Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1900-01-20
diversified Farming.

al. methods OF FARMING III vogue III Jne
r.io,se country. Our readers are aware
~ ~ farming in that section is simply
.,,best raising. Many farmers devote
.hom.elves so exclusively to this line of
orl, that they are obliged to purchase
chair butter, eggs and meat from the
,,orchants in the neighboring villages.
This NAV seem strange to Western
washington farmers, but it is not as
strange as it may appear. 1t costs
something like soc to Soc bushel on
tho average to produce bushel of wheat
IN that section. Two years ago the price
~ wheat was zoe over there, and
the farmers made good deal more
money than was taken ont of Klondike
mines last year. If the price of wheat
would remain permanently above soc
those farmers would soon be rich. They
could be excused for not paying any at.
tention to poultry and live stock, at
7east SO long as the land produced wheat
as it does now. But atipresent the price
of wheat at the elevators in the Inland
Empire is only about SIC and farmers
are feeling blue. The cause of the low
price is the increased cost of ocean trans
portation due to the lack of transporta-
ton facilities for the rapidly growing
commerce on the Pacific, and the gener-
al upward tendency of prices of every
thing. The farmers are naturally anxi-
GUS about the situation, and they are
discussing the advisability of trying to
change their system OF farming so as not
to be so dependent on the price of wheat.
Once before in recent years, dnring the
panic Of '93 and '94, prices went even
lower than they are at present, and the
question naturally arises whether it is
safe to rely entirely on a single crop.
Since this discussion arose over some
criticisms made by some of the business
men in the city, it is but fair to call at
tention to the responsibility these same
business men have in the matter. Dur
ing the hard times, when wheat prices
were very low, the farmers OF the Pa
louise country turned their attention to
live stock. In short time the supply
of livestock products exceeded the de-
mand. 1t is well established fact that
when there is a surplus of any com
modify is it governed by the price which
this surplus can be sold for elsewhere.
AS we are a long way from the markets
where their surplus had then been dis
posed of, the price OF live stock products
went to ridiculously low figure. While
prices were 50 low that farmers were in
sore distress, we are informed that GER
tain packers in this state, in buying hogs
paid considerably more for hogs in Mon
tana than for the same class of hogs in
the Palouse country. The reason they
did SO was that the Montana farmers had
an Eastern outlet for their hogs, while
the Palouse country farmer was COM
pietey at the mercy of the packers.
There IS no question that the packers
could, at any time during the panic,
nave paid farmers price for hogs that
would have enabled the farmers to make
some money. This would have caused
many farmers to continue to raise hogs.
'but now the farmers are afraid to en-
gage extensively in live stock raising,
because their former experience was so
ulsasterous. The packers, by a short
sighted business policy, killed the goose
'hat laid the golden egg. OF course we
are aware that most so-called business
men consider it perfectly legitimate to
squeeze the sponge as dry as possible,
ne matter what the consequences but is
'hls good business sense? We could
mention creamery in the Palouse coun-
Try that paid several cents above the
ruling prices for butter fat, thereby los
ing money for a time, simply in order to
keep the farmers from quitting the bust
ness This creamery is still running, and
mas made back more than it lost. We
would suggest to those who handle live
stock products as business that they
Keep IN mind the fact that they can do
something in times of low prices to pre-
vent the destruction of the business in
winch they are engaged
AS to diversified farming in the Pa
rouse country, there is much to be said
vi Doth sides of the question. The sub
!sct Is too large for an editor to handle
III us entirety in a single issuse, or even
III several issues. We shall therefore
not attempt to cover the whole ground
AZ once, but shall from time to time con-