4
—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 26, 1960
FROM WHERE WE STAND -
Economy Is An Important Income
A quotation from Cicero says, “Men
do not realize how great a revenue ec
onomy is.” >
Farm management specialists would
say it a little differently. One from a
state university said recently, “Do a
little figuring before you buy.”
Figure your opportunity costs be
fore you buy a new piece of farm
equipment. How much money will that
new machine make for you? Could you
make more money by investing your'
capital somewhere else? Could you
hire a custom operator to do the job
cheaper than buying the equipment
yourself? Should you try to get by
with used equipment or with equip
ment already'owned?
These appear to be common sense
rules, and, m the final analysis, they
are, but all too often we are prone to
buy a piece of equipment because we
think we need.it on the farm without
really asking ourselves ques
tions above. Too many times we come
upon a job that requires a piece of ma
chinery we do not have, and we imme
diately think of acquiring that piece of
equipment.
We do not believe it is good econ
omy to purchase machinery, even
though the farm account can afford it,
unless that machinery will be used
enough to pay for itself in a reasonable
length of time. Machinery depreciates
while it stands in the shed. Unless you
can keep a particular machine in use a
good portion of the season, it may be
far wiser for you to hire the work done
% a custom operator.
There is no simple formula for fig
uring out just what equipment you
should buy. The answers -Will' vary
from farm to farm and from situation
'to situation.
Some farms have much more mach
inery than could be justified by the re
turns from each machine, while many
others could profit by having bigger
Davidson
Shortly after the end of
Woi’d War I there was a
popular song that asked
"“How are you going to keep
'em down on the farm after
seen Paree?”
' Tlie answer, 40 years later,
is that you can’t, but not be
. cause'bf any hankering for
the gay city of Paris There
are many other reasons why
farm population is decreas
ing at the rate of almost a
million a year, hut the mam
one is income.
The National Grange, old
■est of the farm organizations,
adds 'oma other answers m
a new pub.ication it calls a
"“Farm Fact Kit,’’ and sub
titled “Everyone Should
Know About Farmers.”
The fact, though, is that
the great majority of our 180
million people in this coun
try don’t know as much as
Lancaster Farming
U«n ■<««« County’* Own Farm
Weekly
t Box 1524
Lancaster, Penna.
Offices.
> \'orth Duke St
1 ancaster, Penna
Lancaster
f Xpress 4-3047
JscK Owen. Editor
Ph<
Hoi«” i u Campbell. Advertising
toi \ Business \fc.nager
H-i • nshei Vovember • 1988
Fui “.*■«-d every Saturday by
Lai -i i Farming. Lancaster, Pa.
r a -i- 'nd class >. u
Lai., iMei Pa under Act of Mar,
I ‘ nldltlonal entry at Mount
JO3 Pi
t- rlptlon Rates- %Z per year;
thr • i-fl re SB Single copy Prlca
S c-ntp
M. Pa Newspaper Publrti
*-rs ri it (on; National Bditor.
ial ’delation.
THIS WEEK
—ln 'Washington
With Clinton Davidson
Some Farm Facts
they should about the 21
million who provide the rest
of us with an abundance of
good food.
What the Figures Show
Comparisons seldom prove
much, but the Grange has
some interesting statistics
offer on farms vs, non-farm
incomes.
In 1958, when net farm in- sumer this year can buy
come amounted to $1,066 per more food with income from
capita, the average family an hour’s work than at any
income of the rest of the pop- time in the past 20 years,
ulation was $2,066" per per- Percentagewise, wages have
son. The total os net farm in- increased more rapidly than
come in 1958 was $l4 2 bil- food prices
lion. The 1959 net is estimat- For example, a quart of
ed by the U. S. Department milk took 6.7 minutes’ work
of Agriculture at $ll.B bil- t(take-home pay of factory la
lion. bor) last year. In 1947 a
The hourly income average quart of miik required 9.1
for farm owner-operations minutes of workers’ pay.
for management and labor, We be'ieve that when con
the Grange reports, was 97c sinners know the facts there
an hour in 1958, compared will be less criticism of far
with $2.13 an hour for work- mers.
ers in manufacturing indus
tries. Estimated comparable
figures for 1959 are 82c an
hour for farmers and $2.23
for industrial workers.
