, MS. 864.
wheat notes at Vancouver. As commissioners funds grew scarce, on the first call, some of the agents asked leave to "press" the wheat of certain farmers whose granaries were better filled than their neighbors; and on the second call, leave was asked to press seven thousand bushels, equiva lent to seven thousand dollars, from the granary of the Hudson's Bay Company at Champoeg, because " the means are absolutely not in the hands of the American citizens, and without sufficient power or persuasion to raise them from that source, they cannot be obtained. 7
On the commissary-general fell the responsibility of deciding these matters, and it was a burden hard to be borne amidst a multitude of advisors and critics. Palmer was a man of extraordinary resolve, yet he was not always certain of the wisdom of pursuing the only methods left him to feed and furnish the army, and just at this critical time he was led to abandon the wheat loan as a means of raising funds. A letter written to him by Jesse Applegate at this crisis in affairs throws a flood of light upon the subject, and for this reason it is incorporated in the text:
POLK COUNTY, Oregon, 27th April, 1848.
DEAR SIR: I have just had an interview with Mr. Fulkerson, who informs me that you have become distrustful of the policy of the wheat loan, and have instructed him to cease operations in that matter whenever he had raised an amount sufficient to secure to me payment for the beef cattle he purchased of me for the use of the army. As I do not wish that you should assume a responsibility on my account that you deem unsafe, I have taken this opportunity to inform you that unless the plan of taking up wheat notes is made a general practice, I do not wish any notes taken up for my exclusive benefit.
I am myself in favor of raising a revenue by direct taxation, as I
6 A. J. Hembree of Yamhill county, in February, mentions having pressed one hundred and eighty-seven and one-half bushels of wheat belonging to Jesse Apple- gate ; also eleven bushels from Samuel Campbell, fifteen bushels from Andrew Smith, fifteen from Pleasant Armstrong, seventeen from Ed. Stone, six and one-half from A. Biers, and one hundred and thirty -five bushels from Ben Williams : Oregon Archives, MS. 981.
" C. W. Cooke, April 10, 1848. He adds, " Hembree has raised some powder, lead, and caps, a little cash, and about forty bushels of wheat ": Oregon Archives
