The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1911-10-14

VIC arc constantly having Jul eyes
opened to the fact that what we have
considered impossible is constantly
being attained In our school days
we recited with derisive sympathy
for its builder Darius Green's flying
machine | remember reading of the
days Daniel Webster, not the states
man, but an obscure Yankee boy,
who spent rainy days in the loft of
the old farm house trying to perfect
an apple peeler. His father and the
neighbors thought him a fool and
none but his mother had any faith
in his ultimate success. The tele-
phone is comparatively but of yes
terday's origin The majority of us
had thought that perpetual motion
and a cotton picking machine would
be the dreams of the visionary ana
that time would be called on the ac-
tivities of man before the discovery
of either would be a success,
Last Friday | accepted the invita-
ton of s. M Matthews of Forreston
to accompany him, Mrs Matthews,
Marie, Mrs Earl Fort and William
j. l.. Perkins, G. w Wakeland, J
D. Elliott, w. T. Owens and son, j.
B. Stewart, L. Dorsey, w. D. Smith
wick and w O. Staten to Dallas to
witness the work of the Price
Campbell cotton picker. Out on the
interurban near Grand Prairie we
found the machine in field of cot
fal = dc
The question naturally presenting
itself to every practical mind is does
it pick? The shortest and plainest
answer one can make is that t
picks. Your next question is: How
clean does it pick? From the best
estimate | could make | conclude
that it gets SO per cent of the cot
ton. You naturally wish to know
whether or not the machine dana
ges the stalk | examined carefully
and could find no evidence of dam
age to boil, stalk or bloom Did you
ask me about the trash? There is a
cleaner attachment which takes out
all the dirt and all the trash notice
able was some pieces of green
leaves. However, since | came
to think of it there would be very
little dirt in the cotton for the ma
chine only gets what is on the stalk
and this explanation calls for ano-
Their, that is that the sc per cent
gathered means that per cent of the
amount on the stalk. So IL the
cotton happens to be very badly
~ ftf + Ma W
amount in the field gathered is of
course less. The machine was run
a second time over a row and clean
ed it almost entirely. The owner of
the cotton was going over the rows
after the machine and picking up
he cotton from the ground This
of course is dirty and full of trash.
The machine is so constructed that
it could be run through the cleaner.
1t is not the purpose of this article
to advertise anybodys business, bur
to publish the fact that machine
has been constructed which viii
and does pick cotton. The methods
of all pioneers in the empire of in
vention are crude and imperfect and
while am not machinist enough to
ilHu me lillPti ltttioho III NAAS'
have no doubt but that the model
of 1912 will be great improve
ment over the 1910 model The
fact having been demonstrated
that cotton can be gathered by ma
chinery others will devote their
minds to the task of Improvement
and the time is not far distant
when the respective merits of the
different makes of cotton pickers
will be eloquently defended as each
particular brand of religion or poll
tics. II is very probable that within
the next decade we may see a team
of mules following a machine up and
down the cotton rows in field and
that an investigation may reveal the
fact that it is gathering two or three
rows at time From what | could
see | did not think it required very
great power to run the picking ma
chinery of that great weight was
necessary element. So ! feel con-
fident that some inventive genius
will find a way to construct
lighter machine and propel 1t by
horse power. | have seen enough
to convince me that the cotton pick
ing machine in practical form IS
at least an early certainty. mat
the back bending, overheating, knee
bruising, finger freezing method OF
gathering the fleecy staple will soon
be only a part of the history OF the
crudities of antiquity With the adj
vent of the machine will stop the
payment of several millions or dol
lars annually to the laboring people
of the south What the result VIII
be I cannot forsee. Under the
present industrial system every time
a machine is perfected to do the
work of several men there arises
a surplus of labor in the market
While this is the case no progressive
thinker would for a moment thlnk