110 ■ TPiE farmer's relationships. 



if willing to frankly consider his own condition, be ready to 

 concede that he has sometime committed grave errors from 

 whose consequences he is now suffering. If at some former 

 time liis judgment has been at fault, he should be willing to 

 acknowledge to himself that he may even now be in error in 

 some things, and that there may be suggestions which have 

 not occurred to him which are yet well worth his consideration. 



The farmer who is indebted beyond his ability to pay is 

 very apt to consider his creditors as his enemies who are 

 oppressing him. There is no sense in this. If he does what 

 he has agreed to do they will not be his enemies. If to any 

 extent they are so now it is because of his own failure to keep 

 his agreement. Evidently, since he is unable to keep his agree- 

 ment, it is one that he should never have made. It may bo 

 true that his inability to pay arises from changes in conditions 

 over which he had no control; but, as business is universally 

 conducted in this world, the possibility of such changes must 

 be considered by all who make agreements to be executed in 

 the future, and margins reserved for all contingencies. Who- 

 ever fails to do this must take the consequences when things 

 go wrong. Farmers are as strenuous as other classes in exact- 

 ing this from their debtors. If a farmer sells a horse, taking a 

 note in payment, and the horse dies the next day, he will still 

 require payment of the note at maturity, and collect it if 

 he can. 



But, while farmers must abide the consequences of their 

 bad judgment in increasing indebtedness, there is yet a limit 

 beyond which they ought not to go. Neither law nor society 

 requires impossibilities, nor is it desirable that one man shall 

 be the slave of another for his lifetime. While the debtor, as 

 a rule, has asked the credit, considered himself at the time 

 fortunate in obtaining it, and agreed to take all risks of 

 depreciation or other misfortune tending to prevent payment, 

 the creditor also took his risk. Under ancient civilizations 

 the debtor who could not pay became the slave of the creditor, 

 and could bo bought and sold. In modern times creditors, in 

 making loans, or giving credit, know that they will not have 

 this ultimate recourse. They must look to the property for 



