Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-04-08
HONK, FROM THE FARMS!
10000 American Farmers Have Their
Own Automobiles.

$4,000 American Farmers Have Their
Own Automobiles.
I OF the 10000 automobiles owned ir
the state of Iowa 5000 belong to farm
ers. If Mr.. Roosevelt really wants tC
know what is the matter with the far
mers and with life in the country he
might consider that item for little
while And there are lots of other
items pretty much like it.
OF course in Iowa it's corn. AS a
| writer in the Travel Magazine points
out corn grows in 12O days from its
planting time. Out in the great corn
| belt during 1909 the corn farmers made
the ground give up to them $15,OOO,0OO
| every day Of those 120. In other words,
every day from the time the corn farm
ers put tine seed in the ground $15,OO0,-
900 were poured into their laps until a
grand total of $1,720, 900, 900 was rolled
up.
All the gold and silver in the United
States today isn't equal to this corn
crop of last year. And this is only
corn Wheat and cotton are not far
behind. Wheat never fetched such a
price for the farmer since 1881 as it did
last year. And no cotton planter has
received such a high price for his cot
ton since 1871.
Suppose you had been touring in an
airship last summer and had been spin
ming over Kansas in a light summer
breeze. Suppose that you had noticed
signs of activity as you approached
the little town called Frankfort Pic
ture your aStonishment on learning that
there was an automobile fete on that
day and that several hundred farmers
cars into town until the streets of the
town were quite choked with autos.
Your ideas of backwoodS Kansas
town and the farmers would have had
rude jar, for here was Mrs. Farmer
in a becoming automobile veil and a
stylish tailor made suit taking tea at
an afternoon reception instead of work.
ing the butter cnurn in a wrapper or
staring open mouthed out of the win
dow in a scared way when you steam
ed past in your auto.
Ever been to Hay City, Kansas?
Well, when you go there just ask for
Farmer Thomas Keddie. He'll give
you a true Scotch welcome, and he'll be
glad to tell you how last spring he de-
cided that he had made his farm yield
enough to entitle him and his wife to
take a trip abroad in his own automo-
bile. He'll tell you how ne shipped his
car from Kansas to Glasgow, and how
he saw more in two days in Scotland
by means of this car than he remelh
bered to have seen in the first twenty
five years of his life which were spent
in Scotland.
Kansas farmers spent $3,200,000 for
automobiles during 1909 and $2,750,000
in 1908. In one Nebraska town of 500
population forty autos were sold last
year to farmers near the town and re-
tired farmers in the town. Careful es-
innate of the number of automobiles
owned by farmers in the entire United
States Is 10000.
The farmer has more good reasons
for having an automobile than any 9TH
er man. 1t Is commonly said now
that many city men are buying autos
who cannot afford them. Garage and
chauffeug costs are largely responsible
for this condition.
But the farmer takes to an automo-
bile quite like the proverbial duck to
water. In the first place he knCws ma
chinery He handles it all day long
and has to be his own repair man. AS
a result he Is his own best chauffeur
and so is his son.
The auto fits into the farm work as
if made for 1t. 1t doesn't replace the
horse-nOt a bit of 1t. The horse goes
into the field in the morning and the
auto runs the milk to town or goes to
the mill for flour in a hurry or makes
quick dash to the machine shop in
town for a part to repair the binder or
the threshing machine. 1t saves the
time in many instances Gas man, far
mers testify of a big gang OF men in
the field in an emergency. 1t pays for
itself in real service by the end of a
year or two.
Sixteen automobile makers are ad-
vertising autos to the farmer in the
$50 farm papers of the country, and
most of them are arguing that the au-
tomobile will keep the boy on the farm
and make life more livablc for the
wife. Automobile men are constantly
being aStOnished at the price farmers
are wiling to pay for the best cars. and
the way they are paying is in cash,
with as little fussas if they were buy
ing q new draught nOrSc.-EXChange.