Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 105, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1918 — Page 2

TANK NOT INVENTED AS WAR MACHINE

Thousands of Tractors Now in Use on Farms in All Parts of the World

HHOSE who have watched the operation of the tanks at the movies and have marvelled at the lumbering machines that crawl over the face of the barth like prehistoric monsters have gained some idea of the adaptability of the modern tank. No other armored machine that moves upon the ground is so capable of surmounting obstacles. When the squadron of tanks appeared in the.vanguard of Byng’s famous drive at Cambrai, its appearance ‘Seemed providential, writes Hamilton M. Wright in the New York Sun. The armored leviathans pushed through the German barbed wire entanglements as if they were so many cobwebs. They sidestepped deep pockets, stretched their long tracks over miniature chasms, dipped, rose, backed and tipped at dangerous angles as they picked their way forward amid a hail of missiles. And yet for all its supreme adaptation to the needs of the hour the tank was not invented for war purposes. The first tanks introduced into Europe were used in lumbering operations and in heavy hauling, just as they were in the United States. Rapidly their use was extended to large agricultural works and before the present war

broke out the track layers were well-known in every country in the world. Even the prosaic track layer used in fanning will, if armored, make a tank for war use. ’ Indeed during the 1917 recruiting season ordinary track layers armored with sheet iron plowed through walls almost as readily as the biggest war tanks yet built. At the present time

track layers are used in plantation work In Cuba, the Philippines, Java, Hawaii, South Africa and so on throughout the world. There are almost, oae hundred of them at work in Hawaii, taken there from California where the tractor flourishes. They are hauling logging trains in Maine, Montana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Canada as efficiently as they are transporting supplies in the mining regions of the West. On the dusty roads of the Panamint range, where the steep grades wear down the spirit of the strongest mule teams and where water stations are few and far between, track layers are as valuable for freighting as they are In the heat and whirling sand clouds of the Mojave Desert.' There are at the present time about fifteen firms engaged in making tractors with the endless belt type of drive. There are between eight and ten thousand tractors of this type of all different makes now in use in the world. ! Factories are now speeding the construction of these track-laying tractors for the use of the United States in the field artillery, marine corps, signal corps and other branches of the service. Armored track layers are used in hauling supplies over ground that motortrucks cannot travel on. Today manufacturers of track layers find the war orders tax their facilities to such an extent that they are not able to keep up with the commercial demand. The advance of the tank over the earth suggests the movement of a living creature. Yet its operation is simple. ‘ The track layer‘lays its track down in front of the frame, rolls over it, picks it up again and repeats the process. The track consists of a broad-geared belt or endless chain of flat steel links, which is put in motion by large chain-supporting wheels which fit into the Inside of the belt by gears. It thus resembles a belt stretched around the front and rear wheels of an automobile and presenting a flat surface on the ground. The outside of the belt is comprised of broad links known as track plates which are ridged to prevent their slipping. The inside of the belt contains the twin tracks upon which rest the rollers that support the weight of the tractor. Nine out of ten persons who watch a tractor demonstration for the first time get the impres«ion that the track Itself Is moving upon the ground. The Illusion is created by the fact that the top of the belt is observed to be going forward But the forward motion of that part or the belt is taken up by the forward motion of the car If the car is raised from the ground and the motor set in motion the belt will be seen revolving around the supporting chain wheels. In this case the tank is absolutely at rest. There are two belts, one on either side ot : the car. When the car goes straight ahead both, belts revolve at even speed. But the right and left hand tracks may be operated independently. Through the operation of clutches that correspond to those in an automobile one track may be brought to a standstill while the other track continues to move at normal speed. The tan with all Its power applied on one_side wilI m a sharp turn. If the right hand track is moving and the left (0 atlll the tank will turn to the left The weight of the tank is distributed along the whole length of the track. In the crumbling newly reclaimed land of the San Joa ® ul ° de,ta ’. Ca “: tomia, track layers travel on soil that will not ■UDPOrt the weight of a man. much less a horse. Thov Will pass over cracks in the crumbling earth uJt a horse could fall into, dragging harrows ow the uneven ground until all crevices are

