St. Landry democrat., 1884-01-05
Business Feature in Farming.
kansas Farmer.l

/ Ii this paper has tailed 10 give uuS
prominence to any particular feature It.
is not economy. Many times has this
matter been presented in these columns
and it is called up again by statement OF
our correspondent, Mr.. Shedden. We,
1 too, have often seen machinery lying IN.
| the open fields without cover from one
season to the next-valuable machines,
mowers, reapeTs, rakes, ETC., costing
/ hundreds of dollars. 1t is q habit or
some persons to be careless with every
thing. PloWs, wagons, farm tools OF all
/ kinds, are left lying prOmiscuously
about the premises, such people never
4 clean off ploW or spade when they are.
done with it,; their tools are always.
/ dull, never in proper condition for good.
| Putting two or three hundred dollars
| into reaping machine when man has
only fifteen or twenty acres Of grain to
cut, is like the boy that, having q dime
| and two pennies, paid the dime for
! pocket book to put the two cents in.
/ 1t is a senseless waste, and is, there
! fore, very bad business management.
! When one has more grain to cut than
/ he can attend to himself with such
| help as is at his command, then labor
saving machinery is needed, and it is
4 business to purchase it at reasonable
prices if it can be paid for with money
or from property in sight. But it is
rarely good management to buy ma
chinery on credit. Credit is generally
very dangerous fellow to have about
a farm. He does as much mischief
sometimes as a bottle of whisky would,
| because, like whisky, lie causes one to
| think he is much more wealthy than he
really is. Payday, when it comes
around, is often. as hard on many a
| poor fellow as SOLDERING up after
drunS would be. It a man cannot re-
| sist the temptation to 90 into debt, it is
much better to invest in something
| that will earn money all the time, as
| hog, sheep, COW, or horse. There is a
reasonable hope of increase there.
| But machine that is used only ten or
twelve days in 365, is making nothing
f0ff-GGts owner 80 days out of every 80.
We believe that at least One-half, it
may he a much greater proportion, of
costly farm machinery in Kansas is
bought only because it can be had on
time. It happens in many cases that
when the time for payment OF the notes
comes, the purchaser is neither ready
nor able to pay them. Then, OF course,
the notes must be renewed at addi-
tional sacrifice, or the machinery or
some other property must be sold to-
pay the debt. This sometimes literal
ly ruins a man financially. And it
comes from having gone in debt for
dead property.
It happens sometimes, too, indeed
very frequently, that men buy machine
ry that they do not need at all; they
only think they do. This, of course, is
Inobody's business if tis paid for; but
when tits bought on time, and is prac-
tically useless, there are two wrongs,
and a few such cases in a neighbor-
hood give the community a bad name.
1t then becomes a matter of public in
terest, for every one is, or ought to be,
interested in the good name and gene
raj welfare of the neighbOrhood in
which he lives.
Some machines, as p1ows and har-
rows for instance, are necessary, and no
farmer can get along without them
but whether he needs a reaping ma
chine depends altogether on how much
work he has for one to do. 1t certainly
would not pay TO buy one to cut a crop
that man could cut himself without
one just as it does not pay to buy a
gang plow when all the plowing needed
can be done with hand plOw.
A farmers business interests are pre-
cisely like those OF men engaged in
other callings. Every dollar is made to
either gain or lose; and it is for that
reason the dollar needs careful hand
ling. When one man makes fortune
by investing money borrowed, hum
dred others lose money earned. Be-
fore one bOrrows mORey for anything
that is not absolutely necessary, he
ought to carefully weigh every relevant
consideration, and be reasonably Ger
tain that he cannot fail in responding
when the time to answer comes. Bet
ter work more hours, cultivate less and
better, wait a little longer, and pay as
you go. 1t takes hard, hard labor, and |
great deal of il to accumulate proper
ty from small beginnings, but we do
not remembera a single instance of fail |
.lfe in the case of any active indus
trious, intelligent, prudent and frugal
farmer.
+ Ii is safe rule to pay out nothing
not cent, not even a pr0mis
in matters of real. necessity; unless you |
have the money to spare. Ventures are
sometimes successful, but they are Ven-
lures notwithstanding. When one can
swim it is SAT f& to 20 into deep water
and if he has plenty of money he may
spend some without feelingsit it sorely i'll
it is lost. But the poor man ought to
be content with small gains for O sea |
son. Take care of the pennies-the
dollars viii take care of themselves.
Possibilities OF CHEAP TELEGRA3
PHY.-Representative Charles SumnegA
of California, who has prepared a greAa
amount Of statistics and Information Oh !
the question of the government assum
ing the telegraph business by the adop-
ton by Congress of th@postal telegraph