The St. Mary banner., 1910-07-23
Don't Waste Your Pity on the Farmer.
ENVY MORE FITTING.
Autos and Other Luxuries Are Now His. and Ma
chinery Does His Work.

Honk, Honk' The American farmer
"a going into the fields to plough, but
instead of holding on to the plough
handles and staggering over the fur
rows with the wai5t-wrapped lines oc-
casionally getting foul of his luXuri-
ous whiskers, he rides comfortably on
a motor plough. When it comes time
TO shell corn for the hogs at evening,
the farmer will connect the shelter
with the belt OF a gasOlene engine. In
the haying seasoa he will not sweat
and bend his back as long as the auto
matte fork pitches wagon loads OF hay
at a time into the NOV. Ii there is a
good show on at any theatre in town
within twenty-five miles, the farmer
will crank up his gasolene IunabOut
and take the whole family to see it.
When the up-to-date farmer comes
to the metropolis he no longer stops
at a rivar-front hotel, nor is he tempt
ed by common brands of greengoods
and gold bricks. He has all the real
money that he needs. He engages a
Suitc dl liC w Id anu lNii'
the waiter to bring him half a dozen
terrapin for lunch. Hayseed? Why,
his clothes were made to order (pOss1-
bly, by mail order house, and though
he is still sunburned. his hands are nol
much more horny than a bank presi-
dents. He is laughed at no longer. He
is respected and envied. The cit:
man, worried to death about the high
cost of living, aliases himself before
the wealthy autocrat of the soil.
The American farmer raised stuff
worth $S,760, 100000 last year. The
gain over the preceding year amount
ed to almost billion dollars. In elev-
en- years the total annual production
has doubled. All this wealth has made
the farmer what he is, has emancipaI-
ed him from the dangerous end of a
team of mules, has lifted mortgages
and made ''joy rides" sport of the
backwoOds. A new question has arisen
whether or not the hired man is en-
titled to take out the farmers buzz
cart" on Sunday evening for sparkling
purposes.
How the crops did grow last year!
As 'Tama Jim" Wilson eloquently ex-
presses it, the corn came up from the
soil and out of the air in 120 days
$14,OOO,OOO a day for one crop, nearly
enough to pay for two Dreadnoughts'
daily, for peace or war" There was
corn enough to pay for 24O Dread
noughts or a million automobiles or
innumerable jaunts to New York.
including Coney Island. the st. Regis
and the Hippodrome. The cotton crop
was worth $3.50 100000 the wheat crop
725,000,000, the hay crop $665, 900, 900.
They Must Get in Line.
Maybe there were a few farmers here
and there who did not get look in at
the prosperity of the American farm
er, the abstract and statistical per-
sonage of wealth, but. of course, these
do not count 1t must have been some
Of these negligible agriculturists that
the Country Life Commission had in
mind when it said: I'VE have found by
sAS SSotAAoAy, uOL Ouly VI tuC lol lu-tS
themselves, but of all persons in touch
with farm life, more or less serious un-
rest in every part of the United States,
even in the most prosperous regions
Faugh! upon the unrestful farmer!
Why does he not buy an automobile
like the others, and get rested?
1T was estimated by New York
agent the other day that the farmers
OF Nebraska bought four thousand
automobiles last year at an average
cost Of $500. Iowa farmers have five
thousand machines. About $4,000, 600
worth OF automobiles were bought by
Kansas farmers last year All the
farmers of the country are estimated
to own seventy-six thousand machines.
There are mail order houses which
make speciality of building and SELL
ing automobiles to farmers, some of
the machines being as cheap as 1895.
A large corporation manufactures mot
or buggies for the farmer, along with
harvester machines and reapers. The
Duggy type of automobile no longer
satisfies the erstwhile horny handed
son OF the soil. He demands pneu-
matte tires, so that he can ride in
comfort, and a lot of horsepower. so
tnat he won't have to take the dust
OF city folks he meets on the road
When the automobile is not being
used by the farmer as luxury. he
nltches it on to fodder cutter, buzz
saw or milk separator in the back
yard. By jacking up the rear wheels
and slipping belt around one of them,
the touring car is transformed into an
emcient and powerful stationary en-
gine. More than half the population
OF the country lives on the farm or
tnereabouts, and in the past it has,
not known how the other half lives.