of the
bottom of the wheat market. By reference to Chart No. 5, it will be seen
that while the wheat crop of that year was considerably above the average,
the corn crop and oat crop were far below the average. This explains the
fact appearing in Chart No. 6, that the price of wheat was lower than the
price of corn at the beginning of that year. It is probable that the use
of wheat as a substitute for corn in feeding stock actually saved the
wheat from a still lower price. The crop of 1891, the largest on record in
the United States, was accompanied by a moderate crop in the rest of the
world following two other moderate crops, indeed two short crops, for the
entire world. The large amount of wheat exported explains the reason why
the fall of prices was not greater in this country. That the price did not
fall faster was due to the fact, remembered by many, that farmers, as well
as speculators, held to the crop with the expectation of larger demand
from abroad. When the crop of 1892 was felt to be still larger throughout
the world, the price fell rapidly, in spite of a smaller crop in the
United States. But when the prospect of an inferior crop in this country
for 1893 was felt in the spring, the price rose a trifle. Yet as soon as
the harvests of the world showed an enormous crop outside the United
States, the price dropped again. The crop of 1889 was a short one in the
world, and apparently should have affected the price of wheat in this
country more than appears; but when the total amount exported is seen to
leave more than an average crop in store, it is easy to see why the price
in this country did not rise. The explanation of this small exportation is
in the fact that the greater part of the shortage in yield was in
countries like Russia, from which no demand was felt, because the people
simply went without. The starvation of people in such countries affected
the demand for wheat in this country only so far as our benevolence
enlarged the market. The peculiar shape of the line of wheat prices in
1889 without any correspondence in prices of corn and oats is due to a
speculative movement for December wheat in Chicago. The attempted corner
in wheat failed suddenly, or it might have produced a line similar to that
of 1897-8, due to the famous long-continued Leiter corner.

_Sources of information._--The object of this chart, taken altogether, is
to show the general law of market prices as governed by supply and demand
fr