Working Capital 17 



the practice of most merchants and use all funds 

 as working capital, which may then be turned 

 over more than once a year, leaving the capital- 

 ist, who does not care to carry on general busi- 

 ness, to own and lease the real estate. In many 

 cases it is far better to lease the farm than to own 

 it encumbered with a mortgage approaching its 

 value. If too large a proportion of the funds 

 have been invested in realty, business operations 

 may be seriously crippled. 



Let us return to the inventory. We must 

 now imagine that a second year has passed, 

 that the wheat carried over has been sold and 

 the new crop also, and that there has been a 

 steady income from small enterprises, such as 

 fruit, eggs, milk or its products. Let us imagine, 

 also, that one or more horses or cows have been 

 bought or sold, calves and colts reared, some of 

 the farm tools worn out or lost, and new ones 

 purchased. Another inventory at the end of the 

 second year will be necessary which may be 

 quite different from those which have preceded. 

 It will not be necessary to go into detailed dis- 

 cussion of this short method of determining the 

 single year's gain or loss. 



"Is it anybody's business what a body's busi- 

 ness is?" It may not be, but the wife and the 

 older children should know — have a right to 

 know — the result of the family labors. If the 



