RECREATE MY CHILDHOOD. THE SHIPYARD CLOSED IN THE
-- GEOFF: I THINK IT'S FAIR TO SAY
THAT MOST ARTISTS OF YOUR STATURE WOULD PRODUCE A WORK
LIKE THIS AND THEN HAND IT OFF TO SOMEONE ELSE TO PERFORM.
WHY KEEP SHOWING UP IN IT NIGHT AFTER NIGHT?
WHAT DOES ACTING GIVE YOU? STING: I NEVER INTENDED TO BE IN
THIS PLAY TO BEGIN WITH, I WROTE IT FOR OTHER ACTORS AND THEN I
WAS CONVINCED BY A PRODUCER THAT IF I WENT INTO THE PLAY WE WOULD
SELL MORE TICKETS, SO IT WAS PURELY AN ECONOMIC SITUATION.
BUT HAVING SAID YES TO THAT I'M , THOROUGHLY ENJOYING IT AND
UNCONSCIOUSLY EMBODYING MY FATHER, MY GRANDFATHER, THE
PEOPLE I KNEW IN MY STREET AND MY COMMUNITY.
IT'S A WONDERFUL, CATHARTIC, EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE FOR ME.
GEOFF: THE LAST SHIP FIRST APPEARED ON BROADWAY IN 2014,
RUNNING JUST OVER 100 PERFORMANCES.
THIS NEW ITERATION, FEATURING REGGAE STAR SHAGGY, HAS ALREADY
TRAVELED TO AMSTERDAM, PARIS, AND BRISBANE.
UP NEXT, NINE PERFORMANCES AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA IN NEW
YORK CITY. >> THE MUSICAL IS MORE THAN JUST
A MUSICAL ABOUT SHIPBUILDING. IT'S ABOUT IDENTITY, IT'S ABOUT
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WORK THAT GIVES PEOPLE THEIR IDENTITY
DISAPPEARS. DO YOU FEEL THAT STORY RESONATES
MORE DEEPLY NOW IN MANY WAYS THAN IT HAS BEFORE?
STING: I MEAN, IT MAY RESONATE WITH THE MODERN AUDIENCE BECAUSE
ALL OF OUR JOBS ARE UNDER THREAT FROM AI, FOR EXAMPLE.
WE'RE NOT QUITE SURE IF THAT WILL HAPPEN, BUT THERE'S
CERTAINLY AN IMPLICIT THREAT IN THE AIR ABOUT HOW WE CAN BE
REPLACED. ARE WE ALL EXTRANEOUS? AND I
THINK THAT'S ONE OF THE THEMES OF THE PLAY.
GEOFF: DESPITE THE ENCROACHING THREAT OF AI ACROSS INDUSTRIES,
STING BELIEVES HIS OWN CRAFT OF SONGWRITING TO BE UNIQUELY
RESISTANT. STING AI CAN MAKE PERFECTLY
: SERVICEABLE POP MUSIC THAT YOU WOULD HEAR IN AN AIRPORT OR A
HOTEL LOUNGE. THE QUESTION IS, WOULD YOU
ACTUALLY LISTEN TO IT AS OPPOSED TO HERE IT?
THEY ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT THINGS.
I NEED A STORY BEHIND IT AND A HUMAN BEING WHO HAS HAD HIS OR
HER HEART BROKEN OR BEEN IN LOVE AND FELT SOMETHING.
A MACHINE HAS NEVER DONE THAT AND NEVER WILL.
SO I DON'T FEEL PARTICULARLY THREATENED BY IT.
IT'S CLEVER, BUT IT'S JUST ARTIFICE.
GEOFF: IT'S A CONFIDENCE EARNED OVER A CAREER THAT INCLUDES 17
GRAMMIES, FOUR OSCAR NOMINATIONS, AN EMMY AND A
KENNEDY CENTER HONOR. WHERE DOES YOUR CREATIVE
RESTLESSNESS COME FROM? STING: I THINK CREATIVITY IS
ALWAYS A FUNCTION OF RESTLESSNESS.
IF YOU'RE COMPLETELY CONTENT, YOU WILL NOT BE CREATIVE.
YOU NEED A LITTLE GERM OF SOMETHING THAT'S AGGRAVATING
YOU, LIKE A PEARL IN AN OYSTER. I DON'T THINK CONTENTMENT AND
HAPPINESS IS A PARTICULAR HUMAN QUALITY.
