PRICES OF PEAS AND BEANS TO BE LOWER
FARMERS CANNOT PRICES FOR THESE CROPS, SAYS EXPERT
EXPECT WAR
That foreign competition—importations from China and Japan is destroying the market for Idaho peas and beans and holding prices so low that there is likely to be a much smaller profit to the farmer than in former years, is the opinion of Harry Driscoll, manager of the Idaho Bean and Elevator Company, with a line of elevators and warehouses in the Potlatch and Clearwater districts of Idaho and headquarters at Spokane.
"I fear to tell what I believe the price of peas and beans will be this year," said Mr. Driscoll. "Of course, we cannot expect war prices, which rather spoiled the farmers. (In 1917, farmers got as high as 11 and 12 cents a pound for beans. Before the war, I raised beans in this county and we thought we were doing very well when we got 3.4 cents for beans, which totaled at five cents, or 20 pounds for the dollar. Of course, labor is higher and land more valuable and the cost of production has increased." 