John T. S. Melzer

THE RISE IN THE PRICE OF WHEAT FOR THE “BAKERY IN THE STREET OF THE FISHMARKET” IN THE CITY OF LIMA 1812-1821

Abstract: This article analyzes the information found in the newly discovered account book in the Lima National Archives on bulk wheat prices paid by a centrally located bakery for the nine year period 1812 to June 1821. The conclusion is that the price of wheat per bushel paid by this Lima bakery rose more than eleven hundred percent between 1812 and 1821 and that the profits shown after the bakery paid these increased wheat costs would indicate a rise in the price of bread to cover the increased cost of the wheat. Ships carrying wheat noted in the account book are listed.

INTRODUCTION

If one looks in the Lima archives among the legajos (bun-dles of documents) for the Consulado de Comercio de Lima, he can find the account book for a bakery in the Street of the Fishmarket in Lima. The searcher may consider it of real importance on two counts. First, because almost nothing in particular is known about the food prices in Lima just before the onset of Peruvian Independence in 1821. Second, the bakery accounts should reflect direct price changes because of the location of the business. The Street of the Fishmarket ran alongside the Viceroy’s Palace (the Palace of Government now) and was, and is, one of the principal streets at the administrative heart of the Old City. It was only one block, long, but it began on the thoroughfare which crossed the Rimac River just behind the Palace on the only bridge over the river and ran one block to open onto the city’s main square. This square was directly in front of the Palace and was the most important plaza in the city. It still is.

1Map 8, “Piano de la ciudad de Lima en 1821,” Doering, 1983. See also Gamio, 1971, passim. Viceroy Pezuela (1816-1821) calls this main plaza, the “Plaza Maior.” Pezuela, 1947, p. 763.

The account book for this bakery shows that the price of a bushel of wheat bought by the business had fluctuated from 2 to 5 pesos from 1812 to 1817 (except for a spike in 1814 of over 10 pesos), and then that the price had risen to 25 pesos a bushel for one large shipment in 1821, three months before General San Martín took Lima. In addition to this rare look at wheat prices, the account book also allows the listing of some of the ships in the carrying trade from Chile to Peru for these years.

SEÑOR PARGA GETS OUT ….

Much of the importance of the account book lies in the people and events it reflected. And one of the most important men in the book finds himself in Lima in early June of 1821 controlled by the events unfolding there. The man was Señor Parga, one of the two partners in the bakery.

What had happened was that from January to July of 1821, as the last pages of the account book were posted, the situation for Lima as a city dependent on an imported food supply and under siege had steadily worsened. In December of 1820 the Lima city government had wanted the Viceroy to seek peace with the insurgent army to the north of the city. In late January, the Viceroy was overthrown by a golpe de estado (coup d’etat) led by his generals. The general who then declared himself Viceroy, found the Lima city government unwilling or unable to aid him with money [Gamio, 1971, pp. 16, 22, 23], and by April he was under orders from Spain to hold peace talks with San Martín [Moore, 1966, p. 235; Vargas Ugarte, 1977, 6:158]. On the other hand, the Consulado, the royal agency controlling trade in the Viceroyalty [Smith, 1948, passim}, was willing to raise the money and wanted to do it but was unable, even through confiscation, to meet the need [Libro 1239, January 10-April 4, 1821].

The desperate nature of the situation in late June in the final days before the city fell can be felt in part when reading the last entry in the account book when whoever was writing, probably for Señor Parga, added an uncharacteristic personal note to the listing. In fact, the person posting the account may well have been Parga himself bringing the accounts up to date when he came by the bakery. In any case, if this is Señor Parga, he says that in the twenty days before he came to the capital, no dough has been mixed, that nothing has happened in the bakery even though dough is to be started as before (and that he’s getting out of the bread business, you can read in the exasperated tone and the rest of the page). By the end of June, the 28th, Parga has had Señor Ugarria, his partner in the bakery and in whose hand evidently most of the account book was posted, buy him out. [P foxas, folios 11, llv]. Eight days later, on June 6th, the new Viceroy and his army march out of Lima, surrendering the city as undefendable; General San Martín’s army then marches in unopposed to keep the peace [Lynch, 1973, p. 178].

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ACCOUNT BOOK

Here the account book ends, eight days before General San Martin took Lima.

It was in this scene, within this picture of a city relying on imported food and, particularly in the last years, under con-tinual attack, that most of the account book was posted; that the account book shows that the frigate Maintinomo took the risk of continued voyages to Chile and to Peruvian ports to pick up wheat, that Señor Parga bought the bakery’s wheat in the various depots around Callao (the port for Lima) and that Señor Ugarria turned the wheat into bread with the help of at least one slave in his bakery with its small chapel across the street from the Viceroy’s palace less than 100 yards from the main plaza of the city.

But beyond the interest the account book would have as an artifact surviving from the time of Peruvian independence, its greatest importance lies in its unique contribution to what is known about wheat prices in Lima. It demonstrates what was actually happening to these prices in the city in a way that the relatively small amount of general information we have on the Lima wheat supply before independence cannot do. It also should be noted that in the writer’s handling of thousands of documents amongst the hundreds of thousands in the Lima archives, no other account book like this for wheat came to light. More importantly, there is no mention of such a document for Lima in the major work done on the period for Lima [Smith, 1947; Lynch, 1973; Moore, 1966; Gamio, 1971; Fisher, 1970; Denigri Luna, 1971; Vargas Ugarte, 1958, 1971; Lohman Villena, 1940; Bonilla, 1981].

Nor is an account book like this listed in the catalogues of documents or topical card files kept in various Lima archives in which the writer has worked. This is not to say that there are no other such account books, given the thousands of documents and the tremendous problems besetting the Lima archives nowadays (you cannot eat documents; and Lima today, as in the independence period, needs food and jobs) [“Se de-

Illustration 1
P <> 12 leaves
Current Account* of Don Julian Parga with the Fishmarket Bakery
*C/C:
Cuenta
Corriente.
Consulado Merchants 129
[Lead pencil,
archival
notation]
1815-19

The outside cover page (the front of the carátula or cover) for the account book. The paper is the same as for the inside pages. The account book is listed under CA, Real Tribunal del Consulado in Legajo 129 in the Archivo General de la Nación, Lima, Perú.

terioran,” September 18, 1987]2 But it is to say that the account book for the “Bakery in the Street of the Fishmarket” appears to be the only detailed record of bulk wheat purchases by an individual bakery that we have for Lima during these years.

