The Lexington progress. (Lexington, Tenn.) 1884-current, 1922-09-01
WASTE ON THE FARM.

Go, through a well regulated manu-
featuring plant and see how it is sys-
tematized, how all waste is eliminat
ed, how labor is so distributed; how
all lost motion is eliminated, how ev
cry part of the raw material is util-
lied. Then you can understand how
the finished product is produced at
such low cost.
Go through one of the great pack
ing plants, where live stock is slaugh-
tered, and you can understand how
everything about a pig, except the
squeal is turned into profit, and how
the packing houses pay big dividends
by utilizing what is let go to waste on
the farm when the farmer butchers
his meat.
If the waste and loss on the farms
could be turned into profit, the bal
ance would be found on the right side
of the ledger. Many farmers do not
realize they are wasting or losing on
their production. They have contin-
ued to do things as their fathers did
before them, when there was no COM
petition and none but local markets
for their products. 1t is hard for them
to realize their wasteful practices un-
| til they have observed the methods
employed in large and well regulated
production enterprises.
Farmers do not appreciate the fact
that they are just as much manufac-
turers as are the concerns that turn
out automobiles, tractors and other
kinds of farm machinery, or that the
same system can be applied to their
work with profit.
We unconsciously waste time,
waste feed, let crops 60 to waste, but
we are most wonderful in our market.
| ing methods. We waste the fertility
of our soils. We waste in the care
OF our livestock, and waste production
by neglecting crops at the time they
most need attention. We have not
given the attention to the details of
our work which would mean so much
in the final profits. am a farmer
and have been all my life, and realize
that | am chargable, in varying de-
grees, with all the things have emu
merated. am trying to correct the
mistakes | have made, and / am
bringing them to the attention of my
fellow farmers, so that we may be
able to avoid in the future a reputi-
tion of the mistakes of the past.
What with low prices for our prod
ucts and with high taxes and high liv-
ing costs, we farmers are having hard
shedding to get by, 1t is our duty to
ourselves and our families to remove
as many of our handicaps as we pos
sibly can. / am trying to point out
the things we can do that will help US.
Doing them will make more endura-
BILE the things that we cannot control
or eliminate from among our handi-
caps.
We can cut our waste of time,
waste of our crops, waste in the neg
lest of our livestock and in feeding,
waste in the neglect of our farm ma
chinery. We can improve our market
ing methods by cooperative effort.
When we do all these things that is
! possible for us to do, we will be more
firmly on our feet and better able to
tackle the problems that now seem
impossible of solution.
There is one thing certain-we will
be far better off than those who idle
away their time bemoaning their fate
and doing nothing to make conditions
better. | am firmly convinced that
when we do all that we can do, we can
insure the most dependable prosperi-
ty for ourselves on the farm, and in
that way help in the prosperity of the
whole country.