" 1868 " 1,944,000 tons
3,826,000 tons
Increase 1,458,000 tons

that is to say, cheap corn operating throughout the world, created a
new demand for many kinds of articles; the production of a large
number of such articles being aided by iron in some one of its many
forms, iron to that extent was exported. And the effect is
cumulative. The manufacture of iron being stimulated, all persons
concerned in that great manufacture are well off, have more to
spend, and by spending it encourage other branches of manufacture,
which again propagate the demand; they receive and so encourage
industries in a third degree dependent and removed.

'It is quite true that corn has not been quite so cheap during the
present year. But even if it had been dearer than it is, it would
not all at once arrest the great trade which former cheapness had
created. The "ball," if we may so say, "was set rolling" in 1869 and
1870, and a great increase of demand was then created in certain
trades and propagated through all trades. A continuance of very high
prices would produce the reverse effect; it would slacken demand in
certain trades, and the effect would be gradually diffused through
all trades. But a slight rise such as that of this year has no
perceptible effect.

'When the stimulus of cheap corn is added to that of cheap money,
the full conditions of a great and diffused rise of prices are
satisfied. This new employment supplies a mode in which money can be
invested. Bills are drawn of greater number and greater magnitude,
and through the agencies of banks and discount houses, the savings