cxxxvi INTRODUCTION. 



The grain merchant has been in all countries, but more particularly in this, the pioneer of com 

 merce, whether we refer to the ocean or the inland trade, and not till he was established could other 

 commercial adventurers find a foothold. The commercial history of the United States is based mainly 

 on breadstuffs staples always marketable at some quotation wherever the human family dwells. 



The exportation of American products to foreign countries continues to form one of the chief 

 characteristics of our national commerce. The development of our agricultural resources, and the 

 increasing demands of Europe, particularly England, for foreign breadstuffs, seem to have continued at 

 pretty regular pace. As the production of the United States increased, new and more extensive 

 markets were thrown open illustrating a grand design of Providence in thus developing a New World 

 to feed the rapidly increasing populations of the Old, and supply homes for their redundant numbers. 

 For upwards of a quarter of a century the extension of the manufacturing interests of Great Britain 

 has been gradually but surely rendering that country more and more dependent upon other nations for 

 the breadstuffs with which to feed her people ; and from a grain-exporting country, as she was only half 

 a century since, she now finds herself in a position in which she has to import annually from nine to fif 

 teen millions of quarters of grain. Had that country twenty-five years ago been as dependent as she 

 is now upon other nations, with the grain resources of that period, there would have been much suffer 

 ing among the poorer classes everywhere ; while on the other hand, without this European demand for 

 the grain produced in the United States, the same inducements for opening up the fertile lands of the 

 western States would not have existed. Capitalists would not have been encouraged to construct our 

 immense canals, and lines of railroads, nor to have built our fleets of grain-carrying vessels to traverse 

 the lakes and seas. The steady and increasing demand for American breadstuffs in Europe, however, 

 greatly stimulated the production made the unbroken and wild, yet fertile wilderness and prairie 

 attractive to the agriculturists of all countries, and created a commerce for which history has few paral 

 lels. At the same time it has enriched our country beyond all calculation, enabled us to pay our 

 European debts, given us an enterprising population, drawn from the industrious classes of every 

 nationality, state, or kingdom in the Old World, and has endowed millions of human beings with wealth 

 and the rights and privileges of free institutions. 



Commencing at an early period with the scant products of the Atlantic States, the grain trade was 

 gradually pushed up the Hudson river as far as navigation would permit ; and where that ceased, the 

 Erie canal commenced and carried it to the great lakes. It was on the completion of this great 

 achievement that the real history of the grain trade of the United States began. Then it was that our 

 &quot;inland seas&quot; became the highway of a commerce which has already attained a magnitude surpassing 

 that of many of the oldest European nations. Then it was that the vast territory west of the lakes, 

 hitherto the home of the &quot;red man,&quot; and range for the buffalo, became the attractive field for the 

 enterprising pioneers of industry and civilization, who laid the foundations of what are now seven large 

 and flourishing States of the Union, peopled by a population vigorous and hardy, and well calculated to 

 succeed either in the arts of peace or war. 



At the same time, the grain trade was steadily progressing up the Mississippi river into the heart 

 of the west, and on whose banks were built large and flourishing cities, the great depots for nearly a 

 quarter of a century for the products of the rich valley of that river. 



The grain trade has progressed, year after year, from small beginnings, till now it has become one 

 of the leading interests of the country, and among the most important in its influence on the world, as 

 on it depends much of the peace, happiness, and prosperity, not only of the people of the United 

 States, but also of many of the kingdoms of Europe. 



THE EXPORT GRAIN TRADE. 



To demonstrate the magnitude of this trade, the following tables are appended, showing the total 

 exports of grain and flour from the United States to foreign countries during the years 1862 and 1863 : 