THE DOCUMENT

The account book is a very interesting, concise manuscript book which, for the most part, is not difficult to read, especially in comparison to sixteenth century documents. It has only a paper cover instead of leather or cloth and the pages are sewn, not glued or left loose. In twenty-three pages of bold or fine handwriting, it records the business done by the “Bakery in the Street of the Fishmarket” for the nine-year period 1812 to July, 1821.3 It deals primarily with bulk purchases for these years, although flour, rice, a half bushel of beans and 13 yards of silk cloth are noted. It also records the profits and losses on the business, rent payments and some personal expenses and mentions slaves. And the document shows that for the “Bakery in the Street of the Fishmarket,” the price for wheat rose by more than eleven hundred percent from 1816 to 1821 (see Table 3).

2The Peruvian national archives are crowded into a section of the ground and basement floors of the Peruvian Supreme Court building (Palacio de Justicia) next to the holding jail (carceleta) for criminal hearings which houses terrorists as well as other criminals waiting to appear before a magistrate.
There is a good reading room and an excellent staff of dedicated archival professionals who are managing the tremendous documentary collection they have there in Lima.

However, the documents, which Peruvians hold to be “the conscience of the country,” suffer from a lack of electricity and from the humidity, especially in the large basement storage area. The damage to the documents has now reached an emergency stage, Peruvians say, and they want a modern archive area which will give them enough space, light and humidity control to preserve and use the documents of this magnificent collection.

3The bakery was called the “Panaderia Pescaderia,” one time, the “Panaderia a la Pescaderia,” and the “Panaderia de la Calle de la Pescaderia,” two times respectively. The latter, the “Bakery in [of] the Street of the Fishmarket” is used in the text because of the rhythm of the name, although “Panaderia Pescaderia,” “Panaderia a la Pescaderia” and “Fishmarket Bakery” have also been used in the text. This document has the title “P foxas 12 Conla casa Panaderia a la Pescaderia, que corre al cargo de don Julian Parga, a partir de utilidades, y perdidas por mitad, que principio en 20 de Dizre de 18-14#1816#1817#1818#del mes de Diciembre 1819#1820#1821# P,” folios 2, 6, 9v cover and title folios. Folio means manuscript page; v is for Vuelta (over), vuelto in the case of folio, that is, the backside of the page.

That is, the price of a fanega (bushel) of wheat rose from a low in December 1815-January 1816 of two pesos, as seen in the entries for these months for this business, to twenty-five pesos per fanega paid between February and April of 1821.4 This is a price-rise of eleven hundred and fifty percent (See Table 3 and Exhibit 1, Figure 1).

THE BAKERY

The records show that the bakery was a stable business organized as a two-man partnership. It was centrally located in Lima right across the street from the Viceroy’s palace on the north side and, at least for a while, it baked special bread for Viceroy Pezuela5 and for his wife, the Excelentissima Señora Doña Angela Ceballos [“P foxas,” folio ll; Vargas Ugarte, 1958, p. 125].

In fact, there are a number of interesting points included among the listings for thousands of bushels of wheat and the small amounts of other commodities listed. For instance, the document notes that in 1821, 106 pesos were paid for “106 masses celebrated in the Oratorio of the Panaderia at the request of Dn Sebn Ugarria [the resident partner] for an equal number of holidays in accordance with the calendar from the 1st of May 1821 until the 28th of June 1821 [“P foxas,” 1821, folio llv].

There is also the notation in 1818 of 110 pesos for “alms of bread given to the Reverend Padres Garcia, Ramires and la Carriolla, now dead . . . , ” [“P foxas,” 1821, folio 9v] and the notation in 1821 of “lA real in alms given daily to Padre Garcia from the 20th of December of 1820 to the 28th of June, 1821” [“P foxas,” folio llv].

4″P foxas,” 1821, folios 5, 5v 11. The entry for 1821 is ” . . .730 fanegas de trigo de Chile venidos en la Fragata Maintinomo en Febrero de 1821 a 25 ps fanega.” There is also a notation on the same page in which 2,684 pesos were paid in duties to the Aduana (Customs Service) on wheat on March 1 as well as 840 pesos (at one peso per fanega) to the Consulado on March 15, 1821. “P foxas,” 1821, folio 11. The peso in these accounts is the peso of eight reales which was the uninflated peso and was termed the peso duro or fuerte; in English this eight real peso was the piece of eight. Burzio, 1949, passim. For early Spanish colonial accounting practices, see Mills, 1986, Mills, 1987 and Lohman Villena, 1961.

5Though this could well be for Viceroy Pezuela while he was viceroy, the notation appears to have been made after Viceroy Pezuela was deposed by General La Serna on January 29, 1821. The entry is “Por pan que hizo de mi oruden pa el Sor Pezuela [1821].” “P foxas,” 1821, folio 11. For the general course of events as narrated in the excellent work of two Peruvian historians, see Basadre, 1949 and Vargas Ugarte, 1958; Vargas Ugarte, 1971.

