Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1922-11-08
FARMER PLAYS Big
PART in TOWN BOOM
Spends Money With Home Merchants
And Helps to Promote Prosperous
Conditions Here
ALL INTERESTS SERVED

ALL INTERESTS SERVED
What has so far been said in this
series of articles on the Importance
of buying of hometown merchants ap-
plies with equal force to the farmers
residing in the vicinity of Viroqua an
1t does to those who reside within its
orporate limits.
Bringing his patronage to hte mer-
chants OF Viroqua means money in his
pocket. 1t is not a question of obi
CATION but question of profit.
Probably by far the greatest pro-
gress that has been made in industry
in the past 100 years has been aehiev-
ed as a result of the division of indus
try. Time was when the farmer rails
ed sheep, cut their wool, raised fodder
to feed his flock over winter, dyed the
clips, spun them into wool with family
or hired help, woye htem into cloth,
took them to market and bartered his
rolls of goods for something else that
he needed.
4 All the processes of what ever line
of activity he engaged in had to be
performed on his farm. And every
thing had to be run on a small scale
in consequence.
With the introduction of the division
of labor there was brought about q
big change. We have no time to trace
this movement step by step, or to 60
Iiato minute detail, but in general
way the new development worked out
so that the farmer was freed of all
operations except raising the sheep
and clipping the wool. Somebody else
dyed it, third spun it, a forth wove
it into cloth, fifth carried it to mar
iEaf cfNgth sold ~ ord ca an
PRINCIPLE is SAME
III the farmer engaged in something
lelse besides sheep-raising, the details
were different but the general prin-
lciple was the same.
just what these details are is I'M
important, but what is important il
that he Is now responsible for only
lone OF the six or more Jobs. He can
perform his one job better, as a re-
suit, and on a larger scale. Where
there We're six chances for him to suf-
lfer loss before, there is only one; be-
sides, he can concentrate his atten-
ltion on this one job, so that he learns
to perform it better than ever before,
with less lost motion and on a large
scale.
who today are owing and operating
They grow grain, but they do not
have to invest in mills and grind it to
flour; they have dairy herds, but
creamerise and cheese factories free
them of the necessity of working their
own product into butter and cheese.
And so on.
Half the people in the United States
re on farms--perhaps less than that.
ITO make us a self-sustaining nation.
therefore,, each farmer must raise
nough to feed his family and some
Their family. But he raises more than
that, because he is engaged in farm
ing to make money, and he must pro-
duce q surplus for general sale.
RAILROADS CARRY SHIPPING
The task of shipping he has dele
gated to the railroads and the task Of
lselling he has delegated to the stores.
He trucks his potatoes and other vege-
tables, apples and other orchard pro-
ducts, hay, grains butter, cheese, eggs,
cream, milk and whatever else his
place yields, to town. He sells them
TO the elevator and to the general store
They pay him cash and assufe the
| responsibility of getting these pro-
ducts into the hands of the actual con-
sumner.
In all fairness, the principle of re-
ciprocity obiiges the farmer to pat
ronize the merchants of Viroqua, in
turn, for the articles he needs. The
hardware merchant and implement
dealer deserve his patronage in inn
plements and tools; the grocer, food
stuffs, flour and provisions; the butch
1 er, fresh meats; the drygoods mer-
chant, clothing and similar needs. and
so on all the way down the line.
OBLIGATION TO COMMUNITY
The farmers duties and obligations
to the community near which he lives
are only slightly less binding upon
nj mthan are those resting upon actual
residents OF that community He
shares in all those things which make
| it a desirable place in which TO live.
His children attend its schools, his
family attends church there and with
the automobile annihilating distances,
he and his wife and children partici-
| pate in it's social life to large ex-
tent. Its library, its public gather
ings, its concerts and entertainments,
| its civic activities, its newspaper-a
these agencies enrich the lives Of the
| farmer and his family no less than
those Of the townspeopIe
His house and barns perhaps ara
lighted by electricity from the town
plant. The telephone line links him
to the town as though to neighbor
next door, so that all he has to do to
! get the latest quotations is to take
down the receiver and ask the mer-
chant or the produce dealer, or If there
is sudden illness in his family, call
to the village doctor brings the latter
| post-haste TO the bedside of the strick-
en- one. Every week there are scores
/ of instances in which the nearby town
adds to his profit, convenience n d
well-being.
BEST INTERESTS SERVED
IL is the duty we have TO urge upon
! the farmer in return, when his own
/ best interests are served by patroniz-
! ing Viroqua merchants. The savings
| that these make possible for Viroqua
residents, as discussed earlier in this
series of articles, are effected also for
the farmer. Every word of the ar1u-