Arizona republican., 1918-07-07

" cultural colleges. bankers. tractor manufacturers. etc. Urgent applica- tions for lectures on tractors have been included among these applica- tions. With it's present facilities lt is doubtful if the Department has been able to. respond to more than a small fraction of these requests.
 Information Withheld
 In short. the United States depart ment of agriculture has not given the farmers of this nation the full bene- fit of the immense and practical store of information it has secured on farm tractors.
 The United States department of agriculture has not given to the farm tractor industry of the nation infor nation in its possession which. would aid in the progress of tractor design and manufacture.
 Beyond the accumulation of an enormous amount of data the depart ment has not gone, but it is awaken ing to the vital necessity of going further. Indeed. it went so far as 10 include in it's budget an item Of s39500 to be expended for a tractor testing plant. But this insufficient sum was stricken from the agricul- tural bill by the house committee.
 Examination of the publications Of the department of agriculture reveals a dearth of literature on the subject of tractors. The 1917 report is not yet available. The secretary's report for 1916 contains no reference to tractors. The 1916 Year Book con tains only a single and incidental m -ntion of the subject of tractors, oc cupying a few lines.
 Conclusion Records
 Under the designation of Farmers Bulletin. No. 719, entitled Economic Study of the Tractor in the Corn Belt" issued in 1916. a pamphlet was devoted to d concensus of reports on tractors obtained from 200 owners on Illinois farms. This bulletin was con- piled by Arnold P. Ierkes and L. NJ Church, who have done excellent re- search work on tractors. The bulletin is careful to specify, however, that it contains no conclusions of the de- partment but simply records the con clusions of the 200 tractor operators We turn now to the tractor work oi our allies.
 In 1915 the French ministry of agri- culture took up the study of the tractor. The French authorities did not stop with the collection of data A well organized "Tractor Division of the department is testing, purchas- l ing, and operating tractors through out the republic.
 The tractor division is conducted by military officers with all the thor | oughness of an army's commandinl generals staff. At the headquarter: 1 instead of maps showing the location | of batteries of tractors, the area. ! plowed and to be plowed. The di- rector is able to move the tractors tC points where they are most needed. Different In France Meanwhile scientific experts arr l constantly accommodating valuable | facts on tractors and this informa | ton is immediately made available tt | French farmers and French tracto manufacturers.
 With the mechanical genius inner | ent in their race, French manufac turors of tractors are rapidly incor porating with their output the lesson | learned from the governments OK perimental work. France is looking t' her own makers to supply the tracto demand after the war. Her govern ment is developing the tractor in | dustry in such a constructive wa! that the French manufacturers arr certain to get much of the trad which now originates in the Unitet States.
 The government of Great Britain through it's board of agriculture i not only collecting tractor data bu conducting through tractor tests. de | veloping operators and operatin tractors. The British government i also making it easy for English farm CTS 10 purchase tractors. All Tesult of central tractor organization ar communicated to the county agricul tural executive committees. The Brit ish government is bending its flu tractor interest to the task of blow ing two and a half million acres o grass lands for this years harvest.
 Government Co-operates
 An elaborate report was recent made to parliament on the govern ment use of tractors. Gross eXpen ditures to October 1917, for the gov ernment purchase of tractors for rent al to the farmers of Great Britai amounted to s6.934,732. To offset thi expenditure were receipts for rental to farmers amounting to a total ( S5,l09,S25. Up to December 1, 191' there were 1860 government owne tractors. In the week ending Decem Der 1 there were plowed by thes machines 14,956 acres.
 British tractor manufacturers ar receiving full governmental co-opera ton and are already bringing out a increasing output. There is a ne creeper, for instance. designed by tn mechanical transport service of th British war office and manufacture by one of the oldest and best equippe machinery concerns in Great Britain As with the French, so with the Brit ish, steps are being taken to mak the home industry meet the hom market.
 From this brief outline of tractc activity by the French and the Brit ish governments it will be seen comparison how little our own gov ernmont has thus far undertaken.
 The United States government u to the present has established no ma tional tractor policy.
 The United States department agriculture has not as yet put ini operation nor formulated any co-ol dinated plan for helping the farmer of the nation in deciding upon the tractor purchase and the operatio thereof on an efficient basis.
 Hit and Miss Policies
 Spasmodic and somewhat hit ( miss tractor policies have been form ulated by individual states. Certai states are cndeavoring with more ( less success to. do on a small sea what France and Great Britain hay accomplished for the tractor on ns