Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-12-11

college training. it costs too much
and takes too much time. But every
young farmer can spare "A year at some
! good academy and then wind up his
study by taking complete, or partial
at least. course in some good com
mercial college. The future farmer
must have at least that much educa-
ton beyond what he gets at the COM
mon district school.-Cedar Rapids
(IowD Gazette.
Business Methods on the Farm.
j. f. Jamison. writing to the Ohio
| Farmer, talks horse sense. He says
that farming, like everything else.
has its advantages and disadvant-
ages, and like any other BUSH
ness methods. 1t is the want of bust
ness principles. largely, that causes the
wall about agricultural depression. |
venture the ASSERTION that seven-tenths
of the farmers of the United States do
not even keep a running account of
receipts and expenses; consequently
| they don't know what it costs to raise
! IA bushe of corn wheat. or oats, or
when the proper time comes to turn
! off the cattle, horses hogs, or sheep,
or in fact, any product OF the farm.
| 1t is just as essential for IA farmer to
| take an inventory of his stock in store
! as il is for the merchant. 1t is needed
to determine whether ii is profitable to
| carry more or less OF a certain kind or
| article. or whether ii is profitable to
carry it at all. Sometimes we carry
| too much for the capital invested, or
] Al ~
can not discover this by guesswork,
Uut Dy slrlct business principles. Inc
cry that farming doesn't pay. we fear.
| has become chronic. One signs for the
/ old days when wheat was 81 % a
! bushel, forgetting that it took $500 or
more TO buy self-bnder, while now
you can buy one for less than half the
amount and a very much superior ma
chine. In fact, everything that we
use in the way of machinery and inn
! pements is about one-half cheaper
than fifteen years ago.
"Oh, but corn is so cheap. 1t doesn't
pay to raise it," Let us see. Hogs are
at present $3.50 which is equal to
! forty conts per bushel for corn. ut least.
! would rather sell hogs at $3.50 per
pound than corn at forty cents per
bushel. Counting corn at forty cents
bushel, sixty bushels to the acre,
gives $2l-a pretty good income, say
| for 800 investment. Now mind you,
it's not my fault if YOU have sat in the
house, or held the counter of the cor
ner grocery down. or perhaps worse
than all, spent your time at the nearest
village saloon, when you could have
attended that acre of corn yourself,
and hereby saved the extra expense
OF the hired man. | would advise less
! grumbling the more we indulge in it the
more chronic it becomes, aud with the
wall of protection built up higher, em-
! bodied in the Mckinley bill, and with
strict business integrity on our part, !
am satisfied ours is a bright future.
The American Farmer.
In his baccalaureate address before
the graduating class of the Mass
achusetts Agricultural College Pro-
fessor c. S. Walker said: "lereto-
: Tore, IN AT parts of the world, the
! farmer has been no match for his adj
verSary. He never held his own
against the soldier or priest against
times he was slave; in the middle
ages, a serf. In the nineteenth century
he is slave, serf, peasant, or pro-
prietor according TO location. Ameri-
can farmers. rs Il class are face to
face with n crisis. They have subdued
continent and furnished raw ma
terial for our factories, bread for the
operatives. and manhood for our civii-
cation. They sustained the Nations
credit with their hard earned dollars,
rescued endangered liberty with their
conscientious ballots. and defended
time and again the stars and stripes
with their loyal blood. Vigorous in
body. strcng ii character. striking in
individuality, lovers of home, massive
in common sense fertile in resources,
devout believers in providence, the
farmers of America will never allow
themselves to be overwhelmed by the
fate fate that sunk the filters of the
soil in India, in Egypt, and in Europe.
From all parts of this land the farmers
are coming together. Organization
and cooperation are wonderful ideas
that have awakened them rs never be-
fore. They are graSpng hands with a
grip that means something, comparing
WAYS and means, uniting upon ends to
be gained. They demand for them
selves aud children an education equal
to the best, They insist upon fair
share of the profits of American in
dustry, claiming that no state can
exist in which tllers of the soil bear
the most of the burdens and share the
least of the blessings of advanced
civilization. But they are in danger
of making mistakes in the struggle
that will turn back the progress of the
movement. They demand leaders.
To supply this demand is the iInpera-
tive duty of every educated farmer.
Whatsoever of bodily vigor. mental
power and moral heroism the educated
farmer may have acquired from an
cestors, college or university he will
need that he may couSccrate it to the
great work of Strengt beuing his brother
farmer, of America. so that they shall
ever remain the immovable foundation
of this the only Republic whose en-
pire has not been rapidly undermined. "