The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1940-07-20
By SHORT

prove that iADOT sdNIlE nAG1ln-
cry increases rather than de-
creases employment and gives
the worker more leisure.
Those who stand among the
crowds on the sidelines inhaling
the gasoline and diesel oil fumes
and have been out Of a job a
long time may not agree with
that theory.
One piece of machinery that
intrigues the attention is the
big power excavator which claws
out the trench for the new sewer.
1t takes the dirt in at one end
and spills 1t out one side into a
string of trucks. each carrying
three or four times as much as
the horse drawn wagons and
moving ten times faster.
Powerful and efficient as
this machine Is, 1t can't get
along without the pick and
shovel man. Every once in
while there Is an obstruction
In the ditch that Is too much
for the big claws on the edge
of the buckets. Then the ma
chine stops, the elevator Ia
pulled out Of the ditch and
down goes a man with a pick.
Single handed he tackles the
obstruction and when he clears
the way the machine goes to
work again.
There are some other opera
tons on the Broadway job the
machines can't do. After the
excavator is through. a. half a
dozen pick and shovel men go
into the bottom OF the ditch to
make smooth bed for the big
concrete pipe sections.
Another Job the machines
can't do is build the brick catch
basins and manholes, most
important part of any sewer
system.
The bricklayer Is still
master craftsman. With his
trowel, hammer, plumb bob
spirit level, and rule, he can
perform miracles with bricks
and mortar. There Is no archi-
tectural design too intricate
for him to follow, and some
times he can improve on the
architect. Some, of course, are
more expert than others.
Attempts have been made to
lay bricks by machinery but
they have been unsatisfactory.
Two men with a machine do
less work than one man laying
brick by hand alone. So far the
bricklayers seem to have the
edge on the machine age.
The situation on the Broad
way job is something like it is
in the wheat country in Eastern
Washington. Though power ma
chinery is used on most of the
big operations, the farmer finds
that it is mighty handy to have
a couple OF horses for jobs the
big caterpillar tractors can't do.
A few farmers still operate
the harvesting machinery with
horses and use as many as
thirty and forty. These men
can prove by their own expert
ence that it is cheaper to ope-
rate with horses than with
machinery, but any tractor
salesman with a lot of graphs
and figures can knock those
arguments into smithereens.
If he couldn't do that he
wouldn't be much of a sales
man.
The jobless man who stands
on the side lines and argues
that it is the use of 80 much
machinery III industry and con-
struction that makes him 80,
has a counterpart in the wheat
farmer who argues that too
much machinery is one of the
causes of the farm problems.
Getting rid of the horses on the
farms, in industry and the army
has greatly reduced the market
for the hay and oats that grow
on the farms.
The army, by the way, In
spite of all the talk about
mechanical cavalry, is not let
ting the horse go entirely.
News from PendletOn, Ore. Is
that representatives of the
army rernount service are
down there offering $50 to
$l75 for horses that will make
good cavalry mounts. There
are still some jobs In the army
that horses can do better than
tanks, tractors or motor
ryrIeS