Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1901-04-03
BY JAYNEs. sHELoR, SMITH s. srEOK

seems to be to concentration. The
massing Of large capital for specific
purposes has alarmed many people,
But there can be no monopoly if
trade is absolutely free between this
country and other countries which
produce the article which acquisitive
enterprise seeks TO corner.
The possibility and practicability
of organizations among farmers for
the protection of their interests and
the marketing of their products to
the best advantage is worthy Of
careful consideration.
There is an essential difference
between manufacturing plant and
farm. In the manufactory, when
the proprietors ascertain that the
output for the season is in danger of
outgrowing the demand, they can
ring a bell, stop the engines and all
the machinery, and thereby gauge
the supply to meet only a remuncra-
tive demand. The manufacturer is,
as rule, a better student of political
economy and of current markets
than the farmer.
To illustrate: the manufacturers
of rubber goods perfectly compre-
hend the fact that all values are
regulated by the relation of supply
to demand, and therefore they never
place enough of gum shoes, rain
coats, rubber boots and the innum-
cradle other useful articles which
they produce on the market at any
one time to bring about declining
prices. Each manufactures in this
line consults with his competitors,
and they agree rs to the output
which the market will probably take,
and this is true in nearly every
other line of manufactured goods.
Thus the supply is adapted and adj
justed not to overreach normal
demand. The mills are shut down
at times, or run on half time, and
outputs limited.
But the farmers, having planted a
given area in cereals, vegetables and
fruits, and properly cultivated the
same by intelligent tillage, are abso-
lutely powerless as to whether the
output shall be small or great. The
annual amount Of corn, wheat and
other exchangcablc products of the
farms of the United States cannot be
regulated after the planting and cul.
tivation have been completed. God
gives much or little rain, much or
little sunshine, many or few propi-
tious elements for the growth, devel-
opment, harvesting and garnering of
the crops. And the farmers, who
are mere junior partners-like small
shareholders in vast corporation
cannot limit, diminish or increase the
yield by ringing bells. Storms and
sunshine, rainfall and soil.nutrimcnt
in soluble form, upon which plant
life subsists, cannot be controlled by
human will or mechanism. Hence
the impossibility of an agricultural
trust or combinations which can con
troll the bread and meat markets of
the country.
INDIVIDUAL CONTROL OF VAST
SECTIONS.
Sometimes people assert that dur
ing the present century we shall
have farming controlled and carried
on by large corporations. 1t is even
suggested that single corporations
like that which controlled the Dal-
rymplc farms in North Dakota,
where there was sown, grown and
harvested single whea,fcd of 90
600 acres, will be as numerous as
eighty acre farms are at the present
time. Antagonizing these views,
however, arc great many intelli-
gent observers who have travelled
in Europe, where the rule is, cspe-
c,al!y n France, constant decrease
in the size Of the farms. 1t is quite
certain to my mind that we shall 90
to either one extreme or the other.
The general trend at present, out
side Of agriculture, is to conccntra-
ton Of capital and it is quite posi-
bic, if not probable, that farming
will be carried on by large capital in
various portions Of the Northwest
during the present decade. In every
other business the margins of profits
have been cut down to the minimum,
and this cutting down has been
made possible because Of increased
capabilities for large outputs. In a
former generation the merchant who
did small business on large profit
received as great an annual income
as do some of the merchants Of to-
day in doing a very large business
on exceedingly small margins.