The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-05-05


viii condnue for some time to be
asked. My answer has always been
the same: "Yes. but it must be re-
membered that farming, as a business,
is subject to the same general princi-
pies which govern any other business"
If a man were to start cotton mill
and keep no account of receipts and
disbursements, take no care of his ma
chinery, and keep no lookout on the
market, how long could he continue in
business. or what bank or individual
would think for a moment of advanc-
ing him credit to carry on his enter
prise? And yet the same necessity for
exact business methods exists in agri-
culture as in manufacturing.
But" says some one (and, in fact
| heard this same argument only a
few days ago), "a cotton mill is big
affair and a farm comparatively
small one; and the exact methods OF
the one are not necessary in the con-
duct of the other" Unquestionally the
farm is usually-t though by no means
necessarily--a smaller affair, but
business conducted without system
must Of necessity be small.
/ have purposely used the cotton
mill as an illustration because, though
great fortunes have been built up by
it. the making of cotton cloth is not
in itself, a very profitable industry
There is a larger percentage OF proht
on many agricultural operations, and
the comparison Of the two Industries
illustrates thu old truism that bad
business well managed viii pay where
good business poorly managed VIII
not.
1t Is true that the number Of busi-
ness failures among farmers is ex-
tremely small as compared with other
classes. a fact that many agricultural
Journals dwell upon with insistence-
But why are these fai, lres so infre-
ouent? Simply because with very
large proportion of farmers agriculture
Is not n business at all. but only a
means of subsistence, which Is a very
different thing. A man who has no
business cannot fail in it. But though
farmers may not often be driven into
bankruptcy. they sustain losses from
neglect of business methods which
they little suspect.
An Illustration of this, which l
think is worth giving, recently came
to my notice.
An acquaintance of mine had lO@
cows on his dairy farm The farm was
not paying, and he asked me if could
find where the trouble lay and point
ont remedy. After a careful exam
ination of his farm and equipment
told him I doubted If all his cows were
paying him profit.
He was surprised and said tnat
though the cows varied in quality they
were all good cows. The test, how
ever. which consisted in milking each
COW separately until her milking quail
ties were fully ascertained, disclosed
the fact that eleven out Of the lO2 were
being kept at loss, while several 9th
ers we're barely self-supporting!
The wedding out Of these worthless
animals made it possible to dispense
with the services Of one of the farm
hands. and further test proved that
the cows would give just as much
milk and keep in better health on q
considerably less expensive ration
n thing their owner should have known
long before.
The advantage to the farmer OF
knowing Just where he is at In each
and every department that he has IN
hand would seem to be so self-evident
as to be beyond the realm Of discus.
sion. But l don't need to keep books
said a country neighbor of mine; i
have a good livin' and I'm sure o tha'
much: then II have say. $500 to the
GOOD az the end O. the year, don
need any book but my bank TO show
me I'VE got it-and there's my pront
seeg"
No didn't see, and asked him al
what figure he estimated the cost OF
his living He had very vague ideas on
tbis subject. and was surprised when
/ told him that he ought to know, ana
that the figure should be added to MS
$500. said supposed he at least
knew what he paid out during the year
for groceries. -four and household sup
plies. But no. he didn't know even
that Further talk disclosed the fac'
tint he never dishursed any cash Tor
these luxurles but "carlated" for his
hens to pay the store bill, always trad
ing eggs for groceries.
"Then you don't know how much TO
credit your hens with2' No, be didn't
But the critters done all he required OF
'om; they paid the store bill
My averment that an accurate
knowledge of ones business was essen
tial to obtaining the best results OF
which 1t was capable he admitted did
sound kinder rash'nal; but he callated
to hit pretty nigh the mark without
much cipherin', and concluded as fol
lows: "We farmers hey got vein o
luxuriousness in us that amt always
evident in our exteriors, and were VII
lin to lose a few thousands o dollars
in a lifetime for the sake o freedom
from harrassin' details-a sort O liyin'
up to our ideals, as our parson says.
The unquestioned philosophy of this
III