The Wheat Was Ready. The Threshers Weren't.

There is one unfailing and even recurring question among the farmers now in the big wheat district around Spokane: "Is your wheat threshed?" They are also asking: "Are you going to thresh before next spring?" The general plan seems to be to let it stand. Many are completely discouraged. They have been struggling along through several hard years, and finally this year they were rewarded with an abundant harvest, so that after threshing and selling it they could have paid their debts and come out ahead — but the rains came. Two weeks of almost continual rain and snow have damaged the grain very much, and perhaps ruined it. Well-stacked, bound grain will likely go through it fairly well; the headed grain, especially that poorly stacked, will not.

If the farmers were to blame for not having their grain safe they would not deserve so much sympathy, but almost without exception, from the beginning of harvest to the present time, they have not only rushed the harvest through but also done their best to get a threshing machine, even in some cases trying to buy a new one. Last year the small amount of grain was threshed in a few weeks. This year the machines could not take care of it. Even though the grain raisers knew there was a big crop, yet it has been stringing out and yielding much more than anyone expected.

The opinion is universally prevalent among the ranchers that the price of wheat is bound to rise, and they are therefore holding much of it. The bad weather has also hindered the hauling of wheat even by those who wanted to sell.