FARMERS TO THE FRONT 127 



a price on it will enable him to turn it in at higher 

 figure than is now possible. He will no longer be 

 under the necessity of asking for long credit, and 

 whatever credit he may need he will get on the same 

 favorable terms that other business men receive. 

 Mention has already been made of the combination 

 among the threshing men, which enables them to 

 charge seven cents a bushel for threshing. If a 

 farmer were able to say to the thresher that he would 

 pay five or four cents, and that no farmer in the 

 United States would pay a cent more, and if this 

 was an equitable price, he would get his threshing 

 done for four or five cents. This is the position in 

 which the American Society of Equity would place 

 every farmer in the country with reference to buy- 

 ing. Probably as much money is lost to the farmer 

 by exorbitant prices which he has to pay as by the 

 inadequate prices which he is compelled to take. 

 He loses in both directions. It is time to stop the 

 loss. The farmers can do it if they will, for they 

 have the power, and their interest demands that they 

 should use it. If they apply it properly, that is, 

 through organization, the result can not be doubtful. 

 In seeking to buy at fair prices the farmer, 

 through the American Society of Equity, will help 

 all the people. Economically the struggle of man 

 is for cheapness. Men in trying to satisfy their wants 

 always endeavor to do so as cheaply as possible. 

 The call for cheapness by the farmer has, in the 

 past, been of necessity, and this necessity has been of 



