86 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 



The Wheat Interests. 



The name of our paper hna become almost oynony- 

 moua with wheal growing ; nnd this being the lead- 

 ing business of at least nine-tcnihs of our readers, we 

 feel assured that no apology is necessary for the space 

 Bllowc'd the following document. 



This memorial, with its accompanying statistics, 

 was prepared, with great labor, by Joshca LsAVirr, 

 Editor of the N. Y. Emancipator, who, to sny nothing 

 of his zealous labors for the abolition of slavery, de- 

 serves the thanks of the farming community for iiis 

 valuable efforts to promote the interests of agriculture. 

 The Senate deemed this memorial worthy of being 

 printed for public distribution; and unless we greatly 

 misjudge, it will do more to open the eyes of the na- 

 tion on this great subject, than any other paper that has 

 appeared. The complete document is for sale by the 

 author, at the low price of $1 per hundred; and we 

 hope all of our readers who feel interested in the sub- 

 ject, will not only secure a copy lor themselves, but 

 distribute some to their friends. 



We regret that our space does not allow ua to pub- 

 \i»k it complete. 



3IEMORIAIi 



or 

 JO SHIT A LEAVITT, 



Traying the adiiption of measures to secure an equita- 

 ble and adeqiuite marhetfur American icheat. 



Is Senate, FlbkuartST, 1841. 

 Referred to the Com. on Ag. ami ordered to be printed. 



* To the honorable Senate and Hovse o/ Representatives 

 oj the United iStates in Congress convened: 



The undersigned, a citizen ot New Jersey, respect- 

 fully solicits the attention of Congress to the following 

 memoir, presenting a few considerations connected 

 with the wheat product of the northwest. 



The six northwestern states, (including, as such, 

 the two territorial governments, soon to be admitted 

 as states,) of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, VVis- 

 konsin, and Iowa, spread over a surface of 230,211 

 square miles, not including the portions of VViskonsin 

 and Iowa, still held by the Indians. Being situated in 

 a temperate and healthful climate, with the greatest 

 natural facilities for communication abroad, with a soil 

 of amazing fertility, they constiwte a region of coun- 

 try as well adapted to the residence, support, improve- 

 ment, and happiness of man, as any equal portion of 

 the globe. Their present population Is 2,9G!3,G9G, be- 

 ing only 12.6 to a square mile. (* 1, 3.) Of the 

 178,606,672 acres of land in those states, (e.xcluding 

 Indian lands, as above, j 72,693,414 acres, or 10 pe° 

 cent., have already passed into private ownership, by 

 ■ales, grants, or reserves; leaving I0rj,923,2o8 acres 

 in the hands of the Federal Government. In the set- 

 tlement and value of this land, the national treasury 

 hari a deep interest, as may be seen in the fact that it has 

 already received the sum of ,$72,214,932 from the ac- 

 tual sale of 52,166,414 acres in these states, (2 ) The 

 land in private ownership gives 24.5 acres to each in- 

 habitant, and is more by 11,771,414 acres than all the 

 lands in Great Britain and Ireland that is capable of 

 cultivation. (3,5.) The land actually fold by the 

 Government maybe regarded as all bought for cultiva- 

 tion, and exceeds by more than five millions the quan- 

 tity now under cultivation in the United Kingdom.— 

 The sales in the last eight years are 31,758.666 acres, 

 being only two and a quarter millions less than the 

 lands now cultivated in the island of Great Britain. 

 Of this quantity, 10,068,999 acres, or 31 percent., 

 were sold in the last four years, since the seajon of 

 apeculation was over; which fact, taken in connection 

 with the vast influ.x of emigration during the prece. 

 ding four years, conclusively proves that a much smal- 

 ler proportion of the land sales of that remarkable pe- 

 riod, in these states, were taken for speculation than is 

 generally supposed. At the rate of sales of the whole 

 sight years, the lands in these states would be entirely 

 disposed of in less than twenty years; and at the rate 

 of the last four years, the whole would be sold in se- 

 venty-two years. (4.) 



