SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 879 



stock. They are as a rule careful, conservative, law-abiding, peace-loving 

 men, living within their means, and are in every sense of the word, model 

 citizens. By their hard untiring work, year after year, they have trans- 

 formed a wilderness into a veritable garden. A wonderful change has 

 been wrought in this state in the past twenty-five years, until to-day we 

 find a cozy home on nearly every quarter section of land, and a school 

 house on the hill near by. Through careful management and the steady 

 rise of land values, the farmer has come to be absolutely the most inde- 

 pendent of all men, and no one is more deserving of prosperity, for if 

 anyone earns his bread by the sweat of his brow, it is the farmer. The 

 demand from the cities for young men who have been raised on the farm 

 is becoming stronger every year, for they have proven themselves more 

 than equal to the responsibility, confidence and trust reposed in them. 

 The great majority of distinquished men who have gained business and 

 political success can point with pardonable pride to humble beginnings 

 down the farm. In fact this is the rule rather than the exception. 



Thus we see that it is greatly to the benefit of both the farmer and 

 the banker that they work hand in hand with full confidence in each 

 other, so that no matter what may happen, whether financial panics come 

 or poor crops cause poverty and distress, both may stand by each other 

 through thick and thin, and preserve the credit of the country. Banks 

 have very many desirable customers among business men, but it will not 

 hurt their feelings to say that the farmer is considered by the banker as 

 a most desirable patron, for they, too, regard him in the same favorable 

 light, and neither banker nor merchant can get along without his good 

 will and patronage. The farmer is the best friend that any banker can 

 have, and you will find the banker ever ready and willing to help when 

 he needs help. Many a farmer who passed through the hard times of 1893 

 and the unfavorable years that have since followed has not forgotten 

 the help he received from his banker friend, and if it had not been for 

 that help he would have faced heavy losses and possible ruin. And 

 nothing pleases the banker more than to have his customer tell him of the 

 money he made with that little amount he borrowed, for the prosperity of 

 the farmer brings the good times back to us with increased activity in 

 every conceivable line of business, promotes good will, good cheer and 

 confidence, the good results of which can never be estimated. Truly the 

 prosperous, warm-hearted farmer is a public benefactor. 



