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 116 "All other values on an average have declined like these I have just read. So you see that prices were not as low in 1859, or before the war, as they are now.

"Now, as to that part of your question as to the low price of corn in 1873," said looking toward Mr. Henrotin.

"What you say about the price of corn in 1873 is true; but I want to call your attention to the cause of it.

"Corn does not seek distant markets like wheat. This is partly on account of its small price per bushel. It cannot always stand the freight. Its use is not so general as wheat, and it seeks the home market.

"On page 215 of the report of the Chicago Board of Trade for 1892 you will find that the corn crop of the State of Illinois, for the year 1872, which controlled the market price for the spring and summer of 1873, was 217,628,000 bushels; while by this year's report the crop for 1893 which controls the present price, was 160,550,470 bushels. The demand for corn now, with nearly double our population, is greater than it was in 1873, and yet in 1873 the corn crop was fifty-seven million bushels greater in this state than it was last year. This over-production in 1872 accounts for its low price in 1873. The gold standard accounts for its low price now.

Mr. H. F. Eames, president of the Commercial National Bank, put this question to

"Suppose values do decline and get on a lower plane. Can't the farmer who gets 50 cents for his wheat buy as much of this world's goods with that 50 cents as he formerly could with a dollar? And if this