The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1890-02-27
ALLIANCE Department,
MARIETTA JOURNAL IS THE
Official Organ Of the Farmers Alliance
Of COBB County.
.saE!.ss.: WINE oE cARpy! for female diseases
COST OF CROPS.

4
cost Of its products or prime re-
sources. This statement applies
with equal force to individual effort
and corporate industry.
The successful merchant does not
determine the selling price of his
goods until he puts together the first
cost, the rent of his building, hire OF
clerks, charges for insurance and
transportation, and all other legiti-
mate expenses. When this sum is
obtained, suitable per cent. is
added, to determine the paying price
at which the goods are to be sold.
Manufacturers pursue the same
policy. Railroads count the cost of
construction and all needed repairs,
together with current expenses for
business, wear and tear and acct
dents, before it will be possible to
know the proper charges in freight
and passenger rates. All this is
legitimate and essential to business
success. Farming can never be
made successful until this policy is
adopted. 1t is proposition openly
evident to any man of common in
telligence, that no business will pay
that does not add profit to the
cost of its products.
1t becomes every man to know all
the minor details of his business. |
dare say, there is less of such in
formation among farmers than in any
other class of our citizens. A shoe
maker can tell you, at once, the
cost of the leather, the pegs and the
thread, together with the labor ne
cessary to make pair of shoes. The
blacksmith can tell you the cost of
the iron, the nails and the worksne-
cessary to shoe horse. The car
penter applies the same intelligence
to his business before he puts price
upon his services. Indeed, in all
the business relations of life we ex-
| pectprofts to be demanded, based
upon the cost, except in agriculture
1t is a little singular that we never
expect farmer to know the cost o.
his wheat, oats, potatoes, peas, corr
or cotton. May it not be that VIZ
are greatly deficient in this particu.
lar. May it not be that we are Civ.
ing our energies, our years and our
efforts to products without a parti-
Gle of profit, when there are splendid
possibilities within our reach in
other crops?
This leads me to suggest the pro-
priety of a change in that policy of
| the farm. When the farmer sells a
bushel of wheat, barrel of potatoes
or bale of cotton, he ought to
know exactly the profit he is re-
ceiving. Many farmers object be-
cause the process of information is
too long continued. 1t begins with
the preparation of the land and goes
till harvesting is over. This is, Of
course, an objection, but not q valid
one. t - -..~.
To determine the cost of any farm
product it is only necessary to keep
regular books against the fields, as
to manure and labor expended in the
preparation and cultivation of land
and the gathering and marketing of
crops. This is not more tedious nor
Objectionable than accounts kept
against articles furnished the hired
help on the farm. p
These facts, to be accurate, must
be determined by the Individual
farmer. No one farmer can settle
the cost of making pound Of cotton
for any other farmer. There are
many elements that enter into the
cost of farm products and possibly
all Of them vary in every individual
instance. One man cultivates much
more intelligently and economically
than another. One mans methods,
manures, stock, food and help come
to him much more cheaply than
another's. One mans farm may be
much better adapted to certain
crops than that of another. The
seasons upon two farms are not ex-
pected to be uniform in their bene-
fits, however nearly adjacent the
farms, as they do not always find the
same crops in the Same condition.