Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 1, 1879, Page 2

© THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE Wi DAY, JANUARY IXTEEN 'AGES a¢ vancoment in our mental and moral status, a2 8 city; but that such uotico would be foreign to the purpose of this Roview. This greater volume of business has, how- over, boon transacted on much lower prices than in 1877, even when reckoned on n specie basis, One may well stand amazed at tho fact that the avernge prices of tho yoar show a decline aa compared with 1877 of 83 per cent in hogs, 20 per cent in the speonlative grade of wheat, 17 por cent in corn, 28 per cont in oats, - being an average reduotion of 17 per cent in all breadstuffs; and not far from 13 per cent on the averngo of prices in wholesale trade. Hera Is n total dacline of 28 per cent in produce, taking the relative volumes of all kinds into mccount; or a total averngo shrinkage of fully 17 per eent in the currency prices of produce, wholesale goods, nnd manufactured prod- uct, Theso figures ara only approximations, but thoy are rather under the truth than over it. The nbundant yield of grain and hogs was & standing argument in favor of n decline, and quotations in other depariments followed the example set by produce. Tha downward movement was assisted by a ‘shrinksge in the gold premium; but the above figures show that it was vastly greater than that dos to the differ- ence in the commercial valne of the paper dollar in the two . past years. The average price of the paper dollar dur- ing tho past year was about 994c, against 053 @960 in 1877, and 00¢ n 1876. DBut the greater proportion of tho year's business has been done with * gold” much nearer par. Tho erops have been moved with paper averaging mot less than 89{c, the discount Leing only about ecqual to the ordinary rate of premium on New York exchange. We lave been practieally on a specio basis for five months past, though resumption is the. oretically in order to-day for the first time in -sevebteen years, Bat there is even mororeason fo boamazed at tho fact that wo have sclually transacted more business, in 8 pecuninry sonse, last year than in 1877, whether tho sum total ‘be reckoned in speole or paper. Our figures shiow that we lave gained 3} per cent in ‘produce, 1} per cent in onr wholessle trade, and 8 percent in manufactures: giving a total of 63 per cont in currency, or 9} per cent in gold, It is worthy of noto that this statement does not correspond with the Clenring-House returns,"which ore usually rogarded a3 an accurate index to tho relativo volumo of trade. 'They are 7§ per cont lesn for 1878 than for tho previons year. The discropanoy is, however, cnsily accounted for, We havo not so many banks in the city aa befora the collapses of 1877, and therefors fower transfers of chocks betwoen them. Asan eminent local suthonty said when intervlowed on tho subject: “If there wero only one bank there would be no clearings, and yot that ome Dank migt do a very largo businoss.”- Thore Tias also boon much less trading in fatures ou 'Change, ‘which fact has materially reduced tho volume of clearings on the day succeed- ing doliveries on monthly contracts, without interfering with the receipt or shipment of produce. The result is also dus, in a smallor degree, to the fact that, since the bonk fail- ures in this city, somo traders have taken care of their own money, or placed it in the Bafety Deposit vaults, whero thero are no clearings. .'We note, however, that the bank oxchanges fell off chiefly in the former purt of the year, and in the lator montha were more nearly equal than for the cor. responding dates in 1877,—sometimes oven showing an incrense, This agrees with tho facts aa reported in nearly all the dopart- ments of trode aud commerce. The move- meant of tho new crop was accompanied by an oxtraordinary activity in trading, and maro of this trading than usual was done on a cash basis. Thero is littlo room to doubt that we are now on the upturnin prices, on produnece, other stocks of morchandise, and real estato § thongh it is not probable, and certainly not desirable, that wo shall scon see o return of tho fever-heats of speculation of formor years, With big cropa at our back, renewed confidence among business-men, a stable currency, snd a nation at peace with itself and with il the world beside, our prospects wero never more bright, and we mny confl- dently look forward to tho future of Chicago o4 great, even in comparison with its won- derful growth in the past. PRODUCE. The prodade trade of the past yeer has boen an unasually dotive ono, the volume of our rooeipts and shipments being far groater than in any former year, For the first timo in our history wo have passed—and left far behind—the wmark of 100,000,000 Lushols, which biad hitherto seemed to bo the limit to our coreal-recelving abulity, oa it was long thought to bo the limit of British deficiency in wheat and flour. Wa have handled a larger number of hogs than hiad been killed iuany one yearin the whole West, upto a very recent date. Our trade in lumnber, sceds, and other articles has made & big strido for. ward. Iudeed, wo bave gained, aud largely guined, in almost everything on the list, from hogs to hominy, or *from the eggn to the spples,” as the Romaos used to put it. The Lorn of plenty bas shed its treasurcs upon us In rich abundance, and even in greater pro- fuslon than onauy other city in gl this high- ly-favored land, 1o ‘Tbis immense volume of materia} Las been Laudled without difficulty, and even with less of fluctuation in -prices than in most former years.. ‘Irue, the tendency of prices Las boen downward,—fearfully so for the ~+producers in samo sections,—but that was owing to the operation of causes vutside of Chicago. The -fact that we have had so nuch more produce’ sent hero than ever fs largely dus to the fact that this has almost v uniformly been the best market, notwith. standing the besetting sinof railroad offlclals to discriminate against Chicagoonevery possi- Lleoceasion. We have received grain in great volume from Kansas because we could dnd did pay more for it than was offered in Bt. Louis. We have drawn wheat from Minne- sota because, for a part of the year at least, our prices were higher than those of Mil. weukeo; and hogs were sent here from Olio for tue reuson that wmore could bo realized for them hers than in Cincinnati, only n fow miles from the farm whoro they were raised. Our standing army of benrs is & powerful one, but thelr aots have not seldom sustained prices, ns tho sing of tho wicked nre made to condnco to tha welfaro of the rightoons. Thero havo been fow excitoments in prod- uce tho pnst twelva months, excopt those incident to inequality in the distribution of the yiold. Tho progross of politioal aud military events in the 014 World have not mnch affected quotations. Even the effects