From the February 1940 issue of The Southern Planter
The Automobile’s Contribution to Agriculture and Rural Life
Millions of motor vehicles shuttling back and forth through city and town, touching every farm and serving every community, are weaving anew and stronger social order.
Their contributions to this country’s living standard during the 40-year span since the motor industry started, has paralleled the regeneration of the highway and the creation of an integrated system of public roads supported by the moving stream of traffic which it carries.
This dual development has liberated the farmer from isolation, eased arduous toil, offered new markets, and in general, has broadened the business and cultural opportunities of the entire agricultural community.
Within the memory of the present generation, distance—meaning traveling time—has shrunk from one-third to one-fifth through the combination of motor vehicles and better highways. Thus, without abandoning the farm, the agrarian population can now avail itself of the cultural advantages of modern city life; while the once hemmed-in city dweller can obtain ready access to the natural, healthful environment of the countryside which has long been one of the farmer’s greatest heritages.
MOTOR VEHICLES MEAN NEW MARKETS
In this broad picture, the dollars and cents feature stands out sharply. Even the farmer who does not own a motor vehicle (four out of five do, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture) has access to truck lines which carry his produce to many markets more rapidly and cheaply than ever before. It has been estimated that well over a million trucks or better than one-fourth of the total number used in the United States today, are engaged in hauling farm products.
Moreover the farmer has a second less direct but greatly important financial stake in the automobile. During the generation in which it attained the position of a major industry, the automobile industry has paid out more than 82 billion dollars in wages to working men, to be spent, in turn, for the things the worker buys, such as food and clothes. This has been a substantial market for the farm. But the employment, and hence purchasing power, created by the automobile industry is not limited to the motor factory.
In automobile, body and parts factories there was a total employment of 380,000 workers, estimated at September 30th last. Rubber manufacturing and petroleum refining account for nearly as many more wage earners.
At least three times as many people are employed in selling and servicing automobiles as are directly engaged in manufacturing them. Something like three-quarter million men are employed in driving cars, trucks and buses.
There is no absolute accounting of the number of people employed in highway construction, supervision, materials, but nearly 268,000 men are employed on Federal and state highways alone and one recent estimate places the grand total at a million and a half.
All told, the employment of more than 6 million persons can be attributed directly to the automobile. This is distributed throughout all the states. In many, automobile employment roughly corresponds to the number of motor vehicles registered.
In addition to the consumption of farm products by those employed directly and indirectly in the automobile industry, the industry itself is a direct consumer of substantial amounts of agricultural products. For instance in 1938, according to the Automobile Manufacturers Association, the industry used 619,434 bales of cotton, or 10.5 percent of the total United States consumption. It also utilized 15,422,000 pounds of wool, 6,300,000 pounds of mohair, 1,115,000 bushels of corn, 4,828,200 pounds of turpentine, 680,000 bushels of soybeans, 590,000 tons of sugar cane, and 174,700 bushels of flaxseed, to mention only some of the more important items. This is a market for the farmer of no mean proportions. A recent study conducted by the works Progress Administration indicates that agricultural materials employed in the production of motor vehicles involves roughly the expenditure of from 20 to 25 million man-hours of farm employment each year.
FARMERS USING MORE MOTORS
Still another way in which the automobile industry has served the farmer is in the development of a type of motor suitable for adaptation to tractors and for stationary power plants, such as are used on many farms in pumping water, generating electricity, grinding feed, sorting fruit, and also for driving machinery in local packing plants and for many other agricultural uses.
Uses of cars, trucks and gasoline-driven machinery is apparently increasing even more rapidly in agricultural areas than in industrial and commercial centers. A recent sample study of farm living conditions, made by the Bureau of the Census, indicated an increase of 10 percent in cars owned on farms between 1930 and 1938. This compares with a 9 ½ percent gain for the country as a whole. The same study, which also revealed a 100 percent increase in farm tractors in the period, showed a 50 percent gain in trucks on farms. Total United States truck registrations increased 21 percent during the same period.
The sample study included some 3,000 farms in selected counties of 40 states, and was part of the preliminary work in connection with this year’s Census of Agriculture. It reflects the nature of the growth in farmers’ use of motor vehicles, rather than the entire story of progress, as some sections have advanced further than others. In six states comprising the “Top of the South,” for example, passenger car registrations gained 15 ½ percent from 1930 to 1938 while truck registrations increased over 26 percent.
As the farmer’s utilization of the motor vehicle increases, he becomes more vitally concerned with the social and economic adjustment through which highway transportation is still passing. Not only farms but more than 48,000 communities in the United States are wholly dependent upon motor transportation. This makes the adjustment vitally important to a very large segment of the public.
A factor in this development is the lack of uniformity in state laws, which is, in many instances, a serious handicap to motor vehicle use, since state lines often intervene between producing areas and their natural markets. Many barriers, as prohibitive in their effects as national boundaries, have been erected between adjoining states. Some of these are effective bans against certain classes of commodities; others prevent the free movement of trucks.
A second feature of highway evolution is the drive for greater traffic safety. Almost everyone can think of several points on frequently traveled roads where sharp turns, obscure intersections, steep hills, narrow lanes or improper grading constitute danger points. Even when accidents are few, such points often slow traffic needlessly and cause congestion.
Both accidents and traffic delays caused by bottlenecks must be eliminated as rapidly as possible in the interest of all. Such improvements entail heavy expenditures, and it is often difficult to distinguish between wise investment in improvements and extravagance. Therefore, an informed and forward-looking attitude is needed for a proper solution of all such questions, entailing especially well-organized study, planning and supervision of highway improvement. The farmer’s help is needed in support of good government and sound administration in all these matters.
AUTOMOBILE-BUILT ROADS
Financing of road improvement highlights another phase of the evolution of the highway. A century ago the theory of land use was widely held and most roads were built by taxing the owners of adjoining property. Only since the advent of the automobile has the theory of traffic taxation been evolved and put into use, in what is very largely a tax upon consumption. This principle is applied directly in the gasoline tax.
But not all the motorists’ special tax contributions are utilized for highways. The taxing privilege often is abused through diversion of motor taxes to non-highway uses. On the theory that the coast of the road should come out of the benefit derived from its use, all special motor taxes should be devoted to highway construction and maintenance, but the practice varies in different states. Thirty-seven in the aggregate divert to other uses about 13.4 percent of the motorists’ tax contributions. Diversion is not only unjust, but it makes more difficult the financing of highway betterments which are needed for freer movement of traffic, because it means raising more money for the roads, to replace that already collected but spent for other purposes.
With the highway system an integral part of the everyday life of the average citizen, its free use becomes a part of the basic rights of the population. Hinder traffic or impair its freedom of movement in any way, and man’s inalienable right to go where and when he pleases and to move his personal property according to his free choice is impaired. Help traffic, by eliminating physical and legal obstacles and the public welfare is advanced.
Over a period of 40 years, the automobile industry has employed its resources in building improvements into the automobile. While the limitations of the draft animal were rather quickly reached, the improvement of the automobile is continuing and capable of being extended indefinitely into the visible future. The result has been a long succession of better cars costing less to buy and to maintain. However, it is a significant fact that the improvement in automobile has been accelerated by the general betterment in roads. The industry is constantly adapting its new design to the prevailing conditions of use, as reflected in the demands of the public.
The motor manufacturers plan to continue improving their product, introducing more features for comfort, safety, durability and economy, as rapidly as these can be perfected. The freedom and improvement of the highway, however, only an enlightened public sentiment can protect and ensure.
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