Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1919-07-04
H. SP|LLMAN'S TALK
INTERESTS FARMERS
o.,osses the Importance of Making
~ n,n,ic the Cost of Production of
Farm Crops

NJ w. J. Spillman salu'
- when came to the Palouse coun-
- inst 25 years ago l landed at
pnllman and found a peculiar situa-
-. ,bere which was not confined
J. that particular region. This was
lime 1894. arrived at Pull
nan the, 26th day of that month.
wheat at that time was selling in
nvilman for IS cents a bushel, while
:, Waterville they were getting 10
cents bushel.
The year before my arrival here
mo people had suffered a calamity
vhieh they had never had before,
and which l hope they will never
have again. You lost your wheat
oron by untimely rain in 1893. The
manic came on the next year, although
von had a fair wheat crop. When
| arrived you people were beginning
n harvest your Is cents bushel
cheat. The next year-in 1896
vou harvested another fairly good
wheat crop and sold it at 25 cents
a bushel. 1t cost you more than
that to raise it.
Now the unusual situation at this
time was that the people in the Pa
louse country in those hard times
we're just as heavily in debt as they
could possibly get in prosperous
times when their credit was good.
These debts were due to two causes:
First, every one wanted to buy the
lard that was adjoining his. An
other reason for the debt was that
YOU were buying your but er and
eggs, milk and vegetables in town
when you had any. | know farmers
whose store bills at wheat threshing
time amounted to $500. These
we're regular things. They We're not
considered big bills for the man with
5000 bushels Of wheat, but when ne
had to sell hi Whe,t for Is cents
bushel the situation YVES different.
began to scratch my head. | did
good de9l OF thinking. | worked
my thinking apparatus night and dag
and wore it out. We got the idea
about this time that.it was not a pay
ing thing to depend on wheat alone.
Many of you here know what hap
pened in 1894 to 1896. Half of the
farmers lost their homes and farms.
The other half would have lost them
we're 1t not for the fact that SO much
land was thrown upon the market
that the price of all land reached
such low level that it was like
buying mortgages. Many farmers
Kept their land whether they wished
TO or not.
After | had gotten out over the
state and talked with many of you
farmers l began to think and TO won
DER. | found that you fellows, that
You farmers, already knew most
Oh the things | was trying to find
out.
Ihis, to me was great discovery.
what little | have learned in the
last II years, since | left this state,
nave learned by interviewing men
whom 1 found able to make money
Oh the farm. When | find a man on
hundred-acre farm, or on any size
u farm, who is actually making a
eood Profit, ! always take off my
nat 10 him. | seek an introduction
% man like that. He becomes my
eoiege professor. l sometimes see
men IKE that who can not write or
ENTHUSIASTICALLY | have met such
-out who We're making good. l
iearned more from them than they
e'er learned from me. do not think
nave ever interviewed a farmer who
"as got as much from me as | got
noin MIN during the interview.
'0ulo one of these men once who
vas making an exceptional success.
stayed with him the biggest part
!, 'n afternoon. Finally, he said:
1Voh mere, Spillman, this seems to
NC IKE a mighty one-sided inter
view
'old him it was no more so than
- the interviews l had with farm
10 except that in his case, the inter
'is~ was longer. That is what |
we Oeen at for II years.
NOW the curious thing. is, l found
:, ~ many things from the farmers
a. at they knew, but which they never
! 0'ined that they did know. We
/. I've developed and created absolute
/. new science out of what those
!, - "iefs knew, but did not know that
'ney knew.
=. er ! was permitted to put in
=. "hole time interviewing farmers