Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1913-04-23
THE AUTOMOBILE and
FARM DIVIDENDS
How Automobile Earns Dividends for
the Progressive Farmer.
MANY FARM USES FOR
GREAT MODERN UTILITY
President Olds of REQ Motor Car Co.
Writes Article of Interest and
Profit to Every Farmer.

There must be some good reason
| for the wide use which the thrifty
and practical farmers are making of
automobiles throughout the country.
and more especially, of the high
quality, low-priced makes The mo-
tor car evidently must pay the farm
er good dividends on his investment
for he is not given to spending his
money foolishly. He must get good
measure of results by way of saving
time, labor and money with his mo-
tor car. He and his family must be
getting much pleasure, comfort and
satisfaction with the automobile SO
long as the use of power vehicles con-
tinues to increase so remarkably
among farmers.
One Of our live and enthusiastic
farmer patrons recently wrote us how
his automobile furnished the power
for blowing over 100 feet up into a
haymow whereby one man now cas-
lily did more than what three men
and two horses formerly did. This
he does by jacking up the rear axle
and Harvesting the motor to one of
his old discarded blowers. / can al
most realize the JOY and satisfaction
which came to this man as a result
of saving much time, labor and mon
ey with the power plant of his motor
car while utilizing a discarded farm
implement.
Another farmer says that he mark
cts all of his wheat and corn with his
car by the aid of a trailer. Besides,
he now is able to get to the city much
oftener and sell his product direct
4 without the aid of the middleman-
an important factor in reducing the
cost of living to the consumer. What
happily solved the problem of how
to keep his boys and girls contented
ON the farm. Under such conditions
they would never swap the farm for
the shop while their city cousins
trudged back and forth from their
work, either afoot or as a strap
hanger, while working for a scant
living salary.
i Then l recall another farmer who
puts his car to many practical uses
on the farm besides running business
errands with it. When the ground
is hard and dry he bitches his auto
mobile to a disk plow and cultivates
his large orchard in six hours which
formerly required from twelve to
eighteen hours with three horses. He
also harnesses his motor power to
mis- corn shelter and thresher and
when the soil is in proper condition
he plows, cultivates and sows grain
with his car, keeping horse or two
in reserve for emergency only. 1t is
really surprising how many uses a
car may be put to on farm with the
exercise of little mechanical inge-
nuity.
1t is very gratifying to me that
hundreds of the cars which 1 built
in 1905, and prior thereto, are still
doing yeoman service today. That is
due to two good things, namely: good
construction and good care on the
part of the owner and driver.
AS the secret of long life in man
lies in good food and proper care, so
; with high quality, reliable car. Give
1t the best of gasoline, oil and grease,
combined with careful driving and
reasonable protection against the ele-
ments and against the extremes of
heat and cold, barring tires, car of
known honesty and reliability of con-
struction should last a farmer from
six to ten years.
The farmers life is, at the best,
frequently full of drudgery and mo-
notony; even those who count their
acres by the hundreds, if they are
making a success in their line, can
not get rid of certain amount OF
monotony, and 1t is this monotonous
day in and day out grind, more than
anything else, that causes the farm
er to break down in middle life. His
wife at forty often looks as old as
her city sister of fifty-fve, while the
children drift cityward where they
Invariably live up more than they can
earn.
4 To the modern farmer these days
are passing. He realizes that he must
not put all his dividends back into