The Columbus journal., 1909-07-28

Millionaire farmers. says the Atchi.
SON Globe are not numerous, but those
Who made their millions from the farm
are still more rare. Such q man il
David Rankin. Of Tarkio, Mo-, and
the story of his life is intensely inter
estine, both q narrating the progress
of one farmer, and Of oil American
agriculture. He is now worth 81. $780,.
600. On his broad acres 25O men are
employed. He raises $4,000 acres If
corn . year, yielding about 1000. 900
bushels. One thousand horses and
mules are required to do the work Of
this vast farm, and he buys 25O car
loads of feeding cattle 1t time. In
one field he has 5000 acres Of corn,
the largest corn field in the world. He
has given 500, 900 to Tarkio college,
and regards it as one Of the best in
vestments he has made. In speaking
fthis, he dwells on the importance Of
an education; says he needs more than
he has himself, and wishes to make II
easy for boys and girls of the present
time to acquire learning. This mil
lionaire farmer raises more corn each
wear than the nine states of Utah,
Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Idaho
Montana, Rhode Island, Wyoming and
Nevada combined. Yet this man who
has amassed millions from the soil, be-
gan in 1916 with nothing.
Mr.. Rakin was born on q Sullivan
county, Indiana, farm in 1926. And
in farming since he Was big enough
fiDt for his father and later for him
self, he is familiar with the great
changes that have come in the agri
cultural methods, and the manner o.
rural life in three quarters of Gen.
tury. To old people. who have grown
up with the Middle West, he draw
many familiar pictures. His first home
was . log cabin sixteen feet square
In that home the cooking was done il
an open fireplace. most of the simple
fare being co"ke'l in a kettle, set OF
the logs. which had to be watched
less it tip over. The bread was cook
ed in a Dutch oven, with Goals over i
and coals under it. When yOunl
David was nine years old, the family
moved from Indiana to Illinois, locat
ing in Warren county. As showing
that transportation methods have pro
gressed with agriculture, it may b
mentioned that the family was month
making the move, travelling every
day.
In those days there were no matches
and fires were started with flint rock
Mr.. Rankin also recalls seeing his faith
er start fire with q grain sickle, BY
putting power on Dutch oven lid, and
striking the lid with sickle, using
tow to catch fire from the powder.
The only schools they had in thos'
days were little subscription schools
held in log houses, with windows O
creased paper. The principal studie'
were reading, writing and arithmetic
and the embryo millionaire had littl'
opportunity to acquire these. At tn
age of eleven years, he quit school ant
went to work. A good education va
not looked upon as so essential then q
now, and the boy was needed to helI
support the family. Money was 81
scarce that the common people could
little more than afford shoes for colo
weather. Mr.. Rankin recalls that HI
went barefooted every summer unit
he was % years old. But it was thu
simple, and, if it had many disadvau'
tages, Mr.. Rankin believes it gave peo
pie stronger constitutions than the
strenuous life of today. Certainly il
had that effect ON him, for he is hear
ty and active at eighty.five.
Prosperous young farmers of to-day
whose greatest worry is that the banl
may fail, will note by the prices pre-
valent in Mr.. Rankin's boyhood thai
there were other causes of worry then
In 1910, to pay store debt for hi
father, he hauled dressed hogs to thu
town of Oquawka. ILL.,, on the Mis-
sissippi river, and sold the meat for 81
to $1.25 a hundred. Give hogs an
now worth So per hundred pounds,
And it was harder to raise hogs in
those days. The corn they were fat.
tened on was cultivated with q single
shovel pillow, and the ground plowed
with q wooden mouldboard pillow
This wooden mouldboard had to bt