130 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



one buffalo grew before ; but did you ever realize 

 what it means to a farmer to sell a bushel 70 to 

 75 pounds of corn in the ear for ten cents? 

 Imagine him if you can, housed in a little, poorly- 

 built pre-emption shanty, eight or more miles from 

 a railway station on a treeless prairie and far from 

 neighbors ; and in a climate windy and cold for six 

 months in the year; having always more corn in 

 the field than he can husk and no money with which 

 to purchase the most indispensable things or to 

 employ help to gather in the fall harvest! 

 Imagine, I say, such a farmer, out in the field by 

 sunrise some frosty morning, with a span of horses 

 and wagon, husking a load of corn, which means 

 thirty bushels, and which would keep him at work 

 all of the short autumn day. The next day he 

 must take the corn to one of those long fence- 

 board cribs at the station, ranged parallel with 

 the railroad track another day's work! And 

 for all this labor of man and team growing, 

 harvesting and delivery he received only three 

 paper dollars ! 



With these he crossed over to the store and 

 traded the value of thirty bushels of corn for 

 clothing for his wife and children and a few in- 

 dispensable groceries. Is it any wonder that on 



