Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1909-09-10
GREAT DEMAND
FOR STOCK HOGS
Farmers Around Pullman Trying in
Vain to Secure Hogs to Eat
Wasting Grain

Some times it pays to advertise
and some times it does not. Ed
Priest is fully convinced of the truth
of both these statements and there
by hangs a tale 1t is the sad tale
of hog" or many hogs. Announce
ment was recently made that hogs
were needed to eat the grain which
had fallen down in the fields around
Pullman during the heavy rains of
July 26 and 27. The anneuncemen
was made that Ed Priest would go
to Joseph, Oregon, and get 400 head
of stock hogs to be brought to Pull
man and sold to farmers. That was
true. At least it was the plan of
Mr.. Priest at that time.
But the fact was too we'll adver-
tised. Every one who had hogs to
sell got the idea that farmers near
Pullman Just had to have the hogs"
and would pay any price asked for
them. Prices went soaring and when
Mr.. Priest went into Oregon last
week to try to buy several carloads
of hogs he found the hogs all right,
but he also found that the farmers
were wise to the strong demand,
and had boosted prices out of
sight" They asked nine and even
ten cents per pound, live weight for
their hogs. Mr.. Priest could not pay
those prices and after travelling ex-
tensively in Oregon and Idaho, 90
ing as far into the latter state as
Glenns Ferry, he returned to Pull
man, "hogless. " In telling Of his eN-
perience Mr.. Priest said:
Il am fully convinced that adyer-
tising pays, but | know now that it
hogs before the advertising was done
| would have made nice thing of
it, for | received more than 100 let
ters from farmers asking for hogs
and could have sold many thousand
head. But the men from whom |
expected to buy, learned before |
got there of the demand for hogs
here and they began boosting their
prices until they got them entirely
out of reach | visited the man from
whom | had expected to buy 400
head of hogs. He did not know me
or from whence I came. When | be-
gan talking to him about hogs he
told me his prices and when | told
him they were too high he said: i
can get that price, all right. The
farmers at Pullman, Wash, are crazy
for hogs and will pay any price we
ask ! told the man he was mistak-
en-, but he rushed into the house and
got a Spokane paper and read me
an account of how anxious farmers
were for hogs. There are good
many stock hogs in that country but
owners have such inflated ideas of
the demand for hogs that they will
not listen to reason and are destined
to keep their hogs and fatten them
on high-priced grain and sell them
later for less than what they are
asking now
Mr.. Priest is still investigating con-
ditions and searching for hogs and
ii any hogs can be obtained at reason
able prices will import several car
loads. He can get hogs in the corn
states" of the middle west, but it is
reported that cholera is raging in
many of those states and he will not
take any chances of importing hogs
that may be afflicted with cholera or
other dangerous or contagious dis
eases. Owing to the shortage in the
corn yield in some of the middle
states stock hogs can be bought quite
reasonable but no one wants to take
the chance of bringing hog cholera
into the Palouse country. In the
meantime tens of thousands of bush
els of good wheat that would fatten
thousands of head of hogs, is lying
dat on tie ground and will soon be
past saving.
NJ