Table 3

Bulk Wheat Bought by the Ships, Export Origin, Seller, Price per Bushel and Taxes: 1812 – June, 1824
DATE SHIP PLACE SELLER BUSHELS @ WHOLESALE TAXES DOC
BOUGHT PESOS PRICE CONSULADO CUSTOMS PG.
ZLnber 13 l^-jr *™Sl
Torre
1813
Frigate Talcahuano Manuel 1,448 3.375 4,887 1
January 8 Maintinomo cle la (27rls)
(Voyage #9) Torre
January 8 Maintinomo Talcahuano Zalduondo 1 64 3.375 553C 1
January 25 Malntinomo Jose 3,000 3.25 9,750 1
Ignacios (26 rls)
Pulacios
May 10 Maintinomo Manuel 610 3.375 2,058 1
(Voyage #10) de la (27 rls)
Torre
June 1 Frigate Penco Zalduondo 1,000 3.75 3,750 1vd
Trinidad (30 rls)
August 9 Frigate Andres 1,000 5.0 5,000 1vd
Delores Sanchez
(April 1813) Quiros
August 21 Juan 152 5.0 760 1vd
1814
Maintinomo Talcahuano Manuel 550 10.50 5,775 2
July 1 (July 1 Anzoategui
1814)
September Manuel 500 7.0 3,500 2
Anzoategui
October 1 Manuel 500 6.0 3,000 2
Ansoategui
Maintinomo Talcahuano Manuel 454 3.5 1,589 3
(Voyage #12) de la
Torre
Maintinomo Talcahuano Conde 66 3.5 231 3
de San Ferrer
January71815 Trinidad Talcahuano Manuel 763 3.0 2,289 3
January 7 (December 3, TalcahuanoManuelAnzoategui
February 11 Trinidad Talcahuano Jose 666 2.75 1 ,831 3
(November 21, Ramon (22 rls)
1814) Zalduondo
August 13 Maintinomo Penco Jose 500e 2. 1,406 4vd
(Voyage #14) Ramon
Zalduondo
October 10 Maintinomo Valparaiso Jose 281 f 2.5 702 5
(July, 1815) Ramon (20 rls)
Zalduondo
October 30 Maintinomo Valparaiso 500 2.5 1,250 5
(October (20 rls)
voyage)
November 13 Maintinomo Talcahuano Jose 1,266 2.19 2,769 5
(Voyage #14) Ramon (17.5 rls)
Zalduondo
December 4 Casteneda 1,000 2.0 1,000 5
on Account
Total 5,420 55,600
Fanegas Pesos

Melzer: The Rise in the Price of Wheat 97
Table 3
DATE SHIP PLACE SELLER BUSHELS @ WHOLESALE TAXES OOC
BOUGHT PESOS PRICE CONSULADO CUSTOMS PG

1816
January 3
(Voyage #15)
Maintinomo Jose 1,715 2 0 3,430
Ramon Zalduondo
December 20 1,192 3 125 3,725
(25 rl s )

Brlgantlne Penco 500 3 875 1,937 7vd
January 9
Ciceron (31 rl s )
Maintinomo Talcahuano 1 ,000 4 0 4,000 7vd
(December 29,
1816)
May 28 Brilganine Pacasmayo Lorenso 200 12.0 2,400 8
Europa Domingo
June 27 Ignacio 197 12 5 2,462 8
Alzaga
July 2 200 12 0 700 8
on Account
July 23 Malntlnomo Talcahuano Zalduondo 58g 7.0 700 /sic/ 8
(Voyage #1 9)
August 4 Maintlnomo Talcahuano 1,000 12.25 12,250 8
(July, 1817)
November 10 Malntinomo 202 12 5 2,525 8vd
(July, 1817)
1818
Juan 500h 9 25 4,625 180i 500j 9
October
Abreu
Manuel 121k 11.125 346 9
Ansoategui (11 pesos on
1 real) Account
November 16 Count of 500l 9 25 4,625 180 500 9
Monte Blanco
December 12 Aguilar Manuel 284 11. 0 3,124
(October, Anzoategui
1818)
Al Ray 100 9 5 950
1819 1820 January
1821
Between Maintinomo “Trigo 730 25 0 18,250
February (February de
S April 1821) Chile
March 3 2,684
March 12 810
Subtotal 8,499 65,750
Total 23,919 121 ,350

bRls is short for reales. cTo simplify the table, reales are not included in the final figure.
” lecompraron al Rey ” “Por un peso cada F al Rey ” F means bushel (fanega).
‘”P un peso en F al Rey en la Aduana ” ” libere de todo dros ” ” de la partida comprada al Rey a 9 1/2
Source

“Quenta corriente con la casa Panderia de la Pescaderia, que corre al cargo de don Julian Parqa, a partlr
de utlidades, y perdidas por mited, que prlncipio en 20 de de Dizre de 1814#1816# del mes de Diciembre
1 81 9# 1820# 1821 #P ” C4, Real Tribunal del Consulado, Legajo 129, Archlvo General de la Nacion,m Lima, Peru.

Exhibit 1
Figure 2
38,000a
PROFITS
1814 27,924
PARTNER 13,962
1816 23,555
PARTNER 11,777
30,000
1821 37,989
PARTNER 18,160
20,000
10,000
Profits and the Wholesale Price of Wheat Bought by the Bakery in the Street of the Fishmarket
1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822

Source: “Cuenta corriente Conla casa Panaderia de la Pescaderia, que corre al cargo de don Julian Parga, a partir de utilidades, y perdidas por mitad, que principio en 20 de Dizre de 1814#1816# del mes de Diciembre 1918#1820#1821#P,” C4, Real Tribunal del Consulado, Legajo 129, Archivo General de la Nación, Lima, Perú.

There are some slaves which are mentioned as working in the bakery although only one is listed specifically. In 1812 and in 1814, Sr. Ugarria says he is crediting in the biennial partnership division of costs and profits with the amount he has in utensils and slaves with which he runs the bakery [“P foxas,” folios 2, 6]. He also has one slave (Querejasu) sent to a hacienda near Ica before finalizing a sale. The slave is going to Ica and the negotiations for the money have yet to be completed; it might be that the trip is as much the slave’s idea as Ugarria’s [“P foxas,” folio 6v].

Women are the subject of two particular entries and one two-part listing. The first is for a payment of 300 pesos as a wage payment for a criada (cleaning woman or servant) [“P foxas,” folio 11]. The second is for 23 pesos received on a 78 peso bill which included 55 pesos to the wife (woman) of Carpio for earrings [“P foxas,” folio 10v]. The third of these notations is for the dote (endowment money) paid to the Convent of Santa Rosa de Lima, the patron saint of Lima. There are two payments of 3,196 and 3,195 pesos paid in July of 1820 and 1821 for the daughter of Uria (short for Ugarria?) [“P foxas,” folios
There is an annual rent for the bakery building of 1,000 pesos that was paid as a working expense of the partnership. The rent was usually paid twice a year in two 500 peso payments in December and July, although in 1813, 1819, 1820 and 1821, a single 1,000 peso payment was shown. The payments recorded in the account book are:

19 December 1813 1,000 pesos folio lv
19 June 1814 500 2
20 June 1815 500 4v
19 December 1815 500 5
20 June 1816 500 5v
20 December 1816 500 5v
20 June 1817 500 8
20 December 1817 500 8v
19 December 1819 1,000 10v
20 December 1820 1,000 11
20 June 1821 1,000 folio ll v
7,500 pesos
There are personal expenses listed for both partners for prendas which are settled up in the biennial statements. The prendas are probably pledges or IOU’s which have been al-

Illustration 2

Current Account of the Bakery at the
Fishmarket house of business with Don
Julian Parga, splitting profits and losses equally*
on 20 December 1814#1816#1817#1818# [and] for the month of December 1819#1820#1821#
*by half.
P
Stamp:
Archivo National.

