The Sack Famine Hits the La Conner Flats
Farmers face a crippling shortage of grain sacks, threatening the season's oat harvest as dealers refuse to speculate on the necessary supplies.
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I. J. Bogardus, of the firm of Lilly, Bogardus & Co., returned yesterday from a trip to the La Conner flats and reports that the farmers will begin cutting oats next week. The crop is good, as is also the hay crop. The farmers will probably be greatly hampered for grain sacks when threshing begins, as there is a scarcity of them in the market. Those who made contracts and arranged to pay cash got all the sacks they wanted at low figures, but dealers would not take the chances of expending large amounts in buying sacks without knowing where they were going to sell them for cash. The result is that there are not enough to be had now at any price and those who can not pay cash are likely to be cinched.
“The result is that there are not enough to be had now at any price and those who can not pay cash are likely to be cinched.”
Supply chain fragility and the squeeze on small-scale producers versus those with ready cash remains a persistent tension in Washington's agricultural sector. Even in 1893, the ability to 'pay cash' was the difference between a successful season and being 'cinched' by market middlemen.
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