St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1910-07-23
tricts, curtail the power of the mid
dlemen and increase the mower of

the farmer, each of these ends can b
achieved more quickly, more certain
. ly, and to a more marked degree wit
the aid of the motor vehicle. To Sc
how this is possible, let us first loo
little below the surface, with
view to removing some prejudice
which still nnger in the country dis
tricts against this new method o
transportation.
| A bad first impression is apt t,
color our later and maturer judg
ment, and it is not strange that thei
early experience of the motor ca
blinded the farmers to its true mis-
sion. They saw a high-speed ma
chine, plaything of the idle rich
driven along the highways, often tt
the common danger, and they pro
tested against it. But in the course
of time the motor car began to fine
itself From being an end, q new
sport, omobiling became a mean.
to an end. People discovered that
there was useful side to this new
invention, that it meant mechanical
transport of men and goods without
| the limitations of the railroad and
| the trolley line. The motor began
to fit into the ordinary round Of city
life. Doctors availed themselves OF
| 1t to make their rounds, merchants
to serve their customers, newspapers
to distribute their issues. In a hun.
dred ways it became daily clearer
that a new instrument was at the
hands of man wherewith to save time
and conquer distance. And then the
more progressive among the farmers
began to ask themselves: "Is there
any occupation On which time and
distance impose greater handicap
than on the cultivation of the land? ?"
HAS any one a greater need than the
farmer Of quick transport for himself
and his producer"
There still remained the question
as to whether the motor car was a
practical proposition under rural con-
ditions. Experience alone could an
swer this question, and experience
has answered it. Last year one New
York firm alone sold Z 500 second
hand cars, 95 per cent of It's total
output, in the farming districts. Mr..
j. George Frederick, Editor of Print
ers Ink, says: "Out of 10000 autos
in Iowa, 500 are owned by farmers.
Kansas farmers spent $3,2O0,O0O for
automobiles during 1909, and ST.
750, 900 in 1908. In one Nebraska
town of 500 population, forty autos
were sold last year to farmers, and
retired farmers in the town. A care
full estimate OF the number of auto
mobiles owned in the United States
by farmers is 10000"
Impressive as these figures are,
they represent the merest fraction OF
what they might be. They are only
quoted to show that mechanically and
financially the motor car is a practi-
cal proposition from the farmers
viewpoint. Indeed, in some ways he
has positive advantage over his
neighbor in the city. In the first
place. he has no garage charges to
meet. Then, again, he is used to
working around machinery. Expe-
rience with the binder. the thrashing
machine, stationery gasoline engine
and other apparatus has rendered
him familiar with it's operation and
repair. He Is practically chauffeur
from the very first, for he can do for
himself what the city man has to en-
ploy another man to do for him.
Another point Is that while to the
dweller in the city the automobile is
self-propelled vehicle and nothing
more, to the farmer it is also a port
able power plant. 1t is a twenty or
thirty or forty horsepower engine On
wheels that can be used anywhere
An automobile can also be used to
saw wood, chop feed, shell corn
pump water, run dynamo to charge
storage batteries for lighting, of for
any Of the many other purposes
where power is needed on the farm
One more illustration of the diff
ference between the motor car in the
| city and on the farm will pave the
| way to return to our main PROPOSE
in every way the good effects of good
tion, that the automobile multiplies
| roads. To city owner, one automo-
| bile more means at least one horse
| less. With the farmer, the automo.
bile does not supersede the horse
! 1t supplements it. The motor car on
the farm is merely an addition to the
long list of mechanical aids to agri.
| culture. To quote Mr.. j. Frederick
| farm work as if made for it. The
! horse goes into the field in the morn.
| ing, and the auto runs the milk tc
town or goes to the mill for flour in
hurry, or makes quick dash to the
machineshop in town for a part to
repair the binder or the thrashine
machine. 1t saves the time in many
instances (as many farmers testify
of big gang of men in the field in
an emergency. 1t pays for itself in
real service by the end of year OF
| two."
! We have noted above that the av.
erage cost of horse haulage in the ru.
raj districts is 25 cents per ton mile
for transporting the products Of the
farms to the shipping points. With
ideal roads and the best horses this
cost can only be reduced to ten cents
ton one mile by motor wagon over
good roads has been figured at
/ cents. On a total tonnage of 200,
! 600, ,000-a most conservative esti
mate, as has been pointed out-and
an average haul of ten miles, there
is here a saving of $440, 900, 900 an.
nually. If every wage Garner, man
woman, or child, in the United States
contributed weeks wages each year
they would be unable to meet this
charge, and yet it indirectly comes
principally out of their pocket, for II
Is included in the annual food bill oi
| the nation.
! The direct effect of mechanical
haulage in reducing the cost of living
would, however, be inadequately rep
resented by the sum mentioned. In
the first place, when horses are being
! used to draw produce to the market
or to the shipping points, the regular
work of the farm suffers. Again