Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-30

machine as unit, others nave found IL
more profitable to manufacture tractors
which could be used simply as mechani-
cal horses. With comparatively small
motor truck. or tractor, the farmer is
able to hitch up one binder or two
mowers and go around a field of grain
or grass at much greater speed than
With the horSe-drawn machinery.
One Of the difficulties tending to pre-
vent the general adoption of farm trac-
tors is the prejudice In the rural mind
against automobiles in general Many
an intelligent countryman has observed
that this prejudice comes from the au-
tomobfliSts themselves. They assert that
SO long as an automobiles observes the
speed laws and takes those precautions
which insure the safety of the horse-us-
ing traveller they have no complaint to
make. and welcome rather than complain
or the advent of the automobile. 1t is
when such things happen as farmers
four-horsed team being scared and made
to run away, without the automobiles
even stopping to prevent the disaster or
to protect the farmer, that bitterness IL
ensendered In a great many commun-
tiles wives and daughters of farmers are
entirely stopped from travelling on the
public highways for fear Of having their
horses frightened by careless and rack
less automobile drivers. The farmer con-
tends that if the better class of auto
mobilists would help to bring to justice
such reckless drivers as these, there
would be no complaint on his part when
the motor car comes his way.
Another consideration which has tended
to prejudice the mind Of the farmer
against e
by Accident Publicity. automobile is
Mind Is Prejudiced tne WIG oh e
licity which is given to automobile acct
dents. From reading the newspapers OF
rural circulation one naturally would get
the impression that the automobile is the
Juggernaut Of the modern Transportation
world. However, inquiries of the recent
census by no means substantiate this i'm
preston. Those inquiries reveal the fact
that in 1910 there were more than 5000
fatal accidents in the United States. OF
these nearly 5000 were charged BILE to the
railroads; drowning and burning claimed
more than 1900 victims each: mines and
Quarries claimed some $3.50 victims. while
vehicles other than automobiles were
charged with 1910 fatalities. The auto
mobile had only $50 to its credit
But even more important than the utlli-
tartan phase of the use OF the automobile
on the farm is its social influence Farm
life in the United States has been, and
still is, unattractive to many of the
ouHSeT generation, as is proved Dy the
steady increase of the urban population
In proportion to the whole Farm life has
had many drawbacks; but ii is not the
hard work; it is not the long hours; il is
not the routine that has driven the boys
to the city and has made the girls shrink
from becoming farmers wives. All these
are compensated by the fresh air the
good food, the health and the strength
that come from clean living and COM
munion with nature.
The chief evil has been loneliness. The
lack of human society and the drudgery
OF solitary
Chief Evil of Farm labor has
Has Been Loneliness. Mfa q ri i~ =.
mare to the country girl, and has made
it but little less attractive to the country
boy.
The automobile in those sections where