Newspapers / The Carolina Union Farmer … / May 23, 1912, edition 1 / Page 2
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’■h J ■' ! %■» ■' > , ( I i > li.. Page Two* THE CAROLINA UNION FARMER [Thursday, May 23, 19^^- The Farmer as a Man of Business Affairs Hon. W. L. *Ames of Wisconsin. There is indeed a no small amount to be considered on this subject. A man, to succeed in any business, must be more or less, a man of busi ness affairs. Among other important characteristics, he must, as the term goes, “Be a good mixer.” There is nothing that better prepares a man of to-day for succesful business than to mingle freely with his fellow-men, take free action with them, study their ways, appropriate their good and pleasing ways, abstain from their obnoxious ways and habits, think out and cultivate good, wholesome and progressive ideas, struggle and aim to be just a little in advance of the i average mind if possible, and in all things that he undertakes, or that is for the common good, be sure that he keeps his end of the evener up. The Half-Busliel Farmer. We ever have with us in abund ance the half-bushel farmer, who with his two or three cows, a couple J of pigs and a few chickens is so ab sorbed in his own business that he has no time to think of anything else, or give an hour’s attention to anything outside of his own little home realms of business. This class large as it is, and good and inoffen sive as are the individuals composing it, need never be expected to move matters of general interest and af fairs very much. To move matters in which a public as well as the in dividual is interested, calls for a mind of broa(der vision and capable of grasping a situation and acting upon it just at a time when it is ripe for action. Opportunities come to all for favorable action. Utilized, they broad en the individual and rulably bene fit the public. Unused and lost, the mind soon ceases to be able to per ceive them when they do come, and ultimately concludes that opportun ities do not come to him. Old and Newer AVay.s. But to return more directly to my subject and to follow briefly the cue intimated by Mr. Moore. “Abandon ing old slipshod ways.” Yes, slip shod ways in particular, as slipshod ways are seldom leaders to success. But I am hardly prepared to cham pion the abandoning of all old ways until we are practically certain that we have surer and better new ways to success. The good old ways are the ways that have built the hun dreds of substantial and creditable farm houses with which this country abounds. Good or bad ways proven by bookkeeping. Bookkeeping will seldom prove beyond doubt, ways, good or bad. One of the greatest disappointments that I have found in farming, and I am not alone in this discovery is, that we pursue a certain course in farming for several years and succeed and then we say, “There is one thing that we know how to do,” and the very next time we try it we fail, and then we don’t know as much as we thought we did. In fact, there are few things that we do know But there is no backing up. We must proceed on a line of general princi pies and with faith that if we do our best, reasonable reward will be ours, and the world will be fed, for such is our high mission. The Farm-Bred and the College-Bred Farmer. In the term “farmer” as used in this subject, reference is made spe ciflcally to the actual and practical operator of a farm. Presumably a farm-bred farmer. I would not know how to handle, nor what to say of a city or college-bred farmer. I assume that the great majority of you young men, and perhaps all, are farm-bred farmers. If so, you know as well as I the real and practical value of the assuming farmer who is but a college- bred farmer. Knowing but very lit tle of the real business of farming. For farming is a real business and if ever a business teemed with sur prises and disappointments, farming does. Which leads us to the sub pound tax on colored oleomargarine that it must make that commodity that much higher to them, and they pray fervently that that tax be re moved, so that manufacturers of oleoamargarine can color it to imi tate real butter and then charge them 40 cents to 60 cents a pound for it, the same as butter price. Whereas there is but one-fourth cent a pound tax on uncolored oleomargerin t which sells at 15 cents to 18 per pound and the coloring P thrown in so that the consumer ca color it himself. Oh, we sincere hope that when the consumer suc^ ceeds in getting that 10 cents moved and he is paying regular u ter price for oleomargarine, apd ^ manufacturer of oleomargarine > ject of Delusions. Young men, I’m going to say just a word to you personally, whether strictly relevant to my subject or not, and its along this line of delusions. Its a slightly sensitive object and per haps not one of you will agree with me, but that never causes me to hesi tate to say what I think. It’s about weddings. Perhaps you have all ex perienced your first wedding. If so, you doubtless remember how beauti ful that girl looked, that,' to you, eventful day. And unless you had made her close kitchen and work- a-day acquaintance you doubtless thought to yourself: “Is it possible that I to yourself: “Is it possible that I am to spend the remainder of my days with so beautiful a creature as that?’ But if you had to work for a living, it was not very long before you had to behold your bride in a plainer at tire, when she would not look so ex quisitely beautiful and lovely, but you were then wed and destined to live together a lifetime. The delu sion was as great to her. She beheld you in your conventional black- doubtless with a white tie, shiny shoes and a derby hat and gloved hands, and a face shaved as smooth that a fly would slip up on it and perhaps a grand moustache, and per haps on that particular day you had, for exhibiton purposes, stuffed your purse with one dollar bills to make it look liberal and resourceful. But oh, my! Again, I say, if you had to work for a living, and get to work soon after she took you “for better or for worse,” and she had to behold you in your work clothes and coarse shoes and with a growth of beard stubble on your once feminine cheeks and she had discovered that that wad of money on your wedding day was only one-dollar bills, don’t you al most wonder that she did not at once pick up and leave you? My proposed remedy would be: Simply tone down that wedding day delusion. Appear to be more nearly what you really are on that day of days, your Aved- diiig day, and the day of all days that has such a marked influence may be only for good. I am reliably informed that a sim ilar delusion exists in cities relative to farming. That many a city man, workman, perhaps, labors and lives under the impression that a farmer simply walks and struts around most of the time with his hands in his pockets and that there is at all times an abundance of coins there with which to make a very perceptible jin gle. That at times of high prices his bins are heaped high with the where withal to sell. That with butter at prospectively 60 cents a pound, his sleek cows at the end of a 20 de gree below January are just more than filling pails with 6 per cent milk. That because they are pay ing 18 cents to 25 cents for meat over the block, that the farmer must be getting one-half to three-fourths of that price for his live animals, That because there is a 10-cents-a- IMPORTANT TO UNION FARMERS SPEQAL PRICE DIRECT TO YOU. FROM FACTORY T.i FARM- We are selling our Famous Sub-Soil Plows direct to Farmers at Factory Prices. If you are intersted in Sub-Soil Plows, Write us. We guarantee every Plow, and if it is not exact- ■ ly as represented, we will refund your money. COFFEE and CLEMMER Gastonia, North Carolina. Mention this paper when writinu. geveo only THE RURAL PROBLEM —OR— Why Farmers Should Organi%^ and Stay Organizea By J. Z. GREEN, State Organizer-Lecturer North Carolina Division of Fanners’ I— ^To Protect and Promote Class interests. II— To Co-operate as a Neighborhood. III— To Curtail and Control Production of Crops for the Market. IV— To Establish and Maintain a Co-operative Marketing System V— To Price the Products of tlie Fariii. VI— To Co-operate in Buying. VII— To Stay Organized and Educate. Do you need a lecturer to visit your Local Union? Here are lectures dealing with neglected rural problems that can be solved through class organization and co-operation. Are there any indifferent weak-kneed members on your y ih haven’t learned enough about the Farmers’ Union to stick and s the fight? Here are seven lectures that touch all the fundamenta ciples of Unionism and Co-operation. ygt Do you have any reading farmers in your vicinity who haven connected themselves with the Farmers’ Union? They wouldn out to hear a lecturer, perhaps, but you can send these seven in book form (32 pages) to each of them and they’ll read them ^ ^^lon homes. Hundreds of men have been converted to the Farmers cisl by reading one copy of the Carolina Union Farmer. These lectures will appeal to the reading, thinking farmers, and y oOi kind that must be depended upon to carry this movement to vie success. gen^ This 32-page booklet is now ready for distribution and g an^ out from State Secretary-Treasurer’s office at cost of print ^ postage, at 4 cents per copy, or 40 cents per dozen by mail. money appropriated from your local treasury and Invested » n of these lectures for distribution in your vicinity will prove jgsS missionary fund that will be fruitful of more permanent results, ^ cost, than is posible by any other method of campaign work for mers’ Union. In ordering these booklets you' can remit amounts postage stamps, if you prefer. Order only from ^ ! y r t^ lE. C. FAIRES, ABERDBEJ^'
The Carolina Union Farmer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 23, 1912, edition 1
2
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