The inside title page which is unnumbered and separate from the account pages. The entries in the account book begin abruptly at the top of the next page (not on the back of this folio). The page numbers also begin with the first listing folio. “P foxas,” C4, Real Tribunal del Consulado, Legajo 129, Archivo General de la Nación, Lima, Perú.

lowed to float against the bakery’s funds until the biennial settlement was posted [“P foxas,” folios 2v, 4, 9v, 10].

THE BAKERY PARTNERSHIP

The account book is for a partnership. Señor Parga’s func-tion evidently was to put up the money and buy the wheat for the bakery while Señor Ugarria ran the bakery and marketed the product. Parga would put up the money for the business in payments of from 300 to 3,000 pesos at a time and Ugarria used this money to pay for the wheat for which Parga had negotiated and for the other expenses of the bakery; the money personally used by Ugarria was credited to his half of the profits in the biennial statement. Parga also came back to the bakery when he needed money and drew out part of what he had paid in, usually in small amounts [“P foxas,” passim].

In fact, in December of 1816, Señor Parga left 8,000 pesos with Señor Ugarria, but this time at six percent interest. Then during 1817, this “deposit” is followed by three advances to Parga of a thousand pesos each with new notes for the balance at six percent until all but 5,000 pesos has gone back to Parga [“P foxas, “folio 7].

However, the two men seem to have had an easy relation-ship because it seems clear that Parga, year in and year out, was the source of all of the outside money for capitalizing the business, usually in 1,000 peso payments. Ugarria spent the money, and there is only one instance like that with the 8,000 peso lump sum [“P foxas,” passim].

COMMODITIES OTHER THAN WHEAT BOUGHT BY THE BAKERY

Although the bakery would have had to have used flour for bread, the commodity purchases noted are almost entirely for wheat. There are notations for 18 and then for 320 bushels of flour which are grouped separately as leftovers from the inven-tory for the statement of 1812 and which are listed with the entries for 1812-1814 [“P foxas,” folio lv]. Then there are 642 bushels of flour listed in the inventory of 1816 in the biennial statement for this year [“P foxas,” folios 6, 7v]. In December of 1818, there are 7 hundredweights (quintales) of “flour from Valparaiso” [“P foxas,” folio 9v] and 772 bushels of flour listed in the inventory for that year. And that is all: the only flour listed is for December 1812 to December 1818. When added up, it comes to 1,753 bushels of flour and 7 hundredweights or quin tales of flour.

There is also a very limited quantity of rice listed in 1814. There are 30 sacks (costales) of rice which are listed as costing 337 pesos or more than 11.2 pesos a sack in the leftover inventory entries on December 22, 1814 [“P foxas,” folio 2v].

There is another commodity noted. It is a half bushel of beans, beans which may be of more importance in terms of food supply prices for this time in Lima than a half bushel of beans would seem to be.

The entry comes between listings for December 1820 and the last entry of June 28, 1821, on the next to the last page of the book at the bottom of the page [“P foxas,” folio llv]. The entry is undated but probably notes a purchase sometime in the first months of 1821 although other notations in this hand are from as far back as 1819 [“P foxas,” folios 11, llv, 12]. However, there is an extreme scarcity of food indicated in the minutes for the Lima city government meetings for January, 1821, and the city government is also called on several times in January to do something to bring in foodstocks said to be held in the Chincha district [“Libro de Cabildos 45,” 1971, p. 151]. This latter point, the foodstuffs at Chincha, together with the food scarcity in Lima, both in January of 1821, suggest a January 1821 date for the beans because the half bushel was brought from Chincha.

Chincha is about 80 miles south on the coast and about 20 miles from where General San Martin first landed in September of 1820. The area was still controlled by royalist forces [Pezuela, 1947, pp. 755-841, passim; Libro de Cabildos 45, 1971, pp. 151-158] and the beans were bought from Leandor Castilla at a 25 peso price per bushel for 12/4 pesos for the half bushel [“P foxas,” folio llv]. This would appear to have been a high price for beans.

There is one other commodity listed. This is silk cloth from Cadiz from the Minerva which is not listed in the final settle-ment of 1821 [“P foxas, folio llv, 12].

Thus, we have a relatively small number of commodities other than wheat listed: a half bushel of beans (probably second only to wheat in terms of its importance for food price information), 30 sacks of rice and 1,752 bushels of flour as well as 7 hundredweights of flour. And as one deals with units of flour, it becomes clear that the hundredweights give a better idea of the amounts of flour involved because in 1820, there was some argument over just what a bushel was in terms of weight. Then the Consulado seems to have settled the matter.

In September of 1820, the Consulado Tribunal wrote to the General Accounting Office of the Royal Customs Service that

Illustration 3

. . . they have earned in the two years for this company twenty-three thousand five hundred and fifty-five pesos two reales which with half for each partner and their associates, make eleven thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven pesos five reales (except for error or omission*) and it is * S.Y.U.O. advised that each of the interested parties [re- Salvo ceived] their division abovementioned, by which YerroU [receipt] and what has been done up to this date, Omisiõn. this business is concluded.

