424 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



of a bale an hour — 40 to 50 times the average rate for hand picking. 

 There was considerable trash added to the lint and waste in the rows, 

 but there was no doubt that the machine would pick cotton. The 

 demonstration was widely reported in the national press, for it ap- 

 peared to show conclusively the labor-saving potentialities of the 

 picker and thereby to cast an ominous shadow on future employment 

 prospects in the region. 20 



The Rust brothers were now faced with a perplexing set of prob- 

 lems. They were eager to see their machine put to use, but they 

 did not wish to be responsible for encouraging the trend toward 

 large-scale mechanized farming at the expense of small farm owners 

 and sharecroppers. They were afraid widespread labor displacement 

 would result if the sale of their machine were unrestricted. 



For a time they refused to sell their shop-produced machines out- 

 right, but offered to lease them to farm operators who would agree 

 to maintain minimum wages and maximum working hours on their 

 farms, and who would give up the use of child labor. Few planters 

 were willing to provide such guarantees in return for the doubtful 

 advantages of mechanical harvesting. 



The Rust brothers also encouraged the trial of their machines on 

 various types of cooperative farms which sprang up during the 

 depression, but the need to save labor was rarely the chief problem 

 in these ventures. Hoping to make their picker available to small 

 farmers, the inventors spent several years trying to devise a "Universal 

 Pull Model" that could be drawn by a mule or a small tractor. These 

 efforts proved to be technically impracticable. 



In 1937 the Rust brothers abandoned their leasing plan and an- 

 nounced that they would sell their 2-row, self-propelled machines 

 on the open market for $4,800. At the same time they declared that 

 they would restrict their share in the returns to an amount not to 

 exceed 10 times that of their lowest paid employee. A foundation 

 was to be set up to apply any remaining personal profits to the 

 assistance of displaced farmers and to promote cooperative farming. 

 Nevertheless, the requisite capital was not forthcoming, and under 

 the stringent conditions of World War II the shop tools had to be 

 sold off to meet the company's debts. John and Mack Rust parted 

 company at this time. Mack Rust went west with a few demonstration 

 models to establish a custom picking business on the irrigated farms 

 of Arizona and California. 



*° Cotton picker portents, Business Week, No. 366, p. 15, September 5, 1936; 

 Cotton-gin rival : Rust cotton picker, Lit. Dig., vol. 122, pp. 45-46, September 5, 

 1936 ; Rust brothers' cotton picker, News Week, vol. 8, p. 29, September 5, 1936 ; 

 Picker problems, Time, vol. 28, pp. 47-48, 50, September 14, 1936. 



