The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-05-11
A COMMON ECON
0M|C ERROR
Raise Your Supplies and
See Bank Account Grow

For many years it has been the
custom Of Southern farmers to make
thelr crop upon the advance system
and while this has been regarded as
farmer, by many merchants it has
been thought that it was very profit
able way of buying cotton
The farmer realized that as matter
Of safety it was better to make the
food consumed by his family and his
stock upon the farm rather than to
purchase it and especially when he
had TO promise payment out of a crop
which had not as yet been made
have been watching this phase OF
country life in the South for many
years and have come to the conclusion
that the advance system is just as
great a mistake on the part of the
merchant as it is on the part of the
farmer, for the following reasons:
First, the merchant takes grea
risks. which, of course, he tries to
cover by increased charges. But even
though these charges are increased,
the staples of life are not such articles
as a high percentage of profit viii
adhere to. and the merchant is prac-
tica1y trading gold for a promise TO
pay. II the crop fails, he is obliged
to carry and carry and carry and pos
sibly may ultimately. as in thousands
of cases, be obliged to take the farm,
for which he has no use, and under
bOll-weevil conditions is difficult to
handle prOfitably upon a tenant SyS-
tenn.
Under a cash system there Will be a
great reduction in the sales of some
staple foods such as bacon. potatoes,
beans, lard, vegetables. canned goods,
hay. corn, etc, all articles that carry
low profits. The farmer is rarely a
hOarder of money and if he saves two
hundred dollars or more by producing
Ill Iii Of hn, hb hos
that much more to spend when his
crop is made. and it is cash.
Under a cash system the farmer viii
buy with his surplus more dry goods,
clothing, shoes, furniture, etc. for his
family, better teams. farm implements,
wagons, buggies. etc, on which there
is a much greater profit for the mer-
chant than on staple articles of fooG.
The merchant can turn his money IN
thirty days, instead of a year. Zen
per cent clear profit turned monthly
is better than 12O per cent gain re-
ceived annually. Some Of the farm
ers increased income goes into per-
manent improvement to enable the
farmer to produce more and spend
more annually.
Again, there is something about
debt, that saps the vitality Of the
farmer and affects the quality of his
tillaee It really lowers the grade OF
farming. If upOn the other hand the
merchants will join with us in urging
farmers to raise all their food SUP
plies and try to produce by better till
2 ge double the crop per acre they now
produce. the result as it affects the
merchant will be this:
All business will soon be on cash
basis and the volume Will be three OF
four times as large from the farmers
alone The advent of more money Will
bring diversified industries among the
farmers and eventually Will attract
manufa cturers to the market towns
If there are idle farms in the couh-
try instead of calling meetings Tor
the purpose of raising funds to secure
immigration, call meetings to encouf-
age the farmers who know the cOuH-
try and are loyal to it. to un1VerSa'lS
adopt the following plan. First, pro
vide their own food supplies from the
farm. Second, double the average
product on every acre under cultiNd-
ton and let each worker on the laiii
by the use of better teams ana toolS
till three times as many acres dS :"
present not in the one crop but III q
variety Of diversified and proflIap
crops. This would cause an 1mmeoldIe
demand for more land and would pro-
vide the money to pay for It. lnlo
makes every man on the farm more
than six times the industrial power n
now is and gives him love OF the
farm. This is better than to leave Tiiii
IN dlScoura cement and secure HMM
grants to come and buy him out
l should not speak so posltlVelS'
CONTINUED on Page Six.)