Evening star., 1914-05-16
Why Farmers Are Poor.

Things have been going with rush At
Sunny Knoll the past week. The sea-
son is very late. speaking from AN agri-
cultural standpoint, and tn" resalt is
that almost everything needs to lie done
at once. Even on my small patch OF
land it is q problem 10 get things planted
and because all my neighbors are in the
same fix it is almost impossible to hire
help.
Tie usual charge is 81 a day for a man
and team. but | had to pay ST Il day for
three days work this week. l protested
and hinted at eXtorton. hut the man
calmly told me that | could pay 1t or
not. just as | pleased. thar he would
have to neglect his own work in order
Ia do mine and that he wasn't especially
ANXIOUS 10 Inconvenience himself in or
rcd to accommodate chronic kicker !
paid. and said no more
one of the hard things to understand is
why men who own land and have horses
and implements with which To work it
are willing to let their own planting wait
III order to 20 ont and plow and plant
foi other people. | spoke to Mr.. Brown
boat il The other evening and got the
eNnlanatin
ITS a case Of a .aok Of thrift and fore
sight" he said. II a lot of the farm
avs around here didn't have the chance to
earn some money in the spring BY blow
ing for other neuplc. they wou!dn he
all. they couldn't buy seed and fertilizer.
Poor Economic Policy.
They lose by it in the long run. of
course. If they cultivated all their own
land and devoted all their time to their
own crops. they would grow twice as
much. and would get ahead instead of
always running behind AS it is. they
~
IS harvested. regardless of market con-
djtions. and the money they get is fall
gone before spring and they are i'll debt
at the stores. Some of the money goes
to meet necessary family expenses, but
a lot is wasted. When it comes around
to planting time again they are broke
and have used UP their credit to the
limit. So they have TO take their horses
and plow for other people IN order
to buy seed and provisions for their
families until they again have something
to sell OFF their farms.
Il know dozens of men who could
become prosperous if they had a couple
of hundred dollars just one spring with
which to start the seasons work, and
then would practice economy through
the year until another spring. The trou-
BILE is that they are in the clutch of
vicious circle that draws closer and
closer about them each year. Finally
they sell their farms. or the sheriff sells
become street car motormen They have
neither business capacity por judgment.
and farming these days is 4 business,
requiring both capital and business
sense.
Mr.. Browns talk threw light on thu
problem as TO why so many farms
are for sale within such easy reach
of one of the countrys best markets.
have often wondered why a man with
fifty acres of good land should be
willing to go to the city to take Jop
at 81 per day. 1t seems that the trou-
BILE is not with the farms nor with
farming as a business; that it is solely
with the farmers, men VINO have neither
aptitude nor liking for the work.
OF course. this cannot be accepted as q
general characterization. There are
notable exceptions. Mr.. Brown is one
of them. He was born on the farm where
he now lives and never had any advan-
tages his neighbors could not have en-
joyed. But he liked farming, took an in
telligent interest in it and had gumptiof
enough to sift out the results of scien-
tific experiments and make use OF what
ever was useful to him. The result is
| that he has one OF the finest farms III
this part of the country, has money il
| the bank and IS a bank director. H.
| doesn't own an automobile, but | have II.
| doubt he could better afford one thar
| can two-thirds of the people in town whe
| run cars.