The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-11-01
HOW THE TELEPHONE HELPS.

The farmer of today is one of the
most progressive citizens of this pro
gressive country Whenever he is
thoroughly convinced that a certain
tool or piece of machinery will do his
work better, do more of it, or in
crease his income, it isn't very long
before he owns that tool or machine
That his enterprise has proven bene
fetal to himself and his calling is
demonstrated by the wonderful strides
agriculture has taken and by the i'm
proved methods employed on the aver
age farm.
But he must be convinced. He is
a careful, prudent man, not quick to
jump at conclusions. The first thought
that must have come to the minds of
the majority of farmers upon the adj
vent of the rural telephone line, prob
ably was, "Of what good to the farmer
is a telephone?"
This was but a natural question.
The farmer, above all, is a practical
man, and the value of the telephone
had not yet been demonstrated. He
could not see the utility of tit would
not milk the COWS, dig the potatoes,
nor make the crops grow. What prac-
tical benefit, then, could farmer de-
rive from the telephone? He could
understand how it might be "just the
thing" for the capitalist who hadn't
anything to do but enjoy himself. He
could see how merchants and city
folks could use it, but the farmer didn't
have time to fool around the house
talking over a telephone.
Some farmers argued that they had
gotten along so far in life without a
telephone why not the rest of their
days? This same argument, if car
ried out. would have kept hundreds
of other improvements, now con-
sidered absolute necessities, off the
farm, and would thus have retarded
the marvellous march of progress that
has made the modern farmer Of Amer
lea the model of the world
The farm telephone has come to be
recognized as necessity. No one
questions the statement that time is
money, and very few will question the
telephone has no equal. Time is an
important item on the farm. The
need of telephone connection is far
more urgent to the farmer than to the
city man. Every errand means a trip
to town or to the neighbors, involving
loss of time at every step-lost time
means lost money, lost opportunity.
The farmer with a telephone not
only saves time which he can devote
to the fields, but if he needs man for
a few weeks Or few days, the tele-
phone gives him the inside track
on finding someone If he has fence
to build or some other odd job that
he can not take the time to do, mo-
ment on the telephone will find some
one in a nearby village or town who
will be glad to have the job. While it
is getting harder and harder to find
men who will work by the year on the
farm, the telephone makes it easy
to get transient help just when you
need it, without loss of time looking
for it, In hundred other ways, the
telephone saves time and helps to
keep things going on the farm, thus
swelling the profits for the year.
In social sense alone the telephone
is worth all it costs. News of the
neighborhood flashes across the wire
before it gets cold. 1t helps to keeI
the boys and girls contented at home
they are no longer isolated from the
society of other young folks, and farm
life is not the dry drudgery of non
teleDhOne times.