filled with earth and the new-made fields presents a finely mulched even surface. The tank is not only first in war. It Is first in peace. For Its weight it has more pulling power than any farm machine made. It is the biggest money saver and time saver ever Introduced for power purposes upon the farm. The division of agricultural engineering of the University of .California has found that one man with a 45 horsepower tractor on the university farm can do the work of from three to six men with mules. Moreover, the same machine may be kept going day and night, a great advantage in California, where it is necessary to get a large amount of work done in a short time. And it requires no feed or care when not working. a For a varied illustration of what a track layer 'can do take the case of the L-54, a husky little 45 horsepower tractor which has been out of the shop for eighteen months. The writer watched her working and learned of her career since the day she left the factory. She was hauling beets when I first saw her. Under the thrust of her powerful engines she went forward in a cloud of dust that hid her from all eyes but her driver’s. She mounted the sides of the levee, dragging her own weight of five and one-half tons and two eleven-ton truckloads of beets as easily as if there had been no load at all. The ground on the island is what ranchers in the delta of the San Joaquin river call peat bottom fluff. It gave under like saw logs in a mill boom as the little L-54 dragged her weight over it, hugging the ground as closely as a badger. When she had reached the top L-54 stopped a moment and the driver got his bearings. Then the gears connected with her right track, her left track remaining stationary, and she swung around from right to left on her own axis quite as rapidly as a lady In the fox trot. This, however, was nothing for the L-54. She can go backward or forward, up hill or down, and can spin around all day like a dervish if her driver throws In but one clutch. Time and again she has picked her way over the peat bogs of the newly reclaimed land, skirted the edge of big cracks six or eight feet_ deep, backed and sidestepped and bridged inlniature < chasms, confident that nothing short of a cave-to of the whole earth could stop her progress and/niat the harrows, plows or trucks behind were bound to follow wherever she led. L-54 is a ponderous, deliberate creature with a tremendous grip upon the earth. If covered with sheet iron and armored she could tear her way • through wire entanglements as easily as Byng’s tanks tore through the German defenses at Cambrel. But more than all things else she is a money saver and a man saver. This Is all in the day’s work with L-54. and night’s work. too. In fact her driver can remember when she worked all day and then went at it at night with an acetylene lamp/ plowing up beets with a subsoil plow 16 Inches deep. She has been on the job in one way or another all the time for 18 months. She had pulled a grader holding five cubic yards of dirt to level the land for irrigation before a single acre had been put into beets. She had been lent to a farmer in the nearby foothills. He had hitched her up to a chisel-shaped subsoiler that would break the hardest ground in the district and she had subsoiled the land to a depth of 20 Inches, breaking up the hard-plow pan where -ten span of horses had failed. For the first time in 25 years that land had produced 30 bushels of wheat to the acre. \ When the L-54 mounted the levee with her two « '- * • z _ r ,-

THE EVENING RENSSELAER. IND.

United States today with men who to operate them and take care o export would be no question but that we could export to our allies every bushel of wheat they q and still have an abundance for our owni use That is, if old Mother Nature and the weather man did not conspire to turn things The first track layers ever manufactured and put into pcommercial use were very much i like the track* layers sent over to the Russian arm! fore the bolshevik! disturbed our calculations as to the course of the war. They were adapted to haul heavy loads through snow, ice, mud ana slush and on uneven roads in the logging wood of Maine. They were invented by A. 0. Lomba of Waterville, Me., who is, so far as is known, t inventor of the track layer. He put his first tree layer in operation early in 1900 and secured a patent on it on May 21. 1901. In the six months following our declaration that a state of war existed with Germany an average of two gas tractor companies have been incorporated each day. They are good, indifferent and bad. Some are of the stock-selling, get-rich-quick variety. .. There is no way of telling how many gasoline tractors there are lh use upon the farms of the United States. An expert in automobile power puts the number at 250,000. . Farm experts already foresee the day when gasoline power will be almost universal in agriculture. The war In a few months has done more to increase the demand for mechanical power on the farm than years of peace would have accomplished. The faithful horse will never leave us, but much of his hardest work will be done by gasoline, even on the smaller farms.

The Pershing Rifles.