Note

The sale remains pending of the Zambo Querejesu who was sent to Ica for sale to the Gentleman Dr. Don Antonio Bosa and it appears that the Hacienda owner Baldelomar will buy and later that when his value is received it will be divided in half. It was charged and the division was made.
The Gentleman don Julian Parga, his account* with*S/C

don Sebastian Ugarria Iscredited* Su Cuenta.
*Paid in
11,777 pesos 5 reales half of 23,555 pesos 2
reales that are the profits of the busi
ness of the Bakery in the years since
20 December of 1814, until the same
day month and year of 1816 as is
shown in detail in the balance done
up on the said day #11,777
1,000 pesos turned over tome on the 30th
of said December #1,000
4,000 pesos* , that is to say 400pesos that remain to be paid by don Jose Noreiga for 200 fanegas* of wheat that I sold him from the Storehouse of Zalduondo on 19 December 1815.
This arrangement isn’t counted 0000
4,000 pesos that he gave me at interest on
24 January of 1815 for the draft for
the cited supply house #4,000
457 pesos value of the yield for the 22
months 25 days from said day until
20 December of 1816 #457
Said Gentleman owes #17,234
4,820 pesos that he has taken from the
fund of the Company according to
that shown by the cited
balance #4,820 *F:
400 pesos [illegible] to be paid by Don S
José Noreiga for the value of 200 fanega
fanegas* of wheat that I sold him bushel

Melzer: The Rise in the Price of Wheat

A typical page from the account book. It is the back of page, or folio, 6 (6v)which would be page 12 if both sides were numbered. The hand and quill remain about the same until the last four pages when both pen and hand change (folio 11). “P foxas,” C4, Real Tribunal del Consulado, Legajo 129, Archivo General de la Nación, Lima, Perú.

there was a basic error in the statements that its accountant had turned over to the Consulado in regard to the flour brought in by foreign ships [“El Contador,” 1820]. And since most of the goods in the coasting trade were carried by neutral ships because of the Chilean blockade and the risk of capture for Peruvian ships, most of the flour brought to Lima was carried in foreign ships [Pezuela, 1947, pp. 473, 505, 527, 803]. Hence, the error here is of importance for the Consulado and Customs Service even though the account book inexplicably lists no flour for these last years.

The error was that a bushel of flour was being credited at 135 pounds when it ought to have been an 80-pound unit. Therefore, the Consulado told the Customs Service that it should instill in its agents the idea of 80-pound bushels instead of 135 and then see to it that the collections were carried out on the 80-pound basis. If the collections were not made on an 80-pound bushel basis, there would not only be less collected per bushel at the 135-pound rate, but the principal amount collected on which the Consulado was turning over 25 lA percent to the royal government would be reduced. The government as well as the Consulado, then, was losing some of its desperately needed tax base through the 135-pound error [“El Contador,” 1820].

AMOUNT OF WHEAT BOUGHT BY THE BAKERY

From 1812 to 1821, the account book shows that the bakery bought at least 23,919 fanegas (bushels) of wheat, most of which came from Chile “by sea” (see Table 3).6 The years in which the largest amount of wheat was bought were 1813 (7,374 bushels), 1815 (4,976 bushels) and 1817 (3,357 bushels) (see Table 1). However, there is no notation of wheat bought for the use of the bakery in 1819 and only one for 1820. It is possible that the information for these two years and for 1821 is copied from another book and that wheat purchases were left out of these notes or that only flour was bought and not recorded, although flour and some rice had been listed before

6The Consulado estimated in an Acta of a Junta de Comercio which met in February of 1815 that Perú imported 180,000 bushels of Chilean wheat in an ordinary year (which would be 5,000 bushels a day). What the Consulado said was “… a la vista este Consulado . . . observa que la introduccion de los Trigos es contrahida a los de Chile y que sobre ella calcula la comision, que en un ano comun se aproxima a ciento ochenta mil Fanegas [180,000 bushels] indicando su precio medio de primera venta en veinte reales Fanega [2.5 pesos per bushel].” “Consulta,” 1817.

1819. But, certainly some other person posted these accounts after the last entry for November of 1820 because both the form for the notation and the handwriting change then, and the new hand continues the record with entries from 1819 and 1820 and through the last entry for June of 1821 [“P foxas,” 1821, folios 10, 11, 11v, 12].

WHEAT ORIGIN

The record for the business shows a steady purchase of wheat brought from Talcahuano and Valparaiso in Chile along with occasional purchases of wheat grown in Peru. The wheat was carried primarily in the frigate Maintinomo although wheat carried in other ships was also bought (see Table 3).

AMOUNT PAID FOR WHEAT

The bakery records having paid out 121,350 pesos in cash for the wheat it bought. This figure is less than that for the total value of the wheat bought because there are some purchases which have only a partial payment on account noted. To show the average price per year paid by the bakery, as well as the maximum and minimum range of these wheat prices per year, the writer is indebted to an anonymous referee for the table contributed below. The figures serve to iron out seasonal and other variations per year so that a weighted, clearer progression of prices to 1819 can be seen. The details for the spikes of 1814, 1817 and 1821 are found in Table 3 and are plotted in Exhibit 1, Figure 1.

TABLE 1 WHEAT PURCHASES

Total quantity Number of Maximum and
Year bought purchases Average price minimum prices
(in bushels) in the year in the year
1812 1,000 1 3.50 3.50
1813 7,374 7 3.62 3.25-5.00
1814 2,070 5 6.80 3.50-10.50
1815 4,976 7 2.81 2.00-3.00
1816 2,907 2 2.46 2.00-3.125
1817 3,357 8 8.45 3.875-12.50
1818 1,405 4 9.76 9.25-11.125
1819
1820 100 1 9.50 9.50
1821 730 1 25.00 25.00

Source: “Cuenta corriente Conla casa Panaderia de la Pescaderia, que corre al cargo de don Julian Parga a partir de utilidades, y perdidas por mitad que principio en 20 de Dizre de 1814# 1816# del mes de Diciembre 1819# 1820# 1821#P.” C4, Real Tribunal del Consulado, Legajo 129, Archivo General de la Nacion, Lima, Peru.

TAXES

Some direct taxes on the wheat were also paid by the bakery. The most important notations of these taxes are those for a Consulado collection of one peso per bushel on wheat brought to Lima by sea7 and the collection of four percent on a nine-peso per bushel price by the Royal Customs Service (see Table 3). There is also one entry for the payment of a censo (tax) on the bakery as a bakery of 351/4 pesos for one year ending on the 28th of October 1820 and paid on the 20th of March, 1821 [“P foxas,” folio 11].

