102 THE farmer's relationships. 



It is not necessary to my purpose to consider the farmer as 

 a man competing with all other men, but only in the narrower 

 view of a farmer competing with all other farmers. We shall 

 find this wide enough. 



Among an ideal race of beings the object of each party to 

 an exchange of commodities would be to get for himself and 

 for another exactly what would fairly pay each for the neces- 

 sary cost of acquirement. As human beings are now consti- 

 tuted, however, it would be a waste of time, from a merely 

 economic standpoint, to discuss exchanges on the assumption 

 that ^suchVinoilves will control their character. Any such 

 discussion ,beJonga to the science of ethics, which deals with 

 human affairs frbm the standpoint of what ought to be. Eco- 

 nomics deals with facts as they are, and therefore necessarily 

 assumes universal competition. 



The relation of the farmer to his competitors is, then, the 

 relation of one struggling with another, not necessarily in an 

 unfriendly spirit, but with intent to beat if possible, regardless 

 of the feelings or interests of the competitor. In such struggles 

 the fundamental requisite for success is to keep watch of the 

 opponent. An athlete who should pay no attention to the 

 actions of his opponent could only hope to win by means of 

 very great superiority of strength. This principle of watchful- 

 Jiess as a condition of success is universal, applying equally to 

 physical, intellectual, and business contests. 



It is in neglect of this principle that farmers fail most 

 completely. Very few farmers know what their competitors 

 are doing. In this respect they are immeasurably inferior to 

 the mercantile and manufacturing classes. The cause of this 

 is not altogether intellectual inferiority, although it is true 

 that the most alert and vigorous men tend to engage in other 

 occupations than farming, but it is also true that men of no 

 great mental endowments may and do succeed fairly well in 

 business. Merchants and manufacturers watch their compet- 

 itors more closely than farmers because they are compelled 

 to. Competition is such that failure to watch is ruin. When 

 a manufacturer finds a competitor persistently meeting him 

 with goods of equal quality but lower price, he knows at once 



