia, whatever may have been the prospect in 

 1890, since such exportations have largely decreased: 

 "The quantities of wheat imported from Russia into the 

 United Kingdom in five years from both the northern 

 and southern ports of the empire were as follows : 1896, 

 17,241,600 cwt.; 1897, 15,049,900 cwt.; 1898, 6,232,500 

 cwt.; 1899, 2,518,200 cwt.; 1900, 4,478,300 cwt." In still 

 another place the same authority shows by a table that in 

 1899 and 1900 more wheat was sent from Russia to 

 United Kingdom than to any other country in Europe, 

 with the exception of France. The latter nation in those 

 years took nearly double what the former took, but even 

 here there was a large falling-off in 1900 from what was 

 sent in 1899. 



But the groundlessness of Mr. McKinley's fears is best 

 shown by the United States record of exportations. In 

 1888 and 1889, the years immediately preceding the Mc- 

 Kinley tariff, the percentage of domestic wheat exported 

 had fallen from a previous average of about 26% to about 

 22%. Since then, from 1890-1901, eleven years, the 

 annual average has been about 35%. In 1900 the total 

 value of breadstuff imported was $1,804,000 ; exported, 

 $262,744,000. And instead of sending abroad a total of 

 agricultural products of $630,000,000, as in 1890, the rec- 



