INTRODUCTORY. 



the book is intended, and especially to some farmers. A study 

 of the business relations of the farmer takes us far from the 

 farm. The farmer's interests are intertwined with all other 

 interests. , The great social and commercial movements of 

 tlie day:aTe matter? oi^dollars and cents to the farmer. All 

 political q<uest.iQiis- are money questions, and can not be omitted 

 from aiiy- book' wKioli'pu'i^ports to deal adequately with the 

 farmer's business interests. 



The farmers constitute the one class which is essential to the 

 existence of the race. Without the farmer we should perish. 

 Whatever concerns him concerns all mankind, and whatever 

 affects other classes reacts upon him, and this not merely in 

 an esoteric sense, but in the dollars and cents which he takes 

 in and pays out. What occurs on and about the farm the 

 farmer can see, understand, and in some measure control. 

 What occurs elsewhere, however profoundly it may affect him, 

 he may never even hear of, and can hardly influence at all. 

 It is essential that the farmer know more than he does of 

 these distant forces, because it is necessary that he adjust him- 

 self to conditions which he can not control. The farmer, for 

 example, can not control the operations of railroad magnates, 

 the machinations of speculators on grain exchanges, the rate 

 of discount at the Bank of England, or the standard of life of the 

 Indian ryot, but all these help to determine the price he shall 

 receive for his wheat, and what he shall pay for the supplies 

 he needs. The intent of this book is to set him thinking 

 more about such things. 



It is hoped, also, that it may be equally useful to others 

 than farmers. Relations are reciprocal. It is as important to 

 the tradesman or the artisan to thoughtfully consider wherein 

 the interests of the farmer coincide with or differ from his 

 own, as it is for the farmer to understand his position. Besides, 

 whatever affects the farmer equally affects other classes, 

 although possibly in different ways, and while in this book 

 the welfare of the farmer is the standard by which interests 

 are judged, yet all interests may be fairly well judged by any 

 fixed standard— and it will be astonishing to many to dis- 

 cover how closely the true interests of us all are united. 



