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IN DAKOTA, ; 135 
‘draw conclusions as to what may be done.’ In the 
course of this conversation Mr. Stockdale said: 
*‘ Now, if I was sure I could succeed as well as you 
have I would not hesitate a moment about deciding 
to come to Dakota.” 
“T do not want to persuade you to come,’ I re- 
plied; “but I do not consider my success anything 
remarkable.” 
‘Haven't you had rather extra good crops?” he 
-asked. sae 
‘‘ Better than some, but not better than others. 
But is there any good reason why all the crops around 
here should not have been as good as mine? ‘The 
weather was certainly not any more favorable to me 
than to everybody else in this region. It never 
rained on my fields when it did not on all my neigh- 
bors.” 
“ Still they can’t all make as good a showing, 
financially, as you can. ‘In fact some have got 
ahead but very little.” 
‘Yes, that is true. And there are people every-. 
where who get ahead but very little. It is often due 
to misfortunes that no human foresight could have 
guarded against; sometimes to mistakes of judgment 
in business affairs, and often to mismanagement and 
neglect of business. With farmers here in Dakota 
want of success is due almost entirely to the latter 
cause, so far as my observation has extended. The 
great secret of success may be embraced in just two 
words—good farming; and the cause of failure in 
