DEVELOPMENT OF FARMER'S ECONOMIC PROBLEM 27 



would not be so overwhelming in volume. Then there might be 

 competition among the buyers of his surplus. The consumer might 

 not then be so able as now to sit complacently waiting to be solicited 

 to buy this enormous surplus at his own price. The railroad people 

 then might take on better manners and be willing to give a more 

 nearly just rate, and they might be more careful to give good service. 



"The farmer with the right idea of farming and of farm life and 

 of farm opportunities is the man I have most faith in to curb trusts 

 and corporations generally — such as need curbing. 



"The makers of machines and implements and of barbed wire and 

 of all that sort of thing cannot eat their stuff — they must sell to 

 get any good out of their product. They cannot live at all without 

 selling. But the right kind of a farmer can live a long time without 

 selling his product — he can eat it and live. Suppose the other 

 fellow asks you an exorbitant price for his wares. Just let him keep 

 them, because he can't eat them ; and to get something to eat, 

 he must sell. But you, my farmer friends, can keep yours a while 

 and be living like kings — eating your bread and meat and good 

 apples and fresh butter and eggs and milk. The other fellow can 

 only keep his just a little while, until you hear the prices of his wares 

 are cracking. The farmer is a trust breaker, if he only knows it. 

 I have little faith in legislatures and courts and magazine writers 

 and orators, as trust breakers. But the farmer with the right idea, 

 as I have been trying to illustrate, can fortify himself in his farm 

 home for a much longer siege than the manufacturer or the railroad 

 manager can put up against him. And the beauty of it all is, the 

 farmer can be happy all the same, and all the time." 



That too many farmers neglect to provide their families with 

 the variety and abundance of fruits and vegetables which they 

 might and should produce primarily for home use, and that 

 they also generally fail to appreciate the possibility of creating 

 for themselves beautiful surroundings by planting flowers and 

 shrubs and trees, is frankly admitted. This condition of affairs 

 is to be regretted, and should be remedied. One of the great- 

 est of economists, John Stuart Mill, has said, " Solitude in the 

 presence of natural beauty and grandeur is the cradle of 

 thoughts and aspirations which are not only good for the in- 

 dividual, but which society could ill do without." * 



1 "Principles of Political Economy," Book IV, Chapter VI. 



