The demand for farm mechanics may be expected to grow somewhat in proportion to the increase in the use of tractors. The introduction of a tractor on a farm necessitates many changes in methods of work which call for the exercise of mechanical ingenuity to get maximum results. The advantage of having a trained man to help plan and start the work under the new conditions is evident.
The Curtis Publishing Co. has made a study of tractor production and has plotted a curve (Fig. 18) which shows the probable future of the industry. If the demand for farm mechanics increases in proportion as does the utilization of tractors, the future looks bright for well-trained men.
You may have had mechanical experience and possibly experience with farm machinery, but you will, nevertheless, need a short intensive course in the care and repair of farm machinery. Such a course will fill you with new ideas for greater efficiency in the employment and adaptation of numerous tools not generally used on the farm. If you have had little mechanical training, but have had some experience with farm machinery, you will need a course in shopwork to enable you to do a good workmanlike job instead of the usual makeshift work to which many farmers have been accustomed.
Handicaps
Some of you may be saying, “But I can’t hope to make good on the farm because of my handicap. I have lost a foot or an arm or am otherwise crippled.” It is true that these may seem hard to overcome, but the mechanic’s work on a farm is such that few of these losses will be prohibitive or constitute serious handicaps.
Ordinarily the loss of a leg would prevent a man from doing the necessary walking in soft ground, but even this will not be found such a serious loss after you have been supplied with the “extras” to which you are entitled. Uncle Sam has had his “physical mechanics” at work for some time getting these “extras” ready, and after you have gotten them adjusted and properly “broken in” you will find considerable pleasure in your ability to use them. Your work as a mechanic will be with machinery and you will almost invariably ride while operating it. In the shopwork and repairs, if you can stand at a bench and move around your machine, you will find little difficulty on account of loss of a leg.
As for arms, the candidate should have one good hand, but the mechanical substitutes that have been developed will enable you to get along very comfortably with one good hand and a workable substitute for the other. After you are accustomed to your store hand its use will become second nature to you and you will not often be conscious of the change. Even store teeth require a certain amount of education before they work well.
Increase in the use of artificial limbs at this time has led to material improvements being made in appliances to overcome various handicaps. The illustrations you have undoubtedly seen in print or on the screen are not “make up” pictures but actual cases of what training in the use of these appliances will enable a person to do. What others can do, you can do.
Physical disabilities, such as shell shock, nervous troubles, and lung troubles will be greatly benefited by the free outdoor life of the farm. There are side lines that would be very profitable and interesting which would sandwich in with the work of the farm mechanic in a very satisfactory way, such as beekeeping, poultry, and sheep.
There is a fascination about farm life to many persons that more than compensates for any loss of the enjoyments peculiar to city life. The farmer has been looked on as not quite the equal of the manufacturer or merchant, but opinion is rapidly changing. The farmer is the original producer on which others depend. This war has caused the world to realize his importance, and now he is beginning to receive his dues and be recognized for his real worth.