8 BULLETIN 174, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



tractor owners known to the bankers, but this is probably the order in 

 which they would appear if they were arranged according to natural 

 conditions most favorable to the tractors and possibly also as to the 

 length of time during which such machines have been used in these 

 States, respectively. 



Table II. — Bankers' opinions regarding the tractor. 





Answers of bankers to questions indicated below. 



States (arranged according to number of tractor owners 

 known to bankers). 



Has traction farming 

 had a favorable or 

 unfavorable effect 

 upon the farming in- 

 dustry in your vi- 

 cinity? 



Do you consider a trac- 

 tion engine a good in- 

 vestment for the aver- 

 age farmer in vour 

 neighborhood? 



- 



Unfavor- 

 able. 



Favorable. 



No. 



Yes. 





343 



124 



S3 



17 



57 



87 



22 



4 



23 



18 



18 



16 



6 



5 



5 



7 



2 



5 



57 

 58 

 87 

 59 

 53 

 26 

 35 

 90 

 51 

 16 

 23 

 17 

 12 

 11 

 5 

 4 

 5 

 4 



422 

 225 

 172 

 65 

 144 

 116 

 61 

 43 

 61 

 28 

 49 

 33 

 17 

 12 

 11 

 11 

 5 

 11 



20 

 48 

 26 

 17 

 11 

 8 

 10 



























5 





3 









2 





4 





2 





4 



Utah 



1 







Total 



842 



613 



1,486 



225 







Each of the bankers whose answers are included in this tabulation 

 knew at least three users of tractors, while most of them knew a much 

 greater number, the average being about 10. It will be observed from 

 this table that while 842 bankers believe the tractor has had an 

 unfavorable effect on the farming industry and 613 state the effect to 

 be favorable, the number of bankers who are of the opinion that the 

 tractor is a good investment for a farmer is only 225, while 1,486 think 

 that it is not. Bankers realize that the tractor has been a benefit to 

 the community in helping to break and open up to cultivation large 

 tracts of virgin land, but they also realize that the risk of this enter- 

 prise, as well as much of the expense, has been borne by the indi- 

 vidual farmer. Nearly 87 per cent of business men who have had an 

 opportunity to observe the results of tractor farming consider that a 

 tractor is a poor investment for a farmer. 



OPINIONS OF TRACTOR OWNERS. 



The opinions of the men who have used tractors corroborate the 

 views of the bankers. In reply to the question, "Do you consider a 

 traction engine a good investment financially for a farmer in your 



