Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-09-04
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
~ DR.. ANDREW III. SOULE

clearly to their best interest for
themselves and their families it will
help to solve a part of our aggra-
waited labor situation as is pertains
to agriculture. If they do not it is
difficult to see how the high cost of
living can be materially reduced in
a short time, because there will not
be sufficient laborers available to
seed, cultivate and harvest abundant
crops, even though nature aids us
with the most favorable of seasons.
On the other hand, there is So
luton to some of our difficulties
which promises material aid under
existing circumstances, and that is
the more and more extensive use of
machinery in our farm operations
1t may be said that we now face the
farm machinery era in our agricul-
ture. Of course this calls for heavy
investment on the part of the farm
er. In some cases he will be able to
others he will not. 1t seems quite
clear that the man who farms with
machinery and minimum of labor
and on an extensive scale will have
the advantage over his smaller and
less fortunate neighbor. 1t would
of machinery will call for a reorgan-
ization of the farm on a scale diff
ferent from that which has been
followed in the past. 1t would seem
as though land must be aggregated
into larger tracts and plantations
who have been skillfully trained
along specialized lines.
1t is quite certain that the use of
large quantities of machinery in
comparison with the relatively cheap
and abundant labor of the past will
tend, at first at least, to increase the
cost Of production. 1t is self-evident
that the automobile has changed our
idea about money, has made us a
were before, and has added to the
cost of living not only to the indi-
vidual who owns the car but even to
the one who is not fortunate enough
to possess an automobile. Thus while
we may be able through machinery
as large areas under the plow as in
the days when labor was abundant,
the chances are that we will not ma
terially lessen food costs for some
time.
While machinery may be depended
on, therefore, in the matter of plow-
ing, cultivating and seeding the land
duu Inc harvesting, lHT6SIlHR ana
preparation for market of a good
many of our farm crops, it will not
by any means solve all the ills from
which our agriculture is suffering at
this time. In the production of
staple crops machinery will be of
greater value than elsewhere. In
ture will always call for large
amount of man and horse labor. 1t
is comparatively easy, for instance,
to lay down great areas Of wheat in
Kansas, but it is a tremendous prob
lem to secure enough men just at
the right time to harvest the crop.
difficulties which our agriculture will
meet from time to time, even though
machinery be employed to the
widest possible extent and with the
highest degree of skill and eff
cheney. On the other hand, it is i'm
portant to remember that we cannot
turn from hand and horse labor to
satisfaction. Aside from the great
investment entailed we have com
paratively few men who are capable
of handling and operating machinery
with the degree of skill and success
essential to it's profitable use.
A good deal of our machinery is
relatively new and untried. 1t proved
serviceable under war con-
ditions where cost did not enter in
as compared with the necessity of
production. Under the new regime,
which is now developing these prob
lens must all be considered and ade-
Quately solved in order that we may
stimulate agricultural production to
the point necessary and still keep
costs within reasonable bounds. We
will, of course, solve and work out
all these problems eventually, but
just now they present many diff
culties and will call for the exercise
of all the erudition we possess as a
race. Under existing conditions it is