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The Great West

The Great West image
Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
November
Year
1860
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

We havo heen in the habit tor many years of ealling the región beyond the Alleganies tho Great West rcferring to thd immense extent of countrv and tho pro digious ctitevpnso with which it was pe pled and cultivator]. But not until tli. present season have we learned tho truo and f'ull signifioaucs of the pbrase. Thcso accidental dietriota are the Grent VT;s!, finphatieally, ;is they are now provine; froua day to dy ly the reporta of the incredible prodactivcnoss of thegr.iin erop?. Oneu or twite bcfore we have bwl occasion to speak of the tmportance of the la-t harvest to the eommeroial and rxjliticul welfare of tliu natioi,, and yct the moro v. e consider it the more we are persuadi-.l that we have failed to itnpress opou our readers all tho hearings of the faets. The tucrCHBOd value of our exporta of domestic produce, from the first ot' Jul to the Ifeth of Octubur tliis year, orof those of the wiiole of last cir, is phdfrn to be 814,772,496; the gain Uing ia wheat, flour and coin, and the loss being ofcotton, SI, 560,000, and of pork, $461,. 000. ïliis export providing for tin: bul-' ancedue England,by agricultura! produets munifests its effect at once in a decreaaed dcinand for the export of specia ' to tliu araount of upwarda of $19,000,000, in tho lower ratos of exehauge, and the geier;il calculations of Uien of business ou bota sides of the Atlantic The foreign crlitor looks to the market and nol to thobank for liis clainip, and t!ie doinesliü debtor forward gmin instead of gold to make good his ndebtednest, Tri the face of this enornious drain of brcadstuíFs, howcver, no onf is disposed to fcel uneasy in regard to the prteca of the home market. Flour coiiiinands no more than the average pricos of ihe past ten or twenty years. The consunuT of it at home is notalarmcd at the statement tfaat England wül requiro twenty four milüon? of bushels, chiefly of whrat to supply lier defioumcesj or tliat Ivtland, sincc the failure of the potato erop, will probably rx.'cd BOflie iifteen or twentv millions of busliels of corn in additipu, Tho reason is that cvery oue fecls secure in the inexhaustible granaries of the West. A few years ago that v;:st región liad soarci'ly been opeued to the wants of the svorld; BB unutiml demand froni ftbroad iiistautly i-ffcctcd our doruestic sr.pplios ; tbc pricc offlour rose to twclve dollar! h barrel, and of Ccrn to nearly two dollars per bushei ; a paiuful stringeucy of tho market was appruhended, and a panie more or loss severe was the consequunco. Now, we not, only ook without fear, kut with roiifidence and pleasuro, upcm auy demand from abroad, beoause w.o kuow that no demand is likely to eripjile our own rusourcos, As an evidcocc of the change, we iuay refier to tlie city of Chicago, whicli at the time of the Irif.li familie, was in its infancy aud struggling for cxistcncc, but whieh now sends forth; in a single month more graia than it did at that time in an entire year From the erop of corn alone of 1859, that ceutio bas already forwarded fifteen millions of bushels, while it is estima ted that the erop of ÏSG'J, untouched by drouglit or fixsts, will be fifty per cent more than that of last year. Jndeed. it may bc s-nd tl::it the State of Illinois alone could furni; h within the nest twolve montlis, to tho consuincrs of the United Kingdom tlm twenty four millions of bushels of cmu wliieh it is auppoeed will benceded, without interfering in the lunst with the eonditiens of the gruiu market in tha lïastcru Stiite.s. Up to the 5th of October, wc are told by the reporta, Chicago has roeeived 10,794,917 Lushels of bit ad 420,:08p barrels of flour ; the daily riiceipts eonthme to average 150,000 bushals of wlu-;s and 4,000 barruls oí' fiour ; and at thi. rate, carried on to the Crst of December, wheii the water tra:.sportat;o!i may close, the export will nse to seveutnen millioiis of bushei of wheat. But after thut, th.j coiiveyuuee of flour will still be made by ruil, se that tho tsbipments of it íroin Chicago thil year muy be snfcljr stimatnd aï sevén hundred thousand barn-ls: Theö items put toguiher will forman agsregate of tw nty u.iiiio :.s of bushels - liearly equivaloüt to tlie whols deinand uf Great Britain. Tbese extraordiuary shipuieuta are only rutardd by tiie scareiu of lake tomuigo, a.id the Consequent high price of freights, the eost of Lringi:ig the ooru to 2e.v York, the pcriod, having ofton cseuisticu the first cost ui Cliicagd That thixe calculatious as to the lutura are not exaggorated is nhown by tho admiitc-d iaut tiiat tlie gupply in tho storehooaca of th farmers is larger at tha present moment thau at the harves; tim ff ai;y of thö three procediug years - Travelcrs teil us that tbey are a;-to;,ii!ied by the stucka of untouclii.d wlieat wuieh still üue the sldes of the rnihv:iys of Southern Illinois, and we eanno doubt it wlien we romember that tho w.ges vi 1;:boi'ers duriug thj harvest rangcd froili ons and a half to two and a tutlf dollars per dietn. At the cliso of navigatfnji there will still bc, we tiiiñk, fr:n tvelvo to fifteen millions of bushels surplus (■ oome forward early in tbe sjiring. 1,'hi, (dod to the amounts we have giveu above, will prove oonclusivcly tho abili'V of the prairies to provide. tirouh t re port of Chicago alone, for tho full furéLjii demaitd (.'hicago, however, though Hi largLt, is cot the only gi-uin-shirpiüg port, but, bsiug of itself adequate to lusol the prevailii.g wants, theru is no ooeasiuii for our referring to othor.. Cotton, it has Ln?en s:tiil, is kinj; ; ónd no ono will dispute, who has observtd the course of politics for taany years past, t!:it cotton is a potentate of treinend; n:s power. But anothcr ïnonarch of traili: is rising, in the farm of wheat, not to push tlié elder taoumbtnt fron the tliroué, but to share with hira, to sonvi csteiit, the io:nago aud love of mankind. The Grcat West iá looming up upo'i the horizo;) " like a now moon, 1ÍÍ8LM ('U üllü U(K)1I."

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus