Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-05-26
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HEARING FROM THE FARMERS

HEARING FROM THE FARMERS
We are beginning to hear from the
farmers. The insurgent newspaper
men, the democrats, demagogues anu
tho theorists have heen shouting cal
amity, and telling the farmers OF tnls
state that a tariff on food products is
not at all necessary for them. Emln-
ent among the preachers OF low tar
if or free trade has been the Grano
Forks Herald. 1t sought a few days
ago to controvert the Tribune's argu-
ment that the republican adminlstra'
tion and measures had brought unex'
ampled prosperity to the country by
insisting that it would have happen
ed anyway. And now Hon. j. w.
Scott of Gilby, an old timer in the
valley, a hard-headed and prosperous
farmer and one who keeps in touch
with national affairs, writes the Her.
aid and takes it to task for it's efforts
to delude and deceive the farmers OF
the state in behalf of a few insurgent
candidates for office. In a recent
communication to the Herald Mr..
Scott says:
Gilby, N. D., May 16.
TO the Editor:
It's raining here today and l have
some leisure time and will use it to
ask you to investigate the northwest
Canadian wheat markets and correct
a statement made editorially in Fri
days Herald that wheat was prac-
tically the same price there as here.
| will tell you and the readers of the
Herald the difference in prices there
ana here and make some comparisons
as to prices and what a bushel OF
wheat will buy here of some of the
commodities we farmers buy and
what it will buy there. First, the
Winnipeg prices quoted daily in the
Herald are not the prices wheat is
selling for at Winnipeg, but are the
prices delivered at Fort William or
Port Arthur on Lake Superior, about
one hundred miles nearer tidewater
than Duluth. The last issue of the
Herald quotes Winnipeg No. 1 north
ern at 9Shc, No. at 96Ac. Duluth
cash close: No. 1 northern $1.10%,
No. 2 $1.0SB, which is 12c per bushel
in our favor, with difference in quail
ity not considered. If my memory
serves me right, and l investigated
this matter on the Winnipeg grain ex-
change last fall, their No. l must
weigh two pounds per bushel more
than Duluth No. l and l doubt if
Duluth receives one car of wheat in
one hundred that will grade No. l.
At Winnipeg my Judgment is that
Winnipeg No. l is as good milling
wheat as our No. /. Their No. 2 is
better wheat than our No. / and must
weigh as much per bushel as our No.
/, so you see this is a difference in
price of about 15c per bushel when
you take grades into consideration.
And the difference spreads where the
Canadian farmer sells in the local
market and he gets about zoe less for
his wheat than we do. Now just a
few words as to what he can buy
with a bushel of wheat. For 225
bushels OF wheat he can buy bind
er. For about 1875 bushels of wheat
he can buy a double box two-horse
wagon. We can buy better wagon
for IS bushels of wheat. These are
just two articles the farmer must
buy and the ether farm machinery is
in about the same proportion. For
one bushel of wheat he can buy two
gallons OF kerosene. For one bushel
OF wheat we can buy nearly seven
gallons OF kerosene. Their gallon is
about 20 per cent larger than ours.
For one bushel of wheat I can buy
over six gallons of gasoline delivered
on my farm. My son, who lives in
Saskatchewan, can buy less than
three gallons OF gasoline in barrel lots
at his railroad station for bushel of
wheat. (And buy my gasoline from
the Standard Oil Co.-some people
say the biggest trust in our country
but they save me many dollars as
they are the only company that will
sell to farmers and users of gasoline
at the same price as to dealers.) The
foregoing is just a fair comparison
and nine out of ten commodities the
farmer must buy will range at about
similar prices. sent my son a cor
duroy sheep-lined overcoat for a
Christmas present last Christmas.
That coat cost me fifteen bushels of
wheat. At the price my son. could
buy the same kind of a coat at Swift
Current, Sask., he would have to give
about :twenty-six bushels of wheat,
md sti1l the Herald and o+hor M 1,ora