Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1921-03-11
WHITMAN COUNTY
LEADS THE STATE
In the Production of Wheat Last
Season With Yield of S,S93,OOO
Bushels


but it also produced 371a per cent
of the wheat raised in the state last
year, according to the annual report
of the state grain inspection depart
ment of wheat received in public
warehouses between July and No
vember /, 1920.
Revised estimates by the govern
ment on the wheat production OF
Washington for 1920 give 37,S02,-
600 bushels as against 39,305,000
for 1919. Measured merely in vol
ume, the difference is immaterial.
Measured in value, however, the de-
cline is catastrophe. With practic-
ally standardized prices in 1919, the
average farm value on December 1
of that year was estimated by the
government at $2.14 bushel and
the crop was worth $S4,1 900.
With the shrinkage in the grain mar
kets, the average farm price on De-
cember l. 1920, was calculated at
$1.35, and the crop was worth $751;
/ C33,000 The price collapse has
stricken the whole realm of farm
/ production. Government estimates
on the Washington crop of grains,
potatoes and tame hay give value
as of December / of $162,120, 900
for the 1919 crop and S10S,073. 900
/ for 1920. The loss in value of these
items alone is over $54 10000 or
$3.50 per capita for every man,
woman and child in the principal ag-
ricultural counties of the state, in
Guiding the cities of Spokane, Walla
Walla and Yakima. Expressed in
another way, the process of defla-
tiOn has cut off third of the prices
fixed by 1919 standards.
The average money value of Wash
/ irgton wheat value for the five
years, 1914-1918, is estimated at
/ $5O,284,000, and the 1920 crop was
accordingly worth trifle more than
/ this average. As, however, the crop
was produced under the most excess
sive costs the state has ever known,
the decline in price is nothing less
: than an economic tragedy that has
practically annihilated all profits
and has left thousands of farmers in
/ debt as a result of their years work
"As the farmers are the dominant
factor in the buying power of the
nation, it is inevitable that there
will be decline in the price of com
modities that must be sold to the
/ farmers says the February news
letter of the Spokane & Eastern
Trust company. 1T is likewise GER
tain that labor will come down to a
level that the farming industry can
afford to pay. We believe that just
as farmers were among the first to
profit by the initiation following the
world war, and they were among the
/ first to suffer from the price col
! lapse of 1920, SO they will be among
/ the first to emerge from the eco
nOmic reconstruction now taking
/ place. In a relative sense, the farm
/ ing industry has suffered its shock
/ and compared with the rest of the
country may fairly be considered as
! on the mend"
Examination of the accompanying
! figures, furnished by L. D. Grove,
chief OF the grain inspection depart
ment, show that Whitman county, as
usual, leads the state with wheat re-
ceipts of S,S93,00O, in addition to
the amount retained on farms for
feed and seed and stored in private
warehouses. In 1915 Its figure was
100000. Walla Walla was not
only absolutely but relatively in good
shape with showing of 3,479, 900
bushels as against 4 ,434,0OO in 1915.
Adams county shows 2,427, 900, or
about the same as 1919, but less
than half the 1915 peak Grant
county only turned out one-sixth of
its 1915 record and Douglas county
did little better. AS said before, the
reports of grain received in 1920 are
not a truly reliable guide in com
parison with former years, because
Of delayed deliveries by farmers, but
they give some idea of how the vari-
Gus districts compare with their best
previous performance.
Pomeroy, in Garfield county, is
the most important initial grain cen
ter of the state for 1920, with the
receipts of S36,556 bushels. Mocko-
nema, three miles west of Colfax, IS
second and leads Whitman county
with 427,552 bushels, and Prescott is
the ranking station in Walla Walla
county and third in the state, with
364,S83 bushels.
While Mockonema leads all other