The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-05-15
MACHINERY AGAIN TO
PLAY HELPFUL PART

The war was won. very largely
through the agencies OF engineering.
And from now on during the critical
period of our readjustment. machtn-
cry again will play a eonspicuousiy
helpful part.
year ago we shipped abroad for
the battling armies something hke
thought we were taxing our soil to the
utmost. Even So, our task today ia to
send overseas in 1919 a total OF sub
s'antiaily .oooo,o 900 tons Of cornestf-
bles.
That means we have got to produce
enough to feed ourselves and to have
1000 900 tons more Of foodstuns to
send to Euorpe than we shipped across
the Atlantic in 1918. How are we go
ing to do this without pinching our
selves more than we did during the
past months of maximum stress? The
answer is a heartening one because i
promises both a plenty for ourselves.
every material aid for the sufferers
abroad, and a great deal Of work for
the men that have come hack to us
anxious for worth while jobs.
Combat service has familfarfxed
hundreds Of thousands OF our youths
with things mechanical to which they
were previously utter strangers. The
TER of war has made a. return to In
door service repugnant to large
percentage of 'hese awakened lads.
Plainly. then. me trade Of the farm
mechanic should appeal to xreat
many nf thnm.
Importance OF the Tractor.
| II is probabl no exaggeratfon to
say that the average American II
| fairly ignorant OF the economic sig
| nifcance of tho farm tractor and OF
: the way in which II has been fitting
| into the nsw order of agricultural
effort during the last two or three
years. IN 1918 our factories turned
| out total OF 2as70 tractors: in 1917
/ the output jumped to sara. and In
! 1918. despite enforced economies IN
! tho less essential uses OF metals. our
! manufacturers produced 133.6S7. Of
| these machines. Substantially 81
I 900 Of these were disposed OF for Use
| within the United States
l. One man with tractor can do in.
| day what called for the iahors Of
| fifty men upon the farm a century
! hack. II ia 10 wonder then that some
of our strictly agricultural states
| achieved so much despite the drafting
Of so large part of their farm labor
According to a report by the Kansas
board of agriculture:
NV tI3t tP' - uplpE the WeFK OK
5000 to 1000 men in Kansas In
the past two years the farmers Of tbs
s'ate have increased their wnership
of tractors by 100 per cent. SO salts
| factory have been the results. .
! The tractor operator can raise larger
crops because he plough. deeper. can
make a better seed bed. can cultivate
and I Ill the soil more and better after
the crop has been planted: he can
| double his output. e.. he can tend
more than twice az much land and
he can do II better and with less labor
| and with less nxnense. Therefore he
can make more crops grow on tho
same acre that he heretofore farmed
with horses. but in addition he can
| accomplish this same result over more
than twice the area"
These accomplishments, this capac-
ity to do things on a bigger and more
robust scale, are bound to appeal to
the vigorous youth who has been
keyed up bX his military training and
who feels that he wants to have a
: asterfui grip on something that
throbs with energy. The automotivA
vehicle ana the farm tractor crafty
this hankering.