Norwich bulletin., 1914-07-11
IT DOESN'T PAY THE PLUCKY YOUNG FARMER
 Tn rn Tnn FACT
TO GO TOO FAST

(written Specially For The Bulletino
 There is such a thing as being too durn progressive.
 Few of us older hayseeds are trou- hled much. that way but now and then one of the younger generation IS.
 .Boost:'' boom things: re constantly being adjured by some fel- low from college or some fellow who wants to go to congress or some city fellow who lives in a s3,000 flat on a $eO0O salary to boost and boom and "whoop things up. .,.
 Undeniably 1t is better to "6oost than to ..kick'. But there is reason in all things, and sometimes too exuoer- ant boosting leads to a bust-up.
 There Is excellent authority for thinking that, when man is going 10 build a tower, he had better sit down and count the cost, whether he nave wherewith to complete 1t. Lest haply, when he hath laid foundation and IS not able to finish, all that behold De- gin to mock him."
 Same way with barn. Or hen house. Or a reaper and self-D1nder. Or an automobile.
 Towers aren't the only things that cost and have to be paid for
 The wise old head sits down before he begins any one of the various fm- provements he hankers after and "hg- gers up" whether he's got the money to pay for 'em. and also whether they'll pay for themselves after he's put his money into them.
 The booster plunges into them the moment he becomes convinced they're good things, without stopping to consider whether he can personally afford them or not.
 Pm moved to these reflections by the story which came to me, recently, or . young farmer who had failed.
 It was hard to understand, at first why he had failed. He was young; he was ambitious, he was energetic; he was a good practical farmer he liked COWS; he was a hard worker. There wasn't a lazy streak anywhere in him. His habits were good He was econm- ical in matters of personal expendi- ture. He had done well with a small herd of a dozen cows. So he launched out, gathered a dairy of fifty, and started to "get rich quick.
 To begin with he needed more barn room. He could have built els and sheds on the old one and made it do, but it would always have been an old contraption and a makeshift at the best. He knew that dairy cows do best when best sheltered and cared for. The most modern barn possible wouldn't be any too good. So up went a $5,0e0 barn. Then he must have an up-to-date hen-house. He put up two cement slices. on the theory that, since he must have 'em. he had better have the very best. Then he bought about thirty pure-bred cows, paying fancy prices, and a pure-bred sire, paying an exorbitant price t
 He had a fair amount of working capital and frst-class credit. Any body was willing to take his note for anything he wanted because he was known to be industrious, frugal in per sonal matters, owner of a big un- mortgaged farm, sober, energetic and pushing.
 Now the farm and the barn and the siles and the pure-bred cows and the expensive machinery belong to the people he gave his notes to. He's working at ''$30 a month and found' for a stranger.
 The trouble was that he spread too much sail for his hull. He boost ed' not wisely but too well. He "bit off more'n he could chaw".
 He didn't sit down in his old barn and count the cost as he should have done; not merely the initial cost but the constant. annual, er-ceasing draft of interest and taxes and in suFance and repairs and maintenance
 He certinly did have a mighty nice place for while. Everything shone for a year or two. The fences were fine, and the fields were finer, and the buildings were finest of all.@ City visitors admired and envied him: prospective buyers of country estates were shown his place as a model of what could be done with good stock on just common land.
 Now 1t is only being shown to DOS slDte suckers who are thought guilt ble enough to bite at poor bait.
 Tho whole trouble with this youno dairyman was that, led on by his own worthy ambition, he listened too eagerly to the boosters" whose idea seems 60 be to plunge blindly into any experiment or expenditure which prom ises well, regardless of cost and