The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-07-29
The Farmer and His Troubles.

ecent years. They, the farmers, have
worked very hard and these losses fall OIL
hem with severity not felt by the spec
llative classes, who take gamblers risks,
which usually represent little effort A
farmers loss represents more nearly his
flesh and blood, portion of his very life,
than financial losses by almost any other
class And such losses are not by his own
He tolls late and early and doubtless
wonders why he should be the victim,
marked seemingly by fate, of such hard
fortune.
The farmers greatest misfortune is that
he labors too much and thinks too little,
except about the immediate work which
employs his hands. If he dedicated one
hour each day less to muscular effort and
to the study Of mis- environments, at the
end of one year he would be surprised at
how much he had learned of the condi-
tions which chain him to a round of
ceaseless toll as hopeless as the labor of
Sisyphus to relieve him from the task set
for him by his task masters.
Our American farmers possess the indie
pendence and mental ability to shape aud
control the destinies of this country if
they would acquire the requisite informa-
ton, which they readily could by making
the proper effort, they are too prone to
anathematize what they conceive to be
the immediate cause of their misfortune.
A professional sharper who has no visible
business 10 promote or lose will take
advantage to rob his intended victims
whom he catches off their guard, but few
if any who have business to lose that is
a source of revenue, even tho small the
income from it may be, will destroy that
business, which is in fact thier capital, to
act deliberately crooked.
1t is the sharp competition for business
that causes nine failures out of ten. And
it is the steady fall in prices of products
which is the mother of competition that
ruins. And the sharp competition so
devastating to every line of honest bus
mess in recent years is the outgrowth of
the ever diminishing volume of circulat-
ing money compared with the swelling
and increasing volume of products that
must be exchanged, distributed and di.
vided for consumption by the medium of
money. When the volume of money is
disproportioned to the volume of goods to
be exchanged for it, competition for the
money becomes intense. Two, three or
four parties having goods of the same
class, all striving to sell, bid against each
other by increasing the quantity of goods
they are willing to exchange for dollar.
That means falling prices-dear money
and cheap goods-much work for little
pay-failures which hurt scores of other
persons not directly connected with the
business that has been wrecked.
A leading factor in this business prob
lem is what is known as credit. An ell
terprising person starts line of business
by borrowing the necessary credit to
establish the required plant and procure
raw material. He may be the best of
business men i'll his line, make correct
estimates of cost of production and
receipts for his product when sold, at the
range of prices prevailing at the time, but
prices fall and continue on the steady
down grade, and at the close of the cycle
his receipts are below his expenses with
interest added to the legitimate expenses
OF the business. By means of the bank
credit he has been enabled to use in place
of actual money he has been made COM
petitor i'll the market by the sale of his
goods for actual money. The conIniod.
tiles bought for consumption must be
paid for in money. That transaction
be closed by credit The buyer
pass the article on to another
dealer or middle man. The transaction
is closed by the consumer and the actual
cash must be forthcoming. If the money
IS not in circulation to pay the cost of
production and fitting for market bank
ruptcy strikes down the business and the
failure hits all in reach Of it except the
party which loaned the credit That party
IS secured by ample reserves, liens and
endorsers. The wreckage goes into the
hands of the credit loaner and the toilers
lose. This furnishes the true answer to
the lover supply" delusion. There is an
over supply of bank credit in place of
money for the producer, and too little
actual money in circulation for the use of
the consumers. The goods are all needed
but the consumers have not the money to
exchange for them, and cannot have it
when it does not exist in circulation.
1t is inconceivable that the milk, say
from fifty farms, will fail to pay manu-
facturer of butter except that the coupe
tition among creameries to get the milk
puts it above the price of product, which
is put down by the competition to sell.
There is competition taking a shaving off
of both sides of the business, and credit
system in place of money, with its interest
eating the heart out of all. By the mod.
ern credit system, which means debt in
lieu of money, forty billions of debt has
been piled onto the wealth producers
of this country, every dollar of which is
drawing interest, and this debt can never
be paid with contracted supply of money
which keeps prices down.
These questions are called economic
problems, and to the study of which
farmers should devote at least one hour
every day in the year to the diligent