Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1937-06-17
Some Still Make Money

The agricultural outlook as it appears to groups
within our fam population has been discussed in this
column at considerable length. but the picture is not
yet complete because we have yet to pay tribute to
one group from which little is heard yet which is per-
haps one of the most deeply rooted foundation stones
in our economic structure.
These columns have dealt with encouraging pros
poets for farmers who are in position to irrigate their
lands and those who can move to irrigated areas if
major projects are established here. Last week the
dissertation was on the fate of those who decide to
move from this land of drouth, with the suggestion
that a farmer who has stuck it out this long had bet
ter wait now for the coming wet cycle and then leave
at the beginning of the next drouth instead of at
the end of this one. Today we wish to say a word for
the farmers who don't need irrigation yet have no
thought of leaving the country because they have
learned how to show a profit from their farming oper-
ations over any given period of years and are even
now well established.
One of these farms was located in just an aver
age spot such as hundreds of others in this region, yet
where ~neighbors had allowed homes to become wea-
therbeaten this one was well painted, where other
barns and sheds were dilapidated, these were well
kept and strong. The machine shed was filled with
tractors. plows. discs. binders, mowers, all in excel
lent maintenance and ready to operate as new. Sleek
cattle occupied the barn and feed there was in plen-
itude, most of it grown two, three, even more years
ago and saved till now. The farmer had had a COM
bine, but he'd sold it because be couldn't afford to
waste the straw that was lost in combine harvesting.
From the lips of another person we heard re-
Gently of one more successful farmer. He settled
years ago in a neighborhood where many others had
come, too, yet while men on all sides of him failed to
exc out more than a mere existence from the land, he
prospered, and when ~neighbors were ready to move
out, broke and discouraged, he bought their land
with cash he had made on his own farm.
These are isolated instances, one might say, the
very few among the farmers of this region. but a
chance remark heard from a banker last winter in
dicates that there are perhaps more of such farmers
than many people realize. Asked where the money
came from to keep retail trade at its high levels, this
banker gave as partial answer, You'd be surprised
how many of these farmers are still spending money
they made in the good years
What practical scientific knowledge these men
have of the proper way to cultivate this semi-arid soil
we don't know. What measure of good fortune has
been theirs, how big a part plain hard work has
played in their success. what careful planning and
saving it takes to do as they have done, we can't pre-
tend to tell. But the fact is indisputable that there
are farmers who can make money here despite ad-
verse conditions. farmers who don't need feed and
seed loans and never apply for relief, and because
they seldom raise their own voices to tell of their ex-
ploits, the Herald wishes to point to their accom-
plishments in appreciation for a too little recognized
StabiliZing effect on the entire region.