Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-10-26

The manufacturers of agricultural inn
plements in the United States are hold
ing their annual convention in Chicago
this week, In conjunction with the deal
ers in their product. They are there many
thousand strong. and will discuss many
interesting trade problems before the con-
vention ends. That they have vast field
OF patronage to cater to is shown by the
fact that the farmers of the United States
have nearly a billion dollars invested in
farm implements end machinery. This Is
Consistently wearing out and being replaced
by new machinery, and it is estimated
that the average term in which it all
must be replaced is ten years. To build
billion dollars worth Of new machin-
cry every decade and sell it means work
and wealth for many men.
The man who is now four-score years
old has seen more progress in farming
than all of the hundreds of generations
that went Before him. He has lived from
the day of the little hand sickle to the
time of the machines that cut, thresh,
| bag, and weigh the wheat as is goes. He
remembers the day of the "bull-tongue
shovel pillow, the stump new" ground and
the ox-team. and secs his son handling
steam gang pillow that can pillow as
many acres of ground in an hour as he
could in two days. He sees the check
rover taking the place of a painful drop
ping OF corn from hill to hill by hand. and
the modern force feed grain drill taking
the place of the "sower of the seed" who
spread 1t broadcast by hand. Instead Of
the scythe, the hand rake and the pitch
fork for cutting and storing the hay he
Gees the mower, the tedder, the buggy
rake. the hay-loader and the horsepower
hayfork.
Instead of the old-fashioned fail with
which the boys pounded out the wheat
and rye and the oats on the long winter
days. and OF its successor, the ground
hog thresher. he sees the up-to-date
Ithreshing machine that handles as mucl y
wheat in an hour as a half dozen men
could fresh in week in the old way.
The road to market that was once 40 miles
long and a succession Of mud puddles. is
now a macadam road that can be travelled
in an hour. And so the story of pro-
| gress might be reeled off for columns.
sSs
Little wonder, then, that the statisti-
clans tell US that only about IS per cent
| of the people Of the United States today
are engaged in growing the food and the
fiber OF the nation. Eighty years ago over
80 per cent Of them were so engaged, and
they could not raise enouh for home con-
sumption they had to buy from Europe.
Il
much higher than II was then. and we
export enough to feed and clothe no mean
nation, and yet IS per cent of the peo-
pie do all the farm work. If we were to
cut out the exports we now have, and
add as much in imports in proportion as
our fathers imported. IL would be found
that rs per cent of our people are en-
Gagged in doing the work that required so
per cent of them Is years ago.
/
Although the United States has made
such remarkable progress in the reduc-
| ton of the amount OF labor required to
/ grow a given quantity of food and fibre,
| the rest of the world has not kept pace,
and it is estimated that even now 20 per
! cent Of the energy of all the people Of
| the world is directed to the prime essen
tial of life-the growing of things to eat
and things to wear. Europe has largely
| failed to keep pace with America, the
| labor supply being so plentiful that hand
labor Is cheaper in many farm operations
than machine labor. And then it is OBJ
vious that the small farmer of Europe
cannot afford to equip his farm as does
the large farmer of America. Half the
| world still gains its living with the
machete, the bolo or the hoe.
Some have attributed the remarkable
growth Of the agricultural interests Of the
United States to the railroads. However,
| statisticians show that 1t was the agricul-
! tural interests that made the railroads.
When one comes to compare the first 10
years of the railroad with the first 10
years OF the reaper and other farm ma
| chinery, he sees coEclusively-, that al
though the railroad was first on the scene
1t was the later-arriving reaper that en-
abled it to take part in the development
| of the country.
The United States leads the world in the
manufacture of agricultural implements,
| as we'll as in their use. In fact, nearly
| all of the nations of the earth get the
| greater part of their farm machinery
] from the United States The capital in
vested in implement factories amounts
| to more than $1,000 900, while the value
of the annual output amounts to about
S125, 100000. The factories are turning out
100000 cultivators a year, the same num-
Der of harrows, nearly three times as
many plows. 100000 planters and drills. and
10000 headers and binders. 1t is an in
teresting fact that the money value Of
the output of agricultural implements
NAV be roughly divided by three. harvest
ing machinery representing one-third. cul-
tivating machinery one-third, and seeding
and other machinery another third. I'LL
nois leads the world in the value Of the
plants for the making of agricultural ma
chinery, the value of the annual output
and in the amount of machinery used.
In the western part of Virginia there
is the little valley of Shenandoah. 1t is
about 200 miles long and 80 miles wide.
Here was reared Nancy Hanks, the moth
er Of Abraham Lincoln. Here the father
Of Lincoln lived before he went to Ken
lucky. Here was where Washington de-
cIared he would take his troops to the
mountains Of West Augusta and defend
the banner of liberty TO the end Here
was grown the ratlons that kept alive the
Confederacy until Sheridan devastated il