Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-09-20

teriaIs has necessitated the employment
IN all the countries at war of large
numbers of women and the utilization
Of all sorts of types of labor-saving de-
vices Where this has been done sue
cessfully commendable progress In
meeting the exigences of the situation
has been made. In England, for in
stance, five million women have taken
the places of men. The tractor and
other types of blowing implements nave
enabled Great Britain TO bring several
million additional acres of land under
successful cultivation and so to pro-
duce food for a population for about 40
weeks out of the So in each year. We
had not thought that conditions such as
this would affect us seriously in the
United States, and yet a little after
one year of war we find that the great
est problem by which the farmer is
confronted is that of labor shortage
AS the granary of the world and the
chief source of food supply to our al
lies il is absolutely necessary that we
sustain and increase our food produc-
tion enterprises. In the face of not
only a present great shortage of labor,
but a situation in this respect which Is
bound to become greatly aggravated
what can we do Immediately to mltl-
gate the situation in practlcal man
ner II is self-evident that the time has
come when we must use all sorts OF Ia
bor-saving machinery far more gener-
aIly and extensively than we have done
in the past.
If two men driving one horse each, Tor
instance. can combine the horses into
me team which one man can drive and
This team can do as much work or more
than the two horses and two men ala
singfy the time of one man has been
saved and so by this simple operation
we have added 100 per cent TO our Ia
for efficiency If this sort of practice
were e instituted on evry form II is SELF
evident that we could send at least 20
TO 40 per cent of our farm labor into war
service work and still be able to main
tain or even increase production. There
is. as a matter of fact, no limit 10 the
extent to which we can combine horse-
power. whether derived from the equine
family or from mechanical devices, ana
the more of this we do the larger the
percentage of labor we set free Tor other
purposes and the more effectively can
we maintain our production on a OASIS
commensurate with our actual needs
For instance, if the farm is relatively
large there is no reason why two teams
of horses cannot be combined into one,
twice as much work accomplished with
a single team, and yet the whole enter
prise directed through the labor OF one
man.
OF course, it has long been recognized
that machinery saves man labor. In
this country, and particularly in the
south, up until recent times we have had
rather a superabundance of man labor at
relatively low cost Hence there has not
been any special incentive to save man
labor by replacing II with machinery.
The present sudden change has, there
fore, come in the nature of shock and
an unpleasant awakening to us,.and now
we must face, whether we would like
to or not. the great problem of main
tanning our vast agricultural areas with
a moderate amount of hand laber and
maximum amount of machine labor. OF
course. there may be some question in
the mind of the farmer as to whether he
can AFFORD TO buy machinery. 1t is now
relatively high and difficult to obtain.
The government intends to make a spe-
ciala effort, however, to see that the far
mer is supplied with the type and char
acter of machinery ne actually needs.
Prices for many products are such that
he can afford to buy this equipment just
as well now as in pre-war times. While
there has been a rapid rise in the cost
Of machinery, investigations indicate
that the rise in the value of farm prod
ucts has been much greater.
One of the problems, of course, is to
find labor with sufficient time to operate
machinery. Can this be done success
fully in a short period of time? The
writer believes that it can. The auto
mobile, for instnacee, has come to be
operated by millions of individuals in
comparatively short time. 1t is much
more complicated machine than most of
the implements used on farms. There is
no reason why, through a few demon
STATIONS. the average laborer possessing
any degree of intelligence should not be
able to learn how to operate a mower,
binder or tractor. Where demonstra-
tions of this character are considered
inadequate or unsatisfactory, courses of
instruction in the operation of farm ma
chinery can easily be provided through
the medium of our agricultural colleges
and so thousands of expert mechanics
can be trained and prepared for service
on the farms at a comparatively small
cost in very short period of time.
The one-horse turn pillow is still COM