Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1909-05-08
MOTOR CAR PULLING A ROAD DRAG.

MOTOR CAR PULLING A ROAD DRAG.
will count at least two motor cars in
every five vehicles passed in days
drive
There Is probably not another ma
chine found on the farm today that
can be put to so many practical uses
as the motor car. There are very few
things to do on the farm except the
tilling of the soil, In which the car can
not be brought into practical use. 1t
is valued by the farmer for its speed
probably more than any other quality,
as the farmer Is learning more and
more to value his time, just as the
man in the office or the factory.
To the north of Salina a dozen miles
or so there is a public road which
shows that 1t has been well taken care
of. The effect of the King drag Is to
be seen for more than IL mile along one
farm, and it is not an uncommon sight
on that road to see a farmer with his
touring car spinning along at the rate
of six to eight miles an hour with a
large King drag following, attached to
the machine with a chain. This farm
cr has used the drag for some time,
but more frequently in the last few
months than ever before. He prefers
a car for the drag to a team of horses
because he makes better time.
Sometimes it takes two men, one to
run the car and the other to weight
the drag. \ heavy weight will answer
the same purpose as the second man,
but it is custom for the farmers to
work the roads together, and 1t comes
naturally since the advent of the mo-
tor
1t IS seldom that the farmers car
Is seen at the garage. The farmer Is
so accustomed to making his own re-
pairs that he naturally falls into the
Job with the car. He finds 1t Just as
easy as repairing his harvester, his
cultivator or his bicycle Perhaps he
may have slight difficulty with some
of the electrical parts of the engine,
but when he has seen 1t repaired once
he never has the same difficulty again,
at least not to such an extent that an
expert has to see 1t.
The public roads in central Kansas
are such that Il touring car can be tax
en- out almost any time. Mud cuts no
figure with the farmer, and this IS one
feature that makes his car of such
value to him. The town man will not
run his machine in the mud, but the
farmer doesn't care much. However
fD GOOD roads
now more than they ever did before,
and this Is one reform the motor car
has brought about Already in many
of the public roads the little gullieS
have been filled up and the little knots
have been cut down. More than Il
year ago the Salina motor club began
the advocacy of good roads. The farm
ers were not in general sympathy with
the motorists, and they were slow to
take hold of the scheme, arguing that
the roads In central Kansas were not
so bad. They knew the object was to
make it easier riding for motorists
and especially for the tourists from
eastern cities, who desired to spend
the summer in Colorado, making the
trip overland.
The farmer. as rule, laughed at
the idea then. but now he IS right In
line. If he doesn't own a car now he
expects to some day, and he IS in
hopes the roads will be made better
before his machine arrives on his
farm
More roads were dragged last year
than ever before In the history Of Sa-
lima county, and 1t IS safe to say that
the present year will be a record
breaker in this line of work
The motor car of the farmers is in
fuencing good roads In another way.
The dealers are the most active good
roads advocates in the state. One of
the principal motor dealers, for in
stance, makes it a business to deliver
n good roads lecture with every car.
The dealers have been farmers and
they know the subject from the stand
point of both sides. Farmers get the
Idea at the very beginning, and they
never go behind the new doctIne.-
Kansas City Star,