Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1920-04-21
MOTOR TRUCKS
ON THE FARM
How Modern Methods Are Prov
ing of Great Benefit To Up
To-Date Farmers

foundation of his success as farmer
time, the elements and all his sur
1ountings compel him to deal con-
stantly with brutal frankness and he
wants little to do with theory. When
the farmer is confronted with such
serious conditions as he is TODAY. with
regard to labor problems, he welcomes
every mechanical device that will
make his farm more nearly one
man organization. Said George F.
Smith here today with the Motor
Truck Demonstration tour.
To the ordinary observer it NAV not
so appear, but the facts are that the
farmers haulage or transportation
problems are more mometous right
now than even the production of crops.
The need of the truck on the farm
is evidenced by the number already
owned and operated by American
farmers.
The evolution in the methods of pro-
ductlon on farms, from the hand
planter, cultivator, the scythe and the
sickle, to the more modern machinery
such as self-binder, ct cetra, drawn by
horses, and later by farm tractors,
was perfectly natural trend of pro-
gress.
Then, just as natural is the evolu-
ton from the pack on the back, the
OK cart, and TIE horse-drawn vehicle
to the truck, to solve the farmers
haulage problems. He can not long
resist installing it as component
part of his equipment.
From 1850 to 1900, when the old
hand methods cf farming were in
vogue, farm values in America in
creased from $4,0OO,OOO,000 to $40,
OOO,000,000. From 1900 to the present
day, with modern methods, farm
values have increased from $2O,O0O,-
100000, to $75,000,O00 due to the
ability of the farmer to cultivate more
intensively wider acreage and more
advantageously market his commodity.
From 1899 to 1909 the population of
the United States increased ri per
and even with improved methods in
these days it was only possible to in
crease the production of food-stuffs
10 per cent-hence the increased cost
Of living with which we all are, we re-
gret to say, SO thoroughly acquainted.
The population of America has been
increasing so much. more rapidly than
the increase in the production of
foo6stuffs, that for period of seven
years prior to the European war the
United States was importing corn
from Japan and meat from the Argen-
tine and Austrlia, and during the same
period the importation Of foodstuffs
looking at it from a standpoint of
dollars and cents, was practically
equal to the expectation of foodstuffs
from America.
And while our population as a
whole increased, the population in the
rural districts actually decreased.
Over 100000 people have moved
from the farms in the United States
to the cities since 1900, and the
heaviest percentage Of the immi-
grants from foreign countries to the
un,tel States have located in the
densely populated manufacturing CEN
ters, rather than migrating to the
farms. This condition is not new from
a worldwide standpoint, for ancient
history shows as that the Greek pre-
ferret Athens to the rural districts
and the Roman, the circus to the farm.
In 1880 the farmers could hire a
man for farm work at from SIS to 500
a month, while today they are paying
from $50 to $75 a month for farm
lahorers.
The truck manufacturers of
America are face to face with the fact
that not only does the farm offer the
greatest potential duty to learn quick
ly the needs of the American farmer
and produce and equip a truck that
will most efficiently and economically
serve the needs Of the agriculturist.
The following paragraph contains
some very striking facts which were
published in q recent of Leslie's
Magazine:
&C. he horse: Never before has the
worl.; so much needed the bounty of
nature combined with the energy of
man. And yet, in this country alone,
o,00G, 900 acres cf fertile soil are de-
voted to the sustenance of the horse
This land, comparing in area approx
;nlate'y 20 that of the states of New
A'ol.k, Pennsylv. IL, Ohio and isl;ros
could feed the starving million of the
world if the farm tractor and motor
truck were used to replace the 10000
600 horses. The tractor too, requires
food in the form of fuel, but its
energy comes from gasoline or kero-
sene products obtained from UNDER
meath the ground-not from fertile
soil which could otherwise be used to