282 Missouri Agyiciiltural Report. 



who rents from year to year and who must of necessity raise one- 

 year crops in order to get out of the soil what he has put into it 

 in labor and money — between this, the upper and nether millstone 

 of the owner and the tenant — the soil is losing in production and 

 fertility. 



I think statistics show that in Ohio there are thirty-three coun- 

 ties that are today producing less than they produced before the 

 war, and that in spite of the fact that the inhabitants of Ohio are 

 several million greater than they were at that time. This condition 

 has brought on dissatisfaction and restlessness. But this is not 

 entirely harmful, because when we begin to get restless we look 

 out for a remedy and it shows we are really alive and not dead. 

 So I do not think we ought to condemn or emphasize this dissatis- 

 faction too much. It is a sign that we are striving for better 

 things. Perhaps we do not know just what we need but we are 

 pressing on and the American farmer, I believe, is going on until 

 he gets to the place that God meant him to occupy in our country 

 life. 



Another thing: The farmer too long has been at the mercy 

 of those with whom he does business. He has lost at both ends 

 of the line. There is no other man in the world who has been 

 treated or cheated in the way the farmer has. Here is a black- 

 smith in your town. True enough he has to buy all of his things, 

 but he makes his profit from his trade. It is the same way with 

 the groceryman, the druggist and the lumberman. Each one 

 dictates the price of something. If a farmer comes to the 

 blacksmith to get a horse shod, it is so much. The smith figures 

 his bill in some way to get even and make a profit. It is true of 

 every trade, it is true with every man of profession, every trades- 

 man that you have to deal with. But the farmer does not do that. 

 Whenever you farmers have anything you want to buy you say to 

 some one else, "How much is it?" And whenever you have any- 

 thing to sell you ask, "Well, what will you give me?" So you lose 

 at both ends, and that is one of the things that has led to this de- 

 plorable condition of the American farming class. For this reason, 

 I welcome the time when the farmers will begin to co-operate with 

 each other. 



But you say, "The farmer is an independent man." Yes, we 

 are so independent that we are foolish. We are so independent 

 that we have been at the mercy of all of these organizations and 

 institutions that have fed upon us and it is time, yea, high time, it 