following the tremendous failure of the Bank of Glasgow were small, and sdon’dis- appeared, so far as our produce trade was concorned. The facta of greatest moment were an nnusual shortage in the graln orops of France and Minnesots, a partial fallure in the English yield, an unusual demand from Germany, Spain, and Porlngal for broadstufis, and relatively. small supplies from the Meditarranean and the East Indies, —parily duo to tho extraordinarily low prices at which the surplus products of the esstern slope of this continent were ponred into the inp of westorn Europe, The ‘Continent” has shown an unusually active capacity as an absorbor of onr breadstuffs, wlelln the Dritish Isles hiove taken our meats in nae pracedented volume. This has made onr forwarding businesa very active. Bhippers wers never o busy before, and their occupation was moderately lucrative, in spite of the fact that quotations were nominally sgainst them during & great part of the year, On the contrary, the com- missfon business, so far as it embraced the dealing in futures, was more than ordinarily dull a considerable part of the year, and was at no time so active as intho days when cornors wore as much a distinctive feninre of Chicago business as uneven sidewalks were in tho olden times. Much of the speculative trading I8 now dono by local operators,— mombers of tho Board of Trade of this city. Part of the decadence is due to tha greater prominence of mining-stocks, but most of it is n direct consequenco of tho fact that small operators outside have 8o often been severs losers. Many of them now incline to the opinfon that the denling is controlled by mon with fmmense capital, ogainst whoss influence the smallor operator {s powerless, Thers 18 not so much ground for this ns- sumption with regard to grain as thera wos before the anti-corner rules were in force. ‘Wo can soaroely say as much far the pro- vision deal. The squeezes in that depart- ment have been numerous; and the losers may be pardoned if they call them merciless, and somelimes characterize the course of trading there as ** the milking process.” A vast quantity of speculative trading is, however, transacted off 'Change, though mostly by members of the Board of Trado. On the * Call Bonrd " especinlly the dealing in pork and lard iz at times' very large. A good deal of treding in whaat s also dono on a small gealo on the *“ Open Doard,” where lots of 600 and 1,000 bu ara turncd over for partics who do not care to trade in 5,000 bu lots. 'This down-atsirs trading bas not sol- dom established the price at which the regn- lar markot opened in the morning. The fact remnains that this is the largest spoculative market in the world, and the most influential in determining tha priccs poid ot other points, No other oity offers such amplo facilities for the omploymont of capital or g0 much security in the operation, while that very fact attracta’hither fo much money tobe employed in bandling graln and provisiona that therdis always acash market, nnd very large quantities must Lo offered or wanted in order to cause a material change in quotations. It is no unusual thing to see 100,000 bushels of wheat bought in lots of 5,000 bushels, each costing procisely the samo fgure, and five times that quantity might Lo purchased seriatim within n,range of je. The semo thing obtalns in pork, Inrd, corn, and other markets. Tho great point in onr favor, outaido of the command- ing geographical position of Chicago, is the faot that, by the law of this Biate, warchouso receipts for grain, pork, etc,, are valid deliverics, and negotiable ns gecurities. Own. ors of the property are thus nble to handle tho stoff readily, and to obtain advances upon it on more favorable terms than elsc- where, In New York, the material has often to be actually transferred from one place to anothier with a change of ownership, where wo make the transfer by passing a pleco of paper from hand to hand, the principlo be- ing precizely the samo as tronsferring s bank credit by means of o check, instead of nct- ually counting out tho money, The con. vonfence is so great both to speculators and to thosa who soll on country account or buy to ship, and the magnitnde of tho resulting business is so vast, ae to impross ita tone upon every other markot in the clvilized world a8 soon as tho beatings of the com- mercial pulse are trausmitied over the con. stantly.occupled electrio wires. ‘I'ho facts that large quantitios of grain now go arcund our oily over lines which were not in existenco s few years ago, that tho volume of business over thoso lines is on the iucredse, nod that important discrimina~ tlons are made against this city in the mat. ter of rail freights during most of (he time that lake uavigation is suspended, have often- boen referred to 83 a proof that Chicago is rapidly cssuming the charaoter of n way-aide station, like Buffalo and other citics further back, But tho fects do not warrant the conclusion,. Our clty is the office 'in which is couducted the great bulk of the produce business of the West, and she controls it s cffectnally as does tho counting-room of tho merchant control the outgo of his wmerchan- dlse, very little of which msy pasain front of his desk. The enormous movement of product throngh our city is really but a small part of that which is bought and sold in Chicago, and forwarded to the comsumer on orders telegraphed by traders here to the parties Lolding it subject to their call. Much of it ia actually ownod here, wholly or in part, either before or directly after it leaves tho farm. Scattered ull along the lines of railroad in the Weat are buyers of graln con- trolling warehouscs at the diffierent -depols, many of “whom are” buylug grain and pork with money advanced by Chicdgo com- utission men, wha are sither partners or -princi- pals fn the operstion. The produce 1s sold in Chicago, sud, asarule, to Cbicago operators, but it does pot npecessarily pass through this city, The buyer biers paturally forwards it to Its destinstion by tbat vouts which is the cheap- est at the timo he wauts to move the property. Ifslsnot sluw to take the gdvantage of cut rates and discriminative tarifs when they exlst, and thus it qftea bsppens that Chicago men reap the full bencOtof discriminations which sre nominally made adversely to thelr interosts, Wo may instance the rasq of one operator hero ‘who, during the past year, bas foawarded about four times. ss much. grain . from . other poiuts, fucluding Toledd, St. Louls, Milwaukee, and Detroit, a3 from Chicago. 