The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-06-24

dtt1on. or maintaining It. He tken
figures closely the cost Of operating it
In the most successful manner. and In
the end, is able to charge up against
the finished product pound for pound,
or yard for yard. the exact cost Of pro-
ductton. He knows exactly what the
selling price is to be as we'll as what
the cost has been. and he realizes that
the margin between the cost and the
net selling price is his profit or loss,
as the case may be. Occasionally, no
doubt. he finds a machine In his fac
tory. the producing capacity of which
Is so small. or the cost OF running so
large, that the difference between the
cost of. producing the article of com
MERGE is even higher than the net
selling price, and this particular ma
chine or these particular machines are
losing money for him rather than ma
king for him profits. Now. If he is
business man, as he usually is, he at
once throws them out q! his factory
and installs in their places new ma
chimes with the capacity and the char.
actertistics which make it possible for
them to be operated at profit rather
than loss. Or, perhaps, looking at
1t In still another manner, we find q
manufacturer who started his plant
some rs years ago with certain class
Of machinery that on the whole makes
for him small margin of profit, but
during the last year or two some in
ventor has placed upon the market
machines for the purpose of manufac,
turing the same article that he has
been making, at much less cost of
operation, thus permitting some one
to manufacture the same commodity
which he is making at much less
cost, and competing with him upon
the same market in selling. Now, If
he Is business man, he realizes that
If there is machine in the world that
Will do the same business that his
machines are doing, and accomplish
the same end at less cost, he at once
sells out his entire factory. or gets
rid OF the machines which he is at the
present time using. and installs in
their places, machines of the i'm,
proved type and the character which
insures the most economical pro.
ducing value.
The Farmer Manufacturer.
Now, whether or not the farmer
conducts his business of dairying
along the same lines as the manufac.
turer, determines whether or not he
conducts his business affairs strictly
along business lines. 1t Is certainly
apparent that the man who is keen
ing upon his farm inferior machines
In the shape Of poor cows for the con.
version of the raw material or the
feeds which he raises upon his farm.
or buys, as the case may be, into a
finished product in the form of milk.
cream and butter-fat, places himself
in the same position exactly as the
manufacturer who has in his factory
machines that are making him a far
less profit than would be possible
were he to install In their places ma
chimes Of an improved type and char
acter. Again, we find manufacturers
who expend great deal Of money in
establishing plant and fitting it up
with the very best of machinery. So
far their methods have been excep-
tionally good, and point toward sue
cess and profits, but later they make
mistake by employing unskilled la
borers who have not the ability to
operate the machines to the very best
advantage. and the result of this IL
that the machines do no better work
and no more of it than a much poorer
machine would be, were it operated
with more skill, and this again applies
to the conditions on many of our
farms.