The whole quantity of land in the United Kingdom 

 ot Great Brita in and Ireland is 77,394,433 acres; of 



r^^J^^.^^i'" '" paremheais refer to numeric.ll tallies sp- 

 ^end.^^to^the memorUl, wliich we ore obliged t9 Qmlt,-E»s. 



which 46,922,970, or 60.6 per cent., is cidtivated; 

 giving an average of but 1.88 acre to each inhabitant, 

 of the 27,704,118 supposed to be the present popula- 

 tion of those islands. Fourteen millions, or 18 per 

 cent, more, are deemed capable of cultivation; leaving 

 15,871,463 acres, or 20.4 per cent, of the whole, 

 worthless for human subtistence. (5.) At the same 

 rate of productiveness with the cultivated land in tlie 

 United Kingdom, the land already sold by the Govern- 

 ment should produce subsistence for near 30 millions 

 of people, while the vast quantity still unsold admits 

 of a nearly proportionate increase. The lands being 

 all held in fee simple, in farms of sufficient size to in- 

 sure the greatest product with the least labor, unincum- 

 bered with rents, tithes, or poor-laws, and no part en- 

 grossed by noblemen's parks or royal forests, the pro 

 ducts m-y be expected to reach this amount far in ad- 

 vance of the pioportionatc increase of population, pro- 

 vided such a market shall be found for the surplus as 

 will furnish the adequate motives and rewards to in- 

 dustry. It is to this point that the attention ot Con- 

 gress is particularly requested. 



The actual increase of popidation in these states 

 shows that there is something in our land system, our 

 freedom from taxation, and the general character ol 

 free institutions, as spiead over this region by the be- 

 nign influence of the ordinance of 1787, eminently 

 calculated to impart a healthy vigor to a rising empire, 

 boyond any precedent in the history of the world. — 

 Forty years ago, the whole civilized population of this 

 district was but 50,240; now it is 2,970,696. The 

 ratio of increase during tach decennial period of this 

 century is 483,202,85, and 102 per cent. The nu- 

 merical increase of the last ten years is 1,502,604, be- 

 ing more in number than the whole increase of Eng- 

 land and Wales during the first sixty years of the last 

 century. The increase per cent, is greater than the 

 inciease per cent, of England and Wales during the 

 whol" of that century. 



Of the actual growth of trade it is impossible to 

 speak with equal precision, although some valuable de- 

 ta for an estimate may be found in the appended tables. 

 (7, 8, 9.) So great has been the influx of emigrants, 

 that it is only within three or four years that large por- 

 tions of this district, the best adapted for wheat, have 

 ceased to import bread etutTs, and it is hut just now that 

 the actual pressure ot a surplus of these products be- 

 gins to be felt upon the general market of the country: 

 barely suggesting to the wisest forecast vvhat is to be. 

 Let the estimate of the future be formed in view ol 

 the tables, and of the facts, that the soil is as fertile as 

 any other, with a smaller proportion of waste land, 

 from ri-clis, mountains, or swarnps, than in any region 

 of equal extent; that there are no barrens; that both 

 soil and climate are favorable to the production of pro. 

 visions of all kinds, while at least two-thirds of the 

 whole is eminently adapted to the culture of wheat; 

 that the population is almost exclusively agricultural, 

 with the advantage of owning every man his farm in 

 fee — purchased, too, at eo low a rale that no probable 

 reduction of prices can bring their lands down to the 

 original cost, while cultivation is constantly increasing 

 their value, instead of turning them to waste as in 

 some regions; that the character of the people, for in- 

 dustry, skill, education, general intelligence, order, 

 and regard for law, is surpassed by few other sections 

 of the world — afTording assurance that they will al- 

 ways raise as much produce as they can, if there is a 

 market for it, and will always require as much of the 

 products of other regions, in manufactured goods and 

 other comforts, as they can pay for, while their general 

 integrity and the reign of just laws atTord a guaranty 

 that they will not run in debt to buy what they cannot 

 see a way to pay for by the products of their labor. — 

 The trade ol such a country will be limited only by 

 the physical ability of the people, stimulated to the 

 highest industry by the wants of^ the most civilized 

 stale of society, unless it is clogged by obstructions 

 interposed by the policy of our own or other Govern- 

 ments. 



Until the year 1805, wheat chiefly in the form of 

 flour, was the leadiua article of export from this to 

 foreign countries. The average value for the five 

 yearspreceding theone named, was $8,205,000. (10.) 

 In that year, cotton reached the value of $9,445,500, 

 and took the precedence of wheat which it has since 

 maintained. The increase since, in the value of do- 

 mestic products exported yearly, is about fifly-two mil- 

 lions of dollars, the whole of which is in cotton: 

 while the value of wheat and flour has sunk to the 

 fourth place in the columns of exports. The settle- 

 ment of the wheat region of the northwest, to such 

 an extent as to begin to furu'sh a surplus, already in 



creases the export ol this product; while the prospect , „ , , . 



for the future calls upon the philosophic 6lat?amRn and 1 flucluatp up and down, on nn average, about Ij. 6t 



merchant to look upon this growing interest with tl 

 deepest concern. 



