FARMERS TO THE FRONT 23 



"There are indications that the farmer does not 

 take these things (proposed organizations) as seri- 

 ously as he once did. He reads the daily maga- 

 zines; he understands something of the other side 

 of life. He travels more than in the days of high 

 railway rates; the excursions back east for 'Old 

 Home Week' bring him in touch with the people of 

 other states. He is made broader and happier. 

 Most important of all, he is learning to make of his 

 occupation a business, and when that is done, he 

 ceases to consider himself the favorite of fortune. 

 As a result he becomes a business man, and takes 

 rank among the captains of industry — not the com- 

 mander, for none is supreme in rank, but an equal 

 sharer in the advancement and prosperity of the na- 

 tion." 



Well, if the farmer has become a business man, 

 why should he not act as a business man? Other 

 business men strive to the uttermost to control the 

 market; they form gigantic combinations to limit 

 output, to lift prices, to regulate wages, and to 

 "work" the government. Surely it is not demagog- 

 ical to urge him to do what other business men are 

 doing in the way of managing their own business. 

 If Mr. Morgan may combine all the steel mills of 

 the country in one great organization, there would 

 seem to be nothing wrong in the farmer attempting 

 to apply the same method to his own business. If 

 he is to be a "captain of industry," he should profit 

 by the examples of other captains of industry as far, 



