The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 191 



work in the field. We divided up an area and put a different 



kind in each tract and then sent the various different kinds of 



equipment on the stumps. We didn't advocate any method of 



clearing. We just showed what dynamite and stump pullers 



would do alone and in connection with each other. In the even- , 



, , , . • , 1 1 1 • 1 1 r Land Clear- 



ing we held meetmgs with the townspeople and with the farm- . y^Q.-n- 



ers, in an endeavor to get them to talk about their problems and Demonstrate 

 their individual problems, and what they could do themselves for Work 

 their own salvation. Some of the specific things we accom- 

 plished were these : We gave a decided interest to the general 

 land clearing men. We speeded up the work and helped to re- 

 duce the cost and remove the drudgery, and instituted, or en- 

 couraged, a follow-up system which is showing results this year 

 as never before. 



I might enlarge upon these points. As far as impetus is 

 concerned, the whole country seems to be talking about stumps 

 now and their practical removal. The boys are holding debates 

 on it in the high schools and forming small clubs and associa- 

 tions of that nature. The 20,000 people who saw those demon- 

 strations were enthusiastic over the things they saw. Rural 

 credits have been greatly stimulated, and now the bankers are 

 willing to co-operate with the farmers as they have never done 

 before, in loaning them money for land clearing purposes. They gf^^jj^g Loan 

 realize that when he tackles a job of that kind, that bank cannot Money for 

 make a better investment than to furnish him the means of stay- Farm Im- 

 ing on his land and clearing it himself. I merely want to cite provement 

 one instance of this kind. One of the bank officials said to us 

 he wouldn't have a stick of dynamite on his land ; "the only 

 thing I use that for is to blow up the posters you furnish." Well, 

 after a demonstration, here is what he came out with: (Show- 

 ing a poster) "Farmers, let us help you clear your land," and 

 they gave four instances where they will lend money : One, for 

 fencing timber or land ; two, for buying stock, dairy or beef ; 

 three, for developing silage or forage; four, for stumping your 

 land. 



Land has always been cleared too slow for rapid develop- 

 ment, and that is one of the things we tried to show — to increase 

 the speed. We wrote that if a man didn't have a team, that a 

 one-man stump puller would do the work. Horse pullers are 

 even better than the one-man pullers, because it takes so much 

 power to pull a stump from the soil and your back has to be 



