112 



of barrier, of which $17 was for labor and $22.-13 for tar. Or. other- 

 wise stated, the cost of the operation was $2.07 per mile per day. of 

 which ninety cents per mile was for labor and $1.17 for tar. 



It is a fair general statement of the cost of the coal-tar barrier 

 under the conditions of 1910 to say that it was equivalent to $1.50 to 

 $2 a mile per day. and that the cost of materials was approximately 

 45 percent of the whole, the remainder being an allowance for the 

 labor of horse and man. 



Demonstrations with Boad Oil Xo. 6 in 1911. — The events of 1910 

 having shown us that we were undoubtedly at the beginning of one of 

 the periodical uprisings of the chinch-bugs, tremendously destructive 

 to Illinois agriculture, preparations were made for a general cam- 

 paign of education, demonstration, and organized defense. Thoro 

 scouting in winter and spring, by my field assistants having defined 

 the area likely to be heavily infested, this was divided into five dis- 

 tricts, an assistant was assigned to each, and a superintendent of 

 operations and supply was engaged to take general charge. Each of 

 the assistants was provided with a motorcycle and the superintendent 

 with an automobile roadster, to enable them to cover a large territory 

 as rapidly as possible when the brief season of activity should arrive. 

 As our road oil Xo. 6 was virtually unknown to the farmers, and as 

 the source of supply was about two hundred and fifty miles from the 

 place of demand, it was thought best to make sure of a sufficient quan- 

 tity at hand for the beginning of the campaign and to meet unexpected 

 emergencies, and three car-loads in barrels, were ordered by the office 

 to be shipped to Centralia. From here it was sent to sales agents at 

 various towns thruout the infested region under an arrangement by 

 which the oil. in barrels, was furnished to farmers at first cost with 

 the freight charge added. The salesmen paid the company direct for 

 the amounts handled by them, and my office paid the salesmen a small 

 commission for their services. Any oil left on their hands at the close 

 of the season was taken over by the office for use the following year. 

 In this way supplies were made immediately accessible to the farm- 

 ers at cost, and the dealers were protected from loss with very little 

 use of public funds. Except for this emergency stock, the supply of 

 road oil was left to such agents as the farmers themselves had inter- 

 ested, with our assistance, in various communities. Often this com- 

 munity service was done without compensation by some business man 

 acting as purchasing and distributing agent for an organized group of 

 farmers, or, in a few cases, for all comers in his county. Many public 

 meetings had been held for this purpose with the valuable aid of 

 business men's associations, the farmers' institute officers in the vari- 

 ous counties, the local newspapers, and the like, and circulars of in- 

 formation, warning, and advice had been distributed in editions of 

 many thousands thruout the endangered area. The fact was commonly 

 realized by business men generally that the suppression of the chinch- 



