Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1917-08-23
E DIT @ RIA
WHEAT PRICES md THE FARMER.

WHEAT PRICES N Il FARMER.
Washington dispatches announce that the food control
department has virtually taken over, or is about to take over,
the entire wheat crop of the country upon a basis Of two dollars
a.bushel at the principal market centers.
This would eliminate the speculator, of course, which
would be that much gained, but, unless the prices OF the things
Which the farmer must buy are regulated upon a similar basis,
the result of the departments action would be an injustice to
the farmer.
Wheat prices were unduly inflated, it is believed, but since
public agitation has been SO pronounced, and since it has been
obvious for some time that some sort OF regulation would come
out of the discussion, it must be assumed that prices have
attained to their natural level.
Throughout July cash wheat was ranging around three
dollars a bushel. The top price was in excess of three dollars.
August prices have lowered around two and a half dollars
n bushel. August Ii, 1917, cash, wheat was $3.50. August
l6, two or three days following the announcement of the pro
Hoover, cash wheat at Milwaukee was $255 q $265. On the
same day it was $40 a $2.45 in Minneapolis, South Dakota's
nearest market center for wheat.
These figures, we think, may safely be accepted as the
price as fixed by the worlds markets, since, as we have sug4
gested, public agitation must have driven the price down to
market level.
the crop Of 1917, but did 50 fix it for the crop of 1918, is that it
was felt that if a minimum is to be established the farmer
should know when he sows bis wheat what the minimum shall
be, and that he should not be compelled to accept it as a basis
Tor a crop already sown.
Assuming that prices have already found what may be
the basis for other grains, and that that level is around two
and q half dollars, the farmer is virtually cheated out of fifty
cents q bushel # the food control department. fixes the price at
$500 1cANeA3 ~ SS AoLi ~ 2 Lie OuN ulSoh q StG
OF ten dollars an acre on a crop Of twenty bushels per acre.
If all Of the great industries Of the country-ike the steel
trust for the goods it sells to the people, the coal, the manufac-
tnred articles Of all kinds, including plows and harrows, bind
ers and threshing machines, sugar and clothing, and so forth
are to be privileged to reap wartime profits, why should not
the farmer be allowed to remain in the same class2
Many eff the industrial and commercial enterprises are IN
questionably boosting prices far beyond the margin of in
creased cost. It has been determined, for instance,-that was
the testimony Of the Northwestern railroad before the Inter
state Commerce Commission, the Northwestern having mined
s large portion of the coal it uses on it's system,-that the m
creased cost Of mining coal is only from twenty to forty cents
a ton, and vet the coal barons boosted the price by substan-
tally q dollar and ahalf a ton, thus reaping an additional net
profit Of more than a dollar a ton.
AS reported that the food control department is about
ne deal with the coal situation as it proposes to deal with the
farmers wheat. But We should remember that in 50 doing ii
will have reached only one Of the hundreds of commercial en-
terpr1ses that are taking advantage Of war conditions for the
purposezof exploitation.
If the farmer must accept $500 d bushel for his wheat, IN
stead All 2s5O, the price will have been reduced by twenty per
cent Upon the same basis, the Standard Oil company, which
AS selling gasoline in WatertoWn today at 224 cents q gallon,
andsWhich@ fixes the prices for gasoline throughout America,
should becolnpelIed to8accept 7s92 cents.
Steel goods of all kinds have advanced III price from one
hundred to FIVE hundred per cent within tile past three years.
SaIhat tNe cost of producing these goods has correspondence
increased AS beyond belief.
#@ We sappreeiates The necessity for actionHWith reference is
aa1s adequates controlSof the food situation, but we should not
foIgeftlat itisalso Important fo apply The principle of control
aHe ssso the leading Industrial and commercial enterprises
Is 1he peeodlueersef cotton, and Tie manufacturers sof STEEL
md of farm 1aplenaent and of sugar and of munitions, aresfo
SphA pIaMege3st AZ ontinuet o AZ business upon The basis of the
aaatsIninad sWhny should nottlhe farmer be privileged Isl sell hiis
NsKheat 1p1onA tle# same basisa
8 a a9s5|aE ss 6 4 1Isat g5isis 81 aeg sanfgants AnsEisa NJ