The Detroit times., 1910-11-19

kind still 81 ~
would be race OF II
small farmers. - II
There could be no
big cities: thou -.
sand arts an d
S C ences could
flourish onl. I'm an indifferent way;
mans principal battle would be TO get
the bare necessities of life-its lux
uries would be out OF the question.
The development of agricultural ma
chinery has SO enhanced the produc-
tive power of the individual farmer
that fully three-fourths OF those who
formerly obtained their living by till
ing the soil now may find profitable
occupation In other vocations
The economists declare that every
reduction In the cost OF food produc'
ton works unreasonable benefit TO
the entire race. benetiting I'm turn
every trade and profession i'm which
men engage. That the American in-
ventor has been able to effect such "A
reduction Is shown by the cost of har-
vesting a century ago and now. Ac-
cording to a reliable compilation OF
figures. TO cut an acre OF wheat with
the old-time sickle. cost S4.95. When
the grain-cradle was brought into ser
vice. the cost OF harvest lg was re-
duced to $3.50 an acre. The modern
binder reduced that cost TO $l.25 an
acre. The big steam harvester-thresh-
ers have lowered il To- fifty cents per
acre When the Chicago Worlds
Fair was held, "A delegation OF foreign
20 ~ "A ~
kota ranch and shown how the Amer
lean wheat crop Is harvested M
smaller cost per bushel than the cost
OF the mere food OF slave labor under
old-time conditions. II is estimated
that II the worlds crops were mar
vested today with n cradle. the an
nual additional expense would be
nearly half a billion dollars-and that
is taking for granted that II would be
possible to get enough laborers.
The remarkable rise In the use OIL
farm machinery is illustrated by the
figures OF the Patent Office and the
Census. More than $4,000 patents have
been issued on agricultural impIe
ments. and the money value or farm
machinery and tools in the United
States today is not far from billion
dollars. With these the farmer has
been able to make his property hoiu
! ings worth some forty billion dollars
and his annual gross income greater
than the capitalization OF all the trusts
IN the land. Even his hens with the
aid OF the incubator and brooder, pro
duce great revenue than the entire
| income OF the governments or Spain
/
finds that four-fifths OF the manual
labor involved in his calling has been
eliminated by the inventor. With a
tank OF gasoline he can saw htty
cords OF wood I'm day, and with a
milking machine he can milk slNty
cows before breakfast. With modern
wagon leaders, portable elevators
grain shockers, potato diggers. beat
toppers and leaders. and hundreds OF
other kinds of machinery 10 Tighten
his labor. the farmer Ands his bust
ness "a calling with the bother left
out"
The pillow was one Of the first imple'
ments with which the American IN
ventor concerned himself. Thomas
Jefferson and Daniel Webster both in
vented improved plows. and when JET
ferson was not concerned with grave
matters Of political Importance, ne
was cogitating the shape of a mould
board on a pillow. The first plo"
patent in the United States was grant
ed to Charles Newbold, New Jer
sew farmer. II was Of cast iron. but
the farmers concluded that it "soured
the land and made weeds grow. Al
though he spent 100000 In missionary
work, the farmers still stuck to the
old "bull-tongue" pillow with It's rude
wooden mouldboard. Tn 1919 Jetnrc
Wood took Jefferson's idea and patent
ed a pillow which revolutionized meth