The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1940-11-22
BY BAUKHAGE

WHAT'S nextT win the frost on
the pumpkin, fodder in the shock,
the world settling down to hard
winter and q long war, those of us
who aren't in the first draft or Just
elected to office have a chance to
look two ways from Christmas.
The industrial tail is about to wag
the agricultural dog again the ex-
perts tell US, surplus labor is about
to be syphoned off the farm which
Is fine for the man who has too
many mouths to feed and too few
acres to divide up, but not so good
for the farmer who needs few
extra hands. However, II you do
turn around and look back 35 years
just to take your mind off present
troubles you can see some interest
ing sights which have just been set
up in sharp perspective by the inter-
bureau committee Of the depart
ment of agriculture.
mule, 35 years, 10000, 900 mules and
been pushed off the farm by the
machine. And. according to the
prognosticators in Washington, a
million and half more mules and
horses will be replaced by tractors
in the next 10 years, and more than
100000 acres of land now used
to raise feed for work stock will
be put to other uses.
Farmer Has Long
Utilized Machines
We've been hearing a lot about
man versus the machine. especial
ly since the smash of 1929 that made
unemployment the big issue, and
again since the smash Of 1910 when
the Nazis with their tanks and mo-
torized equipment went through
France like q pillow through loam.
But the farmer had been getting
machine conscious long before that.
Especially since the little jack-of-
all trades tractor appeared on the
field, replacing the cumbersome
earlier models.
Along with the tractor came q lot
more chronological development"
including not only farm machinery
like the combine and the corn-pick-
er but other scientific advances such
as testing and breeding and feeding
OF animals and plants, soil conser-
walton, disease prevention and 9TH
er things. This technology has hurt
as well as helped. Besides the thou
sands of men who have lost their
jobs on farms as we'll as in facto-
ries, prices have been affected and
the whole social life on the farm
has changed.
1T is not that these scientific adj
vances are to be blamed" for the
difficulties which have arisen, the
Washington experts say, but 1.-The
troubles, IL any, arise from the in
equality Of adjustments and re-
sponses in agriculture and industry
to such advances.
Just what the advantages and dis
advantages are that lie ahead is
told in detail in a 224-page book,
printed by the government and
called Technology on the Farm"
One thing that interested me par
ticularly in this interesting book,
aside from its excellent and detailed
information, was an editorial opin-
ion 1t expressed on the way the use
OF machines has changed farming
for q living TO farming for cash.
AhNAS - q
OF course when you have to buy
lot OF machinery you need hard
money but there are disadvantages
In simply raising products with the
one purpose of turning them into
money.
Increased InVestment
Reduces Security
First, 1t reduces security. II you
raise your own food you need never
starve in a panic.
Then there is health:
A family with q low income and
plenty of food growing right on the
place is more likely to get a con-
tinuously healthful diet than one
which has TO buy what il eats.
Raising ones own food helps di-
vide up responsibility for the family
welfare because young children and
old folks can tend a garden or feed
the chickens. II the eggs and vege-
tables and milk are purchased.
the children's interests are re-
moved from the interests of their
parents and older brothers and sis
ters. Furthermore, a child who
helps raise its own food also gets
what a city child doesn't Ret-a
chance to learn through doing.
Another disadvantage of farming |
for money only, with the greater
use Of machines, is that il makes II |
harder TO own q farm. The money |
goes into perishable things instead |
Of into the solid title TO land. The