Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1904-03-24
AGRICULTURAL COMPETITION

| - ivy SNsISSs ~s'ssS'~s
Minneapolis, Mimi, March 2O.-A
question often discussed by the farm.
| ers of the Northwest is the difference
in price of wheat in the United States
and Canada. It has been generally
supposed that a much higher price
was paid south Of the boundary than
north. The tremendous expansion of
, wheat raising in the Canadian West
and the emigration Of thousands of
Middle-West farmers to that section
has given the question an interest
that it did not have before. Then.
too, the agitation of the subject of
reciprocity with Canada has added to
the interest. because those who CD.
pose such reciprocity argue that lit
would be injurious to the American
farmer on account of the Cheap"
wheat that would flow in from Canada.
A little investigation Of the subject
led to the rather surprising discovery
that until the close of navigation on
the Great Lakes the price paid to the
farmer for wheat is as high in Can.
ada as in the United States. if not
higher. In fact, it is higher at Ger.
tain stations 1t appears that at a
given distance from the lake termin.
ais a higher price is paid in Canada
than in the United States. This is be-
cause freight rates are lower in West
ern Canada than in the Western Unit.
n6 Gfofoc D,,t AL, 80
opposite sides Of the line having the
same freight rates to terminals, it ap-
pears that prior to Nov. Is, the Cana.
dian price is slightly higher than the
American. This is probably due to
the eagerness of the buyers to get
as much wheat as possible out of the
country before navigation closes. The
higher prices prevailing on the Amer
lean side after the close of naviga.
ton are due to the fact that the close
of navigation does not restrict the
outlets for the wheat as it does in
Canada. The growth of the -four
milling industry in Canada, the crea
ton of an elevator system having
large storing capacity, and the build.
ing Of second and third transcon.
tinental railway. all of which are now
in process, will remove this disadvan-
tage. One of the main objects of the
government in building a line of the
Grand Trunk from Moncton, N. B., to
the Winnipeg, 1900 miles, is to secure
cheap all-rail route for wheat from
the Canadian West to the Atlantic.
Thus, even in winter time, there will
soon be no superiority of the Ameri.
can wheat market to the Canadian.
The result will be that Liverpool will
control prices for both countries even
more than now, so long as both have
large surpluses of wheat to send
abroad. Under such conditions the
movement of wheat back and forth
across the line would be a matter of
convenience and would no more dis
turb the price level than the diversion
OF Kansas wheat from the gulf 10
Minneapolis, when the Minneapolis
mills are short of wheat disturbs
prices in Minnesota. Another fact
remarked by those who advocate reci-
procity is that the tendency of North
western farmers to go out of wheat rails. |
ing is merely repetition of history.
They hold that when the time comes
when the United States shall not pro.
duce enough wheat for it's own con-
sumption, if it ever does. wheat will
be crop so comparatively unprofita.
BILE that free Canadian wheat would be |
welcomed.
In considering the general question |
OF the effect of reciprocity with Can.
ada on the farmer, it is noteworthy |
that we now export to Canada $21,-
5SO,OOO worth of agricultural prod
ucts, as compared with imports of &c.
100000 Canada is a fine market for
many OF our agricultural products, and |
with freer trade would be a better
one. The entire agricultural produc-
ton of Canada is so small compared
with that of the United States that
it is even held by some that the whole
of it could be marketed in the United
understanding manifestly impos-
sible-withOut disturbing prices. Il
6O.OOO,OOO bushels of Canadian wheat
were imported it would only mean that
1T would be re-exported, or else would
cause 60.000,000 bushels of American
wheat to be xported-because there
is a good market for the entire sur
pluses of both countries. The total
export of eggs from Canada to all the
world in 1903 did not amount to per
cent of the American production. For
every dollars worth of cattle exported
from Canada last year there were S..
600 worth in the United States. Would
h. u