42 



Minnie Throop England 



ing speculation in the goods market. In any case a slump in 

 that market due to a change in the relation of supply and de- 

 mand must occasion a general crisis that was already prepared 

 in the securities market. This is most in evidence in agricultural 

 countries like the United States where a crop failure frequently 

 causes a break in a situation already under great tension. Like- 

 wise, it is well known that the rise in the price of food products 

 in the United States because of an increased foreign demand is 

 not infrequently the stimulus which sets a "boom" in motion. 

 "A good or bad wheat harvest probably makes more difference 

 with the general prosperity of the country than all the tariff 

 legislation put together."^ 



The spread of prices of the three common groups relative to 

 each other is shown by the following tables : 



Table XLV 

 Spread of Prices of Three Groups of Commodities by Ranks 



'Ed. Yale Rcviezv. 1:233, November, 1892. 



82 



