xlii INTRODUCTION. 



For some time before the war our western formers were beginning to complain tnat wheat- 

 growing was not profitable that the cost of transportation left them barely enough to meet the cost 

 of production and it was argued wisely, as we think, that it would be more profitable to grow less 

 wheat, and raise more cattle, pork, wool, &c., the cost of transporting which, in proportion to value, is 

 much less than that of a more bulky produce. 



When things return to their natural channel, there can be little doubt that the west will find it 

 more profitable to produce meat and wool, than to grow wheat. It was so for some years previous to 

 the war, and will be so again when the war ends. 



In the mean time the demand for wheat and other grain, induced partly by the increased con 

 sumption caused by the war, and the decreased production caused by the abstraction of labor employed 

 in the mechanic arts and the military service, will for some years, probably, keep prices high enough 

 to make wheat-growing at the west exceedingly profitable. The time must be expected, however, 

 when the western farmer will again find the cost of sending wheat to the eastern cities and to Europe, 

 so high as to leave him barely margin enough to pay the cost of production. 



The western farmer for a year or two has been receiving high prices for his produce. He would 

 do well fully to understand the causes which have led to this result. They are by no means permanent, 

 and as long as we continue to export breadstuffs to Europe, and prices remain there as they are at 

 present, nothing but a high premium on gold would enable us to command high prices for breadstuffs. 

 When we return to specie payments, if we have a large surplus of wheat to export.it is vain to expect, 

 as a general rule, anything like present prices in the west. 



The rapidity with which manufactures have increased in the west, as well as at the east, render it 

 highly probable that in future there will be a much greater home demand for agricultural products of 

 all kinds, than existed for a few years previous to the war. Some of the largest coal-fields in the world 

 exist in the western States, while iron and other metals are found there in great abundance. Every 

 thing is favorable for building up a great manufacturing interest. Whatever may be the result of the 

 war in other respects, it seems certain that the price of manufactured articles must also continue high. 

 The interest on our national debt, and the increased yearly expenses of the government, will require 

 heavy duties on foreign manufactures; and this, in addition to the heavy expenses of transportation, 

 will give the manufacturers in the west all the protection that can be desired. The discovery and 

 development of the immense mineral resources of our western Territories, and their astonishing rich 

 ness in gold, silver, and other metals, also favor the idea that in a few years the centre of population 

 will be found in the west, whither it has been marching with steady progress, rather than in the 

 Atlantic States. Most of the produce which is now sent east at such a great expense will be con 

 sumed at home, and the farmers of the interior will thus obtain a more equable market at fair 

 remunerative prices. 



There is, perhaps, no one fact which gives a clearer idea of the great growth of the west, and the 

 increase of its products, than the amount of grain which is shipped each year from Chicago. In 1838 

 seventy-eight bushels of wheat comprised the total exports from what has since become the greatest 

 grain market in the world. In 1839 it was 3,078 bushels; in 1840, 10,000 bushels; in 1841, 40,000 

 bushels; in 1842. 586,907 bushels; in 1845 it first reached a million bushels; in 1847 over 2,000,000 

 bushels. In 1851 and 1852 it again fell off to less than a million bushels; but in 1853 again 

 rose to 1,680,998 bushels. In 1854 it was 2,744,860 bushels. In 1855, 7,110,270 bushels; in 1856, 

 9,419,365 bushels; in 1857, 10,783,292 bushels; in 1858,10,759,359 bushels; in 1860, 16,054,379 

 bushels; in 1861, 22,913,830 bushels; in 1862, 22,902,765 bushels; and in 1863, 17,925,336 bushels 

 of wheat. 



Our official tables show that there were 173,104,924 bushels of wheat raised in the United States 

 in the year 1859. In that year we exported to Great Britain only 295,248 bushels of wheat. In 

 other words, out of every thousand bushels produced, we exported to Great Britain less than one and 

 three-fourths bushels. In 1860 our exports of wheat amounted to 11,995,080 bushels, or, assuming thai 



