The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-03-26
Farmers Have Learned Lesson
From Bankers and Manufacturers.
Manufacturers Record)

| ltchard w. Babson in regard to
farming conditions. Mr.. Babson said:
The farmer is much better off TODAY
than he was before the war" To this.
| Wallacc's Farmer gives an answer
which will probably prove to Mr.
Babson that he is not fully cognizant
of many things connected with farm
ing operations. There is, however.
one very amazing statement in Mr..
Eabson's article which really de-
mands serious consideration. Re
ferring to this, Wallace's Farmer
says:
He Criticises the department of
agriculture, the agricultural colleges.
the farm papers and the farm organ
! izations because they have been
teaching the farmer how to keep his
books the assumption being that if
the farmer had not been studying
how to keep his books he would not
know how badly he is hit and every
thing would be lovely"
There are a good many other
statements in Mr.. Babsons article
which are clearly as absurd as that
which indicates that the farmer
should not have learned how to keep
|
other city people. and those identified
with financial interests, show that
they know very little about the farm
ing situation, and their assumption of
the right to tell farmers what they
must and must not do is piece of
presumption which the farmers very
properly resent.
! The farmer. fortunately for him
self. is beginning to know something
about bookkeeping. He is beginning
to do his work with an intelligence
greater than many city people would
desire he display. He is not disposed
to Keep on forever losing money
merely to accommodate city consum-
crs.
If the farmer should conclude to
follow the teaching of the bankers
and restrict his production to the ex-
tent that the bankers restrict credits
whenever it suits their convenience
to do So
Or if he should follow the example
Of the iron men who have blown out
a large proportion of the furnaces in
the country because they could not
ind a ready market for their iron
"iiA iSAoSC ~ hScp vi pllIHS III up,
course which nobody is criticising-
Or if he should follow the example
OF the cotton manufacturers who
stopped their mills as soon as they
could find no market for their goods
lie would only be showing that he
had learned a lesson of common
sense from other business men. There
is no more reason why the farmer
should keep on growing surplus
which he cannot sell. whether il be
cotton or wheat or corn or hogs, than
there is why an iron furnace or q
steel plant or a cotton mill should
not keep on running when it cannot
market its goods, but would only
keep piling up the stock without the
cash Or the credit to carry the stuff
indefinitely.
The farmers are beginning to learn
ordinary business common sense.
They see that they arc no longer wise
when in times such as the present
they keep producing when they can
not find a ready market for their
product and cannot find the credit or
cash with which to cary it until the
market is ready to take it, but city
consumers hold up their hands in
horror the moment q farmer begins
to talk about reducing his acreage
They protest that that is an unholy
thing and that the farmer is guilty
Of a crime against humanity IL he les
sens his acreage of cotton or wheat or
corn, or reduces the number of his
livestock.
Many Of the so-called political eco
nomists and a very large proportion
OF the bankers of the country have
very little knowledge of the real con-
ditions OF farm life, or of the reason
which Justify farmer in declining to
increase his production merely to ac-
commOdatc the needs of those who
want to buy his products at less than
the cost of raising.
The banker feels no hesitation
whatever in declining to lend money
on good collateral if his supply of
| money is low, or of curtailing cred
it. as has been done throughout the
country during the last IL months.
The manufacturer does not hesitate
to shut down his factory if he finds
that to keep it running would mean
a dead loss every day and the piling
up OF a surplus stock which it might
| take long time to market He
knows that his safety is to stop his
plant just as soon as he finds that
he cannot run it and either market or
carry on credit the output, waiting
Tor the return Of better demand.
When the farmer. however, under
takes to carry out this simple busi-
ness proposition men like Mr.. Bab-
son and many other public advisers.
bankers and financial writer's de-
nounce him as though he was COM
mitting crime against God and hu-
manity.
The farmer is simply beginning to
learn little common sense from the
practice Of the business men in the
cities, but the business men and the
bankers who fear the possibility of