The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-11

general suggestions they have under
consideration.
May Lease Invention
I'VE may lease our invention, in
stead of selling it, and require that
every lessee maintain a definite
minimum living wage and maximum
hours for his labor, abolish all child
labor, and recognize the right of
collective bargaining among his en-
ployes. The cotton picker would be
taken away from any lessee who vio-
lated these terms.
I'VE Rust brothers are especially
eager to see the development of
cooperative farms in the South, with
the farm laDorers owning the land
and sharing in the profits, and We
are ready to cooperate in any such
movements. In such cases, the bene-
fits of the cotton picker would go
directly to the workers.
I'VE want to enlist the aid of the
state and Federal governments in a
carefully studied program to intro
duce this invention in a socialized
manner through national co-opera-
ton. A part of the profits of the
machine could be used to administer
social insurance scheme for the
disabled and aged, and to develop
a program of rural lndustrializa-
ton and Investigation side by side
with the use of the picker.
Want Governmental Aid
Finally we want the aid of the
government and the international
labor office of the League of Nations
in controlling the use of the inven-
ton abroad"
Already two of the most impor-
tant cotton countries abroad have
interested themselves in the picker
and sent representatives here to dis
cuss its experimental use in their
countries
The Rust brothers would set up
an international control of their in
vention. placing the same compare
tive standards on its use every
where.
1--WE want this invention to be
used" Mack Rust said, ito benefit
the people of every country in which
it is operated and to protect our
home market from lower living
standards elsewhere. A high labor
standard must be maintained in all
nations and no one should be al
lowed to bring down the level
throughout the world"
Has Capital of $4,000 Shares
The Rust Cotton Picker Co., in
corporated in Tennessee, has an au-
thorized capital of $4,000 shares.
About one-tenth, or approximately
100000 of its capital, is paid in.
Our business is organized like
any profit corporation, John Rust
said. 1T provides for fair return
on invested capital. The minority
stockholders, whose investment has
made possible the machines devel-
opment to this point, may do as they
wish with their profits, which we
hope will be large, even though my
BROTHER and I limit our own return
For this reason, we would like
particularly to have as investors
nonproflt organizations, such as
philanthropic foundations and labor
organizations, SO that the profits
from this machine would go as far
as possible to the benefit of society
rather than personal profit"
Test One This Year
Ten machines, John Rust said,
will be assembled by July ready for
final endurance tests in this years
cotton harvest. If these fulfill eX-
pectations, commercial production
on small scale will start in 1887.
The Rust brothers were born on a
cotton farm Is miles southeast of
Breckenridge, Stephens County,
Texas. Their parents died when
they were children, and they had
their own way to make.
JOlll1 lIllSI dGcQ W hdIlSdS wheat
fields, got interested in tractors and
combines, and remembered his ear
lier dream of a mechanical cotton
picker. After 10 months in the
Army, he became assistant designer
and superintendent of construction
with threshing machine company.
and with only smattering of aca-
demic education he began work on
his invention.
Grandmother Gave Clew
The recollection of his grand
mother moistening spindle on her
spinning wheel gave him the clew
which has developed into the cot
ton picker. For it, too, goes through
the cotton stalks and removes the
cotton from the bolls by causing it
70 cling to the smooth, moistened
spindle.
Meanwhile, Mack had graduated
in mechanical and electrical en-,
cheering at the University of Texas.
and after a year of postgraduate
work was with General Electric at
Schenectady.
Convinced that his principle need
ed only mechanical application.
John persuaded Mack to join him
in 1928, and from that time on the