'The operation focluded chiefy wheat snd corn. The orders cawg bere, sod Chicazo inen transacted the business ¢ven In the cities whizh bave been fool- isuly clajmed to be ourrivals. The facts show that this t3 the wetropolls of the trade; they the subsidiory poiuts that collect the wateral, nnd liold 1t subjeet to the orders which ave sent out from the hedd of Lake Michigan. And wo are now more truiy metropolitan in our prodiies trade than ever before, A great change has recently come over the apirit of our dream, Our leading operators used to wait for orders to ** bity and ship C. F. & T.,”" except that those who were * running deals” would send the property away to find & market, There sre still men of that class here, but they are searcely entitled to be called the leaders in onr commercial enterorlse, Wa have now smong s merehants who, without any reference o cors ners, buy the grain hore, and sell 1t to arrive In the principal consuming matkets of the world. There are others who operate in provisions on an equally large scale, combilning the functivn of manufacturer with that of exporter. Thesa men moved a largo part of our crops last year, and without their aid It might have been found difiicult to dispose of the wealth of ccreals and hog product with which Providence favored the Rreat Northwest, ~ C Very many orders have, however, been sent here for produce. Chlcago is becoming known more and more as & poiot of original exvort, and posaibly our great misfortune of 1871 was a real blessing in this respect, by riveting atten- tion upon this city ns the local polat of the vast scction which feeds no small oroportion of the ieople of a whole continent outside our ‘own We note tbat much ignorance yet prevalls abroad in regard to our geographical position in the west. Very many otherwise well-fn- formed people chgaged in buylog ‘and selling “corn ” and meats on the other side of the At- Iantlc, think that cargoes can be loaded into ocean-going vessels here as well as at New York nad the other scaboard citics. Tho business Is conducted here with as little Lrouole to them as i that were actually tho case. Our produce fs shipped direct to ncarly every scaport in Eu- rope, and to not a few ports on the other contl- nenta of the Oid World. Another great mistake made by Europeans s in supposing that all the operators in produce liere are * bulls,” working for higher prives; and they write here in mnch the same strain as tho Mark Lane Rzpress addresses its constitu- ency of Euglisi.farmers. The fect ts, that alarge class of our tradars, torming & decided majority of the members of our Board of Trade, are rad- feally bears,—uncompromisingly committed to the advocacy of lower quotatlons, and most of the time working for a decllue. These men un- doubtedly carry thetr point sometimes, or the «¢lass would speedily die out for want of nour- ishment, but it is questionable if they perma- nently deprcss prices. Thelr operations aro certalnly conducted st times on so large o scale in tho aggregate ns to defeat the intent, and cause.a decided strengthontug under the rush to #ill shorts. , ; Extensive and grave misunderstandings nre, however, originated Ly thie clase of traders. Many of themn seem to be affiicted with o mea- tal jaundlce which tints everything they touch. They set nflont the most unfounded rumora and the most absunt hypotheses, some of which flnd their wav luto the written ciroular, and even into the public prints, Their conversation on tie floor of the Fxchange indicates that they regard as ‘s natural enciny the man who thinks well enough of the property to buy it as an investment, or to forward it tothe consumer. {f the market advaoces beeause of abetter demand it 1s fovariably, ascribed to manlpulation, and their Eastern organs teem with rebuke and de- nunciation of the men who will not sell at bot- tom prices. On thc other hand, whenever quo- tutions declline, the bears describe the market as goldg down ‘‘on its merits’; a downward tendency, fa the result of the operatlon of natural causes, and a sura algn that prices can- not bo sustalved. Thelr cardinel doctrine is that wo have always too much wheat, corn, oats, and pork, ana that the abundance must infalli- bly depress. - 1t wheat were solllug at Be per bu, they would offer it at 43{c for the next wonth, These meh claim to bo the friends of the widow and the orplian} and the ¢lalm moy bo rezarded as well founded Jf we suppose that the widow Is . Ursula aud the orphans Urss Minores. ... , . “Good " wheat:.ad stipped from. , this.olty to- England In 1873 at 80 shillings ver quarter, Brit- 151 wheat belng quoted down to 40 shillings fo March of that year. About the same price has been realized Jast autuma for our No. 8, which 18 # ood * wheat there, and often sold as Chi- cago No. 3. Recently low prices have, thero- fore, becn previcualy paralleled, but not for sv long a time or on such large quantities as have been exported to Europe from our last wheat crop, But we bave nuo record that our pro- vistons hayo eyor been sold there beforo at any- thing like such low prices as prevailed during the last few months. Taking it altogether, tho situation to the Europcan consumer hos been one of unparalleled cheapness. Prices have been so low as to serionsly embarrass European producers, though very welcome to the larze class of consumers there. Tho fact has really cus off Russlan competition, except from tho comparatively small areas that sro near to the railroads and seaports. It has also mede it fin- possible for the English fa¥mer to sell his grain and Jive-stock at Jiving prices, alter paying the high renls which prevall in tbat country. ‘There cau bo little duubt that It we are ablcin future ycars to ship in vecent volumio and st recent prices we shsll command a very much wider market than heretofure, as largo oreas all over Europe will be of necessity changed to sult tho new conditions, 8ome of the laud now de- voted to grain-raising will be useqd for kitchen gardening, and rents or transportalion must be veduced to couble the remalnder to grow more grain than 18 needed for home consumption. Thers s another factor Ju the problem, the value of which can scarcely bo measured now, The American nation (s rivaling aund undersell- fug England In her own minrkets on manufac- tures, and the [ndications are that st no distant day the old will huve to give place to tha new in many otber countrica, Will the result be to so fmpoverish the puoplo who are now our boest customers that they canbot buy from us so ficly as of yore! Can we com- mand both of theso opening avenucs, each of which is bl with magnificgnt poasibilitics If not prevented by the conditions that are neccasary to tha existence of the othier? The great depression 1n the prices of all de- scriptions of farm produce Is, of course, o direct conscquence of thele abundanpce; and that sraln is directly traceable to the depression n the manufecturing industries of this country atnce the panic of 1578 Baid times lu tho East have induced o largo emigration from that sec- tlon, bestdos the natursl overfiow from the fuat- condensing populatbn of Western Europe, and the great majorlly of the emigrants have spread out over