Fortunes for Farmers 



Again, practically every farmer suffers from 

 ignorance of railway matters, and the charges that 

 he pays directly (or more often indirectly) can only 

 be checked by careful examination. If they knew 

 how much they over-pay they would be more 

 than startled. A friend, farming some 800 acres, 

 first pointed this out to me. He obtained a book 

 ■ — I think from the Board of Trade — giving every 

 rule, bye-law, and legal charge that the railways 

 are entitled to make, and studied this until he 

 became acquainted with the facts as to demurrage, 

 responsibility, sheeting, technical charges, draw- 

 backs, etc. Since then he has continuously chal- 

 lenged their bills with most successful results. 



Interwoven with the matter of book-keeping 

 is that of checking goods. The business man checks 

 every article that enters his place; counts, weighs 

 and measures them, compares them with the 

 bought sample, notes their condition, and enters 

 all details in his books, with which the bill must 

 tally before it is paid. But how many farmers check 

 their imports, and how many leave it to chance? 



The average farm weighing-machine looks as 

 if it came out of the Ark, and if checked at all is 

 only done about once in ten years ! As for measures, 

 he simply has none — I speak from personal know- 

 ledge — so that he cannot check those articles sold 

 by the gallon or the bushel. Nor has he, as a rule, 



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