Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-11-14
The Community Sentiment.

in the Chenango Valley where he now
resides it was in the dead of winter and
snow lay thick upon the ground. He
came from distant state and had little
means of knowing the condition OF the
soil. The place was unoccupied and
had been for months, the owner residing
on a neighboring farm.
The place had only recently come into
possession of the former owner, and
while he was honest in declaring that 1t
had been allowed to "run down." he as
serted his belief that it was not the fault
of the soil. The writer began quietly to
ask others in the neighborhood and near
by village about the farm. A real estate
dealer with whom the property was not
listed declared the place was worthless,
and a neighboring tenant farmer, who
finally confessed that he had never
worked on the farm and all the knowl-
edge he had of it was from the outside,
asserted that even an umbrella could not
be "rsised" on 1t, 1t was so poor.
had about determined that did not
care to invest my money in a locality
where land was SO poor when an interest
ed friend advised me to consult very
practical and successful man who owned
a farm in the same community and close
by the property in question. L ola so,
telling him what others were saying
about the place. l shall always remem-
ber his answer: "Mr. Markham, you
are stranger here, but does it not seem
a little peculiar to you that tha t place is
so poor when it is surrounded by some
of the best farms in this section" Then
he went on to say that he should hate to
think that he himself owned and had
spent so much good money on farm
only one farm removed from such
worthless place. ~ do not like" said
this man of sense, "to have neighbors to
a property that is for sale begin to run 1t
down, for their talk cheapens every place
in the neighborhood."
He spoke the truth. The man who
talks down neighbours place-spd there
is such a tendency among farmers more
than among others with whom L am
down his own proper
ty. For one farm, similarly situated as
to lay of land, ETC., is not often material
" different in soil from other farms
about it. 1t may not have been 80 well
but the soil, as nature gave 1t to
man, is not much different. l have al
ways regarded this mans giving me such
advice as a friendly act; by his honor
able treatment of neighbor came into
possession of farm with which have
been delighted as to its responsiveness
to good farming methods and as to loca-
tiou. etc, and had looked about in
three other states as we'll as IN this
vicinity before buying.
A neighbor of mine recently sold
couple Of COWS to dealer from another
state and in the selling price realized
their worth. A group Of farmers were
talking over the sale, and the general
verdict, pronounced openly and unhesi-
was that the man had received
too much for his stock. A listening
dealer in stock took this assertion as the
theme for declaration that cattle were
not profitably bringing such high prices
and only the ignorance OF the foreign
dealer of stock values made him pay
such price.
Now, If there is one thing above an
other that dealer wishes farmers to &C
cept and believe it is that the price OF
cattle is low, for dealers are buying
to ship out of the locality.
When will farmers learn that the report
ed selling price of the livestock OF fellow
farmers makes the market for their own?
II the price is high, so much more can
they insist to dealer that he pay them
a good price.
If have bunch Of yearlings to sell l
ought to be exceedingly anxious to have
my ueighbor whom the dealer visits BE-
fore he reaches my farm get high mar
ket price for the calves he sells.
One farmer can destroy the local mar
kst for apples that should sell, say, for
35 cents bushel by advertising that he
will supply customers for 80 cents
bushel. Confidence in the necessity OF
good market price must obtain to secure
hat price just as surely among farmers
as among stockholders in Wall Street
or anywhere else in the commercial
world.
II a farmer sells his hay we'll to
dealer, why should not his neighbor be
pleased, instead of saying that he has
buncoed the dealer?
Yet, who has not seen the sale OF
horse or a farm fall through because
neighbors began to say that the owner
asked too much for his horse or bis
farm?
I like that man-aud who does not?-
who reioices in the good fortune OF his
neighbor; who lends hand to neigh
bor to help him along the road. If a
man undertakes TO beautify or make
his home, why should his
neigh Dor think or say he is putting on
airs? Why not rejoice that more
beauty and comfort are thus added to
''our community? Such improvements
,peak of thrift and show that farming
pays, and add new inspiration to US all
as we 90 about our task Of tilling the
soil.
"What man has done man can do"
was written in our copy books at school.
IL is an inspiration to the writer, as ne
blunders and fails as farmer, to see
a neighbor farmer successful, for he
comes to think that he, too,
may do what his neighbor has done.
Yet how often the petty spirit OF jeal-
ousy is shown by one farmer toward an
other who is "making good"
II is my observation, as man who
has lived in city and village as we'll as
upon the farm, that this spirit is seen
displayed oftener in a farming COM
than elsewhere. 1t should not
be so. As farmers we should come to
know more clearly that
There Is a destiny that makes US brothers;
ia xuav alma
All that we send into the lives Of others
Comes back into our own.
This is true not alone in q moral sense
but in a business-a hard commercial
sense as well. Talking down the COM
munity in which we live, Its people, its
spirit, our neighbor's property, his farm
and his home, cheapens the commercial
and moral standards of that community.
The sursst way to ipjure ourselves and
our own interests is to attempt to injure,
carelessly or maliciously, the interests
or the character of our fellows.-Edgar
Cary Markham, Earlville, N. Y, In
Tribune Farmer.
Wet the EuSllage.