New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1891-10-07
FIGHTING THE FACTS.

lVH 1lNV LII TdC1 -.
It is not wonderful that Mr.. Donnelly
should, in the pursuit of advertising
which furnishes so large a portion of
his political stock in trade, write to
Bradstreet's on the subject of wheat
production and wheat sales; but it is
quite surprising that journal SO re-
putable as this should give prominence
to his foolish communication. For Mr..
Donnelly's first aim in this is not even
to urge farmers to hold their wheat,but
to try to convince the general public
this is not much of a crop year in the
Northwest after all. He says there is
system of enormous lying about this
seasons yield of wheat. BY way of
proof he gives the assurance of mem.
Der of the executive committee of the
''People's Party'' that the crop in the
Red River valley will not average more
than fifteen bushels per acre sin whole
countless" and the statement of Gen.
Baker that "around Garden City,
eighteen bushels to the acre is all that
can be expected. In view of these as
founding facts, clearly demonstrating
that there is no wheat to speak of in the
states of Minnesota, North Dakota and
South Dakota, Donnelly informs his
Bradstreet's audience that there have
been grave misrepresentation of the
crop, for the purpose of bearing"
wheat and"bulling" railroad securities.
And of course, all who take any other
view of the situation are, as all oppo-
nents of Mr.. Donnelly must be, thor
oughly corrupt and knavish liars.
This stuff is on par with Donnelly's
denunciation of the Harvest Festival,
and of anything that would disclose the
secret Of our prosperity. His theory is
that the way to improve our credit, to
bring in capital and become prosperous
is to tell the outside world that we are
on the verge of starvation. There is no
recipe for perfect health, according to
him, like assuring your neighbor that
you are suffering from the smallpox.
Ofcourse the facts are hopelessly against
him, as they always are. 1t is known
everywhere just what sort of wheat
crop the Northwest has produced this
year. From the columns of the news
papers can be clipped hundreds of items
each giving the record of fields already
tnreshed out and measured. And it is
sufficient answer to what the s.People's
Party says about the Red River valley
that one farm alone, that of Mr.. DIAL
rymple, has produced 100000 bushels
from 10000 acres. The Lord has been
good to US this year, and not all the
falsehoods of the croakers and calamity
preachers for political effect can turn
his blessings into curses.
1t is true that wheat prices arc not as
high as we wish they were, and not as
high as we believe they are bound to be
at some later time. The reason is that
we are exporting heavily. For three
weeks, ended Sept. 10, the shipments
from Atlantic ports were more than 49,
500. 900 bushels in excess of the same
period last year. Or, as the CONNER
cial Chronicle puts it, 1--WE are export
ing from the Atlantic ports nearly a
million bushels day, whereas in Sep
TENDER last year we were exporting on
the average only about a million bash
els a week. These heavy sales at the
East do not tend to raise prices. But
they do keep the market for US, and
make it strong and steady. If the farm.
er had turned speculator, # he had held
back all his crop as he was urged to-,
wheat might now be a tribe higher, but
it would be at the cost of the future
market, and prices would break far be
low present or possible figures after the
| bulls had used the farmer for their pur.
poses, and ruined our foreign market
BY refusing to supply its demand. As
to whether to sell or hold, let every
farmer be his own judge, aside from
politics. But when it comes to plain
question of fact about the crop, when
Mr.. Donnelly pretends that all the farm.
ers and all the threshing machines in