10 THE MODERN FARMER'S OPPORTUNITY 



belongs to them, rural society loses one of its best ele- 

 ments, the cities are overcrowded and all parties at in- 

 terest are losers. The nation itself is injured. 



Farm life need not be more irksome than clerking or 

 running a typewriter. It ought to be made much more 

 attractive and it can also be vastly more profitable than 

 it is. Better homes and more social enjoyment, with 

 greater contentment and happiness, will come to dwellers 

 in the country when they grasp the eternal truth that they 

 have the noblest vocation on earth and one that may be 

 made to yield an income fully as large as that of the aver- 

 age city business man. 



This whole subject of making agriculture more profit- 

 able and enjoyable is approached in a spirit of sympathy. 

 The author resides on a farm and has long been a land 

 owner. He knows the difference between book farming 

 and the actual work of tilling the soil or taking care of 

 live stock. No one appreciates more fully than he what 

 a great fund of information a person must possess to be 

 even an ordinary farmer. As a rule people who dwell in 

 the country are also well posted on political affairs and 

 are patriotic citizens. They are above the average in 

 these respects. 



In the effort to show that farmers are lacking in com- 

 mercial skill it is permissible to repeat that they are the 

 only business people who have nothing to say either in fix- 

 ing the prices which they get for their own goods or which 

 they pay for other people's. This want of market ability 

 is a result of their isolated life and the old method of 

 raising a single crop, such as wheat or corn. With steady 

 improvement in transportation facilities and other mod- 

 ern conveniences there will come greater diversity in agri- 

 culture and a general betterment in rural affairs. The 

 tiller of the soil will be a business man, who will not only 

 devote his land to products which naturally pay best, 

 but who will have something to say about price making. 