tho prairles and plmny, us thero was nothing for them to do in the citles of the West, This spreading and settling Las heen even more extensivo tban that which fllled uv the country along the luoof the Illinols Central Railroad after the pauic of 1857, Tuis has given more mauual labor to the farn, while the {ntroduction of agriculiural machinery hus wounderfully increcsed the ability of cach man to sow, caltivate, and gather In the harvest. With favorablo weather ourformers bave been able to ralsc aud yeap inuch blzger crops then could bave been husbanded by hand-labor alooe, The ‘result is an abundance which some are disposcd 10 regard ag excessive. ‘They forget that a cun- . tradictiop fo terma is lovelved fu Lhe statement that the world can be made poorer through be- fug eoriched by the products of the roll. . As we now produce more cheaply than in the olden time, and have probably seen tho last of exceaslve freight rates, it 1s open to question it wo shall eyer again expericoce the kigh prices of former years, oven Wheu we reckon those prices on a spacts basis, - We cannot expect to return 10 the cogditions under which whoat was sold in Epglsnd for one peuny per bLuahel, sud & shyep vould be bought for three pence, because tho supply of the precious metals bas vastly lucreas- cd since then, snd *‘there is loss of it to o pound® (steshug) But we cauuot look for $1.50 per bu fur wheat, or 80o for coru, or 10¢ per ib for pork, unless there bu widéspread fuil- ure of the crops: aad sll the experiencs of the past shows that such fallure s only loeal. ‘Fue world's arca of cultivation fs now wice cnough to give partial fullure somewhers In every season, and to warrapt the bellef that o fuir averuve vield will be gathered fun. - Modern commeérce haa done for the feeding of tho na- tions what good life-askurance does for the In- divldual,—1t prevents undue sufferlng by equal- 1zing and dlstributing from a general surplus over the wants of & particular case, ‘There {s, however, reason to hope that hetter prices for the producer are soon to prevail. There can be no valleys without hills, and exje- rlehce proves that prives fluctuate liko the sur- face of atract of country. We scldom havea perfect level, even on the ‘occan, and wo have recently been unmistakably in the trough of the sea fn the matter of quotations. Our closcat thinkers on the subject gencrally look for a higher average of prices In 187 than obtajued durlng the past year. Some complaints have been heard to tho effect that the schednle of commisslon rates recently adopted s too hizh, Some ol the figures are undoubtedly large when compared with eelling prices, but those low prices may not lonw pre- vail. It [s, bowever, undoubtedly to the mter- cab of tho country shipper that the charges should be unlform, and sufllciently ligh to pay responsible men o look after the trite Intereats of thelr customers. ‘The cheapest service I8 not nlwaya the best. Responsible merchants cannot afford to handle pronesty without a fair interest on the use of their capital, aud comrensation for their labor. Wa note that our merchauts in this city do not, ok a rule, employ the cheapest men in Buffalo, New York, and Baltimore, to transact their business, They want the security giveu by capitalaud reputation, and nre eatls- fled that they cannot obtain efiictent service from men who are willing to work for a gong. ‘The scason of navigation opeued carller than udual, and cktended through about elght months, with an average rate of 2.Yc on corn by sall to Huflulo.: This is & very low rate, and left 100 profit to the carrler, alter paying expenses. The larger cruft made a little profit, perhape, but small vessels could not compete with them duriugaconsiderable part of the scason. Steam- barges, and larze sallers, and the steam lines, are gradually erowding out the smalier closs of eall-vessels, mod bid fair, at no distant day, to render it impossiyle for them to continue in the prain-csrryiog trade, The first ehartets were made March 21, at 23 for corn, ‘The rate rore to 3@3%cin the latter part of Avril, fell to 13{c In May, advanced to 2i{c In June, fell back to 13{c, and was steady at 13c from:June 10 to Aug. 8. In the latter month the rate advanced Irregularly to 4!4c, and to 49{c in September, declininir then toBige. In October it ranged from 33¢c up todc, down to 92{e, aud back to 83¢e. In November the market advanced from 3%c to Bc, which was the closing rate. The followini shows the averago rates on corn by sofl from Cblcago to Buffalo, and by canal from Buftalo to New York, for several sca- 3 v The changes In the raliroad tarlf?, as fssucd, wera as follows:’ 5 Fourth Dozed Itk Graln, cluss, meals, meals. 40 40 3 q 0 ) Tho last-named’rates were oxtensively “cut" In December. Grafn was takicn to New York at 23@2TH4c per 1001bs, to Iuterlor poluta in New Englaud ot a reduction of b from tailfl rates, and to Liverpoolat B0e; and rumors that con- tracts Lad been mado to move out o large per- cantaze of the wheat here at 2Uc per 100 1bs to Now York. v Frelzhty from thia clity to the seaboprd bava _been reQaguably lafy tho past yesr. Planty of: vessel-room has kopt down lake rates, and that hins reacted on the ralronds. Freiehts from ‘Western poluts to this city are highor thon they should be on low-priced stufl. From Western fowa to Chicago tho ralironds have charged 25¢ per 100 I on cofn, which isMe per bushel ; and tho rate an wheat has been 80c per 100 tha. From Nebraska '35¢ and from Kansas as high as D5 per 100 s have been charged to this city, which does mot allow & falr price to the producer. The ratlroad com- panics do mot yet secm to bo convineed that it {s to their own interest to carry ot falr rates, which will stimulate productivn {n thearcas they draln, Ipstead of repressiug it. Nelther do ullof them scem to recognize the fact that every time they discrimlnate agalust Chicago In tho matter of ratea they fujuro thelr beat cue- tomer, and thereby hurt themeclves, A lttle more cnlightenced sclflshness neede to be fn- fused iuto the mansgement of our raflroads. T he IMliuols & Michipan Canal s rerarded by some ns a comyaratively inslgnificant channel, in a commercial mcc, uow that our State s everywhero Intefsected by raflronds. Dut it is really a very important factor In tho determina- tion of tuterfor freight rates, and 1s recognized o8 such by the raltronds; henee thelr efforts to wipe It out. 