Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-05
Advocates Business
Methods for Farmer
TO the Editor Of The s,.r.

/ To the Editor Of The Star:
| You recently gave publicity to a re-
port OF the United States CHAMBER Of
Commerce stating that the small farm
Is as prontable as the large farm. This
is described BY the Literary Digest as
BODY blow" to the advocates of large
farms. Conclusions arrived at in this
way ony confuse the subject. I sub
nlI tnat chambers Of commerce and
to deal with this subject
The main brutal fact is that farming
large or small, is, generally speaking,
not conducted on business principles
ana cannot be successful. If the farmer
SUCKS 10 cobbler methods, he must ex-
pect coooier results. Mere bigness Of a
business does not insure success. II
q village cobbler undertook to operate
Q large shoe factory no one would expect
him to succeed. Likewise, If the small
farmer undertakes to operate q big
farm, ne will have no better success
| than the cobbler.
question the accuracy of the state
| ments from the small farmers. After
Is years experience with farmers. I
am bound to say that not one in
thousand knows how to figure profit
ana loss, and their statements are not
70 be depended upon. Not that they
Intentionally misstate the case, but be-
cause they do not know how to figure
A New York paper says, 1T would be
calamity II the spread Of corporate
farming should finally force ten million
independent producers to become wage
earners. This is the kind Of bunk
That is always handed to the farmers
by newspapers and politicians. Is the
editor OF That paper or Of any large
nAWgnQner
ne not q wage Garner? Does the editor
OF the New York World have his wife
set the type, and does he take of
his coat and operate the press and are
his children the printers devils" and
does ne own the paper? Are our rail-
roads and banks operated on the small
Independent farm plan? Is there such
thing as an independent railway man
ager, or an independent bank cashier,
and are they not wage earners? Are we
degrading our editors, railway managers
and bank cashiers? Is it a calamity
That these things are conducted on
business principles and that these men
enjoy rat salaries? Why are there 80
many mergers of big business, and what
has become Of the small independent
operator? Is 1t a calamity, or Is 1t
good business? Why is one kind of logic
applied to business and quite the con-
trary to farming? Politicians talk about
the independent farmer. Where can
we flnd one?
The average farmer has q mortgage
on his farm. He owes the bank ali he
can borrow, he owes the grocer, the
butcher and often his employees. Yet,
we shout about the independent farm
er: What bosh! The farmers have a
continual struggle from one harvest to
the next, and half Of them are bank
rupt today. In farming as In business
there Is only one way to succeed and
that is by adopting business principles.
IA big farm must have competent
business manager.
2-The farm must have ample capital
Sit must have technical experts
No man can be a business man, a
technical expert and a farm laborer. It
Is an impossible combination. There
Amt no such animal"
The question is not Of the big farm
or the small farm, but the businessllke
management. Business concerns prop
erly managed are more successful II
operated on q large scale. Experience
has demonstrated this beyond contro-
versy. Then why humbug the farmer
by recommending to him exactly the
opposite policy? Why humbug the
farmer by advising cooperation in SELL
ing only, when business co-operates in
selling buying and in production? The
only truly cooperative businesses are
the joint stock companies or partner
ships.
If the farmer goes on acting on the
advice given him, he will go on strug-
Cling from harvest to harvest and will
be always in debt and forever In the
cobbler class. What the farmer wants
Is not independence, but calamity-tlie
calamity that strikes the big editor the
railway manager and the bank cashier.
He wants to be out of debt, have good
cash income, some real money In his
pocket. and he wants to smoke the
kind Of cigar the big editors smoke.
CARSON G. COOK,
General Manager.
Rindge Land e. Navigation Co.