, 1890-11-20
THE WHEAT PROBLEM
{ Is a Burning Issue in the
Palouse.
THE FARMERS DEMAND RELIEF
They Are Being Cinched Out of
Is Cents on Every Bushel
of Wheat.

FAIRFIELD, Nov. 14.-Don't nut
your trusts in money, but put your
money in trusts. The idea may not
be in exact accord with Calvanism
or the Darwinian theory, but 1t cer-
tainly Is the policy of the railway
and the elevator companies In East
ern Washington. They together
control the price Of wheat from Spo-
kane Falls to Walla Walla, and in
doing 80 they force it down to a
figure 10 to 20 cents below the actual
market value Of the grain, enriching
themselves illegitimately and rob
bing the farmer of II margin that
should be his profits.
Its pretty generally believed, and
with good reason, that the elevator
companies are m ere adjuncts of the
railway companies, existing under
separate articles of incorporation, of
course, and managed by different
boards of directors, but controlled
by the same capital. Whether that
belief is well founded Is n matter of
speculation but 1t exists among the
farmers, ny well rs elsewhere, and
when farmer thoroughly believes
anything there Is no more use In try
ing to persuade him to- different
notion than there Is In attempting
to cross the Atlantic on snow shoes.
The elevator companies have sup
pressed all local competitors, and
they have first right to empty
cars. In that manner the ele-
vators maintain complete control
of the wheat market and the farmers
are Obliged to sell to them If they
sell at all. Sales can be made to
other dealers, but who is going to
buy wheat without Knowing
whether cars can be furnished in six
months or six years?
The condition of the grain market
In the Inland Empire Is II curse to
the country. a remedy must be
found or the farmers will suffer, and
with agriculture crippled prosperity
In other business must paraly2e, for
the source of wealth Is the soil. If
the farmer of the Palouse valley
doesn't make anything from his
farm, how can he pay his store bill?
If the retailer can not collect from
the farmer, how can he in turn pay
the wholesaler or the manufactures?
The more the situation il investi-
gated the more serious IL becomes.
Wheat in Chicago was quoted
Wednesday at 9S4 to $l.05. On the
came day the elevators in this state
were paying 40 to AZ cents. Trans
portation from here to Chicago Is
32.5 cents per bushel, which lands
the grain In Chicago for 100 cents,
leaving margin of 25.5 cents. De-
ducting cents for commissions and
storage, and 90 cents for difference
in grades, there still remains II mar
gin OF 10 cents. Instead Of being
worth only AZ cents, then, wheat
at every point in Eastern Washing
ton should command 62 cents. The
farmer Ia the victim, and he Is
robbed of Is cents on every bushel of
wheat he sells. The amount on one
bushel Is small, but in the aggre-
gate II IL immense. In tho
Palouse country this year the esti-
mated yield of wheat for eXporta-
ton IL l0,OO0,00O bushels; south of
Snake river to the Oregon line,
10000 In the Big Bend, Colville
and Yakima regions, 900, 900, to-
tai of Is, 5000 900 bushels for Eastern
Washington. If every bushcl of
that grain is sold for 10 cents less
than II Is worth, the whole Is sold
for 81, 40, 900 less than II is worth,
which Is lost not only to the farm
ers, but to the country as well. To
the farmer who cultivates 100 acres
OF land which produces thirty bush
els per acre this Is $3.50. The amount
is sufficient to provide for the
entire family for twelve months,
or stock the farm with
implements Is to last three years. Aud
there Is no way of arguing out of
the proposition that wheat should
be worth 81 cents this season, for "a
year ago when it sold in Chicago
Tor 50 1t was bringing 81 cents reg
ularly all through the Northwest,
The farmers feel their oppression.
Their hands are tied and monopoly
Ia going through their pockets.
Their children must suffer. But
the Farmers Alliance is up in arms
and ballots are bayonets. The next
Legislature will be called upon to
provide some means of relief. IL IL
not unlikely that the remedy asked
will be u railroad commission, which
the constitution authorizes, and
that commission will be con-
fronted with demand to re-
duce freights in Washington to an
equitable basis. A responsibility
rests on the shoulders of the repuD-
licans who comprise the convenipg
legislature. Will they do their
duty? If they don't the farmers will
be heard from at the first election.
That Is a prediction which can DO
needed with profit. ONEIDA.
Mr.. PORTER has made the interesting
discovery that his census figures will