THE COLUMBIAN FOUNTAIN.

TUESDAY MORNING, DEC ., ls4s.

BREAD STUFFS.
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necessarles OF LIE are always most seriously
felt by that portion Of the community least
able to endure them. The mechanic, who
receives weekly salary, and is suddenly
compelled to pay an advance of two or three
dollars upon the price of flour, and other
bread stufs in proportion, finds his salary
(barely sufficient for his comfortable subsis-
tence before) reduced to bare sufficiency
TO keep body and soul together, by the ex-
ercise Of the most rigid economy, and the
endurance of privations incompatible with
comfortable, or even tolerable state of exis-
tence.


Most frequently these so called scarcities
in the provision market are not the result of
failure in the crops, but are the effect Of
combinations for the purpose Of raising the
price Of an article so necessary to exis-
tence, and which it is well known will be
purchased at almost any price. Let the re-
port 60 abroad-be whispered, in confidence,
to select few, that there is no -four in the
market, and, straightway, it is spread from
one end Of the city to the other--dealers
are on the qui viue--demand increases de-
mand-prices increase in proportion-the
capitalist takes advantage Of the panic, dis
poses of his stock at the highest price,
and pockets his profits. This system has
been carried on to some extent in our coun-
try-and has been got up on a more mag
nifcent scale, by collusion between Ameri-
can and foreign capitalists and spectators.


We do not mean to intimate that the pres
ent increase in the price of flour is attribut-
able to any such combination: for the
known failure Of the potatoe crop, both at
home and abroad, is sufficient to cause an
advance in the price of bread stuffs; but
that it will warrant any further advance, or
long maintain the present, we are strongly
inclined to doubt.


AT the prices Of bread stufs in London
and Liverpool, at the latest dates, American
flour, after deducting insurance, drayage,
freight Sc, would nett $6 56. a


The New York Herald says:


ssSince sufficient time has elapsed to give
spectators time to cool off little, and
calmly reflect upon the prospects before
them in relation to the probable external de-
mand for -four, there has been very great
change in the complexion of the market,
and prices for bread stnfs have materially
diminished. Immediately after the advices
by the Britannia became known, purchases
of flour were made to some extent at Sb7 SO
per barrel. The excitement created by such
a great and sudden advance, gave very
great impetus to the forwarding business,
and the receipts have since been immense,
amounting to more than three hundred thou
sand bushels within the past week. The
mild, soft weather gives us every hope that
the canal will not close at present; and, if
so, the receipts at this port from the West,
will, within the next two weeks, amount to
at least five hundred thousand barrels. The
stock of flour in this port at this time must
be nearly half as large again as it ever was
before, notwithstanding the large shipments
to Europe. Several ships now loading for
Liverpool have from five to ten thousand
barrels each on board, and vessels for the
shipment of this staple are secured as fast
as they can be obtained. Freights are SO
high that shippers hesitate to pay them, and
decline in the rates would give great i'm
petus to shipments The best brands of
flour are now selling in this market at
$6 SO 6 Sc per barrel. The expenses
for freight, insurance, &c., on a barrel of
-four, shipped from New Y ork to Liverpool,
amount to about 81 IL, making the cost,
landed at Liverpool, about So 62a per bbl


"The duty on Canada flour, on 4th inst,
was u pence per barrel of 1876 lbs; duty
on United States do, IL shillings do.


" 1t appears by this, that at present prices
for flour in this market, and in Liverpool or
London, there would be very little profit on
any shipment"


We shall continue our remarks on this
subject from time to time, endeavor to give
our readers early intimaton as to the state
of the markets at home and abroad, and
shall take occasion to notice the effect
which the progress Of the Temperance Re-
formation has produced in this respect, and
show, in connection, the incalculable bene-
Il e n