'The canal directly controls rates on the Rock Island Rood, which runs near it, and the rates on that road determloe those on competing lines. The water-way thus controls to a great extont tho rates of transportation between Chicago and a largo area of the Btate, clear down to thé Missisaippl, with which it is connected by u_:u Ilinots River, Uts in- flucnce extends | much further, Much of the graln from tho Upper Missiesippl would be shlpped down that water-course to its junction with the’ 1llinols, and thenco by the water-route to Chicazo, if 1t vould not be sent by mil on sbout’ equally favorable terms, all things cousldered, to this city or Milwaukee. ‘The caual unusable, there would be little check on extortion by therallroads, and its efilclcncy abould therefore be ma'utalned ot all haxards. The same Is true'of the Erlo Canal, which ts equally the befe nolr of tho New York railroads. The canal Is csscntial to the prosperity of New York City; and it would be to the foterest of that city Lo sustain it st thelr own cost if the Btateatiould refuse, to doso. Tho cunal is the salvation of New York City; and not lcss so of our lake martue.' If the [ilinots & Michigan and the Erje Canals could be killed off, this city would be entirely at the mercy of raflroads; aud past expericuco sullicicntly indicates what that means. We would® shen be reduced, ludeed, to tho position of awayside statlon. Urass would gzrow in our now busy streets; ‘and the historfan of the not far distant future might truthfully write upon our walls the word *Ichabod'— the glory has departed. ‘There are a few, sinong us who are unwise cnouzh to sdvocate tho estabilshment bero of tbe New York method of deating fu produce, They don’t know, or appear to forget, that this is ono of the couditious Chicairo has long siuce erown out of; and they fail to sce that it would besltogethier unsuited tothe present magnitude of our gralo trade, In the yeers goue by our merchants used to sell thelr wheat und corn +*gver the plls?; they thep adopted the pysteim of selllng by sample; snd ttat has been, in turn, superseded by. the method of selllug o cording to grade, The samplo is now larzuly a thing of the past, except in the city trade, and in the vase of capal-buut loads sold 1o shippers. To change Lack otherwise would be toretrograde towsrd babyhood, Better that New York opera- tors should grow up (o our method of dulug bustness thaw that we abould grow down to theirs, . Tho lospection of grain fn this clty is not all that could Le desired. It fs still in the bands of the State, snd open to all the objectiung that may be urired sgaiusy a system which permits ke employment of men 85 a veward for political scrvices instead of in recogoition of their fie- ness to perforin the dutics of the ofice. Eome meu have been employed durfvg the past year whosu fondness for whisky was beyond wmere suspldou, aud some otkers do vot kuow too much, though alwsys sober. But, 63 » whole, tho conduct of the Juspection exbibits au - provemeut, eud the Comrittecon Avzeels from wrong, A grent number of apncals huve been grain than wheat. Tho barloy market hias been especinlly freo from trouble of this character as compared with most former years. game wherever met with, capacity for grain during the past twelve manufacture of pork products, We have nine- teen grain elevators, with a total capacity of Iarly profitable one since the reductlon to 1§ cents for the first term of storage, as Lhe grain has beens kept moving, about one-alxth of all the prain recelved here pays second storage. The presen lscs to partlally compensate th men for the paucity of business In past yeors. nnd satfsfactory all the way thropgh, There has .winter, when no small-part of it rotted on the speculative branch of the trade exhibitlng a turther decline, and the purchases on 'Change tor shipment were smaller than in former years, A very much larger volume of product has been of dofuzthe business has undergone n decided Uratn Tnapeetioh has shiown (taelf to be capahte, efMclent, and atways ready 10 sct in righting & taken from the erain inspection, chlefly on orders from the country 1o roference to wheat of the laat crop. It Is clalmed by country shin- pers that the inspeetion is too rigld, ILis, how- ever, much better so than if too much the other way, The Inspectors will do well it they sus- taln the prades at a point whero purchasers will havae confldence tn the qualits of the article they buy, Tt i8a pity that our Proviston Inspectors have not always kept this polot well in view. Little complaint has been heard during the sear with regord to tho inspection of other A wery larza quantity of grain has been ralsed in grade by cleaning it within this city during the year. Probably gs much No.3 has been “made? on this crop ns wos received here. A zoud deal of it was sent to Milwaukes for sale, gome of It eleawhere, and a cons{derable propor- tion of the wholo passed Into our elevators, not- withstanding tho reguiations prohibiting it from Veing recelved and stored except in spectal bios. Of courac the warchousemén do not Inspect the grain, and it Is searcely tothelrinterést to refuse it after {t te nccepted by tho Inspectors, It is not improbable that the question will ore long be ralecd: flave the Directors of the Board of ‘Irade the tight to order that any discrimina- tions shall be made In the gradingof grain other than those mado by the duly authorized In- spoctoral The question is such a wide ons that we have mnot spaco to alscuss it liere. We may, howerer, take occaston to say that while this changing of grade has been chiefly confined to wheat ond barley in the past, It appears to have beeu legitimato cleans fng with the first, and largely doctoring in the second, The doctoring of grain to make it ap- pear what It fs not fs o vile fraud that ought to ba suppressed s summarily as is the confidence No chango has been made In our storage months; that for provisions has been materially {nereased to nccommodato the vestly augmented 15,720,000 bushels, which {s more than has been wanted for scveral years pust, evom 1n winter, till now. The business has not'bden & particu- in by summer by water and In winter rail, Only yinter prom- warchouse. The conduct of the devartment hasbeen smooth been no Lot corn lere, aud the arrangements were perfect for dealing with it had the neces- sity arlsen. We note that the new corn s in much better condition for storing now than last cob. ‘The shelled corn can now be stored safely. There was no trouble with the registration of grain recelpts in 1878; and the system has been found to work sowell tbat it was extended to provislons o few montbs ago, the latter not be- ing, however, operated by the State, PROVISIONS. THE TUADR IX 106 TRODTCTS has been relatively steady, end less active, thoe handled than fo any former year, but the mode change. ‘Till within a very recent period nearly the wholo of our hbg killlug was done durlog the four winter moonths between Oct. 31 and March 1, In accordance with the system necessi- tated by the warmer climate of Cincinnatl, which city long led in this work. The product was then chicfly handled during the cold weather, atd"winte was'tt’time of great activity among dealers, orders for tho stuff belng sent here from England and the South, and filled by