The Brookhaven leader., 1883-07-19
SENATOR PALMER'S OPINION OF
FARMING.


FARMING.
The following extracts are taken from
n recent address before the Western
Michigan Farmers Club by United
States Senator Palmer:
FARM MACHINERY.
need not tell you that horse power
is cheaper than man power and nothing
should be done by man on a farm
which can be as well done by horse.
[ believe that when man gets around
TO it. he should have all these machines
whereby he can ride instead of walk,
and where horse power can save his
arms. Human muscles and tissues are
too valuable to put in competition with
brute force. A mans brain Is of far
more value than his muscle on large
farm where he has to direct the labor of
others, and it is impossible for man to
run his brain and muscle both up to
their full capacity at the same time. To
be sure reference must be had to the
size of the farm and its character as to
what machinery he will use.
! have heard men decry these labor
saving appliances, it was taking labor
from the poor. A sufficient contradic-
ton of this statement is the fact that a
days wages of the lowest class of labor
will purchase now more of comforts
and luxuries than ever before. The only
thing that prevents the race from living
comfortably on six hours labor a day is
the extravaganza, improvidence and
vices of the rich and poor. The time
will come when six hours labor day
will support any family in comfort; if
they want luxuries they may have to
work twelve. Strikes will not bring it
about. They are but symptoms that
something is wrong in the body polite.
Invention in machinery and freedom
from vice in rich and poor will bring it.
Machinery and moral cleanliness are the
two agents which will hasten the time
sung by bards and which prophets have
foretold
FANCY FARMERS.
If you have one in your neighborhood
cherish him. They say that much of
the progress of medicine is due to
quacks and empires, and believe that
farming is alike indebted to quacks or
fancy farmers. Don't say to your fancy
farmer, when he under-drains and puts
one hundred loads of manure on an acre
and pays high for labor, that he may
raise one thousand bushels of carrots to
the acre, which will cost him fifty cents
to the bushel and only be worth thirty
cents, that he has more money than
brains-although this may be true it
may be discouraging-or when he is
about to import some Clydesdales or
Percherens, that he had better buy a
trotter, as typical of the fact that he is
going to the bad. Let him speculate
with the soil and with Nature Tell him
which are the good points, if you know,
and if you don't, watch him and find
out which are the bad ones. Remem-
Der that his experiments even if fail
ures, may be used as sign-board, warn
ing others, and if successes, that he has
helped in the world just SO much. His
heavy horses may not be profitable to
him, but their effects upon the stock of
the country can not be otherwise than
beneticent.
LIVING.
All avocations, whether farming or
otherwise, are secondary to living. 1t
is well to be successful as the worl d
calls it, but if success brings no happi-
ness to you, and those dear to you, it is
better to take our chances on failure
which certainly oftentimes does not
bring misery. TO an outsider, the ma
jority of Americans would appear to de-
sire not that they might live rich, and
| now mean rich in the sense that all
the faculties should be educated to that
point where they may contribute to the
greatest enjoyment, but rather that they
might die rich. From the cradle to the
grave, the object seems to be to accum-
ulate, ignoring the fact that when ac-
emulation alone is the object, we gem
orally, if successful, find ourselves in
capacitated for enjoying what we
have amassed, Making money is a
laudable ambition, and a wise provis-
ion for the future is to be commended;
but money is merely means and not
an end. When it is achieved at the ex-
pense of all other faculties of brain and
heart, it is not worth the sacrifice. A
mans enjoyment depends more upon
what he is than upon what he has.
Live within your income is the only
honest way to live, but as your income
increases, let out tuck now and then.
Make your homes as attractive as your
purse will afford, and remember that
money alone will not make them so.
Taste and little money will do more
than millions without taste. Now this
matter of taste is innate in some men
and women. Whatever they touch, if
beautiful, has new charm to it; if ugly,
its responsiveness vanishes; but the fac
ulty can be educated, and possibly Gre
ated where it does not exist. With the
thousands of magazines and papers
within reach of the poorest, suggestions
may be had which will contribute to
this end. Let there be no room in your
house too good to use, let the parlor be
for the use of the family and not kept
closed, as it used to be forty years ago,
save when the minister came to tea or
when there was funeral; and if you
have no parlor, make one of the rooms
In constant use.
MAKE A HOME.
Although the idea in some parts of
the country seems to be growing into
dlsrepute, l believe it to be the duty of
every man to love a woman. marry
her, and raise family, 'God willing"