Norwich bulletin., 1911-12-02

I Now it is perfectly evident, even to | stupid hayseeds like you and l, that | this particular farmer was sadly lack l ing in the form of business ability ! shown by his city correspondent, the l commission man. Nevertheless, while admitting the city mans clear supe- 1 riority in that respect, seems to me the farmer is just I-e-e-e-t-l-e bit bet ter off without his apples and without his barrels and without his 45 cents and without any of this sort of "busi- ness capacity. He may not get an automobile so quickly as the other fel- low, but he won't have to hate himself to sleep every night of his life. Do you know, Pm getting very, very tired of this constant succession of movements to help the farmers 2" There are probably some farmers who need help. just as there are some banks and some factories that need it, now and then, or most of the time. But the vast majority of farmers don't want help in the form of charity or benevo- fences or outside boosting. They want nothing more than a fair chance, a square deal" equal protection with all others of all other vacations. They don't want special legislation in their favor; they want d cessa ton of special legislation in other inter ests favor.
 They don't want courts composed purposely to give them verdicts; they want courts which shall not be biased in favor of their antagonists practically all the time.
 They don't want charity; they want what they fairly earn
 Above all, they don't want advice and admonition about their failures from the sort of men in town who make their own money by SWindling both producers and consumers like the commission dealer my neighbor ran up against the other day for instance; Clen who muIct the farmer of half his just dues by superior cunning or ithen sober-facedly tell him that he ought to come and sit, disciple wise, at their feet.
 It is rather firm conviction of mine that we farmers don't, as a rule, get much more than half the production we might from our lands It is also my firm conviction that we do not get as much as half it's fair value for the moiety we do produce. The first step towards melting a greater productivity per acre and per farm might well be taken in assuring us that we shall get all it is worth for all that we pro duce. It is no great inducement to Is to work hard and spend much thought in producing valuable crops-to buy automobiles and set up champagne suppers for somebody else, It becomes rather depressing to raise even what we do. year after year, not for our own profit, but for the behoof of other men.
 have one neighbor, a city man, who recently bought up a good nearby farm and deliberately announced his intention to show you fellows how to make money farming He was very Tree both with his SneerS at our slow ness and his advice how to improve our condition. LatterIy he has stopped both sneering and advising. The last l heard he was wondering how much bigger the deficit from his farm was going to be. this year, than it was. last year He once gave me some very sounding advice how to make big money. He was doing it. he said. All l needed was to take his experience and follow his example ' ct in less than a year he had drop ped that particular form of farming the hot poker.
 Before set deliberately at work to bring my land all up to the hundred dollars an acre mark, l want to know Who I'm working for-mYself, or the buyers and the railroads and the com mission men and the jobbers and the retailers: l want to know who is going to get the uSufruct.
 Moreover, when I do start out on that line, humbly opine that my own ideas about the way to accomplish the end sought are more reasonably likely to be practical than those of any bus mess" man, no ma tier how successful in his own line, but who couldn't tell the difference between cabbage and turnip seed, and who wouldn't know a potato bug from a lady-bug, if he should meet them coming up Broad way, arm n arm
 THE FARMER