pur- chase on 'Chango slmost exclusively, Within the past two years our leading packers have run continuously through the summer, besides doing more work In” the irioter months, and tho enormously increased production has made {t necessary to find a market for much of the material instead of walting for other pcople to send for it. The cnlistment of very lurze amounts of espital in the business hos enabled lending packers to carry moroof the burden, und thoy now hold the stuftin transit to the European consumer, {ustead of being obliged to gcll on the spot in order to obtain money tobuy mora hogs, Orders aro silll sent heroto buy lard and meats for export, and those articles, with pork, for domestic consumption, but this s onthe decrcare. Aboutthe cpoch of the great fire our packing was (say) one-filth of the present volume, but nearly all the product was s0ld on "Change. NOW 80ME NINETY PER CERT of the whole {s slitpped direct’ by tho packers to home or foreign markets, This fact cnables us to account for tho very small sales reported on 'Change ss compared with the enormous ship- ments; but It ralses s greater difilculty, It s not possible for **an outsider’ totell how much of it {a forwarded oo orders to tho packer and how much ja shipped on consigrment; and he 1s thus unable to trede understandingly by ref- erence to the demand versus supply, as Lo used to do. As a consequence, thero s less dlsposition on tho part of those not e gazed in packlog to make speculativa invest- meuts, os they have lost confidence In their abll- ity to Jook fnto the futurc under the altered conditions, Added to thia §s the fact that very many of the men in the more Southiern cities, wi.o used to speculyte largely In this market, have been bankrupted oy the great decline of the pnat two or three yesrs, and have uva more monoy to fnyest: while they and others feel thnt the leadingz capitalists hava tho market In their own hands, Wo may note slso that the tremendous yield of hoes has tnadeit hazardous to buy for future, whils prices have recently ruled so Jow ss to make It apj arcotly very risky toscll, For theso reasous the spcculative de- partment bas shiriak to ymasll dimensious, even 98 compared with that cxperienced on the smalier productfon of former years. Hence the traaing I ciietly Jocal, and thero has been no wdeal™ fu provisious biere duriug the past twelve months,—owing to the general apatly,— a thing scarcely ever knuwn before to the mod- cra history of the trade. BARLY 1N TUE YEAR there was a ood demand at fair prices for shio- ment to cunsuimers, aid tuls continued thl after tho end of whut used to bo calied the packing scason, In May prices declined heavily, touch- fug $7.50 on pork and 63c un lurd, and about 43¢ on loose short ribs. Becimu Tating ravfilly under contiuued large recelpts of hogs, and it became evident that there would be an unexampled sununer production, which wade ouy leadiug packers offer stufl at vory low prices for future dellvery to sthnalate consump- tiun, krom this point there wus a reactiou, the market advauving fu August 1o 811.00 on vork, 87.00 on lard, snd $i85 on shurt ribs, Frices sgauin declined,.partly beeause the yellow fever stopped trade with the Soutl, aud then ruled steadier luto Decernber, when there was a toin- orary urry cuised by tho strike at the packing- puscs. The warket ugain Lurued duws, pork droppiug steadily 10¢ perf day for several duvs {n the last ball of the wonth, Littls couutry stutl bas been offcred Lere yot stuce lust winter, but thu country Is curtiug freelys sud will bave large quavtities to offcr ju competition with ours, efther kere or at other painte. . TIE DEMANU FOR PORK 18 saller thay ever, sud its wanufacture now 13 discuuraged by the existeucs of s i k of the qld, which has recently gol XG5 b the new wake. A great deal ut futo barscls luet wiuter, uladive move- tlele, aud it bas been a beavy weigbt on the market ever since, depicasing the price of all vther products. 1t 1s not (oo much to suy that hoxs woeuld probubly not bave rone s0 low Ly 3¢ per pound but for this fuct, the furmer *undenitands vork™ Letter tlun Jurd ur treats, aud reusons clusely frow thot to the o, und vive versa. Beviug pork dowa so Jow, ho biay been wiilug to sel) his hous cheap, aud thls partly accounts fur the decliue iu pro- vistons., [t much to be wished, for the tod of the trade, that tio barrelius of pork should be reduced to smaller ditaensions,—which wiil bo the case uniess its productlon ts tucicused by speculative buying and selling, OUlt FRODLCT 18 DIATRIBUTED OVUF 81 himtiense wnds WRl 8 G e e evers. and Qi it in Burope vear, We now nat only supply the Houth rent Tirltaln, s in foriner years, but eend Iarge suantities to the Continent of e, France has taken a great deal; {6 hag heen distributed all over (ermany up o the Russlan boundary, and even penetrates Aus- tria, which hnd hitherto been exclusively sup- | A plied from Tlungary, ‘Ihe Itallans are now ex- hibiting a disposition to take our lard and ments, Furopean population of been dons by the Alglers. Our lard 48 a3 had nlread even heing inmnorted by Hungary. The great deprecintion in prices has given an unwontod stimnlns to consumption amon: classes of Europe, and it Is stated the poorer one of our Ieading packers as fair to estimate that thedron in quof might Contincntal tations haa resulted in pushing the limit area supplied 500 miles further back intc Europe than cver betore. the German exelalm, with reference to the Chicago folks, #Vut n beonlea!®? The PRICES ON PORK. following table shows the monthly rance and the averaga prica of cash and soller-the- month mess pork, thronghout the year: The and the nverage price, of steamed lard, t! ot th ly Augunt...., Heptember Oetobor . Year Year 187 1874, Lowest. Illohest, Arerane, $11.4 $10.88 PRICES OR LARD, following table showstie monlhlz TANRY, rough- ¢ Year: Towest. Mahest, 16.00 TRICES OF JEATS, The following table shows the monthly range and average price of cash short ribs, louse, through the yesr: Aonth, Year 1 Year 1 Year 1 Arerage. Loiwest, a0 Inghent, T b0 4.80 "t .00 60 %0 8707 b 03 815, g ; o P ol | S TR Loose dry salted shoulders nn’;:cd In January at Big(ede, *old up to 83 In February, down to 8¢ fu March, upto 83cin May, and advanced toilge In August, monih belng en.lfix the average price for that cr 100 1bs. Tho lowest prive of the yenr was $2.40, in the Iatter part of December; and. the.average of tho year was .71 The and dressed hous In this city during threeyca: Tallow Dresse ‘RECRIPTS. . followIng were the receipts of prnvl‘llom tans, 0,771 4 hogs, No..101,427 SIIPMENTS, The correaponding shipments were: Beef, Pork, Meats, ton lLard, tons Talluw, tol Drossed hugs, .. The the close of the year Is estimated as foliowa: 01d poi Nov pork, bi The through bllls ot lading to Ei during the twelve months endinz Nov. were as follow 