58 THE THIRD POWER 



them up, or because they do not think it worth while. 

 Improvements are not made; less machines are 

 bought, and fewer hands employed, and finally the 

 gains of former years are wiped out, then comes the 

 mortgage, and the whole process of reconstruction 

 has to be gone through with again. In the mean- 

 time the whole country suffers. It is all the result 

 of a diminished consumption on the part of the 

 farmers, brought about by large crops and low 

 prices. With the farmer out of the market, or in it 

 only to a limited extent, the market is bound to 

 suffer, and all industries be harmed. 



The first thing that the merchant wants to know, 

 when he sends his commercial travelers out to the 

 smaller towns, is whether the farmers are buying, 

 and whether they are paying their bills promptly. 

 The credit to be extended to the local merchant de- 

 pends largely on the financial condition of the farm- 

 ers. If they are buying liberally, and paying their 

 bills with reasonable promptness, the city merchant 

 knows that he can afford to sell larger bills of goods 

 to the local dealer, and give him better terms than 

 he could do under other circumstances. All this is 

 elementary, and yet we often forget it. We seem 

 to feel that prosperity is maintained solely by the 

 buying of the rich people in the cities who are so 

 lavish with their money. But it is not so. The 

 fanners are the great consumers, and when they 

 cease to buy, or curtail their expenditures, they not 

 only limit the market by just that much, but they 



