16 THE LAEGER ASPECTS OF FARM LIFE. 



farmer in the sale of products consumed at his own door, and 

 he who can produce cheapest will survive. The farmer, there- 

 fore, must have the best machinery, and make it available over 

 the largest possible area, and this, again, restricts the small 

 farmer at least to the production of the specialty best adapted 

 to his location. There is another reason for this; formerly, 

 when his surplus product was consumed near by, he could 

 know the capacity of his market, and the competition to be 

 expected; now, when his surplus is often consumed many 

 thousands of miles away, and sold at the price fixed by the 

 competition of the world, it is very difficult for any farmer to 

 inform himself of the probable profit of production of many 

 articles. And yet this knowledge, while far more difficult 

 than formerly for the farmer to obtain, is far more essential, 

 because, while formerly the farmer was interested in the 

 money value of but a small jiortion of his product, he is now 

 interested in the money value of nearly all of it. 



Still other elements now have to be considered by the 

 farmer. The increased use of money involves borrowing and 

 debt. With proper business knowledge, borrowing is legitimate 

 and profitable to the borrower; nearly all business men are large 

 borrowers ; but borrowing in excess of the knowledge to use 

 wisely involves risk, paid for by high interest, and often leads 

 to disaster. The farmer, unaware of his ignorance, has become 

 greatly indebted, and is now profoundly interested in a stable 

 currency. From being a very small buyer he has become a 

 very large one, and is vitally interested in the control of trusts 

 and other combinations affecting the price of the necessities 

 of life. As all that he sells and all that he buys are necessarily 

 transported over the great routes of commerce, he has come to 

 have a money interest in the conduct and control of transpor- 

 tation companies. Paying more taxes than he did, the farmer 

 is more interested in the maintenance of a just system of tax- 

 ation, and the economical conduct of all public affairs. All 

 these and kindred subjects form part of the great science of 

 economics, as to which it is highly necessary that the farmer 

 be well informed, in order, in the conduct of his business, and 

 by his vote when necessary, to intelligently protect his own 



