Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-04-07
FORCES HIM 70 GET THE HABIT
OF KEEPING FINANCIAL
RECORDS.
MUST USE sUsiNEss
METHODS IN WORK
Never Kept Track Of Expenditures
and Cash on Hand Was Only
Means Of Determining Whether He
Was Getting Pay For His Services
New Methods supplant Old.

Davenport, April 7.-According to
G. W. Warwick, Of Iowa State Col
lege, income tax demands have trans
formed the farmer into q business
man. Mr.. Warwick Is getting a
check on Scott county farms in an
attempt to see what It costs to run
them. The information Is being
gathered for use by the college from
various counties to show the aver
age and detailed cost Of running q
farm in Iowa.
Mr.. Warwick says: I'm former
years the farmer plowed and seeded
his ground and then sold his crop
for the best figures he could get.
The difference between the cost OF
the seed and the price he got for his
produce represented his profit. II
did not occur to many farmers that
the cost Of labor, rentals. taxes, in
terest, or borrowed money, insnr-
ance or other items Of expense had
any significance other than for him
to dig down into his pocket and pay
them.
Eyes Are Opened.
THE farmer worked his head on
and the heads Of his hired men and
wondered why he did not get rid or
the mortgage and get rich. Nothing
has been done to srsrtle the farmer
more than the income tax which mas
forced him to do a little bookkeep-
ing and 70 keep account of his in
come and expenses.
His eyes have been opened to the
fact that even the oats eaten by the
team that plows ground is an item
Of expense that enters into the cost
Of production and that everything
from seed to thresher and from plow
to lowing represent items OF eH-
pense that must be taken into con-
sideration before the farmer can put
a price on his product and claim
profit
"The very enemies Of the field
have turned out to be the farmers
best friends. They have forced the
farmer to revoluution!ze farming. The
southern planter was satisfied year
in and year out to raise cotton on his
worn and tired soils. 1t never oc-
Cured to him that he would raise
anything else. When the boil weeVil
came, it forced the cotton raiser 10
see other possibilities for his lanl
He found that he could raise corn as
we'll as cotton. He began to rotate
| his crops. "a
New Methods for Old.
Rotation meant for him re1uv-
| mated soil and better crops. The
planters field enemies disappeared
and he began to live on his income
instead of his mortgage. The north
| ern farmer planted corn, corn and
still more corn on the same ground
| until cut worms and other pests
| drove him almost distracted. He
! found that he did not have to raise
he began to rotate. The ground enc
| mics disappeared
Impoverished soils, plumber OF
their riches by continuous drafts up
on soil-chemicals that were never
replaced. began to pick up. Soils
improved. crops improved and the
farmers bank account improved
Ths farmer had learned his lesson
He had learned the scientific value
| Of crop rotation. He has discovered
that the boiled shirt farmer from the
university has little common sense
| after all and that he knows a thing
| or two about farming.
| The same results are being Sc
cured on everything from sprayed
fruit trees to sunny pig pens. The
farmer is no longer a farmer in the
old accepted term. but is a busine s.
man. He has been a scientist as
man. He has become a scientist az
| we'll"