The Collapse of the Credit System
Palouse farmers are forced to abandon large-scale agriculture and the credit-dependent lifestyle as the hard times of 1894 take hold.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
For the first time in the memory of the 'oldest inhabitant' New Year's day in the Palouse country was warm and rainy. A complete revolution in the methods of farming, merchandising, and all other branches of business is being brought about by the present scarcity of money. One of the greatest curses this country has ever had to contend with is the credit system. Heretofore, farmers bought everything they needed on credit from the general merchandise stores. But with the bad season, when grain could not be sold for cash, came a change, and everything has now reverted to the cash system. In all the stores of the Palouse country, one will see the sign: 'We Sell for Cash Only.' Extensive farming has proven a losing venture, and most of the large farms will be divided into smaller tracts and rented out. Wages must be brought down to conform to the price of wheat. We cannot afford to pay double the wages for raising 50-cent wheat that Eastern farmers pay for raising 70-cent and $1 wheat.
“We cannot afford to pay double the wages for raising 50-cent wheat that Eastern farmers pay for raising 70-cent and $1 wheat.”
This reflects the perennial tension between Washington's rural economy and the global markets that set prices. Just as these farmers faced an agonizing transition to a 'cash only' system to survive, modern agricultural sectors continue to grapple with debt-cycles and the precarity of export-heavy commodities.
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