Let Those Who Are Susceptible Of
Statistics Ponder That.
For them who are not I can only give this
advice:
Let them go to Buffalo next October, and look for
themselves.
In regarding the above figures, and the increase shown between the
years 1860 and 1861, it must of course be borne in mind that,
during the latter autumn, no corn or wheat was carried into the
Southern States, and that none was exported from New Orleans or the
mouth of the Mississippi. The States of Mississippi, Alabama, and
Louisiana have for some time past received much of their supplies
from the Northwestern lands; and the cutting off of this current of
consumption has tended to swell the amount of grain which has been
forced into the narrow channel of Buffalo. There has been no
Southern exit allowed, and the Southern appetite has been deprived
of its food. But taking this item for all that it is worth - or
taking it, as it generally will be taken, for much more than it can
be worth - the result left will be materially the same. The grand
markets to which the Western States look and have looked are those
of New England, New York, and Europe. Already corn and wheat are
not the common crops of New England. Boston, and Hartford, and
Lowell are fed from the great Western States. The State of New
York, which, thirty years ago, was famous chiefly for its cereal
produce, is now fed from these States. New York City would be
starved if it depended on its own State; and it will soon be as
true that England would be starved if it depended on itself. It
was but the other day that we were talking of free trade in corn as
a thing desirable, but as yet doubtful - but the other day that Lord
Derby, who may be Prime Minister to-morrow, and Mr. Disraeli, who
may be Chancellor of the Exchequer to-morrow, were stoutly of
opinion that the corn laws might be and should be maintained - but
the other day that the same opinion was held with confidence by Sir
Robert Peel, who, however, when the day for the change came, was
not ashamed to become the instrument used by the people for their
repeal. Events in these days march so quickly that they leave men
behind; and our dear old Protectionists at home will have grown
sleek upon American flour before they have realized the fact that
they are no longer fed from their own furrows.
I have given figures merely as regards the trade of Buffalo; but it
must not be presumed that Buffalo is the only outlet from the great
corn-lands of Northern America. In the first place, no grain of
the produce of Canada finds its way to Buffalo. Its exit is by the
St. Lawrence or by the Grand Trunk Railway as I have stated when
speaking of Canada. And then there is the passage for large
vessels from the upper lakes - Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake
Erie - through the Welland Canal, into Lake Ontario, and out by the
St. Lawrence. There is also the direct communication from Lake
Erie, by the New York and Erie Railway to New York. I have more
especially alluded to the trade of Buffalo, because I have been
enabled to obtain a reliable return of the quantity of grain and
flour which passes through that town, and because Buffalo and
Chicago are the two spots which are becoming most famous in the
cereal history of the Western States.
Everybody has a map of North America. A reference to such a map
will show the peculiar position of Chicago. It is at the south or
head of Lake Michigan, and to it converge railways from Wisconsin,
Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. At Chicago is found the nearest water
carriage which can be obtained for the produce of a large portion
of these States. From Chicago there is direct water conveyance
round through the lakes to Buffalo, at the foot of Lake Erie. At
Milwaukee, higher up on the lake, certain lines of railway come in,
joining the lake to the Upper Mississippi, and to the wheat-lands
of Minnesota. Thence the passage is round by Detroit, which is the
port for the produce of the greatest part of Michigan, and still it
all goes on toward Buffalo. Then on Lake Erie there are the ports
of Toledo, Cleveland, and Erie. At the bottom of Lake Erie there
is this city of corn, at which the grain and flour are transhipped
into the canal-boats and into the railway cars for New York; and
there is also the Welland Canal, through which large vessels pass
from the upper lakes without transhipment of their cargo.
I have said above that corn - meaning maize or Indian-corn - was to
be bought at Bloomington, in Illinois, for ten cents (or five
pence) a bushel. I found this also to be the case at Dixon, and
also that corn of inferior quality might be bought for four pence;
but I found also that it was not worth the farmer's while to shell
it and sell it at such prices. I was assured that farmers were
burning their Indian-corn in some places, finding it more available
to them as fuel than it was for the market. The labor of detaching
a bushel of corn from the hulls or cobs is considerable, as is also
the task of carrying it to market. I have known potatoes in
Ireland so cheap that they would not pay for digging and carrying
away for purposes of sale. There was then a glut of potatoes in
Ireland; and in the same way there was, in the autumn of 1861, a
glut of corn in the Western States. The best qualities would fetch
a price, though still a low price; but corn that was not of the
best quality was all but worthless.
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