The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-09-30
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Tacoss. Sept 2I---fsp~eiai gE-Aaexsnder
EsI4iae. Baafsur. Gnsasri@ 4 10. 5 resident
manager. hes returned from three
weeks trip through the wheat belts Of
Washington and Eastern oregon- He
says:
he wheat yfeaf this season for Ire
faclF1e Northwest viii he about 2. 90. 90
Dasasis. being an asesags OF aooas twenty
p1sAess 70 the acre DE this amount
about ]. nk}. 01 bushels Will cone frona the
Willamette vaIsey. Or. and the balance
from Washington and Eastern Oregon.
ne Big Bend c0untFy yield - Tar from
being up 10 the average this season
Waited some farms where the average
Yield viii not run over twelve 80 hftsen
oushsis, and | saw other farms that will
aysrags forty-1lvs and City bushels per
acre
OF wheat His figures are interesting.
ne latest ofh eial government estimate
rom Austria. which onght 10 bs reliable.
places tie overrroduction OF wheat this
year NJ 19uo.tEk9 Bushels: that Is, there
was raised this season &c. 90 Geo bushels
more than the people OF the world viii be
able TO consume. % cnu~e, by the side Of
this oar little 2. Co. GO does not cut much
OF nEuve. 50 far as regulating the price
IN Eastern Washington imagine that By
holding their wheat they viii force MP the
market This reminds me of Portland
man who shipped . cargo of wheat asrosd
and was not able to get his price for u.
He was told ne would have 70 sell his
whea; at the port 20 which the snip carry
ing the wheat vas ordered. so ias decided
10 hold bis wheat and staTye the people
into buying at his price,"
0verproducticn Is considered to be the
primal cause Of the low price of wheat.
Tbs brought up the cost Of production and
msrketing.
We have TO. par more freight on orr
wheas--that Is, to get IL 10 the consumer
than any other wheat-grcwfng district IN
the world. Ii costs approximately y
cents Per bnshei to ship wheat from Puget
sound 10 Liverpool. However, this is
cent per bnshei less than it costs 10 ship
II from Portland. and this difference on
cargo Is about $1,000 in favor OF Puget
sound. Yes. ultimately, 1t would seem all
wheat raised in Eastern Oregon and Wash
ingfon would 60 10 market via Puget
sound The difference in favor OF Puget
sound. however, does not result from
higher insurance rates over the Columbia
river bar. The risks are about the same,
but II costs much more to reach Portland.
going mp the Columbia river. than 10 does
TO come to Puget sound. Beside. vessels
have 10 wait frequently in order to get out
OF the Columbia river. Wheat Is nov
worth about 30 cents In Liverpool. Twenty
five cents TOR ocean freight, insurance. etc.
leaves 40 cents here Fourteen cents rail-
road freight leaves Is cents, and cents per
bushtl for sacks leaves % cents. Then
there Is a cents warehouse charges, and
with ineldentals out the farmer gets about
- cents per bushel AZ present prices. It
costs - cents per oushel under the most
favorable circumstances TO raise wheat in
this section Of country. Small farmers
have 10 pay even more.
This would entail loss of cents per
bushsl for every bushel of wheat farmer
raised. Figured in the cost Of production
Is also per acre for piowfng the ground,
about % cents for bushel of seeding
wheat and 10 cents per bushel for harvest
ing. Thus 10 will be seen that the cost of
harvesting is the principal Item"
Harvest hands are paid SO per day or
equivalent 10 s. per day. including meals.
Still. under the discoursging circum-
stances. Mr.. Baltic reports the farmers
holding on tsnaciously. But. should the
price of wheat remain down for another
season, he says many farmers will reduce
their acreage He adds:
s'In the cost of production the interest
on the farmers investment Is not figured
q
his place he is pretty sure TO 60 bankrupt
If prices do not come up. The prospect IS
not encouraging and the wheat Market is
very sick"
OF the 20.o0o, 900 bushels yield in Eastern
Oregon and Washington, Mr.. Baillie says.
@, ooo, 900 bushels will be marketed through
Tacoma aud about Loco, 900 through Seat
tie. Had NOT the crop been so poor in the
Big Bend country. which is tapped by the
Great Northern railroad. the amount of
wheat shipped through Seattle would have
been much greater prospectlvely. Port
land will get about 1000, 900 bushels. or as
much as the Sound, beside the s,e00. 600
from the Willamette valley. If railroad
connections would permit. the bulk shipped
via tho Sound would be much larger
However, Ii will be over LOCO 600 bushels
larger this year than last, and last year
was the banner year in wheat exports for
Puget sound.
These figures leave 5000 600 bushels still
unaccounted for. of that amount it Ia
estimated that 400. 900 bushels are manu-
featured into -four for home consumption
and |. 30 600 bushels were last year man
ufaetured into -four tor shipment 10 China
and Japan, thus leaving /, 500 900 20 ? CO.,
90 10 be held over or used for seeding pur-
poses.
Mr.. Raillis says the price Of -four Is as
cheap Ia Liverpool as on Puget sound, and
adds that dour manufacturers have 10
make large reductions in their surplus
product when shipping Ii abroad.