Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1910-01-28

pleted, the artificial stimulus TO
population and so the demand for
bread, will disappear. 1t is there
fore unsafe to argue upon con
tlnuance of the present rate of in
crease and to prophesy serious re-
suits as a consequence. Whether
we shall need to feed a population
OF 2O0,000,000 in 1850 is very un-
certain. And, further. whether this
population viii continue to de-
mand e 1-2 bushels per capita of
wheat or will have substituted
other foods for part of this de-
mand, is also a matter of the
greatest uncertainty: the per cap
tia consumption of wheat has
shifted in this country as much as
50 per cent in a dozen years.
Price.
But perhaps of even greater i'm
mediate Importance to the general
problem Of the American wheat
market is the question Of price. :"
Let us agree that our production
is low, and also that it is very
desirable to increase it as much
as possible Practically the condi-
ton which will produce this result
is matter largely, of prices. If
the average yield today is 1873
bushels per acre, and the aver
age cost, as estimated by the de
partment of agriculture, is $1,000
per acre, "dollar wheat does
not encourage the average farmer
to increase the cost of production.
Unless the increased yield can be
| obtained at decreasing cost per
bushel. he has nothing to put into
the land. AS a matter Of fact the
price Of farm products fell so low
IN the last twenty years of the
nineteenth century that every rea-
son was given the farmer to re.
fraln from land Improvement if it
meant any additional cost. We are
witnessing today an upward move
ment i'll agricultural prices, and
the effect is already apparent in
the awakening of an interest in
agriculture. But the present rise
i'll prices is not peculiar to agri-
culture; it is part of an upward
movement in the general level of
prices, due primarily to the in
creased production Of gold since
1897, and the expanding volume
of credit based upon it. The gen
eral level of wholesale prices has
risen about 40 per cent between
1897 and 1908. Wheat growing
can profit from such a rise only
if the price of wheat (and other
agricultural prices shall rise
higher than the general level.
There may be reason to hope that
such condition is beginning, but
as yet the advance in wheat is
only slightly if any greater than
the advance i'll general prices; and
the fact that the world s stored
supply is today greater than for
the past two years is not favor
able to an immediate advance.
If wheat growing becomes suff-
GENTLY profitable there will follow
an increase IN acreage from lands
which cannot profitably be devo-
ted to wheat at lower prices; and
also there will arise willingness
to increase temporarily the cost
by improving lands for the sake
of larger yield per acre. 1t is
in this way that the larger yield
must come, and without an inn
provement in prices it cannot
come-taking the country as a
whole.
Moreover, the attitude of gov
eminent has not been helpful in
this particular. In order to estab-
lish our industries and develop
our manufacturing power, we have
given great governmental encour-
agement to manufacturing. The
result is that through tariff aid
great industries have developed,
and through combination Of indus
tries and elimination of domestic
competition permitted by govern
ment, we have more quickly than
any other people become a great
manufacturing nation, and with
largest capital and power in the
world. Today, in many fields of
production our factories have
reached the limit of profitable
size and capital investment under
normal conditions. They are able
to supply our markets and such
Of those Of Europe as they may
get in competition with European
rivals. But rather than yield the
artificial stimulus and advantage
given by government, they have