However, most of the wheat bought by the Panaderia Pes-caderia had evidently already had its taxes paid because there is the example of wheat bought in Bellavista in 1815 from

Por mar, by sea, is the term used by the Consulado for the wheat not produced in Peru which was brought to market by sea. Peruvian wheat was termed “Trigo Criollo,” Creole wheat. For one of the many documents which use these terms and for the explanation of the Consulado’s Trigo and Sebo duty, [Wheat and Grease (or tallow, depending on its use)] and the Consulado’s insistence on not taxing Peruvian wheat in 1815, see “Consulta,” 1817.

Casteñeda who was a member of the Gremio de Panaderos (the Baker’s Guild) of Bellavista and owed 15,039 pesos in taxes to the Consulado at one peso per bushel on his wheat by January 22, 1817 [“Razon,” 1817].

This is to say that the two bakeries are related because a little more than a year before, Casteñeda had supplied wheat to the “Bakery in the Street of the Fishmarket” in December of 1815 [“P foxas,” folio 5]. This was nine months after a particular tax on wheat and grease had been assigned to the Consulado for collection in February of 1815 [“Derechos,” 1815]. Yet the Panaderia Pescaderia shows no taxes paid on any wheat bought in 1815 which included the wheat it bought from Casteñeda (see Table 3). Since Casteñeda was taxed in 1817, then he probably would have been in 1815 when the Fishmarket Bakery bought wheat from him. But the bakery does not pay any taxes on wheat in 1815 and this was the case for most of the wheat bought after 1815 and for all of the wheat it bought in 1817. On the other hand, what the account book does note, is that in some instances taxes have already been paid or are included in the price of the wheat bought (see Table 3 j, k). and it may be that most of the wheat in the account book had already had its taxes paid.

In fact, though, the Panaderia a la Pescaderia appears to note very few Consulado or Customs collections. But these collections are levied on the Baker’s Guild or the Bread Supplier’s Guild (Gremio de Panaderos and Gremio de Abastece-dores de Pan — the two terms are used interchangably in the document for Casteneda in 1817) [“Razon,” 1817; “Libro de Cabildos 45,” 1971, p. 142]. And the levies are not light: in January of 1817, the amount owed for Bellavista was 84,284 pesos for the Gremio de Abastecedores de Pan [“Razon,” 1817]. In August of 1819, an expected levy on the Baker’s Guild (Gremio de Panaderos) was 50,000 pesos [“Pasame,” 1819; Pezuela, 1947, 398].

THE BAKERY’S THREE LARGEST ACCOUNTS

The three largest income-producing accounts noted for the bakery were for ship biscuit for the Maintinomo’s voyages, for ship biscuit for Viceroy Pezuela’s expedition to retake Chile in 1817 and for bread for the Hospital of the Holy Spirit.

In the case of the Maintinomo, there is a close relationship with this frigate beyond that of the bulk purchases made from the ship’s wheat cargos. In fact, from the table below, one can see that 2,676 pesos worth of ship biscuit along with some butter were sold as provisions for the Maintinomo’s voyages from December 1815 to November 1820. By comparing these notations for ship biscuit sales with bulk wheat purchase information on the Maintinomo’s cargos from Table 3, we have references to two more voyages than those from wheat sales alone (Table 3). These voyages are number 16 and 18, and the ports for voyage number 14 can now be listed as Penco8 and Talcahuano (Table 2; Table 3). There is also a 15 peso per hundredweight (quintal) price given for a ship biscuit purchase in 1818 [“P foxas,” folio 9v].

TABLE 2
“Diet Ship Biscuit” and Butter
Supplied to the Frigate Maintinomo by the
‘Bakery in the Street of the Fishmarket” 1815-1820

Date

Voyage

Destination Amount Paid Provision

Folio

March 1815 Voyage #14 Talcahuano
Voyage #15 Valparaiso
December 1815 Voyage #16
1816 Voyage #18 Talcahuano
September 1817
to
January 1818
1818
November 1820

Total

428 pesosShip Biscuit 4v
200 Ship Biscuit 4v
126 Ship Biscuit 5
213 Ship Biscuit & 6
Butter
791 Ship Biscuit & 8v
Butter
380 Ship Biscuit 9v
492 Ship Biscuit 10v
2,676 pesos

Source: “Cuenta corriente Conla casa Panaderia de la Pescaderia, que corre al carge de don Julian Parga a partir de utilidades, y perdidas por mitad que principio en 20 de Dizre de 1814# 1816# del mes de Diciembre 1819# 1820# 1821# “P.” C4, Real Tribunal del Consulado, Legajo 129, Archivo General de la Nación, Lima, Perú.

The second major account was that for ship biscuit to supply Viceroy Pezuela’s expedition to retake Chile in 1817. This account gave the bakery a direct connection with the expedition in addition to that seen in terms of the price peaks shown for the bakery’s wheat purchases during 1817 which occurred while the insurgent government established itself in Chile [Vargas Ugarte, 1958, pp. 140, 141]. In fact, here in 1817,

Trigo de Penco [wheat from Penco (Peen-co)] is said by Peruvians to be a stage for the grain before processing or while processing, i.e., possibly unwin-nowed wheat, instead of a place. However, the writer has not encountered this in the documents nor can he locate Penco, but Peruvians should know because the grain is widely eaten in soups as well as otherwise throughout Peru.

the bakery filled one of its biggest single orders when it supplied 1,600 pesos worth of ship biscuit for “the expedition to Chile in December 817” [“P foxas,” folio 9v].

The third of the large accounts for the bakery was that for the Royal Hospital of the Holy Spirit. The account book shows that the bakery baked 6,172 pesos worth of bread for this hospital from 1817 to June 28th of 1821. The figures noted for this amount are;
1,020 pesos
1,165
1,824
2,106
57
6,172 pesos9
For 1818 to December 19th
December 20, 1818 to May 31, 1819
May 30, 1819 to April 30, 1820
To June 28, 1821
Pharmacy of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit

THE 1821 WHEAT PURCHASE

It is in February or March of 1821 that the bakery’s most important purchase was made. In fact, it is at this point that the account book provides some of its most important information, for not only has it given data which most likely otherwise would now be completely unknown on Lima wholesale wheat prices from 1812 to 1820, but here in 1821, it provides a sale price for one of two wheat cargos landed for Lima in the six months from January to July of 1821 [Libro de Cabildos 45, 1971, pp. 174, 179]. That is to say that this cargo, which is that of the Maintinomo, is the first of only two wheat cargos which are mentioned in the minutes of the city government of Lima for these years [“Libro de Cabildos 45,” 1971, pp. 139-239, passim].

