The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-02-25
Continued From Page One.

He also runs chances of horses being
overworked or dying.
If ! were to talk from experience,
have time and again placed money
with for cattle and have only
held for security the COW or cattle
bought. OF course. in doing this, it rs
necessary that n uses judgment In
! sizing up the man whom he Is doing
business with and l am glad to say
that up to this time, we have not lost
one single dollar where this has been
done. l believe that cattle, and par
on a farm as the heart is to a human
I being. In this, / particularly refer to
the fact that where a successful dairy
is carried on, one can raise calves, hogs
n poultry to good advantage for one
is practically living off the other and
You can trace the success OF raising
poultry n hogs back to the dairy
cattle. We all know that hogs are the
real mortgage ~lifters, but without cat
tie 1t would be a good deal harder to
raise them.
| | have at this time a case or two in
nina that l can quote and anyone
douotlng this statement, I am in posi-
tion TO secure affidavits showing that
these statements are correct.
We have a certain farmer in our To-
callty, who in August, 1910, owned nine
COWS, tive hogs, six horses and quite a
lot of farm machinery and which he
has valued at $4,000. This no doubt Is
somewhat high on account of cattle
not being worth as much in 1910 as
they are today. He owed on this per
sonal property, $4,000, or, in other
words. his equity in his personal prop
erty at that time, was only $500.
Today he has fifty head Of cattle.
eleven horses, forty hogs and values
MS farm machinery at $1,000, and he
a cash on hand at this time some
thing like $500 and besides this he has
U improvements on his farm
amounting to $4,000, or making a. total
Of $S,475 on which he only owes at this
time $500 and in addition to this he
paid W real estate mortgages one Of
$500 and one Of $3.50. He had to buy
seed grain in the spring Of 1911 and
the only good crop that he has had
during this time was the one in 1912.
He has at this time, enough seed grain
and feed on hand to last him until
mex fall. And furthermore, he has
paid the running expenses Of the farm,
taxes, interest on first mortgages and
living expenses of his family. In the
fall of 1910 he had 1856 acres under
cultivation and has been adding about
sixty acres a year until he now has
about 1865 acres under cultivation.
Another example that | can quote Is
wherein a certain farmer whom I got
interested in cattle in the year 1910,
owed approximately $4,000 and his
chattels at that time were not worth
as much as he owed. Today he has
in the neighborhood Of $4,000 to IS, 900
worth of personal property and ON
which he is only owing $500. This man
alone sold about $500 worth of hogs
and $500 worth of cattle last year.
/ have quite a number Of other cases
h a | might quote but think that the
two l have cited will suffice. How
ever, it will go to show that dairy cat
tie are a very valuable asset on the
farm. l want it understood that the
farmers that I am referring to have
also had some grain to sell which
helped out, but you also find that in
the years of 1905, 1906 and 1907 these
very same farmers had more grain to
sell according to the acreage under
cultivation than they had in 1910 and
thereafter.
In summing up this matter, T can
not help but feel that the banks Of this
great state Of North Dakota could do
a good deal more to assist the farmers
IN getting into dairy cattle than they
are doing at this time or have done