White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1926-12-31

unable to take full advantage of the
low price of feedstuffs. That trouble
has now been fairly we'll corrected
and the livestock industry in genera
is in stable condition. The range
country has had good year. Cattle
men have done fairly well, and there
is a growing optimism among them
Those who have the resources to dc
SO are stocking up their ranches
Prices of breeding stock have ad
vanced for the first time in five years
The cattle industry is moving once
more toward prosperity.
The sheep industry is enjoying its
fifth consecutive p:.nsnarous year. II
is apparently still expanding. Prices
for wool and lambs at present are per
haps not high enough to encourage
continued expansion of the sheep in
dustry, except in areas especially
suited to it. They are high enough
however, to justify the statement that
the sheep industry as whole is in
a very satisfactory condition. 1t is a
favorable augury that world stocks OF
old wool were reduced to low point
at the end of last season.
On the whole the dairy industry has
been in relatively favorable position
since 1921. Its products did not suffer
as great a slump in prices during the
depression as those of the grain and
meat industries and it did not remain
depressed SO long. Comparatively
low prices caused some apprehension
among dairymen in 1924. Last year,
however, the markets for dairy prod
ucts began to reflect better balance
in production, and this year dairymen
in the East and North have had fairly
good returns.
| In the far West the present year
has been one of continued improve
ment on the whole. The Pacific coast
had an early and favorable crop sea-
son in contrast with the East and has
done reasonably well with grain, live
stock, truck crops. and citrus fruits,
but apples, pears, and peaches have
been low in price.
The Tariff and the Farmer
1t will help us to estimate the sig
nificance of the tariff in relation to
agriculture if we consider not only
how it works now but how it is likely
to work in the near future. There is
no doubt that tariff protection is most
effective on commodities produced ex-
clusively for. domestic consumption.
When there is large export surplus
of any article, the price of that sur
plus in export trade tends to set the
price. for the domestic supply as we'll.
This, of course, is a truism. FIRE.
quently, however, its full application
to agriculture is overlooked. 1t is
commonly assumed that agriculture is
the only American industry operating
largely in foreign markets. Manufac-
turing industry, with its supposed in
dependence of world conditions, is be-
lieved to be getting the last possible
ounce Of benefit from the, tariff, un-
affected by the difficulty Of disposing
Sof it's surplus.
This may-'have been largely true
in the past. Even today industry
does a smaller proportion Of it's bust
ness abroad than does agriculture. In
the near future, however, the position
may begreversed. American agricul-
ture is moving steadily toward a posi-
ton in which the home market will
absorb more and more of its total
production, whereas industry, on the
other hand, is becoming increasingly
dependent on export sales.g In com
paratively short time agriculture is
likely to have more need of effective
tariff protection than industry. ~
A few figures will illustrate this sig
nificant tendency in our economic life.
In 1901 our agricultural exports made
up 65.2 per cent of our total exports.
BY 1913 the proportion had dropped to
1915 per cent. There was an increase
during the war to sos per cent in
1919, but after the war the downward
trend was resumed. In 1925 our agri-
cultural exports dropped to 44.2 per
cent Of our total exports. In the year
ended June 30, 1926, the proportion
was only 40.6 per cent.
Meanwhile industry has been stead
lily increasing the proportion of its
export trade. Alone among the great
industrial nations the United States
has increased the flow of it's indus
trial exports since the war. Already
we are exporting nearly 10 per cent
of our manufacturing and mining out
put, compared with about 13 per cent
of the production of our farms. I'm
questionably, moreover, the volume Of
our industrial exports is destined to
increase yet more. Industry has &C
Quired an export-surplus problem
nearly as acute and difficult as that
of agriculture. It is therefore less in
terested in the tariff than 1t formerly
was. AS matter Of fact, there is
n -.