Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-08-26
THE PRICE OF WHEAT.

THE PRICE OF WHEAT.
The vagaries of the wheat market
are beyond the ken of the average
individual. 1t has been said, and
with a good deal of truth, that tho
price of wheat is high when the
farmers have none to sell, and low
Just as soon as the new wheat comes
into the market. There is no ques-
ton but the flooding of the market
with new wheat has tendency ma
terially to lower the price, and tha'
if the wheat could be held off tho
market and be let into the channen
of trade gradually, it would have :
steadying effect on prices, although
it is doubtful whether combination
of wheat growers to maintain pricen
will ever be practicable, for the reas
on that there would be such an in
finite number of partners in the COZ
poration, and the financing of tn"
crop to meet the temporary need'
of the producers would be job to-
big for an ordinary concern to IN
dertake.
The wheat growers of great sec
ton of the spring wheat countr:
live pretty we'll up to their receipts
A good many of them obligate them
selves in the spring and summe
season for funds with which to bur
more land, to buy seed, to get farm
work done, and for living expense"
until such times as the crop is gath
cred. The result is that many farm
ers who raise wheat are compelled
to dispose of it as soon as 1t is
threshed, to meet obligations ana
debts already incurred. The farm
er might store his wheat and borrow
against it, but short time loans at
fairly high rates of interest, with
expenses of storing, insuring and
keeping, would likely eat up what
ever advances there might be in the
price through the holding Of the
wheat. And this plan would involve
the finding of funds enough to carry
over, off the market, a considerable
share of the spring crop, which runs
into the hundreds Of millions OF
bushels.
We think if the farmers of the
state would limit their acreage OF
wheat to such a size as could be
maintained in connection with d.
versified farm, where some live stock,
chickens, dairy cows, and other pro-
ducts could be raised, to sell and
meet contingent expenses, leaving
the wheat crop as a sort or reserve
for the farmer, it would obviate the
condition that necessitate the i'm
mediate sale of the crop. The
wheat crop natures all at the same
time and goes on the market with
rush. The crop of diversified
farm natures all through the year
and is a source of weekly or monthly
revenue.
So far as the plan proposed by the
Society of Equity - concerned, we
fear it is impracticable unless the
wheat raisers change their method
of farming They must be able to
finance the crop themselves before 1t
will be possible to hold it on the
market until an agreed time of sale.
Neither do we see where legislation
will be effective in fixing the crop
price. We believe, however, that
with the better financial condition
of the farmers = of the state, the
building of granaries in which to
store the grain, and the removal Of
the necessity for rushing the wheat
to market, a change will come nat
urally in conditions. The farmers
and wheat raisers must largely work
out their own salvation. The man
who sells his products under fore
ed sale takes what he can get. The
man whose financial condition is
such that he can hold his crop till
he chooses to sell it and who pro-
vides a place to store it, has the
consolation of knowing that he is
under no compulsion to sell, and If
the price does not suit him he can
hold his grain in store. We think
Eit is mistake to believe that the