Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-01-04
A Happy New Year.


the aged grandfather and grandmother
to whom this year may be the last
down to the little tot in the cradle
who may perhaps be a potent factor
In the affairs of the world quarter
of century hence, do we wish very
Happy New Year, not merely happy
New Years Day, but happy year all
through, from the first day of January
to the last day Of December.
There are many things that enter
into the happiness of the farmer and
his family, but prominent among
them are good health, right living,
good crops, and good prices. All of
these are to some extent within our
own control but the last is to very
great extent not within our control
at all. We are responsible only in pro-
portion to our ability to control.
| Good health is the result Of a sound
inheritance and obedience to the laws
of health during our own lifetime. For
the first of these we are not RESPONSE
BILE at all. 1t is gift Of veal or woe
that we receive from our ancestary.
Happy is the child who begins life free
from hereditary weakness or taint,
and thus has a fair and even chance
for the winning of life's battle.
Good health on the farm however,
is largely matter under the control
of the farmer and his family. So far
as it depends on good food, there is
no place on earth where really good
food can be obtained in greater abund-
ance at less cost than on the farm.
If the farmer does not live we'll, it is
as a rule because he has neglected
to do his duty byhimself. BY Giving
well' we do not mean high living but
an abundance of pure food, we'll
cooked, and nicely served on clean
table.
Good health requires more than
good food, however. 1t means also
good sound sleep and plenty of it, in
a properly ventilated room. Given
these and control over his appetite,
and avoidance of needless exposure,
together with cheerful, hopeful dis
position, the farmer and his family
should be the healthiest, and so far as
happiness depends on health, the hap
piest people in the United States.
Good crops are partly within the
control of the farmer and partly OUT
side of his control. He cannot COM
mand the sunshine or the rainfall nor
has he the ordering of the seasons.
These are gifts to all men. They are
the raw material of the farmer. They
are given as the great Creator wills,
and His will no power can oppose.
The farmer, however, is responsible
for the use he makes of the sunshine
and of the rainfall, and for the ad-
vantage he takes Of the changes in
the seasons. Therefore, so far as his
happiness depends -on these things,
he is the architect Of his own destiny.
The farmer can control to very
small extent the prices which he must
receive for his products. These prices
are made in the worlds markets, and
are determined to some extent by de-
mand and supply, over which he has
no control; by combinations and un-
just rates for carriage, commission
and profit, which he cannot control
for day or year, but which he can
modify and to some extent correct by
the use Of his lead pencil. He can to
some extent control the prices of his
! own immediate products. He can by
proper care secure good quality,
which will command superior price.
He can by wise management avoid
putting his products on the market at
time when that market is glutted.
To this extent his power goes, and
little if any further.
Right living is more under the farm
er's control than either crops or
prices. BY fright liying' we mean
honest dealing with himself his FAM
lily and his fellow men. Every indi-
vidual of the family, from the head
of the family down, and every citizen,
has an innate sense of what is right.
1t is reflection of the Divine in him
a voice to which he should give heed,
and which he can and will heed If he
is honest with himself. No farmer,
or any other man can afford to do
injustice to his neighbor nor can he
afford to be unkind, or anything else
than neighborly; nor can he afford to
have a pigeonhole filed with old
grudges waiting to be satisfied. This
is not right living, but wrong living,
an offense to God and man, and will
mar the happiness of any home in any
state in any land.
Therefore, if we are to have a happy
New Year, it depends to a very great
extent upon ourselves. The lot of the
western farmer has been cast in a
land of wonderful opportunities. No
people on earth should be able to get
more out of life than he. He may
not get rich. He does not often accum-
ulate million or a half million; but
neither million nor half a million are
at all necessary to human happiness.
We have seed enough In the last
year of the wrecked homes and ruined
lives, of the disgrace state and nation
wide, that comes from the abuse OF
wealth earned or unearned, to take
away from our minds it's glamor and
its fascination. For the last few years
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