Approximate y 30 % of
farmers’ income in 1958 and
1959 came from work off the
farm.
Price Supports Cause High
Food Prices?
Many city consumers blame
price support for high food rhyme
prices. The Grange says that Handed down to modem
this isn’t so, and offers fig- time
ures to support that claim.
In 1951, when nearly all banners change it just a bit
farm vrops were supported , .. .. .
at 90% of parity, farmers ma^e situation fit.
received a gross
billion, before deducting pro-
duction costs for food that “But cows get milked twice
cost consumers $46.4 billion every day.”
or more efficient machinery to permit
increases in the size of production or
improved quality of products. Having
too much invested in machinery can
cut net returns just as surely as having
too little equipment to get the job
done efficiently.
One of the best ways to get reason
able answers to the questions you
should ask yourself about new machin
ery is to make a partial* budget. A par
tial budget simply means putting down
on paper the actual cost of the mach
ine and the expected returns from the
addition of that machine.
It may take some work to arrive at
these figures, but farmers with good
records should have a sound basis for
estimating such figures.
Of course the capital position of a
farmer does have some bearing upon
his need to be accurate in his deter
mination of alternate costs. A young
farmer.just starting out has to be more
careful in investing his limited capital
than a farmer who owns his farm and
equipment debt free.
Time or labor saved by the pur
chase of a machine may not be suffi
cient reason for buying that machine.
Time or labor saved is not an economic
saving unless that time 'and labor is
used for other production. Adding the
machinery may add to the cost of pro
duction rather than reduce it
The cost of labor replaced would
vary, too, depending upon whether
most of the labor on the farm is family
labor or hired labor, but if the replac :
ed labor is used elsewhere the value in
the new job should be' checked with
the cost of the machinery replacement.- -
Machinery can be one of the biggest
money makers on your farm, but be
fore you buy, the" opportunity costs
should be figured. Only then can you
be reasonably sure vour new purchase
will add to your farm income.
At least that’s how it looks from
where we stand.
in the grocery stores.
In 1958, when .price sup
ports were an average of 20
per cent below 1951, farmers
received $2O 8 bi.lion for
producing 15% more food
that cost consumers $57.7
billion. Thus, consumers paid
$ll 3 bi’lion more for 15 per
cent more food whi’e farm
ers received only $6OO mil
lion more.
Most ol food cost
was due to increases after the
food left the farm. These in-
eluded $4.8 billion in icreas-
ed labor charges, $1 4 bi'Hon
in higher transportation cost,
and $3 5 in business operat
ing expenses, such as taxes,
rents, etc.
Even with higher retail
food costs, tiie average con
Rural Rhythms
-Man works from sun to sun.
But women’s work is never
done.
Thus begins an ancient
of $2O 2 “Some men work while
some men play.
A FARMER'S WORK
By Carol Dean Huber
A Door for the Word
Christianity, 'in other,
•exclusive. But it had any
icess in that world so cio)
religions. And this wjj
Christians like Paul neve,
Bible Sinter 1*1: Acts 28-IC-81; Philip- tak * advantage of any
plans 1 12-13; Colossians 4’3-4. Word that stood open p
Devoticnud lUadfnr: Philippics l:ia- - a prisoner at Rome, had,
' modem preachers would
Door For The World 1
Lesson for March 27, 1960
ADS ON billboards, in buses, in
newspapers, tell us to Go to
Church. A fleet of taxicabs will, if
paid enough, carry posters telling
the "world that “The family that
prays together, stays together.”
Some of this advice must be taken,
to judge from the crowds one sees
coming out _of
churches of all
kinds. Our coun-
try may not 'be a
maturely Chris
tian country, hut
at i«Mt the
church is re-
spectable, and
popular besides.
This is 210 1 true
all over the Dr. Foreman '
;world. There are more places where
this is not true, than where it is
true. In East Germany today a hoy
or girl comes near losing all-chance
of a job of he or she does not leave
the church and Join the youth or
ganisation sponsored by the Party.
