The news=record. [volume] (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon) 1907-1910, 1909-12-08
THE BUSINESS SIDE OF FARMING
Professor Bexell Gives Some Valuable
and Interesting Pointers.

Oregon Agricultural College, Corval-
lis, Dec. 6.--The Oregon Agricultural
college has just issued bulletin for
free distribution emphasizing better
business methods on the farm.
Professor Bexell, the author of the
bulletin, says in his introduction:
1T is truism to say that the fnan-
cial side of farming is of the utmost
| Importance. But the 4act remains that
this side of the world IS greatest indus
| try is almost entirely neglected by both
the farmer and the schools. Professor
| Bailey says ON this subject: In visit
ing practically every farm in one of
the counties of the state (New York;
we did not find one man who knew
how much it cost him to produce milk
or to raise any of his crops
"The secretary of agriculture, in re-
cent year books, points out the remark
able prosperity of the farmer; that the
export of farm products is vastly in
excess of all other exports combined; !;
that million agricultural debtors
have been transformed during the last
.ten years into the same number of sur
plus depostors; that contrary to his
reputation, the farmer is great or
| ganizer, and he has achieved remarka-
| BILE and enormous successes in many
lines of economic cooperation in which
the people of other occupations have
either made no beginning at all or have
nearly if not completely failed He
points out that most farmers live bet
ter than the average merchant or me-
| chanic.
"The business of farming assumes
two distinct phases: the productive
phase and the exchange phase. The
one aims to extract the treasures from
the soil; the other to place them in
the hands of the consumer. 1t is i'm
portant not only to raise abundant
crops, but also to sell the products to
advantage.
"The Importance of the exchange
phase is often lost sight of. A farm
may be forced to yield to its maximum
capacity, labor may be managed prop
erly and waste reduced to a minimum
and yet the net result may be loss
at the end of the year. AS general
economic proposition, it might be said
that large crops often result in serious
loss to society as a whole. If the net
value to the consumer is less than the
labor and capital expended on the crop
society is the loser by the difference
Hence the Importance of a thorough
understanding by the farmer as vel
as by the merchant and manufacturer
of the laws and methods of exchange
or commerce.
''That farming is science has beer
emphasized so much that the fact that
it is also business is often lost sigh
of. 1t is real business, and one which
pays the United States close to eight
billion dollars annually. 1t has beer
demonstrated repeatedly that no legit
innate business pays better than farm
ing. 1t may be little more uphill
work at the start, since most farmers
begin business with small capital, bu
it is incomparably safer in the Ions
run, and will insure a competence fol
old age with greater certainty than any
other occupation. But let it ever b,
, borne in mind that the condition fo
} success is that farming must be con
, Quoted on business principles.
"Not many generations ago it wa
} considered sufficient for the averag,
manufacturer merely to record his casl
receipts and expenditures and to keel
J a tolerably accurate check on the casl
balance. In many instances the lef
q trouser pocket served as the debit sid
S and the right as the credit side of tn
] ledger Modern business methods an,
sharp competition have changed thes
notions until today it is necessary II
know the cost of production in ad
vance to the smallest detail. Ancien
n business methods prevail yet, very gen
2 orally, on the farm. The wonderful
) progress of the American farmer is du
i to marvellous natural resources, labor
saving inventions, and natural inge
nuity, rather than to wise and pruden
management.
"In certain respects farmer mus
/, combine the methods of the manufac
+; turer and the merchant. He must lear
: not only how to increase production
but also how to facilitate the proftabl
o exchange of his products. He must re
duce the cost of production to the mir
q imum by increasing the quality an
the quantity of his products, and b
II getting full value out of labor. H
must ndhaSe SO JhdJ MS WORKING IOrc'
Y, farm hands, children, horses, all ar
. constantly employed. This require
/; most skillful management in the rot;
ton of crops, in the division of lapo
/; in selecting seeds, fertilizers and stool
IS and, above all, it requires general pr,
10 dence in purchasing equipment an
supplies, and in marketing product
/: This class of farmers require variet
of records to assist in the proper MAJ
agement of their business. A frs
10 class set of books is just as indi
=. pensible to them as to the banker {
n to the manufacturer.
i. The bulletin is illustrated with
> full-page engravings. 1t will be ser
!, free on request. Address Professor
|. A. Bexell, Corvallis, Ore.