St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1910-07-23
tOL XxXVl NO 81

size of the load were increased or the
time of the round trip lessened, OIL
If both were effected. If II
costs a farmer cents per bushel tc
haul his wheat to the shipping point
when he requires one day to make a
round trip. he might save $25 on a
crop of 900 bushels If he could
. make two trips day; or, If he still
made but one trip day, but could in
crease the load from SO to rs bushels
I without adding to the number of
horses, he might reduce the cost of
hauling by one-third, thus saving
about ST." Now with mechanical
transport on improved roads, not
merely two, but three or even four
trips would be possible, and each in
dividual load would be greater than
with horses Bulletin 49 also re.
marks that Waste and rest are be-
lieved to be important items in the
| total time required for the rund trip.
|. Knowing that the trip will
spoil day, that there will not be
time enough left for any considera-
BILE amount of work at home, even II
he can reach there an hour or two
earlier, the driver will not have much
Iinducement to hurry" In hilly coun-
try, farmers rarely attempt more
than one trip per day If the distance
from the farm to the shipping point
| exceeds five miles.
In many sections of the country,
| for instance in Henry county, 1lli-
nois, for hauling staples like corn, a
system of exchange work among
| farmers is the prevailing custom. No
/ xr,h4 thn
| rendered are unequal. Haulage by
| motor wagons, especially OF the heav-
ier types, particularly leads itself to
| this cooperative idea. Take, for ex-
| ample, the collection of milk from
group of farms of a morning. and its
delivery At the depot r creamery. 1t
| is quite common for farmers to club
| together to buy threshing machine
for which they have individually only
occasional use. Still more practical
| would be the cooperative ownership
| of motor wagons, which would thus
| be kept in continuous daily service.
delivering produce and bringing in
| supplies all the year round.
Coming now to the indirect benefits
which would follow in the train of
| the rural motor car-that is, benefits
other than the savings which can be
effected in the cost OF haulage-per,
! haps the most important would be
| the resulting change in the social
character of country life. Man is
social being. His nature demands
| change of scene and companionship,
new experiences and recreation. The
| bane of farm life has hitherto been
it's isolation, and hence its narrow.
| ness, and while good roads can un-
doubtedly do much to remove this
| urse, the automobile can do more.
To quote Mr.. Frederick once more:
| 1.-The horses are needed in the fields
every day of good weather, and on
| Sunday they need rest. The farm
wife and family are therefore practi-
cally prisoners for large part of the
year. They are at the mercy of dis
tance. Such condition cramps
| them, stunts them, and drives the
children to the cities in search of
more life and companionship. 1t has
been the sad cry of the village and
the farm for fifteen years, that its
best young men were going To the
cities, that they refused to stay on
the far because of lack Of pleasure
as we'll as lack of opportunity.
| Now the automobile creates in
this respect new condition. 1t puts
farm life on new plane. Machinery
does not tire. However hard q mo-
tor car may have been used In the
daytime, 1t Is always at hand In the
1~evening to take the farmer and his
family to a reunion, show, friends
house, Grange meeting, party, 8
concert, lecture, or what not. On
Sundays and holidays long trips up
to one hundred miles can be made
comfortably, and every day 1t puts
within the reach of the farmers chill
dren educational facilities equal to
those OF the largest cities. The day
of the country crossroads school.
, house is gone. This Is the era of
large central schools, built and
equipped at an expense of thousands
OF dollars, and only the automobile
can render such schools easy OF &C
cess to the scattered farms.
| This changed aspect of farm life
will mt only keep the young men on
the soil, but it will bring them back
to the country from the cities. Ten
years ago the young man of ambition
was filled with the idea of seeking.
his fortune in the great industrial
certers. But the organization Of
modern business into vast corpora
tions has so limited the fields of in
dividual endeavor that there has
come reaction. 1t is in the coun-
try that independence and opportun-
lty are now to be found, rather than
IN the towns. There is growing
feeling that farming properly con-
| HnafnH g. -
future to fit the ambition of even the
most strenuous. The narrow social
and domestic life of the country is
the only thing that prevents thou
sands OF young men seizing the best
opportunity open to them. Abolish
these drawbacks by the aid of good
roads and the motor car, and the de-
Capitalization of the crowded urban
populations will inevitably follow.
No sensible young man will, other
things being equal, prefer an en-
ployee's position at limited salary,
with the cost of living rising sill the
while, to independence and possible
wealth. ALI he asks Is not to be
compelled to sacrifice his legitimate
craving for companionship and rec
reatton. And where the young blood
leads, the rank and file will follow.
1t is not necessary that every one
who seeks living in the country
shuld be farmer. Industries can
be moved into the rural districts az
we'll as individuals, once the exodus
from the cities begins.
The effect of such a movement on
farm values. 1t is hardly necessary
to point out. Indeed, In no less than
three ways will the general introduc-