In Japan, India, and other coun
tries, to be a Christian is to be
thought of as unpatriotic.
Wa Have Always Hail Rivals
America is one of the few places
now where Christianity is both
popular and respectable. These
-other places where it is not are
more like the situation when the
Christian faith was new. Many
American Christians have the curi
ous idea that if the going is rough
we should-not send missionaries;
that if there are lots of religions
in a country like India, for in
stance, we'should not upset their
theological apple-cart and confuse
them with a new religion. The real
New Testament Christians would
have thought such notions-rather
ridiculous. It cannot* be said too
often\ The Christian religion did
not get its start in a religious
vacuum. Everybody had religion—
of some kind. Only, most of the
lands were bad, and the good kinds
were not good enough. Christians
did not propose to merge with other
Now Is
The Time . . ,
TO VACCINATE HEIFER CALfI
Dairymen are urged to continue tin
tice of vaccinating heifer calves m 1
to build resistance against Brucello- 1
en though the county and the state
being completely tested regularly, a®
percentage of reatcors is being reduS
is still safer to have the younger
developing with some resistance a ‘
the disease. It may be dangerous K
that this practice is no longer neces 1^
MAX S**
TO GET RID OF RATS AND s*'
Warm wetthar will soon be here which means that
will be working out into the fields and away fr° Rl
buildings If the population is reduced at this hntf
should be fewer rodents to come back to the
fall. A number of rat poisons may be used arollC
buildings takirig safe measures to protect livestock
a clean-up program including the destruction of l ,sr
places for rodents is strongly advised
TO WAIT FOR PROPER SOIL
warm weather arrives many farmers and gardeners
over anxious to get their early plantings made, ■”
cases when the soil is worked too early and too "' c
spring it may be hard and lumpy for the reman'd®,
season. Croppers are urged to apply the sinl ° !e „
squeezing a handful of soil in the hand and then f
roll (as if bowling); if the ball crumbles, then 1
enough to work; but if it stays as a ball, the soil n
TO PRUNE ROSES AND SHRUBBERY—After
ing weather is over (usually by the middle of l^ ar
a good time to prune trees, shrubs, and rose buS j
year it appears that the month of April will be a 6
for this task. A pair of shkrp shears should be .
the cut should be made close to the main stem an j
with it. In most cases it is best to do this prun lll
new growth starts in the spring.
’ '*» ,
religions, they urged m,
from dead idols to the
Living God.” The ‘‘Gos
has never tied in with.
bad situation. He was 4.
salary, he “had no churtj
saying is, he could not
ward to promotion, he cm
any organizing, his only
was a jail and jails 4
much in the way of a jj
what a congregation l (
and prison-guards— notit
there. Tet Paul could w,
friends at Colossae about
for the word.” He did not
-door for himself, but hi
for one for the Word ofj
His prayer was an®!
# One of the doors for the
' the conversion of a nina
called Onesimus. Throuji
the religion of Jesus spa
Paul himself could not p
the end of Paul’sletterlf
hpplans, written from:
prison, he speaks of the’
-Caesar's household,”—pjt
ants no doubt. Paul
have been invited to l
palace: but these humbli
men and women, whom
probably converted mpfl
he had no chance to go;
else —these would take I
where Paul could not hop
And If No Door?
There must have Ik
when even for the Wo-dt
no jdoor that Paul could!
Is in many parts of thei
day. Nobody isexpectinj
outbreak of Chnstiamt;
Germany or Japan or 1
some places on the Ami!:
all doors are closed, aj
iow in China, what do w
Oo we write off mission
-raise ? Paul did not H(
i”s friends at Colossal
hat God would open tot
sc the Word. You do ml
vhat you already halt
vhen doors are shuttirj
'ands, we are poor Chm
act accept this as final 1
'or Russia, Abvssmia
-V.burbia, that often pi:
we must pray for thee
(Based on outline? copyr
Division of Chnslian
National Council of tlio C
Christ in the *'T T . A fi
Community Press Service!
IT MAX SMITH