THE NEW EARTH 



business on such a capital and at such a cost 

 of administration. 



Many people would like to become share- 

 holders, but the line is drawn fast and hard. 

 No man can join unless he is a practical farmer. 

 The by-laws make very plain what a practical 

 farmer is, "one who makes his living by farm- 

 ing, or one who has retired from the farm and 

 is not engaged in any business that will in any 

 way conflict with the business carried on by 

 the company." 



This firm of farmers is not bound by any 

 speculative ties ; it is not political, religious, 

 socialistic, sociological; it is not anti-anything. 

 It is a firm of those who produce that without 

 which the rest of the world would die. Can it 

 not afford to be independent? 



While the influence of this body of Iowa 

 farmers is spreading far and wide, so that other 

 similar firms are being established, the farmers 

 in the mass, even those who have never in- 

 vestigated or profited by this plan, are coming 

 to see that independence is theirs by right, 

 that if they wisely carry on their own affairs, 

 they hold the key to the situation. It has 

 taken many years for the farmer to learn that 



372 



