Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1918-02-01
THE PRICE OF WHEAT IN 1918
lBy John c. Lawrence1

AmSllCan FARMER Tor the wheat pro-
duced in 1918, it was done as war
measure to stimulate the production
of the wheat needed to win the war.
Wheat is needed for the reason that
it makes the only flour which can be
shipped into the war zone and kent
Indefinitely for bread making. Flour
| made from any other cereal will spoil
in limited time, and a battlefield
is not the place for operating mills
for making flour. Hence the need of
wheat
The English were the first to
stimulate the production of wheat by
fixing high prices for Canadian
wheat. Our neighbors across the
line are receiving better than 50 a
bushel On the American or States
side the price paid to the farmer de-
Ponds on the distance from a desig-
mated market where So is to be paid.
Prior to the war the Canadian farm
err got some 10 cents a bushel less
than his American neighbor
Last harvest the men in charge of
food control in the United States,
preceding the taking effect of the law
referred to for 1918, fixed the price
OF wheat at certain principal markets
in the United States at $3.50 per
| bushel. The spirit of this act was in
direct contrast to the law mentioned.
Congress passed a law, the avowed
purpose of which was to guarantee
the farmer 81 a bushel as a mini
| mum price to stimulate production.
| 1t is so stated in the law. The price
fixing of last harvest was for the
! direct purpose of maximum price,
| shown by the fact that it was much
! lower than the then prevailing price
In other words, while Congress in
| tended in its act TO set a higher price,
| those in charge of food control, in
| the exercise of an authority vested
| in them by law, legislated the price
| of wheat down. Thus, the farmer
living near the principal market des-
| ignated received more than 81 a
| bushel, but the farmer in the remote
districts where growing is attended
with some uncertainty, especially in
| the ground must be summer-fallowed
to produce a profitable crop, received
much less. This was done, too, at a
| time when it was apparent from crop
| conditions that there was a shortage
in the available supply which would
| carry wheat prices to much higher
! ing a minimum to stimulate prOduc-
| ton, the food commission was wrong
| in fixing maximum for the Amer
| lean farmer at the minimum fixed
by Congress.
What will be the effect on the pro-
duction of wheat this year? To say
that it will lessen the acreage, it
seems to me. would be a reflection
on the patriotism of the American
! farmer, who has never been found
wanting. We are in this war and,
as President Wilson says, Eve must
win it."
Many and different are the prob
| lens presented to the wheat farmer,
| especially here in the West which
are forgotten by the price-fixing COM
Minneapolis and Omaha as the near
est market-market points never
| used by him. The eastern wheat
| farmer SoWs wheat to fallow corn or
| some other crop. The western farm
er raises only one crop in two years
| on the best of his land a practice
| made necessary to conserve moist
ure. 1t seems that the western farm
err passes all limits when he attempts
to raise wheat where the annual rain
| fall is under ) inches, but he does,
yes, when under 10 inches. No east
i ern farmer would tempt fate by SOW
ing wheat in a bed of dust, as is done
in the west. | am now referring par
| ticularly to this semi-arid region,
where wheat growing under such
conditions is a gamble.
There are large areas in the west
and particularly in portions of the
Inland Empire, where the soil is SO
| light and the rainfall so scarce and
uncertain that whole communities
are practically depopulated except at
seed time and harvest. Here the
| growing of wheat needs the stimulus
Of higher prices
| Where farmers need to summer
| fallow continued seeding runs the
production down so that it pays to
wait two years, say three to five, the
aggregate yield would be greater
under continual cropping. This
| ,uOu1d no at a greatly added pXnpnSe