THE (Jl'KSTIOX OF PROFITS 113 



them from, it we are to discount progressive methods we can take up 

 some of these primitive ways of making poultry pay that are practiced 

 all over the country, but are not reported in the papers. 



All systems of handling hens are good for those who are adapted to 

 the system, if not for the consuming- public. 



Some men make a good living buying eggs and poultry as low as 

 possible from those who do not produce enough to ship away, sorting 

 them and selling at the best obtainable price. The producer keeps the 

 hens and pays for the feed, the middleman takes whatever profit there 

 is, in many cases. 



If poultry raising as a general proposition pays, where does the great 

 demand for ••lied Albumen"' and the other more popular nostrums to 

 "Make hens lay" come from? Certainly not from those who know 

 their hens and get a market profit from them. 



To me the condition appears to be one of generally unprofitable main- 

 tenance of stock incapable of profitable production, by people who are 

 indifferent or believe in false theories regarding the hen and her 

 product. 



The advertising page and the circular take advantage of the condition 

 as it is and work the poultry raiser for all he is worth. 



The best poultry papers and magazines appear to be endeavoring, to 

 the extent of their light, to improve this condition and teach the truth. 

 They should never he denied a favorable mailing rate, for, with all their 

 conflicting theories and chaotic mixture of interests they are helping- us 

 to an understanding of poultry and the poultry business and materially 

 assisting the general public, the consumer, to get poultry and eggs that 

 are fit for human food. 



A consideration of the poultry press is intimately associated with the 

 question of profit and progress with poultry. The individual poultry 

 journal reflects the personality — the character and understanding — of 

 its promoters and its editorial staff. The poultry press as a whole shows 

 clearly to the earnest student the state of the industry. Some of these 

 periodicals appear to be founded upon a base of ignorance, personal pre- 

 judice and greed, and unprincipled demagogism. 



If the writer's view of the average reader is anywhere near correct 

 such papers cannot long endure. The paper that in the slightest degree 

 appears to cater to the natural dishonesty and selfishness of wh '^'w 

 mistakenly believe to he a large proportion of its readers must in time 

 disgust even that class. Whatever our own business practices and 

 theories may be we all respect straightforward honesty even though it 

 be opposed to our own selfish interests. 



Thoughtful readers of high class periodicals such as The Scientific 

 American, The Outlook. Success. The Youth's Companion, and the like 

 will, if interested in poultry (and thousands of them are) welcome to 

 their homes those poultrv journals that combine with a broad understand- 

 ing of the industry an honest desire to uplift it "with charity for all and 

 malice toward none." 



The combative attitude of ignorance and selfishness toward science. 

 invention, investigation, or an endeavor to improve in any direction, 

 cannot receive even the tacit sympathy of a journal without such 

 sympathy being clearly reflected in its columns, by omission as well as 

 commission . 



It is a mistake to assume that the poultry raisers in our rural com- 

 munities, villages and city suburbs are mainly ignorant people. If we 