Fifty yellow and blue badges, the insignia of the Pershing Rifles, a crack military company of the University of Nebraska, are being treasured by as many former students of that institution these days. One of them is William Green of Abilene, Kan. “It was Pershing’s own idea,’* says Mr. Green. “We had been picked from the military company of which he was instructor after coming from West Point to Lincoln. We met in his room one night to organize and ‘The Lieut,’ as we familiarly called the instructor —he was a second lieutenant then—asked what colors we wanted on our badges. “ 'Yellow and blue —cavalry colors.’ "‘I have the very thing,’ he responded, and went to a chiffonier from which he took a brandnew pair of cavalry trousers. With shears he ruthlessly cut them across, making fifty badges, each with a strip of blue and the yellow leg stripe. We called the organization the ’Pershing Rifles’ and were very proud of the honor. Pershing took us on long camping trips under strict military regulations, and we felt that he was more of a father than a professor to us. “He never forgot his boys', as he called us. The night he arrived in San Antonio to take charge of the Southwest division after the death of General Funston, I was at his hotel. Though a score of prominent men and officers were waiting to see him he recognized me and spent five minutes asking after the students and laughing over the university days. “He was a strict disciplinarian, always wanting things done in a hurry—which makes reasonable his Impatience now to get at the Germans—but Intensely human. He was the one professor to whom the boys went with their troubles —and that is a good test of the human side of anybody.”

Effect of Cold Weather.

“The cold weather seems to give Mrs. Flingilt a livelier complexion.” “Yes," replied Miss Cayenne. “I think she puts on more to keep her face warm.”

A Certain Fact

“Concerning this food shortage. It seems to be there Is one argument which covers the ground." “What is that?” “A good wheat and corn crop."

loads of beets she was doing the work of ten twohorse teams. With hay at S3O a ton, rolled barley at from $55 to S6O a ton and other feed proportionately high, it will keep a farmer busy to feed his work stock, let alone make a profit. The United States department of agriculture once made an estimate that it cost sl2l in feed and time to keep a horse throughout the year. The operation of L-54, which replaces 20 horses, costs as follows: Twenty-five gallons of distillate developing 20 horsepower (the work of 20 horses for ten hours), at 10 cents per gallon,. $2.50; two gallons of cylinder oil at about 55 cents a gallon, sl-1 » track oil, transmission oil and cup grease will probably go from 75 cents to $1 a day. Total, $4.60. If anything in the world could stave off a threatened crisis in the world’s food supply it would be the tank in agriculture. If there were a sufficient number of gasoline tractors in the

SOME SOBER GOWNS

Sensible and Economical Fabrics Not Disregarded. . . * 111 I Black Satin, Blue Serge, Gray Jersey Cloth and Shades of- Gaberdine Ruling Street Costumery. There is do disposition shown by the French designers,, as they have expressed their genius In the new clothes, to omit all the fabrics that are sensible and economical. Black satin, blue serge, gray jersey doth and several shades of gaberdine are ruling street costumery. Metal tissues and laces are lavishly used for the afternoon and the evening, but they are sobered by miles of chlffoh. Sturdy crepe de chine, which looks fragile and is not, is offered in the smartest gowns for the street. There are one-piece frocks as well as suits, and capes have superseded top coats. Elaborate and expensive embroidery'has given way to ornamentation by means of wool or tw r ine, and Intricate machine stitching is abandoned in favor of bits of applied material, straight rows of military braid or folda of corded satin. Lace is used as though Belgium had been reinstated and every one of the lace weavers working overtime. Flounces, capes, sleeves and panels of lace are dropped on narrow, slim undejslips of satin. Satin and serge are combined for those who want to wear a frock for the next six months without feeling uncomfortably warm or cold. Waistcoats, the styles of which were drawn from all the epochs preceding this one, are used in coats, which gives the economical woman a chance to refurbish her last year’s suit and feel herself quite in the picture. The French designers knew that they were offering a sop to the economists in promoting this accessory. > Sturdy pique has been revived for those who do not care to invest in handkerchief linen, perishable batiste or expensive flowered voile. These suits and frocks of pique are trimmed with velvet, as in older days, and all the dyes that France has manufactured for her own use have been brought to bear upon white and cream lace in order to make harmonious costumes; and this trick again gives the woman or slender means a chance to look exceedingly smart through the medium of dipping yellow lace in a small quantity of reliable dye. Paris has sent over a multiple number of short, straight jackets, with fronts that do not meet, and in the space between is a frilled front with a turnover collar and a dot.ted foulard cvavat. This little front is basted into the coat, and thereby saves one from using a whole shirtwaist, with its accompanying laundry bill.