499,037 boxes cqual filled podo that ti now{ week. which hibit, Other hams, of manufacture, the business not belug profit- abigenough to Induce the investment of ne capitaf{n our city mills. But the volume of re ceipts and shipments la no longer & correct idey of the agnitude of our wholesale flour 4reyle. few years-ago the milters of the Weat sent nt their s;llrnlm fifug here to And a market, and | was sald in Chictko on orders for cargacs to u to the Eastern Stat®s and to Europe. production ncreased faster than onr ability | methiods. of wheat handling enabled millers in Ihln' Enet "and In Western Eurum: to obtainour wheat at relstivoly less cost than belore, Then the millers betan to soliclt direcy orders from bakers nnd retallers, nud thia has wrought n radteal change In the'trade during the past flve yoars. ‘Iney now have their de. pots and ngents acatteredl all over the Eqat, CONSIGNING DIREOTLY TO THEM, and even in England, Scotland, and France the system prevalle,—solicitors taking orders for small lots, and -filling them by direct vonsion. ments from the mills In the West, Our Chi. enro millers operate In the samo way, very little of their flour being placed on the whale sale market in this eity. “Henca few large ship. ving orders aro tiow recelved here. A largo pro. portion of the flour * recelved ™ here sunuly passes through tho city on its way to the East- crn consumer; some of it belng sent here to be submitted to our local nspection, which ig everywhere highly valued. We remark, en passant, that the Chicago Inapection of grain is not under the control of the State Government, Some of our dealers thought that o partial rovival of ola-time act!vity might be secured by changing our eyatem of flonr tnspection so as to make v conform to an Easstern model. At thieir suggestion new grades wero established, ranging from ** double extras* downward, but no appreciable improvement followed the 1o form, ‘The changes fa the trade, sbove re. ferred to, have mado consumers acqualnted with individual brands, and they now pay more attention to them than to any nrburniy clansk ficatfon made by non-manufacturers, ‘The new grading s, howuver, & good thing, and will possibly be appreciated more highly in thy future, when other conditions are_imore fayur. nhlzlmdlreu trade than they have baen re centiy. TIIE PORRION DEMAND for flour from Western mills has fallen off, well aa that {rom Chicago, ‘The tradoe has s fered In the past Ly offerings of refuse flours trom New England mills, and from those In the Sauthern States, This lias told cepecially fo Scotland, whers they use a better class of fours than In England. ~Another fact which tells againat us Is the high price which the ran, ete., commands in Western Europe for feed. This cnabtes foreign millers to sell their flour at ver low pricss, making thelr profit on the ml’ul: They have taken very largely of our low grudes ol wheat for mixing with other qualities, and, with low wages, make it difffcult for Wentern tnlllcrs to competa with themn. They have also recently ndoptod patent proccsses qulfe exteu. sively i but their work Is atill crude; thelr flours ure not su well tressed os ours, and have less strength. TAGGED PLOUNS, The forcign demand for flour Is now chiefly for bagged 1ots, nbout five tinea as much belog taken in thoso packages 88 i barrels, Woud Is dearer-in Eveland than fa the United States, for which reason the £ngtish millers uso bags: and flour in bags hasa homo-lke apuearauce, be- sides which it has recently been found cheaper to trunsport the flour froin this side in baws than in barrels. The present ditference s cqualto a falr commlsston for handling the property. For this reason s great deal more flour 18 now put uv fo bags fu the West than eyer before, and s much has been offered the past yeur ns to be at times alinost unsalable In this ‘market. Some shippiug orders have been fliled here for G0-bay Jots, and a .1,000-bag order 13 unusually large. i\)iu;t ‘u( this Lnzged flour is mado fn Kabsas und akota, OUR TRADR WAS DULL all through winter and spring. Forelgn huyers had stocked up previously, and wera full hand- ed, makiog our trade mostly a local one. A better demaud aprung up fn'the summer, when it was reported sbat our spring-wheat erop wos poor and thin, and prices advanced rapidly ou somo brands. The greatest atrength was in cholco potents, which went up sbout $1.00 per brl, becauso the wheat fatluro was chiefly in Mtunesots, and the chofes patents are mustly made from wheat grown in that State, aod it was fearcd they would be searve. Medlum pate cots, made in Jowa aod Illinols, and spring ex- ket 51 N2,000 i It tras, dld not advance so_much, but wers tirm, e fa Eaeaar with a good demsnd. Tn August the market T 500 declined as it becane certain that the wheat B, 0t 0,220 | yleld would be a larpe one, and hos ruled dull B4, 048 034 |.cver! stoce,; with elight exceptlons, Offerlngs RTOCKA, siatal 4 oo intere ot Jarmd Quring . Barve -fur-sems stock of provisions on hand lo this cit; rk, brls. 40,000 60,000 [ ton 3 exports of provisions from Chicago on uropean markets 1, 1878, Pork, 23,843 hris; cut meats, lard, 235,675 tea nnd 20,071 pkgs, to BH3,553,000 Ibg of hog product. THE FUTURE OF TIIR TRADR s rerarded by many as rather discouraging. They say thot Liverpool and other points are up with product which (¢ {s difileult to dis- of, and that prices tnere must go still liere can be anvthing moro than a tempo- rary plut. Tho stufl 1s too cheap to go un- bought, and not a few men with monuy licre have recently invested, In tuil confidence that present priccs arc abnormally low, and that sn fmportant reaction must ere loug follow; so that spectilation fs not entirely ktlled off, cven it s not, however, probable that we shall soon, if ever, sco a retnrn to the palmy duys when a llttle arny of brokers found active employment at good sclliug the whole crop, or buying it, on outside nceouut} rates of commission fu iwo or threo times in the coursc ot a t now looks na {f that purt of the deal had shared the fata of Uncle Toby’s fault, of Sterne tella us,—the Recording Angel dropped o tesr upon {tand blotted it out for- er, 1tts pleasant to be abla to reportn radical Improvement duringz the past year In the char- acter of our packimg, proviously induced some of our packers to work o8 closcly” as possible under rules which were chlefly remarkable for what thoey did not pro- Intense vompetition had More and more of the oulder erept futo the sidu till the foriner vesrly disap- neared, and the latter cured 50 uncqually as to giv nOW F ¢ much dissatisfaction, The packers hava vturned toa **square cut,” and |n other respects have shown themselves anxious to live up to tho splrit s well as the Jetter of the rules, desiral Tienco our product is now much mora ble than that of 1677, We may add that this 16 & matter which largely