The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-01-06
TIE SEATTLE PosrrNTEIIIGENcER SATURDAY

so&t. gooCS OF al ksE19 NeEc wa as GA
orpisant prices. and rs longs - times were
good farmers paid their bills promptly IN
she fall and made no complaint But
with the had season. when grain could
not be sold for cash, came change and
merchants became more careful TO wnon
they sold on credit, and everything has
now reverted to the cash system In All
the stores, not only in Rosaiia ous In
oakesdase, Tekoa and. IN fact al the
towns Of the Palcuss country, viii % seen
the sign: I'VE Sell for Cash Only Inc
advent Of the cash system has orougns
lower prices in all lines. in some instances
prices having fallen Is and 40 Per cent
One can now purchase groceries at about
Eastern prices and freight added, In all
the Palouse towns, but IL takes cash TO
buy any kind of merchandise
The farmers are changing their methods
as much a. are the merchants Hereto
fore every farmer tried 10 Guido his neigh
Dor In the amount OF ground titled, and
al the profits Of the farm were used to
buy more land, thus increasing the size OF
the farm until many farmers who, until
few years ago, owned but loo acres, now
own from 1000 TO 1900 acres. With the
present low price of grain and the high
price which farm Iaborers have always
been paid, this extensive farming has
proven . losing venture and most OF the
large farms will be divided into smaller
tracts and rented out. ]. n. Weldon. iiv-
ing near Rosalia, has farm containing
LOO acres. He has usually cultivated
about !, 300 acres of this and rented the re-
mainder. Mr.. Weldon recently told the
observation-disclosures correspondent that it
had taken all the cash he had been able to
get On his wheat to pay his farmhands
and although he had = good portion Of
bis crop. about 80 600 bushels, on hand yet,
he could raise no money on il and it was
with great difficulty that he had been able
TO get enough TO pay his laoorers. He
said that in the future he would rent out
all his land except what he could till with
the aid of one man. This is the opinion
Of nearly all the large farmers. many of
whom have made the same declarations,
and next year will see more land offered
to rent than will be accepted by renters,
and it viii be no surprise If thousands of
acres are ''summer-fallowed." because
there will be no one to cultivate them.
Farm wages have always been high here.
and it is generally believed that big re-
next year. Several farmers have expressed
themselves as in favor OF a convention of
farmers to regulate wages, and it Is quite
likely some definite and united action
will be taken in the matter. Farm hands
have always been paid 81 per day for ordl-
nary farm work and from $3.50 to So per
day during harvest aud threshing. In the
Mississippi valley farm hands are paid
from So to SIS per month and $L25 to 81
in harvest. While the Eastern farmer
sells his wheat at an average price of about
IS cents per bushel. the Washington
farmer is thankful for 50 cents per bushel.
To use the words of a prominent farmer,
Wages must be brought down to conform
to the price of wheat. We cannot afford to
pay double the wages for raising 5o-cent
wheat that Eastern farmers pay for raising
75-cent and 81 wheat" During the past
fall some Kansas men who offered to work
for $50 per month after harvest were given
work, while men from this country and
the Dakotas who insisted on 81 per day
and board for hauling wheat. blowing and
other farm work could not get employ
ment, and many of the latter went TO the
Midwinter Fair by the box car route.
This is considered only forerunner of
what will come, and some farmers are
talking of sending East for hands, as IL is
known many hundreds of good farmhands
would be glad 10 come West and hire by
the year for $50 per month.