That these cargos were important and probably were the only two landed is seen when, in the minutes for February 18, 1821, the Bread Supplier’s Guild (Gremio de Abastecedores de Pan) had had read into the record of the council (Libro de Cabildos), a request that their guild be authorized to divide the Maintinomo’s cargo equitably among the bakers of the city so that some bakeries would not be closed (cut off from the supply) [Libro de Cabildos 45, 1971, p. 174].
On the 2nd of March, statements for wheat interned for the Maintinomo and for that of a second ship, the Lord Lindok,

9″P foxas,” 1821, folios 9v, 10v, 11, llv. The notation of 1,824 pesos includes 64 pesos for galletas (ship biscuit) assigned to the Maintinomo from the whole amount assigned to the Hospital for this entry. “P foxas,” 1821, folio 10v.

were accepted by the Cabildo and passed on to the treasury for collection [Libro de Cabildos 45, 1971, p. 179].10 The only other cargos like the two mentioned for wheat are a cargo of flour brought by the General Brown from New York listed as ready for distribution on the 3rd of April, 1821, and a 254 barrel cargo of flour brought by the Russian frigate Kontunoff, which was first mentioned on the 18th of May 1821 [Libro de Cabildos 45, 1971, pp. 200, 201, 216, 218, 224].
Hence, the Cabildo records demonstrate that the Main-tinomo wheat in 1821 was in demand in Lima. And the account book not only gives us the wholesale price for a purchase in bulk from the Maintinomo cargo, the price figures in the account book for the years since 1812 give us a comparison which shows that this wheat price in 1821 is radically higher than those of 1816-1819, not to mention 1812.

But perhaps the importance of the Maintinomo’s cargo is put in even better perspective when thought of in terms of the beans from Chincha. These are mentioned in an obscure note near the end of page 1lv as having been bought at a price of 25 pesos per bushel.

That this 25 peso price for a bushel of beans is extremely high and is the result of Lima’s problems is then spelled out in the city council minutes. Here there are repeated demands in January 1821 that the Viceroy intervene to stop a monopoly which had developed with the Chincha hacienda owners because Lima was out of food [“Libros de Cabildos 45,” 1971, pp. 151, 154]. The quebrada or canyon of Topará in the Chincha district in particular was said to have both wheat and other staples, and the Lima Cabildo was repeatedly urged to do something about using these supplies. In particular, the Cabildo was to get the Viceroy to see that the military commander of the district stop the hacendados of the Valley of Chincha from selling their wheat to speculators from Lima. Secondly, the government was to get the Viceroy to put a ceiling of five pesos per unit on first sales from the area and then to have secondary prices based on the first five peso sale. The Cabildo was next asked to find a means to subsidize buying wheat at Chincha and bringing it to Lima [Libro de Cabildos 45,” 1971, pp. 154, 156, 158]. This last statement was

The Lord Lindok cargo also illustrates some of the clanger that constantly stalked the Maintinomo and other ships supplying Lima in these last years because the Lord Lindok was captured on leaving Callao and lost 15,000 dollars which was later reclaimed through British pressure. Elias, Wu, Denigri Luna, 1974, p. 253, # 16.

on the 28th of January; on the 16th of February the Main-tinomo cargo was discussed for the first time, but then the cargo was evidently not distributed until March. The delay certainly would not seem to help the food situation in Lima; however, it does fit in with the account book’s notations for the bakery’s Customs and Consulado tax payments for March of 1821 (see Table 3).

FREE TRADE

The scarcity of food in Lima, particularly in January of 1821, is further emphasized by the demands for free trade made by the city government as a means of solving the problem. In fact, as the situation was worsening in Lima, the Cabildo went out of its way to register its general disapproval of the course of events by calling for the institution of free trade (comercio libre) at least three times: first in January, then in early February and then again in late April.
The question was first brought up by the Cabildo in 1821 on January 15th when the motion was made that, because of the lack of foodstuffs, an agreement be concluded with the English Captain Sheriff, evidently then in Callao, that free trade with the English be established for two years so as to end the scarcity of supplies for Lima.

The next day, the 16th, the Cabildo met again and the opposition view was that in order to supply the city, what was needed was free trade with all neutrals instead of free trade with only the English. The question as to whether the matter should be formally put to the Viceroy was voted on and failed on a 7 to 6 split with 7 votes against and 6 votes for the measure. The seven vote majority then tabled the proposal (sent the matter to the Cabildo archives) [“Libro de Cabildos 45,” 1971, pp. 148, 149].

The point was again brought up in the Cabildo session of February 3rd (shortly after Viceroy Pezuela had been deposed) when an official note was sent to the new Viceroy asking that the scarcity of grain and other foodstuffs for the city be ended by allowing free trade with neutral carriers (“comercio libre en buques neutrales”) [“Libro de Cabildos 45,” 1971, pp. 148, 149].

The question was raised again on March 30th when a plea to the Viceroy was read into the minutes that special payments be made to bring supplies to the city in neutral ships [“Libro de Cabildos 45,” 1971, p. 197].

A month later, on April 25th, when a proposal that paper and copper currency be issued for 500,000 pesos to meet the

Viceroy’s need for money, the plan was formally hedged by another request for “comercio libre” (free trade). That is, if the paper money measure did not work, free trade with neutral states be allowed because Cabildo members said that such free trade had already been allowed in Spain according to what they had read in the Gaceta de Madrid (Madrid Gazette) [“Libro de Cabildos 45,” 1971, p. 211].