rests with foreign buve s, They can siways vot a good articleif wilhing to pay for it, und can scarcely expeet it 1t unwilling to give enough to pay, for the raw materd: In al. o April_ lsst a cba Inwpection department, aud a system of registra- tion adovted, which have beén Jound to work | year, both specultively and fn the way of for well, Tho temptation to cater for business bas been retnoved, the Inspector bas less induce- ment than under the old plan cither to *favor™ y to o contruct and the rules scem to have been nterpreted falthfully 1n tho fntorest of fajr deatiug. Very few complaints are mdide, sud buyers seem to bo better satisfied than under produy than ¢ sixty inen are empluycd fu the maret; the country. woatly on comuission, the old plan, The registration of ct {s fouud to be less trouble ta the trade wae anticlpated, and §s so gencrally recugnized sa a valuavle safcguard to honest trading that the wonder now is Its adontion abould have been doferred so long. would pot willlogly return to the old (want o) system which prevalled for so many years, The trade WHOLESALE MEAT MAUKRT, hows the extent of the vear's , uear tho river, Curcasare, 240, 00t $ 4, 314,290 K2 450 1H3, 500 44,418 2,000 1006 00, 08 631, 406 U, 4 k1400 235, 448 BT, U2 , 810,577 $10.017,072 drested” wera killed in ‘I'ng others wera killed tu Chicago, FLOUR, TUE MARKET X0 FLOUR has roled dull during a great ‘part of the last twelve tnonths, and has not at any ‘time beeu really active. The wholessle trade is each year becoining more and more strictly & local oue, and benco {8 subject to few Huctuations lu sym- pathy with wheat, The demand Is more steady uod contivuous than it uscd to be, and the war- glins of protit tatho seller scems to have been reduced to a minlmum, The movement of flour throuwh the city was fair fn yoluwe, Reducing bags to their equiva- lent I barrels, the reccipts of tho fiscal year were 3,121,445 burrels, szalust 2,691,143 10 18373 and the shipments were 2,843,640 barrels, agalust 2,433,805 vurrels the vruvious year. OUF ¢ity | yheay of 1577 caume oa thy market. Heuce thers wiils a1 bave been kept runuiug to thelr full v. but with so frerease fu thedr factlities uge was made In the 1 Byl woeks niterwards, as the old crop was yrelty well used up,—indeed, stocks were quite low [n July and August. Dut winter-whcat flours were soon offered very frecly,and have stnce welghed down the market, with a growlng appreciation on tho part of many who had uscd springs ex- cluslvely for vears. Tho winters have largely taken tie place of spring patents; aud all the more readily ms some of the patent flours. have been found to fall below the former standard of excellence, ovn account _of the poor quality of the wheat. Flottr Lins gold tower sinco last harvest than at any tima in tho previous fifieon yeorsy but sume well-known brands have becn rel atively firm; they are bought chicfly by con- symers with whoin the price 18 not of so tuuch fmporiance as {a -the abtalning of ao wriile which they know, from exborlence, will give ‘Tha Canadlan -trade has also fallen off heavl- Ig. In 1877 u{:rmu. deal of our flour was bo y parties (n Montreal, who bave taken perhiaps not more thou 8,000 barrels since Jast midsum: mer, ‘Ihio area of our flour-supply {s !ncreasing with that of wheat culture. A great deal of llour now comes from regions which were suppused s few yeara ago to be in_or on the borders of the *(reat American Desert.” Wenotethat the Ne- braska flours arriving here are not regarded witn a0 much favor as those from tho crop of 1677, Dukota flours have the same strength as those af & year praviously, but aro darker in color. The four from Colvrado, un the contrary, is fo: creastug rapidlyin favor with local buyers, belog found especlally destrablo lor making past but there is little demand for it by shippe ‘The production, of tho 3linucsota wnills somewhbat reduced by the explosions of 1877, # OUll LOCAL THADE in flour exhiblis a notisfactory fncrease, beine fully zfiunl to the augment i population of the city’and suburbe. It s notoworthy, too, that soine of the flour shipped directly from thumills to consumers is bought on ordere sent to Cul- cago parties, the trade being here, though ex- penso aved by not baviug the four baudled 1u this clty, Thoprice of four has very closely followed that of wheat, Tho averoge for tho year was about $4.25 per barrol; but this avorage was es- 1abilshed by high prices during the past six moutbs, Quotativns bave ruled vory low sioce narvest, vory good flours haviug beeu sold &t 8.0k 3,50 per barrel WIHEAT, THE WUEAT MARKET has been an sctive ons neurly sll through the luwer, in view of tho vastly Sucreased packing | satisfaction, hiere this winter. It s not vrobable, however, warding from the producer to the consumers We have handled wmore wheat than in any ore- vious year of our history, even vxceodiug 187, when the recelpts sggregated 29,364,022 bushels. Our recelpts in 1578 were 20.001,220 bushels, agatust 14,164,515 bushels fn 1877; and the sbip- iments 25,633,741 bushals, againat 14,000,160 bust- els in 1877, the Increase Lelng largely due (080 unusual influx of winter wheat. The fqllawing table shows the number of car- Joads of wheat Inspected futo stors fu thiy cby frowm Aug, 1 to Doc, 11 i 16TH, | 1877, | 1870, | 1875, | 1874, Cara. |Cars. | Cars. | Cars. | Lurd. 8,023 4,404 1,015/ 4,7801 B,181 cat| 0,001| 4.083! 0,203 7,013 470,001 K013 10,252'10, 185 V310 5,431] 5,208 7,678 3,010 Total. ... 18,201 28,037 18,548 29,002,31, And 6.848 cars in December Iast, wakiog 8 totsl of 45.080 cara recelved on the vew crop of 157 The increase fu bushely was much greate? than indicated by the above figares, bcause tLe cars were losded with about 24,000 1bs last fully agelost 10@I1 toos In former years, The as- gregato of the four mouths in 1873 was 18,147,000 bu. ‘The "Mm of "No. %, includiug winten v'c;) 2,438 car-loads, or ouly B3 per ceat of (88 wiiole. L ‘Lo coursa of the.market has been more ual- lom)..mllm Huctuatiug less wideiy, while they baye averaged lower than in aoy previous year since the last punle. Some pie bave safd that wheat never sold so low tn this worket asin 18 but they. forges that it was guott downto $23¢cin 133) and sold at 353 "l‘l 1861, Prices bave, huwever, ruled very low, ao: thiis §n spite of $ho fact that we had @ big Wer cloud carly, and @ emaller one in the autuuity while specujstion kept tbe market for No- above s slygplug bauls dusing & cousideruble part of the year. There bies been & big foreis dt‘*laud, but 8t tow pri e grop of 1577 was & large one, but it Wi rwcuued Ly one below the aversge, und stockd had beew worked down to wu ungsually 1% pulnt all over the civilized worla when the ve were a good wany, holes 1o be fljed vefore ‘“: “trade bad stiained o uurmal couaition, B sell, especially aa the improvemeut In thy'” But thesge o,