The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1909-05-07
DOLLAR WHEAT HAS
COME TO STAY
IN LESS THAN FIVE YEARS CEN.
TRIAL CANADA WILL BE CALLED
UPON TO SUPPLY THE
UNITED STATES.

umns that dollar wheat" had come to
stay, and that the time was not far
distant when the central provinces of
Canada-Manitoba, Saskatchewan and
Alberta-would be called upon to sup
ply a large Fart of the wheat con.
sumption in the United States, there
were many who laughed at the predic-
lions and ridiculed the idea of wheat
reaching the dollar point and staying
there. Both Of these predictions have
come to pass. Dollar wheat Is here
and 1t Is not only here, but Is here to
stay; and at the same time, whatever
unpleasant sensations 1t may arouse
in the representative American, Cen.
trail Canada is already being called
upon to help keep up the bread sup-
ply, and within the next five years
will, as James J. Hill says, literally
become the b~read-basket of our in
creasing millions"
There are few men in the United
States better acquainted with the
wheat situation than Mr.. Hill, and
there are few men, If any, who are in
clined to be more conservative in
their expressed views. Yet 1t was this
greatest of the worlds railroad men
who said a few days ago that the
price of wheat will never be substan-
TALLY lower than 1t is today"-and
when 1t Is taken into consideration
that at that time wheat had scared to
S1.20, well above the dollar mark, the
statement Ia peculiarly significant,
and doubly significant is the fact that
in this country the population is in
creased at the ratio of 60 per cent,
while the yield of wheat and other
products is increasing at the rate of
only 25 per cent. For several years
past the cost of living has been stead
lily increasing in the United States,
and this wide difference in production
and consumption is the reason.
This difference must be supplied by
the vast and fertile grain regions Of
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
There is now absolutely no doubt Of
this. Even the press Of the country
comedies the fact. Results have shown
that no other country in the world can
ever hope to equal those provinces as
wheat producers, and that no other
country a produce as hard or as
good wheat. Said a great grain man
recently, IF United States wheat main
tains the dollar mark, Canada wheat
for in every way 1t is superior to our
homegrown grain"
With these facts steadily impinging
their truth Upon u rapidly growing
population, 1t is interesting to note
just what possibilities as a wheat
grower" our Northern neighbor pos
sesses. While the United States will
never surrender her prestige in any
manufacturing or commercial line, she
must very soon acknowledge, and with
az much grace as she can, that she is
bound to be beaten as a grain pro.
Queer. 1t must be conceded that a
great deal of the actual truth about
the richness of Canada's grain produc.
ing area has been kept out of sight,
as Mr.. Hill says, by the strenuous eff
forts of our newspapers and maya
zines to stem the exodus of or best
American farmers into those regions
1t is a Tact that up to the present
time, although Canada has already
achieved the front rank in the worlds
grain producers, the fertile prairies
of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and AL
berta have as yet scarcely been
scratched. Millions of acres, free fol
the taking, still await our American
farmers; and when these millions are
gone there are other millions in re
gions not yet opened up to immigra
ton. A few years ago the writer, whC
has been through those wheat prov
inces several times, laughed with 9th
ers of IL people at the broad
statement that Canada was bound tc
become John Bulls Bread Basket
Now, after a last trip (and though he
Is a stanch American) he frankly be
lieves hat not only will Canada be
come John Bulls bread basket, but il
will within the next decade at leas'
BECOME THE BREAD-BASKET OF
THE UNITED STATES. Perhaps thi.
may be a hard truth for Aemricans t
swallow, but 1t Is a truth, neverthe
less. And it is at least a partial com
%pensation to know that hundreds O
thousands of our farmers are profit
ing by the fact by becoming producer
in this new country.
The papers of this country have nat
urally made the most of the brief pc
riod Of depression which swept owe
Canada, but now there is not a sign O
1t left from Winnipeg to the coast
Never have the three great wheat rails
ing provinces been more prosperous
Capital is coming into the countr.
from all quarters, taking the form O
cash for investment, industrial cor
Germs seeking locations, and. best O
all, substantial and sturdy immigrant
come to help populate the prairiei
Towns are booming; scores of ne,
elevators are springing up; railroad
are sending out their branch lines 4
all directions; thousands of prosper
Gus farmers are leaving their prairi
shelters for new and modern homes