St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-01-08
FARM POWER PROBLEMS
Bill introduced to Have the Gov
nrnInenf Aid in It's Solution

eminent Aid in Its Solution
Hon. Henry T. Rainey, Illinois, a
member of the committee of ways
and means in the House of Repre-
sentatives, has introduced a bill of
vital Importance to the farmers of
this country, and especially SO Just
now when the problem of adequate
farm labor is battling every agricul-
turist.
Congressman Rainey would estab-
lish in the department of agricul-
ture a bureau of farm power. In &C
cordance with this bill, which has
already been introduced and will
probably be passed at the next ses-
sion, it will be the province of this
bureau to Investigate and report to
the agriculture department upon all
matters pertaining to power on the
farm, and all labor saving machinery
adaptable for farm use, including
gasolene and steam engines and
electric motors. This department, if
established, will investigate all self
propelled farm vehicles, from the
traction engine to the electric truck,
and prepare data on all farm ma
chinery for thrashing, planting, Gull
tivating, harvesting and marketing
farm produce. The bureau Will al
so investigate the matter of labor,
saving devices and machines for
dairying and the best methods of
heating and lighting farm buildings.
The purpose of this work will be:
To enable the farmer to know
what machines he should have on
his farm.
To tell him how to purchase the
OH sAoIN 10
for his particular needs.
To point out the most economical
source of power for each type of
machine.
All of this information will not
help the farmer to eliminate many
of his now unnecessary investments
in machinery, but it will enable him
to lessen materially his labor charg
es and in this way make less ex-
pensive the necessities of life such
as are produced on the farm.
This information, of great nation
al Importance and untold value, will
be distributed to the farmers who
are unable, under existing conditions
to secure data on the subject of
power and power-driven machinery
for farm work.
The American society of Agricul-
tural Engineers, with headquarters
at Urbana, ILL.,, one of the first and
most important organizations in this
country established for the better
ment of rural conditions, has heart
lily endorsed Congressman Rainey's
bill and is urging every farmer and
manufacturer of agricultural ma
chinery to assist in it's becoming an
established fact.
The American Society of Agricul-
tural Engineers is composed of edu-
Gators in agricultural engineering
lines and of representatives of COM
mercial interests. 1t favors such a
bureau so that it can more efficient
ly serve the American farmer as he
awakens to the Importance of rural
engineering problems. The farmer is
demanding solution of these prob
lens, for he realizes that today they
are among his chief barriers to a
more economic production.
This society believes that there
should be an effort on the part of
the department of agriculture to
organize investigation, secure funds
for such work, and to disseminate |
such information as the farmer
needs. 1t suggests a bureau of ag-
ricultural engineering, with various
divisions to treat the subject OF farm
power, farm field machinery and
farm buildings and equipment.
The Importance of this work is
by the figures of the
census bureau which show that the
farmer is feeding seventy-six mill
lions of people, that he has nearly
twelve hundred and sixty-two mil
lions of dollars invested in farm ma
chinery and six and quarter bill
lions Of dollars invested in farm
buildings. OF late years farm labor
has been so scarce that the need of
adequate farm machinery to do the
work of farming is at once apparent |
in every section of the country. The
farmers of this country are now pay
ing out annually six hundred and
forty-five millions of dollars for hir-