Wheat flour — from its value, its lightness of treigb 

 capabiliiy of preservation, and adaptednces to the won 

 of different countries, as well as the natural indicatioi 

 of the soil and the abundance of water powtr, eilh 

 in that country or along the lines of commuiiicatic 

 wiih the seaboard; — wheal flour must he the princip 

 reliance of the northwest for foreign export, and f 

 the means of paying for articles of necessity or comfc 

 brought from abroad. The more extended introdu 

 tion of this staple into our foreign trade would not o 

 ly increase the actual commerce and revenue to th 

 extent, but would tend to relieve our general monet 

 ry interests from the severity of the fluctuations tu 

 sing from the present almost exclusive reliance upon 

 single staple. But the most advantageous foreij 

 markt-ts for wheat are grievously obstruced, and re 

 dered so uiicertain and fluctuating, as to be near 

 valueless to "the American Farmer, by the corn laws 

 Great Britain and France. 



The British corn law, as settled in 1828, by the s 

 of 9 Geo. IV, c. 60, is one of the most ingenious 

 contrived schemes that can well be imagined, calcul 

 led to injure the grain-growing interests of other cou 

 tries, and the grain-consuming portions of its ov 

 people, without, it is believed, a corresponding adva 

 tage to the agricultural interest, for whose benefit 

 was intended. The variable scale of duties, rising 

 the price of grain falls, and fulling as the price rist 

 is but little understood in this country. The " ger 

 ral average," as ills called, is declared every Thui 

 day, at the exchequer; and is obtained by first findii 

 the average ofall lb.'; grains sold during the « eck en ji 

 ing on the preceding Saturday, at 150 of the princi|. 

 towns and markets, and then taking an average of tl 

 with the five last preceding general averages; and tl 

 last is the declared or geneial average for that wee 

 When the declared aveiage of wheat is 73s. or » 

 wards per quarter of 8 bushels, the duty is Is.; a 

 when the price is 52s. or under, the duty is S4s. 8* 

 the intermediate duties being graduated by a scale 

 taiifl'. (11,12.) Wheat and flour may be stored M 

 der bond for any lengih of time, without paying d 

 ties, and re-exported at pleasure. 



The object of this complicated arrangement is, fir ' 

 to protect the landholders against foreign competitio 

 and keep up the rent of land so as to sustain the lo 

 of taxation imposed by the public debt; secondly, 

 secure the people against the danger of famine, 

 which, from the density of the population, and iheu 

 certainty of the seasons, they are greatly exposed; a 

 ihirdly, to prevent, as far as possible, great flucluatio 

 in the price of grain. The attempt to overrule i 

 great and irreversible laws of trade, which strike t 

 balance between demand and supply — or, in ott 

 words, to prevent fluctuations in a maikei where t 

 demand was constant and the supply variable — coi 

 not but fall. Twenty years ago, it was consider 

 that a deficiency of one tenth in the harvest wot 

 raise the price of wheat three-tenths, and a deficien 

 of one-third would treble the price. This ihermoni 

 rical sensitiveness ol the market increases, as the i 

 crease of population overpasses the increase of prodi 

 tion. The yearly consumption of all kinds of grt 

 in Great Britain, is estimated at 52 million quarte 

 equal to 416 millions of bushels, or 15 bushels lo ca 

 inhabitant; of which 13 millions of quarters, or 1 

 million bushels, being 3$ bushels to each inbabitai 

 is wheat. The supply of 44 millions, or nearly 

 per cent., in 1839, was at an average price of 7f 

 which was 60 per cent, above the price in 1835, ai 

 nearly 50 per cent, above that of 18S6. (14, 16.) 

 the ten years, 1829 to 1838. the yearly range betwei 

 the highest and lowest weekly average, averaged 15 

 4rf., equal to 30 per cent. The greatest fluctuntic 

 was in 1828, risingfrom 52.«, id. to 78.<r. id., makir 

 a range of 50 per cent. These fluctuations of tl 

 market in England produce still more disastrous flu 

 tuations in the markets from which supplies are to 1 

 drawn. In the ten years above named, the year 

 fluctuations were .54 per cent, on an average; and i 

 1838, the fluctuation was 154 per cent. (13.) 



In those ten years, prices ranged fiom Zfis. to 78 

 id. — a range of 42s. id., or 118 per cent. The ave: 

 age of the whole is about 56s. In 1828, the prit 

 rose, between 28th September and 24lli October, froi 

 68s. 6rf- to 76s. 6rf. — eight shillings in four week 

 In 1629, it fell, between 6th August and 17th Septcn 

 her, from 71s 6rf. to 55s. id. or 2s. Sd. a week.- 

 The general weekly averages, taken year by year, v( 

 ry, on an average, Is. per week; and the weekly r< 

 ports of a single market, (Liverpool, for instance. 



