186 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



FARMER AND MANUFACTURER FIGHT THE 

 SAME BATTLES. 



Setting Up a Quality Standard Means Keeping at It 

 Through Many Discouragements. 



The farmer who is getting the utmost out of his farm 

 today is working along the lines to highest quality, as well 

 as greatest quantity. 



Why? Because quality of product pays as well as 

 quantity. It pays better. 



The greatest per cents in farm profits are being 

 reaped by the men who grow the best grain -the best 

 cattle who produce the best butter and the best vege- 

 tables. 



They are the men who show us what perfect grades 

 mean. They set up the standard which others must fol- 

 low if they would succeed. They get more than money 

 profit out of it they are rewarded with the soul-satisfying 

 pleasure that comes only from doing things well. 



More and more our farmers are coming to realize 

 this. Hence, the constantly widening interest in seed se- 

 lection in the scientific preparation 'of seed bed in modern 

 methods of thorough cultivation in a word, everything that 

 enables Mother Nature to put all the quality in her products 

 that rightly belong to them. 



More than eight million people wear "Ball-Band" 

 rubber and woolen footwear. Many of our readers are 

 among the millions who have worn "Ball-Band" for many 

 years. Multitudes are added to this host every year. But 

 the explanation of this amazing army of more than eight 

 million customers is the fact that the old customers stick. 



Now why do they remain loyal to "Ball-Band"? Peo- 

 ple don't come back a second time for an article that dis- 

 appoints them. Eight million people are not deceived 

 year after year by goods that lack merit. 



The only answer is wearing quality good, old-fash- 

 ioned wearing quality, that causes the buyer to remember 

 the name, and to insist on having the same kind the next 

 time he buys. 



This enormous demand for "Ball-Band" represents a 

 steady growth of nearly a quarter of a century, from small 

 beginnings. 



The business of the Mishawaka Woolen Manufactur- 

 ing Company originated in the manufacture of all-knit 

 wool boots and socks. This explains the "Woolen" in the 

 name of the company, though rubber footwear is now by 

 far the larger part of the output. As the business grew, 

 the company could neither obtain the quantity nor the 

 quality of rubber goods which had to be supplied with 

 its woolen footwear. 



The company, therefore, went into the manufacture 

 of its own rubber footwear. The result was "Ball-Band" 

 rubbers. 



Competition was just as keen when "Ball-Band" was 

 first marketed as it is now. 



Nothing is more interesting than following the pro- 

 cess of a rubber boot from the crude rubber to the finished 

 "Ball-Band," which keeps more than 16,000,000 feet warm, 

 dry and comfortable. 



The rubber "biscuits" are put through crushing and 



*$& 



grinding mills, thoroughly washed and cleansed. It is ii 

 the form of big sheets at this stage. 



After being thoroughly dried, this rubber is taken to 

 another department where the compound is made, which 

 not only makes the rubber workable, but gives it additional 

 toughness and resisting quality. It makes it possible for 

 the footwear to be vulcanized. 



Powerful machines press this compound of rubber into 

 the meshes of cloth used in the linings, and thus strength 

 is added to strength; the different parts are cut out and 

 each boot or shoe is made by a skilled workman, who 

 builds it entire on special aluminum lasts. After the shoes 

 are made, they are put into a dry kiln, where they are 

 vulcanized at a temperature of over 200 degrees. The 

 next morning they are brought out and finished, thor- 

 oughly inspected and then packed ready for the market. 



In a year's manufacture of "Ball-Band" goods, 1,252 

 carloads of raw material, supplies, etc., were used. This 

 material, if put into one continuous train, forming a hol- 

 low square, would enclose more than 3,600 acres with a 

 solid wall of fully loaded freight cars. 



It required 5,000,000 square yards of sheetings, cot- 

 ton duck, cashmerette, wool linings, etc., to make these 

 goods enough cloth to cover 1,033 acres completely. 



One and a quarter billion yards of yarn was spun for 

 knit boots, lumbermen's socks, etc. more than enough 

 to form three strands from the earth to the moon. 



The pioneer quality farmer has had his battles to 

 fight. At times it has looked as if the returns were not 

 paying him for his time, his labor and his discourage- 

 ments. But he has won. He is winning. 



The markets of the world welcome him. His st6ck, 

 his butter, his chickens, his eggs, are virtually trade- 

 marked with his own name and he gets his own price 

 for them. 



And you will observe that the farmers who are giving 

 quality are demanding quality in return. 



These are the farmers who are buying the best grades 

 of clothing, the best grades of footwear -the best of 

 everything. They know that quality is the most profitable 

 thing in which a man can invest. It pays to buy quality 

 just as it pays to sell it. 



The manufacturers who meet the quality demand cer- 

 tainly have the support of all thinking farmers, whatever 

 anyone may say to the contrary. 



Advertisements appearing year after year in the best 

 class of agricultural publications prove this. Look these 

 advertisements over. They have a lesson for everybody 

 who classes all farmers as buyers in the cheap, poor-grade 

 markets. 



After the government dissolves a few more trusts as be- 

 ing law-breakers and contrary to law, some banks may be 

 anxious and willing to invest in substantial irrigation bonds 

 instead of wild-cat industrials. 



DO IT NOW. 



Remit $2.50 for the "Primer of Hydraulics," cloth 

 bound ; it is ready now. 



The investigation of the surface 

 waters of the United States by the 

 Geological Survey has accumulated a 

 store of information concerning the 

 amounts of inorganic material con- 

 tained in the river waters of the 

 country. A part of this information 

 is contained in Bulletin 479. "The 

 Geochemical Interpretation of Water 

 Analyses," by Chase Palmer, just 

 published by the Geological Survey. 

 This bulletin may be obtained on ap- 

 plication to the Director of the Sur- 

 vey at Washington, D. C. 



Plant of the Mishawaka Woolen Manufacturing Company. 



The Irrigation Age is the repre- 

 sentative paper for irrigation and 

 drainage and should be in the 

 hands of everyone interested in 

 these two great subjects. 



