Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-07-16
THE NEWEST !ALLIANOE SCHEME.


The alliance plan for producing a
corner in wheat by withholding the
crop from market until it will command
such price as the farmers may deem
satisfactory has not excited the ridicule
which might have been expected in
view of the novelty of the proposition.
The effect of the contemplated move
ment was apparent in the markets
yesterday, resulting in a considerable
advance in prices and causing evident
solicitude among grain spectators.
The conditions this season are notably
favorable to the success of the under
taking. 1t is particularly auspicious
time for agriculture in America to
balance its accounts and take a new
start. II official statistics are to be
credited, the old crops are practically
cleaned up and out of the way. Not
for many years have farm granaries
been so completely emptied as they
have been this season. There is no
surplus to carry over to depress the
market. There is large quantity of
wheat in transit consigned to European
ports, but very little of the old crop
remains in this country. Corn will
have been generally consumed by the
time the new crop comes in, and even
cattle and hogs have been sold more
closely to the line of supply than for
many years past.
Last year the farmers carried over
into the new crop year fully so million
bushels of old wheat, and there were
so million bushels in public ware
houses. This year there will rot be
more than 10 million bushels left in the
farmers hands, and the stocks in ele-
vators will probably not exceed Is or
twenty million bushels. This will give
the growers an immense advantage.
There will be an immediate and press
ing demand for the new crop. It should
be the primary object of the farmers to
see that the surplus rushed to market
does not exceed the demand, and 1t is
the purpose the plan agreed upon by
the alliance to forestall the contingen-
cy. It is quite proper that the farmer
should have some say regarding the
price which he receives for his pro-
ducts, and the effort which the alliance
is making to impose restrictions in the
marketing of grain is strictly legiti-
mate. 1t is simply transferring a
rightful advantage to the producer, {,
which has been monopolized by specu-
lators and middle men. If the farmers,
by concerted action, can get the better
of their aforetlme oppressors, the pub
lie will congratulate them upon their
newly discovered power and their abil-
ity to protect their rights.
The difficulty to be feared in carrying
out the alliance scheme is the senseIess
mania which is so general among farm
ers for sacrificing their products in Or
der to convert them into cash. They
rush their grain to market beyond the
requirements of consumption, it accum-
ulates at the trade centers, and the
result is depression in prices. If this
tendency can be corrected and farmers
can be prevented from selling more
than enough wheat to meet their actual
financial necessities, great step will
have been taken in the direction of
agricultural prosperity. The large
foreign demand for wheat and corn
which will De inevitable this year as
the result of crop failures in Europe
will give the alliance an opportunity to
test its scheme under circumstances
which will cause the experiment to be
regarded with intense interest. 1t has
manifested the perfection of its organ
izatiOn by achieving an unprecedented
political success, and it ought to be able
to bring the same power to bear in reg
ulating interests of still more vital i'm
portance.--Kansas City Star.