Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1903-12-30
STAY ON THE FARM.

~ lie IS better Oft there. In this
age Of sudden fortunes and unscrup-
ulous approaches to them, there is a
dearth OF influential counsel in favor
OF squareness, industry, perseverance
and simple virtues that 60 to make
up good men, good husbands, good
fathers and good citizens. No boy
who sets up to be a Schwab before he
is 80 has time to think of these things.
An honest living earned on the farm
is worth more than all the millions of
the Rockefellers and the Morgans and
the Schwabs. This advice to farm
boys has been given by one our our
exchanges but how about the elder
members OF the farmers family who
are thinking of retiring to end their
lives in the city.
The idea OF retiring from the activ-
tiles OF life possesses fascination for
many persons. The business man
who has buffeted with the problems
of cost and selling price, expenses and
profit and loss, who has confronted
bills payable when it was problem
where the money to pay was to be
realized, imagines time when these
cares can be left TO others, often pic
lures himself as retiring to a farm
generally small farmland spending
the evening of his days amid peace
and plenty and freedom from business
cares. The farmer who has worked
his way in the world, who has accumu-
lated property and finds the cares it
entails irksome because of the difficult
ty OF obtaining help that will do his
work as he has done it or that can be
relied upon in times OF greatest need,
is prone to imagine himself settled in
town away from the things that vex
his maturer years. He is liable to
picture himself as living in the edge
OF town, keeping horse and buggy,
cow or two, and possibly supple
menting the rent from the farm by
some little earnings Of some kind.
This farmer, impressed with the earn
ing power of money at interest when
he had interest to pay, may think it
wise to convert his property into notes
secured by mortgage and thus avoid
the pain of seeing his own farm depre-
ciate in value and in productiveness
as many rented farms do.
With the case of the business man
who wishes to retire to farm-usual-
ly small fruit farm-we have little
to do. He is generally not as success
fdl as he hoped to be while he finds
the work less exhilerating and much
more arduous than he expected. If
he has deferred his retirement to the
farm until his powers have commenced
to decline, he is almost certain to be
grlevously disappointed at his lack OF
ability to either manage or execute
the work profitably The business man
who has made car eful study OF farm
ing and has engaged in it while yet in
the prime of his vigorous manhood
and while the members of his family
are still able to adapt themselves to
country life, sometimes makes a great
success as farmer. This latter is,
however, scarcely case of retiring to
farm, but rather of changing voca-
tions for the better.
The farmer who retires to town has
ample reason to be disappointed. He
generally does not know the aggre-
gate cash value of what his family
have consumed on the farm. Much
less does he know what it will cost to
provide these things or such as the
retired farmer and his family ought
to enjoy in town. OF course, this re-
tired farmer will buy the house in
which he will live. To pay rent would
be absurd. He has good house in
the country. 1t may lack some OF the
modern conveniences, but these, his
family shall enjoy in town. Room,
they are accustomed to and now that
they are grown up they will need a
pretty large house. Besides, there
must be some provision for entertain
ing company. Shall the family live
on a paved street? Well-yes. Have
electric lights? OF course. City wa
ter and sewer connections? The doc
tor says to do without them is pre-
carious to health in town. None OF
these thing costs very much, but it is
the sum OF them that hurts. But the
taxes? The farm house made only a
few dollars difference in the taxes