546 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



never attributed his misfortunes to their true cause. 

 He never admitted, even to himself, that his great error 

 had been in contracting a useless debt, and assuming 

 an obligation he had no certainty of meeting. He 

 never believed that it was the reaper that ruined him, 

 yet such was the case. Had he put by the temptation 

 held out to him by the Reaper agent, there would have 

 been no burden resting upon him, and his short crop, 

 and other misfortunes, would not have driven him to 

 the expedients he was obliged to resort to. " Out of 

 debt, out of danger " is a true maxim ; the wisdom and 

 force of which only those who have passed through 

 the agony and humiliation of such a slavery can appre- 

 ciate. 



There are debts enough that the farmer cannot help 

 assuming; burdens that fall upon him through no fault 

 of his. They are heavy enough, God knows, and they 

 should teach him to assume none from which he can 

 possibly escape. 



Improved machinery is useful where it is honestly 

 made, but even the best is worth less than the farmer 

 ordinarily pays for it. He is charged too high, and his 

 hard earnings, instead of constituting a fund for the 

 rearing of his children and the protection of his old age, 

 go to make up the colossal fortunes of the manufacturers 

 and dealers in such machinery. A reform is needed, 

 and it is near at hand. 



