Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1915-01-05
Farm Merchandising,

The final result of a years work OF
the farm Is to have something to sell
That something must sell for more thar
Ii costs or the result is disastrous.
good salesman is not necessarily the one
who can dispose Of the goods but
who can dispose of them at profit.
however. he is first of all producer
The storekeeper buys goods and sell.
them in the same form in which be
buys. The farmer literally produces
the goods be sells. The farmers prob
lem is therefore much more complicated
than that Of the storekeeper. Just in
proportion as it is complicated it is in
teresting and offers all sorts of possibili
ties for the good business farmer to
solve.
The farmers cost is tn a certain ex-
tent within his own keeping. The skill
and judgment exercised in every opera
tion 10 reduce cost is rewarded by hand
some profit if be is equal to the job.
Much is said about the cost of produc-
ing milk and many articles are written
to show that the dairymen in certain
parts of the country cannot produce
milk for the selling price. How many
dairymen have kept sufficient tab on
business TO know the truth about this
matter? How many know wherein the
trouble is il the statements are true?
How many know how to apply the
remedy il they have located the trouble?
How many are applying it? If not, why
not?
There is an intimate relation between
the volume of business done and the
cost Of doing il. II man had to sit
down and whittle out box of matches,
make the box and dip the matches by
hand, they could not be sold for penny
a box over every counter in the land.
The dairy farmer who is devoting his
whole time to the manufacture of milk
with out-ot-da,e machinery (poor cows,
scrubs) and poor material (timothy hay
and expensive grain) is going TO make
bad job of the thing He can't compete
with man who has the latest improved
machines (high producing cows) and
the best materials (pro'ein and succu-
lepce grown on the FARM and his
trouble is not one of selling but one of
cheap production.
Many dairymsn have bungled the sell
ing as we'll as the manufacturing end of
their business. A good merchant sees
to IL that he has more than one outlet
for his goods. The man who is selling
groceries TO mining camp goes broke
or out of business when the camp fails.
The man who seeks location where his
trade will come from variety Of indus
tries is not seriously affected il one or
two of them go on the blink.
The dsirymsn who has willingly or
otherwise reduced his market to one
outlet is at the mercy OF the men who
control that outlet. In many of the
dairy sections the dairyman has deliber-
ately done this thing and he has the pip
or to pay. These dairymen were not
good statesmen. They deliberately al
closed and in many cases helped to close
it.
The dairyman acting individually can
to large measure control the cost of
the products he has to sell. But this
requires knowledge Of his business
that too often be does not possess. The
dsirymen acting together can, il they
will, provide more than one outlet for
their product. This requires willing
ness to work together which he does not
often display.
The business side of farming is it's
weakest part. When the farmer ac-
quires more of the business acumen OF q
good merchant he will soon become a
better farmer, for after all is said the
farm that pays is the good farm and the
farmer that can make it pay is the good
farmer Dairyman.