Norwich bulletin., 1913-02-01
ewrittensspsciallv for The Buiaetlno

It isn't uncommon to hear the asser- ton from farmers that there ain't nc money in farmin', any more I've heard it: you've heard it. we've all heard i6
 Which made quite interesting to me the statement of big and successful westerner, the other day, that one of the most hopeful signs of the times to him was the fact that thousands of bright sound, manly young fellows, who. belong to the class that used to fling themselves into the nlaelstrom of business" were now going into farm ing, of choice Because eXplaineo he, they see that there is a better chance for better profits in farming than in almost any other open form of honestly managed business
 Please note that Hmitation;-~of honestly managed business Also. please note that he says "a better chance" not an assured certainty
 Considering those things, what do you think of it, neighbor? Does it strike you as being within gunshot of the uuth2 Or do you look upon 1t simply as the gulf" of some theorist t+talkinr through his hat2S I don't per sonalIy know the gentleman who made the statement But he is practical ouf-in- the-fe farmer, and he has the reputation of being a rather un- usually good one. For one, am not
 
 lofty contempt. I fancy that he knows more about both farming and busi- ness than I do And it is not always juddcious for the grammar-sehool boy to pass final judgment on the know ledge of the college professor In fact, the only leadership the only authorl- ty, the only aristocracy bow to IS the leadership the authority, the arIsto- cracy of knowledge. The Man Who Knows is the man to follow. This man whom I quoted has a record and a reputation which tndicatethat he real Iy knows what he is talking about. Let's think over his assertion a few minutes.
 To begin with ,we all agree that very few farmers make much money The most of us have what little we possess rather because we have saved the pennies than because we have made the dollars. Yet almost every community has within its knowledge one or two farmers who have become rich. They stand out like isolated peaks, rising above a level of medic crity and some sWamps of failure Please remember we're talking about business success, proit-taking money making success, just now. We all went to school together; we all grew up to- gether; we've all been farming togeth- CT. Yet these few have made money, while the rest of us have been hard put to it to make a living.
 Such men didn't, as a rule, start with better farms than we others. They didn't, as a rule, start with more capital. They didn't as a rule, stand at the head of their district schools
 Why, then, have they acquired bank accounts, while we have only acquired lame backs?
 think ! have an answer to that question. If you've a better one, you eh r mil inf 4ha 4faIa T keep your own. My idea is that a few people succeed emdnently at farm money making, just as few succeed eminently at business money making, because they have a special gift for that one thing, and devote all their thoughts and all their energies to it. In precisely the same way a majority of those who go into farming, like a majority of those who go into busi- ness, fail to make money because they either lack the money grabbing spirit, or fail to go at it single-eyed and with their whole hearts.
 Don't forget, please, that the busi- ness history of this country is plotted thick with the records 'of business failures. Don't forget that, of every twenty men who start in business, go into bankruptcy or the bread line. Don't forget that the few multimil Ionaires of the business world are about as rare exceptions, in that field, l AS the IeW oig iarLnerS are III lhelrS-
 And, of those few multi nniiiionaires, | how many have made their millions by 1 honest management?" Not even the ! gentleman whom 1 have quoted would | pretend that there is as much money l to anybody in honest farming as in l wrecking railroads and mpoverishing i small StockhofderS-a in crushing out competition by the aid of boughten legislatures and bribed judges-as in | mpering with scales and measures 1 as in buying damaged second-quality. i goods al half price and selling them to l innocent buyers for fancy firsts-as in | working helpless girls of Is from in | the morning to 9 at night for s3 1 week, and compelling them to pay out l of that for the sewing machines they | use and the ice water they drink. 1 We're not talking of piracies and l