Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1918-09-24

Smith Comes Through.
(Glenn 81. Campbell. Connecticut)
This 10 the story of Smith. 1t is ais
the story Of forloru hope that won.
can't tell You Smiths real name-it ism
Smith-but can tell yon just what thi
man was up against and how he mar
sged 10 solve his problems for, himsel
and bring his net income from below th
zero mark to place whore he Is payin
. good interest on his investment with
profit on bis farming operations besides
Smith lives up in the hills of Connect
cut, where the Worldmaker bad O
much material that He had to stand
lot of 1t on edge to get It all ip. His Is
acres are steep and none too fertile
Sixty acres are woods and only forty ar
tillable, the rest being in pasture.
The first night heard Of Smith, tn
county agent and I we're jack rabbitin,
home from an evening meeting with tn,
little Ford doing all it knew. 1t wa
about II O'Clock, ripping cold, with littl,
tiurries of snow flying up every time th,
wheels touched the ground. As ",
dipped down into q narrow little valley
the county agent chuckled As we passed
farm house where light still burned
in the window. "Smith 10 probably
| working on bis books" he said.
"Whst books?" I asked. "Who !,
Smisbp pa-%T ThenI heard the 6rst chapter
of the story of Smith.
Smith was . dairy farmer who worked
all the hours there were, but bad little
to show for 1t but . backache and bare
living. He had tho0ght over his propo
sition and had tried few experiments
Hs had jumped out of dSiryipg into
omething else, but finding the fire hot
ter than the frying pan, bad jumped
back again. He had tried selling milk
and had also sold cream and fed the
skim milk, bat as far as he could see,
there was little difference in his bank
account at the end of the year.
One day q member of the Farm Man.
sgement Department. Of the Connecticut
Agricultural College came along and
took survey of bis farm. They talked
the situation over bit and did some
figuring. Smiths capital invested was
IS, $50, bis income was sl,l74, and bis
expenses were $1,11S. which left him
$50. This represented bis, total return
in the way of interest on his Investment,
as well az bis reward for the years work.
In other words, he lacked 1922 of pay
Jog five per cent on his Investment, and
bad received nothing for his work ex-
cept the few things from the farm which
went toward bis living. he had paid
the hired men $500 for the years work.
Evidently, his help had made more mon
ey than be. He wasn't quite ready to
offer to trade places with the hired man,
but the situation set him to thinking.
A few weeks later, the county agent
happened to stop at the farm. he step
ped into the cow barn where Smith was
working on broken stanchiop. On the
wall of the stable be saw something
which he never had seen before on this
farm, 1t was homemade milk sheet.
Noticing the county agents interest,
Smith grinned spologetically.
sIt looks like kind of q fool thing to
do" he said, shut I thought l would
"Man," said the county agent, "it's
the best move you ever made. You
keep 1t mp and you'll beat this game yet. +"
Smith began to feel somewhat the
same way when the results of his first
venture in business farming began to
show up. he had heard time and again
of men who had tried to pick out the
best cows In their herds without any
records, and had been badly fooled, but,
somehow or other, II had never impress
cd him very much. More or less un-
consciously be had imagined that he
knew the value of the COWS In bis
own herd, even though the aver
are fellow didn't. he hadn't kept
records very long, however, before be
began getting some surprises. Several
of the COWS weren't bringing In the mon
ey he had always supposed they were.
One day he called up his friend, the
county agent, and asked why some OF
the cows didn't give moro milk. This
led to conferences, new rations, and
closer and continual study Of his milk
records. Later, some of the cows went
to the butcher and others took their
places. Smiths herd was finally on the
make. Before long, 1t became evident
that he was going to have banner year
in his dairy. As . matter OF fact, MS
income per COW increased that year from
sS4 to $7S. This, however, 10 getting
ahead OF the story.
One day he said TO the county agent,
after they had spent the afternoon study
ing the records on the herd, and found
two or three leaks to plug, through the
facts these records furnished: ~ wish
there was some way to keep record OF
the whole farm, the way keep 1t on my
cows. Pll bet there are some dollars
going up Salt Creek every once In
while without leaving any tracks behind
them"
81 think You are right" said the coun-
" agent, "and II you like, pll help you
work the thing out"
They sat down with the old farm man
agement survey record, and began to do
some figuring. Several important items
caught their attention Immediately. %
the expepse side of the ledger was an
itsm of $500 for labor. This was ono OF
the things which Smith had been snink'
ing about for some time. De drew :
lead pencil line through the item "iaoo'
$500" am.
"Tbat fellows fred" he said. "pm
going to do the necessary jobs around
this farm and let the rest take care OF
themselves"
Smith had found big leak In his farm
business, and had plugged 1t up In three
minutes.
On the income side Of the ledger there
were several items which cansed him te
stop and think. He had received $Ios
| for work which be bad done outside ni;
farm. such - teaming on the ROAD ane
other day-work. Smith decided that %
eould spend that time TO batter sdvan'
taee working for himself. HE fncoms
from poultry and eggs bad been only "
for the year. He decided that, unde!
these conditions, he coulfahord 10 spet
more time with. h..bis hess. ais income
| from dairy products which bad returnet
hin sSO6 Tor the year, ebe knew Wouie
| take care of itself, for bis hard was com
inc along we'll under judicious handling
/ With these things In mind, Smit'
tackled q new year feeling certain tna
he n least wouldn't do any worse sns'
he had been doing, and that possibly o
might do better. He spsat gooo man.
nights figuring on the business OF Isr%
inc. and IL it wasn't figuring on nis oook
chat night when the county ageos ana
soooSsd pass, it vas simply 'eeosnse ~
happensd TO pass his place the wroa!
piebt. Tor he burnsd the midpien' OIL
more than onoe.
For : year or t~o, heard more or iee
Of Smith and the progress he had mao
a.c,,rU khin0a ont and lifting IN