Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/741

 -i89o] Machinery and grain production. Meat trade. 709 made the methods of the American grain trade unique in the world of commerce. From the moment when the grain is brought by the farmer to his local elevator to the moment when it reaches the docks of Liverpool, the only hand labour necessary to its movement is the pulling of the right lever to set the machinery going. The new process of handling and marketing the wheat was hardly less important than the new methods of harvesting. Under these conditions the production of cereals and the accom- panying production of provisions increased enormously. The wheat crop, which in 1870 had amounted to 235,000,000 bushels, averaged 310,000,000 from 1870 to 1879, and 450,000,000 from 1880 to 1889. Since then it has twice exceeded 600,000,000, and once 700,000,000. In the case of Indian corn, the average for the decade ending 1889 was 500,000,000 bushels greater than for the previous decade, and in recent years has averaged 2,000,000,000. The value of the products of the slaughtering and meat-packing industries increased from $75,000,000 in 1870 to $303,000,000 in 1880, and $561,000,000 in 1890. Meanwhile the amount of wool, produced primarily in the Western States, increased from an annual average of 177,000,000 Ibs. in the seventies to about 275,000,000 between 1880 and 1889. Exports increased in even greater proportion than production. The average annual export of wheat (including flour) from 1867 to 1872 was 35,500,000 bushels ; from 1873 to 1878 it was 73,400,000, and from 1879 to 1883 it was 157,600,000. The proportion of the total crop exported in these three periods was 16*53, 24*59, and 34'91 per cent, respectively. Such a phenomenal increase could manifestly not be long continued, and the average for the next ten years showed some falling-off. From 1884 to 1888 it was 122,400,000, and for the next five years 144,400,000 bushels. During the last decade it has again increased to a higher figure than ever. The export of Indian corn has never been so important in relation to pro- duction as that of wheat. It is primarily a feed-crop for the home market ; and in fact 80 per cent, of the total crop, which in bushels is three or four times that of wheat, is consumed in the county where it is grown. Nevertheless a foreign demand has been stimulated; and the average annual exports increased from 14,200,000 bushels in 1867-72 to 73,400,000 in 1879-83. After a period of comparative uniformity the exports have begun to increase enormously in recent years, having risen, in one year, to over 200,000,000 bushels. The increase in the production of Indian corn made the growing export of provisions possible, while the improvements in refrigeration enabled the packing houses to ship immense quantities of fresh beef. The export in this line alone increased from 20,000,000 Ibs. in the early seventies to 200,000,000 Ibs. by 1890. The value of bacon and hams exported increased from $6,000,000 to $60,000,000 in the same period, and that of lard from $6,000,000 to $42,000,000. CH. XXII.