204 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



selves. Presently the public will must assert itself and 

 compel obedience, demanding not that trusts shall be de- 

 stroyed, but that all trusts shall be wisely administered and 

 properly controlled, so that the best interests of all con- 

 cerned — officers, directors, employees, stockholders, con- 

 sumers, the community and the State — shall be promoted. 

 The real interest of one of these parties is the interest of 

 all, and the interest of all is the interest of each. Already 

 capable managers of corporations, such as Chauncey Depew 

 and the late Cornelius Vand^rbilt, are persuaded of this, and 

 welcome legislation tending to this end. 



The farmer's duty, then, is very clear; it is coincident 

 with his interest and his profit to throw all of his influence 

 into the movement for wise administration and proper con- 

 trol of all the trusts. 



But, besides this, the farmer must adjust himself and his 

 business to this new industrial instrument, the trust ; he 

 must protect himself against its evils and be quick to util- 

 ize its wonderful advantages. 



Wide-awake farmers are already moving in the right direc- 

 tion. The principles involved in the trust should be applied 

 to agriculture just as far as possible and as quickly as pos- 

 sible, as well as to manufactures, trade and transportation. 

 A milk trust, a fruit trust, a cattle trust, a butter and cheese 

 trust, a grain trust, are among the possibilities. A begin- 

 ning has already been made in some lines. Combination 

 rather than competition should be the farmers' principle of 

 action. Capitalistic agriculture must win the day against 

 autonomous agriculture. 



A single farmer, who is his own landlord, his own capi- 

 talist, his own captain of industry, his own laborer, attempt- 

 ing to produce all sorts of crops, one year after another, 

 that his farm may yield, cannot possibly hold his own against 

 a corporation of stockholders Avith ample capital, cultivat- 

 ing the best land for the special crop, using the best tools, 

 directed by experts, employing the best labor, buying all it 

 needs at the lowest price and selling its product in the best 

 market at the highest price, after securing the best means of 

 transportation at the lowest rates. 



Heretofore capital and captains of industry have neglected 



