The Fort Worth gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-189?, 1891-04-23
TO MAKE FARMING PAY.

In a paper contributed to the Kansas
Farmer of March %, Mr.. William
l.. Black of Fort McKavett. Tex,
expresses the opinion that he has
discovered the key TO how farming
might be made TO pay much better than it
is paying at present. He has, he says, OBJ
served the tendency of farmers to form Al
liances for the purpose of forcing upon the
country such measures of relief as appear
to their own minds the most correct way TO
pursue-more particularly such schemes as
the ''Sub-treasury bill, - "a bill to abolish
dealing in futures, - ian unlimited coinage
Of silver, etc, and he is very much afraid
the effect of their efforts will be more disas-
trous 10 thtm in the end than if they were
10 quietly submit to the troubles they now
have There is an old proverb, you know,
which says 1t is better TO bear with the
ills we have than to fly TO those we know not
of, and ne is stongly inclined to think it
viii apply in our present emergency.
Farming, continues MIR. Black, is a
science calling for very careful study ere
one can master it-as much so as does trade
and commerce. 1t would be equally as con-
sistent TO expect of farmer who never saw
4 counting room, that he would make 4 sue
cessful merchant or banker, as to expect of
the merchant or banker who never turned i
furrow that through the labor of his own
hands he would make successful farmer.
Each department demands certain amount
of knowledge that can be acquired only
through long experience, and upon this
method of reasoning he concludes that the
farming masses are dealing with very dan
gerous matter when they attempt to make
laws 10 regulate the trade of our country.
They might just as well undertake to dictate
medical laws, and he feels quite sure that
very few farmers would venture to take the
management of d severe case of sickness,
il there was a doctor in the neighborhood.
IS it not well, then, to go u little Slow, and
look well before we leap!
After talking at some length about trusts
Mr.. Black proposes to fight fire with fire by
forming Il kind of farmers trust-a some
thing that will enable the farm people to
exactly regulate their supply with the de
what would actually be called for He is
convinced that this is what we need above
all other things, but the question is: How
are we TO introduce it? What we want TO
do is to regulate the supply of the farm to
the demand from consumers. We want to
know how many acres have been and are
being prepared TO plant in wheat, cotton,
corn, oats. tobacco, rye, barley, castor
beans, and in fact every article that is com
monty produced by farmers. If we have
prepared too many acres for wheat we
want 10 know it before the seed has been
sown. Ii certainly does no good 20 tell the
farmers they have produced 400, COZ, coo
bushels of wheat when the demand calls for
only 300. O0OOOO They should be informed
of the demand first, and then they could
regulate their planting accordingly.
Now. says Mr. Black there is way by
which this desired end may be obtained. 1t
is extremely simple. We copy:
Let the United States appropriate suf1f-
Client money TO establish and maintain in
each state 4 bureau Of information and
statistics, with Il competent secretary AT
the head of each, and Il sufficient corps of
clerks 10 assist him. These state bureaus
should locate agencies Ill every market of
any Importance in their state. and each
agency should be allotted a certain number
OF counties and a sufficient number of clerks
to keep correctly all the necessary StatiS-
tics of their department Each agency
should obtain the name anu address of
every farmer in its territory, and add TO the
list every year such new ones as may locate
there This can very easily be done
through the assistance of the assessors
rolls. We will suppose, now. that ii is
necessary TO learn how many acres of land
have been prepared for planting different
crops The state agencies would only have
10 send out postal card TO each farmer
say one month before seeding time, with
the following questions, TO be answered and
returned: How many acres have you pre-
pared 10 plant in wheat, and what has been
the average producing capacity OF your
land 80 How many acres have YOU pre-
pared 10 plant in corn, and what
has been the average producing
capacity of your land2n ''How many
acres have you prepared to plant in cotton
and what has been the average producing
capacity of your land," The same ques-
tons should be asked with regard TO to-
bacco, hemp, fax, castor beans, buckwheat,
potatoes, sugar, rice and every other article
that can be produced in such district. In
less time than week these answers could
be returned 10 the agency and summarized
in q general statement for the state secre-
tary, who in turn would compile the whole
ana report as follows to the agricultural de-
partment at Washington:
The state of ...... has prepared to plant
as follows:
Average
producing
Acres ,anurity