Arizona republican., 1919-06-08

''backslding" from good to better right along. He is drifting straight into the lap of progress with his eyes wideopen. Little wonder that he is prospecting.
 Seventy five years ago the poor, be- nighted farmer hung his cradle-sythe on a high rafter in his barn where he'd never see it again, and bought a reaper so that he could harvest six acres of grain per day instead of just two. Seventy-five years later, he "backslid' some more; he abandoned the faithful old reaper and invested in a binder to replace it just be- cause the binder would harvest from 15 to % acres of grain per day and save the labor of two men. And then five years ago what does he do but up and buy a tractor for no reason in the world except that it would do his heavy farm work quicker and more economically than he could do it with horses; the poor horses were given all the easy jobs and the tractor was favored with only the heavy tasks.
 But even this was not the end. Noi The farmer must needs buy him a flivver so that he could take the family to a movie now and then and make quick jumps to town for a bale of twine or a necessary repair part for a broken down machine during his busy season. Flossie and Dobbin were turned out in the pasture to speculate on the luXuries of a life of ease and the hens began to lay eggs in the seat of the old top buggy.
 And on top of this, the next thing we knew we found the weather beaten old farm house ruined forever by fresh paint modern plumbing, an up-to- date heating system, and the installation of electric lighting plant. Gone are the joys of the old rain barrel and the basin on the soap box just outside the kitchen door with the free for all'' begrimed roller towel hanging on a convenient nail; gone is the exquisite sensation of shivering is an upholstered unheated room up under the rafters when Old Boreas romped around the rattling window sash and congealed your berath on the bed clothes; gone is the profound delight of straining the eyes trying to read the newspaper or thread a needle in the dim glow of the dear, smelly old kerosene lamp. It doesn't seem possible that the farmer could frontslide further-but he has.
 Yes sir-hes committed the biggest i forward slide of his career during the past couple of years. He has invested
 in motor truck transportation! You've got to hand it to the American farmer he knows a good thing when he sees
 it. It didn't take him any time at all
 to discover that the cost of hauling
 with a motor truck was only one-hali
 that of hauling with horses.
 Uncle Sam doubted this so he sent
 out a bunch of experts to check up the farmer. These fellows spread out al over the country and when they got
 through with their 1918 check up
 hanged if they didn't find the farmer
 absolutely correct! The grand aver.
 age for the United States of the
 figures compiled. gathered from tho
 Atlantic to the Pacific and from the
 Canadian border to Mexico showed tha
 the cost per ton-mile of hauling whea
 or corn with motor truck was 15 cent!
 while the per ton-mile cost witt
 horses was 33 cents hauling corn an(
 30 cents hauling wheat. And dowI
 south it was found that it cost only +
 cents per ton mile to haul cotton b!
 motor truck while the same job witt horses cost IS cents per ton mile. Tn,
 Department of Agriculture's statistica
 hounds also nosed out the fact tha
 the farmer with the motor trucl
 averaged 3.4 round trips to town pc
 day as compared to 1.2 round trip
 with wagons. They also found tha
 "the motor trucks generally in use b. farmers are not the large trucks, bu the small ones whose nominal capac ity is usually 1 to : tons"
 But hauling grain is just a detai of the farm activities of the moto truck. The poor befogged farme found that the live stock shrinkag saved by hauling his hogs and cattl to the stockyards by motor truck in stead of wagon or railway transports. tion amounted to enough to pay fo the operation of the truck. So it little wonder that during 1918 a mat ter of 1SS,417 hogs, 5,S48. head of eat tie and ASH head of sheep were de livered to the South Omaha stock yard by motor truck. And they are workinj on the same kind of scale at S Joseph, South St. Paul, Chicago, Min neapolis, and all the big packing cen ters. Why, down in Indianapolis on day last summer 575 motor truck \ from the country loaded with stoc : were counted in one day. And the came in from distances up to so milei Why, hang it all-it is estimated tha
 vered 350000000 tons of farm pro
 ucts by motor truck in 1918.
 And now the very latest wrinkle
 ural motor express. They're doing
 very extensively in Iowa-and tn Ioway way" will undoubtedly soon be
 ome the national way. There are Is actor trucks in Iowa-or were at las reports probably 50 more now-run ing on regular advertised rural rout chedules hauling eggs butter. chees' milk, cream, little pigs and big cow nd new Easter bonnets for Mrs. Far ner.
 Arkansas saw the light some tim so and one company down there overing a route 100 miles by mote rucks, hauling rural express and ma or r postoffices. The state that can boast few rural motor truck route the near future will be a back nun CT"
 Taking it all in all consider th poor" frontsliding falmer-and whf he world is coming to. IL smack oudly of progress.-and prosperity 41