THE MODERN FARMER IN HIS BUSINESS RELATIONS. A Study of some of the Principles underlying the Art of Profit- With a Chapter by Mr. L. A. Clinton, of the College of Agriculture in N. J. STONE COMPANY SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 1899 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR. LENOX AND ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1899, BY EDWARD F. ADAMS IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, D. C. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. WHE PREFACE. 'HEN, after a business experience extending over a quarter of a century, I became interested in coopera tive work among farmers, and sought, as an officer of cooperative societies, to induce farmers to unite for business purposes, I discovered that there were no grounds, common to myself and those whom I addressed, upon which to base the proposed action. My audiences and constituents believed so much which I knew to be untrue as to greatly impair the effectiveness of my leadership. This condition was so vexing that I gradually, during three or four years of that work, prepared, largely upon railroad trains, the most of the chapters which comprise this volume. Later, some chapters were amplified, and others added. If I had happened to be one who had had unusual experience in raising cabbages, I was sure that my brother farmers would have much respect for what I might say about methods of growing them. I hoped that I might have the same influence as one who had happened to have a wider business experience than falls to the lot of most farmers. As to that, however, I have some doubt. I pretend to no great knowledge of economic science, but understand it to be plain common sense applied to such business transactions as marketing produce, borrowing money, and voting upon a tariff. Common sense, of course, is the logical inference from all the facts. Inference from only part of the facts, or from "facts that ain't so," is not common sense, although, unfortunately, common practice. No one appreciates more highly than myself the value of the study of the fundamental economic concepts, but, after all, the world's business must be done mostly by those without fixed convictions as to the real meaning of "value," or the "fund" from which wages are paid. I have, therefore, written for that class, drawing my conclusions inductively from experiences common to myself and my readers, rather than deductively from the |