The Rural Voice, 1992-02, Page 32Voice from the Past
It's often been said: "The more things change, the more they stay the same." But farm life has certainly undergone
dramatic and irreversible changes. Writer Wayne Kelly of Lucan provides evidence for both views: one, the changes in
farming and rural life have been so thorough that the past seems quaint; two, "modern" problems really aren't so modern
after all. Either way, the "voices from the past" haven't lost their relevance.
As a champion of honest work and business ethics, editor William Weld, in The Farmer' s Advocate editorial of October 1911,
encouraged area farmers not to underestimate the worth of their own time and energies. With insurance and banking considerations
still a regular concern for the modem farmer, Weld's astute comments are as valid now as they were eighty years ago.
COUNT THE WHOLE COST N
The fact that farming has seldom been conducted on the same
strict, account -keeping system as other commercial enterprises must
be largely attributed, no doubt, to the unbusinesslike system or lack
of system followed in the valuation of farm improvements. This
common undervaluation of farm buildings has long been a matter of
remark, but has been brought pointedly to our attention of late in
connection with local mutual fire -insurance companies. As most of
our readers are aware, the law forbids these from insuring in excess
of two-thirds value, which is right and proper in the interests of safe
business. But in connection with this, the companies adopt a plan of
undervaluation, which leaves the proprietor with only a small
proportion of his total risk carried. With some companies, the rule is
to assess a barn at so much per foot of its perimeter, making allowance
for extra height in some cases. This rule appears to be averaged,
however, upon the amount of material and labor purchased outright
in the construction of an ordinary
barn. It usually ignores a large
amount of material cut and
collected on the place or taken from
old structures torn down, and also
throws in many days' unskilled
labor of man and team hauling
material, preparing foundations,
and so on. It is common to hear a
farmer, on being asked the cost of
his silo, barn or house, put it at a
very low figure, adding, when
questioned, "We had gravel on the
place, and didn't count the hauling
of it," or, "We used a good deal of
material from the old barn," or, "We
did a good deal of the work
ourselves" — as if their own labor
had no value and only hired help
was worth anything.
Now, we submit that this is
unbusinesslike and erroneous. A
dollar's worth of labor is worth a
dollar, whether a farmer performs it
himself or hires a man by the year to
do it, or keeps and provides a team
for the purpose, or hires it by the day.
He who works for nothing works too
cheap. The proper way to value
improvements is to put them at what
one would be willing to duplicate
them for on his own or a neighbor's
farm. Every stick of old material
should be rated approximately at its
intrinsic value, likewise every piece cut from the bush. Every day's labor
should be counted at what it is fairly worth, not necessarily at highest
contractor's wages, but what it would cost if one had to hire it on his own
farm.
Not only would this method of valuation be equitable for purposes
of fire insurance, but in all calculations in connection with farm
management it would conduce to consistent estimation and to the
elimination of unprofitable toil, which is often performed because a full
value is not placed upon labor. We have frequently marvelled that
farmers, who would not leave their places to do a day's work between
seasons with their teams for Less than $3.50 or $4.00, would do many
weeks of teaming on their farms, and throw it in as if it had no value at
all. Count the cost. Count it all, and adjust farm economics in the light
of figures thus set down in black and white. It may seem frightening at
the start, but will lead to larger earnings and ampler profits in the end.
Cattle Were Smaller Back Then .. .
This participant in South Dakota's Royal Winter Fair of 1949 exhibited midget cattle —and a novel way
of transporting livestock. (Photo: courtesy OMAF)
28 THE RURAL VOICE