Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1909-12-31
FARMER NOT TO BLAME.
Mayor Pratt of Spokane Takes Excen
lions to Statements of
j. ]. Hill.


Nelson S. Pratt, mayor of Spokane
a successful farmer and lumberman !,
the Mississippi valley and the Pacific
northwest, takes exception to the state.
ment by James j. Hill, who saws the
present high cost of living is CHARGE.
able to the extravaganza, carelessness
and lack of thrift of the Agricultural
classes of the country. Mayor Pratt
said:
81 am more than surprised that
man with the understanding and OBJ.
servation of Mr.. Hill should undertake
to make such sweeping charges, in view
OF the fact that the methods of a omar.
ter OF century ago are not to be com.
pared to the present systematic mode of
farming. There is nothing to bear ont
Mr.. Hill s contentious.
"As the result of a recent visit r.
some of the largest districts in the
middle western and Pacific states
am prepared to say there has never
been time when general farming was
conducted along such economical lines
as at present. In fact, the methods
of today are marvels to those who
farmed land in the sos. Had we been
as thorough then as are the farmers of
today, we certainly would have been
equally successful. Agricultural col
leges and experiment stations have
been and are important factors.
cit is not overstating the case when
[ say that the present-day farmer con.
ducts his operations along the same
lines that prevail in a well -organized
business establishment, and as a re-
suit he is making a good living, edu-
eating his children and putting money
into substantial improvements, as well
as into the bank.
cit is idle talk to charge the high
cost of living to the farmer, as it must
be plain to any one who has studied
the subject that at least three causes
contribute to increasing the prices of
the necessities of life. The large pro-
duction of gold during the last few
years is an important factor, in that
it has resulted in making money cheap,
and, to a great extent, no doubt is re.
sponsible for increases in prices. Cheap
money means high prices.
! Perhaps the greatest factor for the
present high cost of living is the tar
if, which, I believe, enables manufac.
turers to combine and compel the con.
sumers to pay enormous and unreason-
able prices. Such farm products as
beef and pork are controlled entirely
by the so-called beef trust, while but
ter, eggs, cheese and poultry are
handled by cold storage companies and
kindred combinations, and the prices
of cereals are fixed largely by the
speculative boards of trade and stock
exchanges.
GAS matter of fact, I found while
in the Mississippi valley, a short time
ago, that the prices of butter, eggs,
cheese and poultry are nearly as high
there as they are on the Pacific coast,
where the demand at present is far
greater than the supply. 1 also learned
from reliable sources that these
products are almost entirely controlled
by combinations and not by the pro-
ducers.
-"I hold no brief for the farmers of
the country, but from an experience
of almost a lifetime, until about Is
years ago, as farmer, born and raised
on farm, know that the system en-
ployed during my time was no COM
parison to the present method of farm
ing. Intensive farming, by the use of
water supplied by scientific means, was
then largely an experiment, and So
called dry farming, or more properly
soil and moisture conservation, was in
its very infancy. These methods are
successes today, as is evidenced by crop
gains, taking acre for acre.
81 challenge Mr.. Hill or any one else
to show any period prior to 1894, when
they were larger acre yields of grain
and fruits, grasses and roots than at
the present time, and with this I
would also ask him to point to any
year when the farmers were more pros
porous than they are today. Extrava-
gance, carelessness and lack of thrift
and progress and prosperity do not go
hand in hand, and that fact alone
answers Mr.. Hill broad statement,
which L am charitable enough to say,
probably was made by him for the
want of something to say in fixing
the causes leading to the present high
cost of living