Why The Price Of Wheat Has Fallen

The pretense that the low price of wheat is dne to the imaginary demonetizatiou of silver in 1873 has no basis in facfc Wheat has not gone down because less silver rnoney is used, for we have uow over $600, 000, 000 in silver coins or certificates as against less than $80,000,000 in 1873. Soit is cert.iin that it is not lack of silver ourrency which has reduced the price of wheat. A suggestion as to the real causes which have made wheat cheaper now than it was 23 years ago is found in the British board of trade statistics. These show that in 1894 the Argentine Republio sent to Great Britain 22,120,253 bushels of wheat. In 1873 the Argentine was unknown as a wheat exporting country, the first shipments to Great Britain having been made but a little over ten years ago. Since that time the railway systems of the country have been greatly extended. Immense quantities of the latest and best agricultural implements and machinery have been imported, and large areas of very fertile land have been put under wheat cultivation. During the same period the wheat crops of Russia and India have also been greatly increased. It is these increased supplies froni sources which formerly sent little or no wheat to the European markets which have gradually forced down prices. Wheat is cheap because more is produced than is wanted. Free silver cannot stop the competition of South American or Russian wheat, nor would it be the slightest benefit to the American farmer.