CAPE FOR SPRING WEAR

The reason for life popularity of capes for the coming season is readily explained by the existence of this model of pearl-gray velour with its deep scarf collar edged with heavy silk fringe.

HOW TO KEEP UP THE STRAPS

Tiny Gold Safety Pin, Covered Over by Sewed-On Pink Rose, Found to Be Satisfactory. An appearance that might otherwise be the pink of perfection for a woman is often very much imarred by the straps of her underwear, which slip, each a different way, from her shoulders and show through the thin blouse. The only solution to this state of affairs when one affects the strap kind of lingerie is some sort of lingerie clasps. Of course, the little gold ones are very fetching, but there are some which can be made almost In a Jiffy, and make attractive gifts and favors at parties where girls foregather. One girl specializes on tiny gold safety pins, sewing atop of them to hide the pih one of those small pink

TOURIST STRAW HAT

This tourist hat is of lizard-green straw. It has a high crown, narrow brim, and rather effective wings on each side.

roses which can be bought by the yard. Roses rolled from pink ribbon would answer just as w T ell. Another girl embroiders hers, using linen or a heavy ribbon, half an inch wide, and buttonholes the edges. Then she sews snaps on them, half on each end, and they are ready to clasp over any number of truant straps. A circle of French knots covers the sewing from the snaps. Ribbons with a bow on‘ one end, provided with snaps will do the work efficiently and artistically, too. The crocheter will find it easy to make these little clasps, finishing off the narrow band with a small crocheted rose or shamrock

NEWER BLOUSES ARE CLOSED

Garments So Arranged That the Deep* Collar at the Back Need Not Be Disturbed. ' The new blouses are closed in a number of fashions and many of them are ingeniously contrived so that the deep collar at the back need not be disturbed. One model is made with a deep enough V-shaped opening at the front so that it slips over the head—If the head is not too large. This blouse, therefore, has no visible means of closing —or opening. And it is very* pretty and the full front falls in unbroken folds and the deep collar of the back is uninterrupted. And if one puts this blouse on carefully, pulling it smoothly over the hair, it is all very well. A newer , method of getting around the difficulty of the deep collar in the back or the collar across the back, which marks so many of the new blouses, and the desire for the unbroken front, is to slit up the back from the waistline for a few Inches —say five or six. The matter of pulling the blouse over the head is then much simplified, and the results gained are about the same. Moreover, the little buttoned opening at the bottom of the back of the blouse, is, if anything, of decorative value.

OUR FRILLS AND FURBELOWS

Items of Fashion That Should Be t of Especial Interest to Wdmen Seeking Latest in Styles. Gray and yellow make a pretty combination. Small poke-shaped hats are in evidence. Satin is used for dresses, suits and hats. Kilted plaids are much in favor for skirts. Wool embroideries are more than ever used. » There must be a note of contrast in the dress. Flag blue is combined with gray and chamois. Sashes are tied at one side, tinder the left arm. The slip-on coat is one that Paris is very fond of. Wool hophacking is to be used for motor wraps. White silk is promised for spring suits and dresses. The corset which laces in back is growing in x favor. The straight Japanese sleeve is one much favored.

Laundered Laces.

Dainty laces should be washed in the following way if you would keep their fresh, new look: Purchase 4 cents’ worth of benzoline; this spirit is highly inflammable, so should be kept away from artificial light or fire. Take two basins and into put a little of the benzoline. .Dip the ’nee in one,, douse it up and down, then squeeze gently and dip in the second lot of benzoline; by then all the dirt will have dropped out. Shake the lace; it will dry in a few’ minutes and look like new’.

Knife Plaitings Good.

Knife plaitings are a very popular trimming, for sheer summer frocks. They are especially adapted to organdies or any striped materials that require little other trimming. These plaitings are also good when used to edge the surplice fronts of a dreM that tie la the back in a big bow.