554 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



record or show how much the unorganized farmers all over this country are 

 losing annually. Banks and all other business enterprises sometimes meet 

 with failure; we read of these failures every day of the week and they excite 

 no comment. If one of these societies fail the outside loses nothing except 

 a good market; but how about the stockholder? Let us see. Suppose the 

 Ruthven company should fail at the end of this year's business. The articles 

 of incorporation provide that the private property of the stockholders shall 

 not be liable for corporate debts; so that all a stockholder can lose will be 

 the amount of stock he owns, which may be any sum from ten dollars to one 

 hundred dollars, the latter being the limit of stock that can be owned by one 

 individual. Now some of the stockholders sell as much as four thousand 

 bushels of oats in one year; others perhaps not over five hundred bushels. 

 If we multiply four thousand by three and one-sixth cent we have $126.00; 

 multiply 500 by three and one-sixth cents and you will have $15.80. By this 

 we find that if the man who sells 4,000 bushels invests to the limit $100, and 

 the man who invests $10 sells 500 bushels, both will get their money back 

 the first year, besides a big interest. 



Now let us look at this question from a different standpoint. Society 

 divides itself largely into two classes: first, those who engage in the produc- 

 tion of raw material; second, those who engage in the manufacture of raw 

 material into a finished article. The manufacturers regard the selling of 

 their product as a matter of first importance. They are fast discarding the 

 idea of every man for himself and combining their forces. They often meet 

 in gatherings similar to the one here today, but instead of discussing the 

 subject of how to load down the market with more of their goods, they dis- 

 cuss the best methods of selling goods. They form societies or companies 

 and equip them with the ablest business talent they can command. They 

 formulate and agree to rules that bind the members in the matter of sales. 

 They figure the cost and put cost marks upon their goods, to which profits 

 are added, and this makes the selling price. 



The most important producers of raw material in the world are farmers. 

 They also meet from time to time in institutes, as we have met today, and 

 they always take up the one question of production and talk it over and 

 over, year after year, seeming to think that their business is all one-sided- 

 like a jug handle. They realize that the business of the country is somewhat 

 out of balance, but ihey fail to understand that it is theirs that is wrong. 

 We should realize that as a producer the farmer is a giant among men; and 

 that an uneven growth is unhealthy to trade. 



Nearly every relation that man has with his fellow man can be classed 

 under one of two heads: First, their social relation, and second, their busi- 

 ness relation. Socially a man may meet one hundred of his fellow men in a 

 year, perhaps five hundred, perhaps one thousand, possibly ten thousand. 

 Now, how many does he meet in a business way? Let us see. You do not 

 have to meet a man face to face to do business. For example, take the 

 farmer who carries to market a basket of eggf^; the customers for his eggs 

 are the people who buy eggs for consumption; the merchant who counts and 

 pays for them simply undertakes to help the farmer by delivering them to 

 these customers. Now, when he buys a spool of thread, or a few yards of 

 cotton cloth, he is patronizing the cotton growers of the South, and all who 

 weave and spin goods. When he buys a pound of tea he is patronizing the 