PROFITS MADE BY THE BAKERY

The profits and losses seen in the biennual statements for the bakery show that the profits for each partner dropped from 13,972 pesos in December of 1814 (1812-1814), to 9,308 pesos in December of 1818 (1816-1818) (see Exhibit 1, Table 4). There are also the figures for liquidation of the business, the last figures given by the document, which show that from December of 1818 to the 28th of June, 1821 (two and a half years, instead of two years), the profits per partner were 18,160 pesos each. And in spite of the fact that this figure results from the liquidation statement, the inference is that there were also profits produced in this two and a half year period.11

WHEAT PRICES AND THE PRICE OF BREAD

One of the most direct conclusions for the reader of the account book or of Table 1 or of Table 3 and Exhibit 1, Figure
This document says clearly that these 18,160 pesos are the profits for two and a half years for each partner. But the entry is complicated, so it is quoted in its entirety here.

Por 18,160 ps 2/4 rs que recivi de Dn Julian Parga producidas del balance, dado en 28 de Junio de 1821 [illegible] percivido dho pr igual cantidad de utilidades de la Panaderia Pescaderia [Continued on folio 12]
37,989 >/4 Haber del frente Debe P 19,828.6

que ambas sumas hacen la totalidad de treinta y seis mil ciento noventay cinco [36,195] y son dhas. utilidades correspondientes a dos anos y medio contados desde 20 de Dic.bre de 1818 hasta 28 de Junio de 1821 — quedando esa muebles y utencilios segun parece del balance dado en este presente ano a Once mil Seis Cientos noventa y dos [11,692], unica Cantidad qe Contiene dha Casa panaderia sin mas fondos en plata fisica,

pr lo qe los citados 18,161 ps utilidad y habilitacion entregué á dho Sr Ugarria, haciendo ya veinte dias que no se amasa hasta qe venga a esta Capital, que se empesara de nuevo el amasigo y pa qe Conste en todo tiempo y sirve de norma a la que la presente vieren, quedamos concluidos en todas nuestras Cuentas y los firmamos en Lima a 28 de Junio

de 1821 18,160 2’/2
37,989’/2 Igual 37,989 lA
“P foxas,” 1821, folio 12.

1, which are constructed from the account book’s data, is that the price of a fanega (bushel) of wheat rose from a low in December 1815-January 1816 of two pesos, as seen in the entries for these months, to twenty-five pesos per fanega paid between February and April of 1821. This is a price-rise of eleven hundred and fifty percent.

But looking beyond the rise in the price of wheat, this nearly twelvefold increase in the price paid for wheat by the bakery clearly suggests an increase in the price of bread. And the implication that a rise in the price of bread occurred is reinforced by the December 1812-December 1818 profits shown for the partnership of 27,924 pesos in December of 1814, 23,555 pesos in December of 1816 and 18,615 pesos in December of 1818 (70,095 pesos in profits). It can be seen, then, that even though profits were falling, these profits were still coming in and they had continued while the price of wheat was going up (see Exhibit 1, Figures 1,2).

That a price increase for bread would have occurred and would have continued until June of 1821 is further implied by one of the last statements in the document which notes that the Panaderia had a balance of “once mil seis cientos y dos pesos” (11,602 pesos) for January through June of 1821 (see note 11), as well as the two and a half year profit per partner of 18,160 pesos cited above and the 1817-1821 sales of bread to the Hospital of the Holy Spirit.
Moreover, that there was a crisis in the food supply for Lima as indicated from the demand for the Maintinomo’s wheat, the beans from Chincha and the Cabildo’s arguments for free trade is made even clearer by other information in the Cabildo minutes. In particular, there were continued complaints of gouging by “retailers” i.e., pen-hookers or speculators (regatones) [Libro de Cabildos 45, 1971, pp. 144, 145, 155, 205, 225, 230, 231]. In fact, in early January, Viceroy Pezuela found it necessary to issue a decree declaring that “… mules carrying food supplies to this Capital will be respected by military parties and the packers are not to give up their mules on any pretext whatsoever …” [“Libro de Cabildos 45,” 1971, p. 145].

But of more importance, the Cabildo minutes show that bread itself was a special commodity in short supply. That an official effort was made to let bread prices increase from January to July of 1821 because of the scarcity is seen in the notations for the real de pan [real (ray-al) for bread] in the minutes of the municipal government meetings. The real de pan was a measure by weight for bread that was priced at one real ( 1/8 of a peso for these years). In February of 1821, the real de pan or real’s worth of bread, was six ounces of bread in three pieces [Libro de Cabildos 45, 1971, p. 174]. In January there had been some concern shown about being able to continue this much bread-weight for the one real amount and on February 16th, it was decided that the six ounce standard could not be maintained because of the difference in bread made from Peruvian wheat and that made from wheat from Chile. (Nothing was said about what the weight should be).

Instead, since some three days before on the 13th, a con-cession had been made to grocery or food stores (pulperias) which let them sell the one real amount in two pieces instead of three, this decision was applied to all real de pan sales. That is, on February 16th, the one-real bread amount could be in two pieces instead of three [Libro de Cabildos 45, 1971, pp. 143, 171, 174].

Nothing further was noted in the Cabildo minutes until April. Then, on the 3rd, the Cabildo decided that the best weight that could be assigned to the real de pan was 4/4 ounces “… regardless of … suggestions against it” [Libro de Cabildos 45, 1971, p. 201]. So, the price may have gone up in terms of the two, instead of three piece division of the one real measure, but then a formal price rise was allowed when the real de pan weight was dropped to 4/4 ounces from 6 ounces. This 1/4 ounce drop in the amount of bread-weight per real would mean that there had indeed been a formal price increase of 25 percent by weight, officially at least, in the first four months of 1821. And this price increase agrees in principal with the price rise implied by the bakery’s profits.

CONCLUSION

Thus, to put the account book’s information on a more limited base, the conclusions which are most directly pointed to are that the price of wheat per bushel paid by this centrally located bakery in Lima rose eleven hundred and fifty percent between 1812 and 1821 (particularly between late 1816 and 1821) and that the profits after the bakery paid this increased cost indicate a rise in the price of bread to cover the increased cost of the wheat.
And here, with the translation and analysis of this small account book, we have a cross section, a good sample of particular wheat price data during the independence movement in Peru before 1821: a point of some importance because the bread made from the twenty-five peso wheat was then, as it is now, the basic staple in the diet of the Lima population.12

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