The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1878-10-23
COUNTY AND CITY OFFICIAL PRESS
Wednesday, Oct. %, 1878.
HIGH PRICES AND LOW.

1t is an old English maxim -
High prices and prosperity; low
prices AMI wide spread distress.
There is nothing so suspicious
and indicative of approaching pros
pe-ity and general good fortune as
rise in the price of any and all OF our
articles of home produce. A drop 10
price is a public calamity. Good prices
for lumber and coal make lively times
for all. But in special sense is this
principle true in regard to our sgricul-
tural products. Unless country pro.
duces its own food and raw material
it is not likely soon to get start as
general manufacturing district. and
otherwise. having but few special in
terest., development is apt TO prove but
a process of draining of and steady i'm
poverishment Of the country.
There is no prosperity which benefits
the country so generally and so lasting
~ rs the prosperity of the farming class
no adversely which SO universally
blights the whole community as adyer-
sity and disaster TO this class. Let hay.
or hops, or potatoes, or dairy produce,
fall below practicable price, and all
interests, alike in town and country.
are pinched and distressed. Let either
or all of these products bring price
which affords the grower a handsome
profit, and the effect is in times Of
general hardness. to tide the community
over what otherwise would rrove a
ruinous season.
The real growth of the country IS
measured by the extension OF the cult
waited acreage of lands year by year,
over the waste area of the forest. For
the accomplishment of this there Is 60
available resource except the farmers
little margins of profit on the sale of
his years produce. Therefore, live
and let live is the right motto IN any
business, and those who strive to break
down the prices Of produce SO as to cut
of the farmers chance of realizing q
living. working profit Oh the products
of his toll, in reality are only cutting
eff their own nose to spite their face.
Good living prices for merchandise;
for manufactures; booming interest
rates on money; liberal wages for labor
fair remuneration for professional labor;
can he maintained only where the pro-
ducts of agriculture are largely profit
able. Therefore it is right that men
pioneering in the development Of new
country should stand by one another.
There is q community Of interest where
the welfare of one is the welfare of all.
The best way to keep up the prices
Is to observe closely the law Of supply
and demand. Whatever article that
can bs raised to advantage in this coun-
try that now is imported from abroad.
let the cultivation Of that article be
taken up. 1.-THE farmers confine them
selves to few leading staple articles
they will ultimately cause a glut of
those articles in the home market and
demoralizs the price. For instance hay
Is . product easily raised here, but the
home consumption is very limited and
with the bulky method of baling al
present in vogue. it is impracticablc to
ship it abroad. Hops a:e very uncer-
tain. Growers have been accustomed
TO depend exclusively on Indian help
for picking. and are liable to be i'm
posed upon when in tight pinch, and
the pricc tiuctuates disastrously. Po-
tatoss arc too subject to blight and it i,
only about once in number Of years
that they bring . living price, Dat.
too, are in but limited hone demand
So tits with butter. The cattle trade i.
seriously discounted by the bunch grass
ranges east Of the mountains. Our
egg supply, however, is under the de-
mand. With the dried and preserved
fruits our MARKETS not half supplied
by the LONE product. and cheese is ar
article for which the Puget Sound
country is prominently adapted. and
can be cheaply manufactured. Th.
market for il 10 almost unlimited.