The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-05-25
Continued From Page One.

No. !, and doubt If Duluth receive
one car OF wheat in one hundred tina
VIII grade No. /. At Winnipeg m
judgment is that Winnipeg No. is a
good milling wheat as our No. 1. Thei
No. is better wheat than our No.
} and must weigh as much per bushel a.
our No. /, SO you see this is a differ
ence in price Of about lac, per bushe
when you take grades into considera.
ton. And the difference spreads
where the Canadian farmer sells IL
local market and he gets about zoe
less for his wheat than we do. Now
just a few words as to what he car
buy with a bushel of wheat. For 22E
| bushels OF wheat he can buy a binder
For about 1875 bushels Of wheat he car
buy a double box two-horse wagon
We can buy better wagon for
eighty-five bushels OF wheat These
are just two articles the farmer must
buy and the other farm machinery is
In about the same proportion. For
one bushel Of wheat he can buy two
gallons OF kerosene. For one bushel
or wheat we can buy nearly seven gall
| Ions of kerosene. Their gallon is
about 20 per cent larger than ours.
For one bushel OF wheat 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 a busf1el of
wheat. (And I 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 farm
ers must buy will range at about
similar prices. I sent my son a cor
duroy, sheep-lined overcoat for
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, and still The H sr-
aid and other papers and some farm
ers say we are being robbed by high
tariffs. trusts, etc. The Herald says In
the same editorial that Canada is a
low tariff country. If it is the U. S.
looks good to me.
II the Canadian farmer sells fax,
barley or oats to pay tor what he has
to buy he will have to sell a much
greater quantity that we do as fax,
barley and oats are relatively cheaper
there than wheat.
It's still raining and If I was not
writing I would be sleeping and my
time is of little value today and with
your permission I will try to answer
the following from part Of the edi-
torial in the May 1 issue 0f The
Herald and will make some compari- |
sons as to prices in the past and pres
ent:
Nov, with reference to the remand |
er Of The Tribune's paragraph, let The
Tribune explain in what manner the |
price Of wheat and corn and oats and |
pork and beef to the American farmer
is enhanced by charging the farmer a |
crimlnally high and utterly needless
duty on every yard of cloth that enters
into his suit of clothes and every bit
of bingham that his wife uses I'm her
dress and every spoonful of sugar that
he puts in his Coffee
viii start with the self binder as
that is one Of the big trusts that is |
robbing the farmer" My first binder |
cost me 400 bushels of wheat at Hud- |
son, Wis. The last one 1 purchased |
last summer at Gilby N. D., and il /
cost me $50 bushels of wheat. or sew
enty-ffve bushels Of flax Had / paid |
for my first binder in flax it would
have taken over 800 bushels of fax.
And had the dealer set up two binders !
and said to me, Take the 1878 binder
for nothing and I'll pay the freight or
give me $40 for the 1909 binder" he
would now have the 1878 binder to
look at. My first gang pIow cost me
about 40 bushels of wheat my last
one seventy bushels of wheat. And if
the dealers would fill Third street full
Of gang plows such as my first one
and say to the farmers, come and get
them for nothing, or pay us present
prices for the gang plows of today
you would have to pay the drayman
for hauling those first gang plows to
the scrap heap, for no farmer with any
brains would haul them home to pillow
with. He could not afford to. Now, I
but want to say that the farmers can
Il
modities he has to buy at present with
4 b1shel of wheat fax, oats or barley
Or with steer hog, lamb, butter or
eggs then he could in any period in
my forty years of raising them and
buying supplies for the farm. And IL
can't prove 1t by the market records
Of the past Til vote the democratic
ticket straight at the coming election.
do not know of any way to judgeJ
the future only by the past and as we
have only had four years of demo-
cratic 'Iow" tariff and administration
In my business lifetime, that is the
only period I can make comparison
with, and I want to take up some
more of your space by making some
comparisons as to that period of cheapl
everything but money. You could buy
binders cheap that is sure. But 1t took
from half more to double as much of .
the products Of the farm to buy bind
er, pillow or wagon or other farm ma