I THINK WE'RE RESTLESS BEINGS. WE ARE MEANT TO BE QUESTIONING
THE WHOLE TIME. GEOFF: IT'S A RESTLESSNESS THAT
HAS FUELED STING'S MUSIC AND HIS EVOLUTION AS AN ARTIST.
STING: I THINK YOU HAVE TO CONSTANTLY CHALLENGE YOURSELF.
YOU HAVE TO CONSTANTLY BE OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE, NOT BE IN
SHALLOW WATER THE WHOLE TIME. TAKE RISKS.
ARTISTIC RISKS. ENJOY THE HELL OUT OF IT BECAUSE
IT IS A PRIVILEGE. IT IS ITS OWN REWARD.
I DON'T NEED TO HAVE ALL OF THOSE GRAMMYS ON MY MANTELPIECE.
I DON'T NEED A LOT OF PLATINUM DISKS.
I DON'T NEED TO SELL OUT TOURS TO ENJOY THE MUSIC THAT I MAKE.
AND I SAY THIS TO MY KIDS, YOU DON'T NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL TO
HAVE MUSIC AS YOUR PATH BECAUSE IT'S A SPIRITUAL PATH AND IT'S
REGARDLESS OF SUCCESS. AND THEY SAY WELL IT'S EASY FOR
YOU TO SAY BECAUSE YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL.
I SAID NO, IT WOULD STILL BE THE SAME, I WOULD STILL MAKE MUSIC
BECAUSE I'M COMPELLED TO. FOR PROFOUND REASONS.
? EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE
EVERY BOND YOU BREAK, EVERY STEP YOU TAKE
I'LL BE WATCHING YOU ? GEOFF: AND WEGEOFF: WILL BE BACK
SHORTLY. BUT FIRST, TAKE A MOMENT TO HEAR
FROM YOUR LOCAL PBS STATION. IT'S A CHANCE TO OFFER YOUR
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[MUSIC]GEOFF: JOURNALIST MICHAEL EDISON HAYDEN HAS SPENT YEARS TRACKING
EXTREMISM IN AMERICA. HIS NEW BOOK, STRANGE PEOPLE ON
THE HILL, TRACKS WHAT HAPPENED WHEN A FAR-RIGHT GROUP MOVED ITS
HEADQUARTERS TO A SMALL TOWN IN RURAL WEST VIRGINIA.
AMNA NAWAZ INTERVIEWED HAYDEN FOR OUR PBS NEWS PODCAST, SETTLE
IN. AND THEY SPOKE ABOUT HIS BOOK
AND THE SHARP DIVISIONS IN AMERICAN POLITICS RIGHT NOW.
HERE'S A CLIP OF THAT CONVERSATION.
>> THIS IS REAL LIFE AS YOU MENTIONED.
THIS IS A STORY AND THE REASON WHY WE CHOOSE IT.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS, THERE'S A REASON WHY WE CHOOSE
-- DO WE REALLY WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS?
YOU KNOW? AMNA: IT'S HARD FOR YOU TO TALK
ABOUT. >> YES.
UNEXPECTED. DO WE REALLY WANT TO LIVE LIKE
THIS? I DON'T KNOW.
MY FRIEND GROWING UP, HE'S A REPUBLICAN AND HE IS MY METS AND
JETS TYPE FRIEND. I SPENT AN ENTIRE YEAR ARE NOT
TALKING TO HIM BECAUSE HE SUPPORTED TRUMP IN THE FIRST
ELECTION. GOING THROUGH ALL THESE THREATS
LIKE, I CAN'T EVEN TALK TO YOU. I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU.
HE SAID IT WAS -- SORRY. AMNA: THAT'S OK.
TAKE A MINUTE. >> HE SAID IT WAS LIKE THE
TOUGHEST YEAR OF HIS LIFE. AMNA: THAT YOU WEREN'T TALKING?
>> YES PEER THAT I WAS NOT TALKING TO HIM.
HE ALSO SAID ANOTHER THING TO ME.
HE'S A BUSINESS GUY. HE'S NOT THINKING ABOUT THIS
STUFF LIKE THAT. I APPROACHED THEM TO THINK ABOUT
IT IN A DIFFERENT WAY. HE'S LIKE, WHEN I WAS A KID,
WHEN WE WERE KIDS, THE PRESIDENT WAS JUST A GUY ON TV.
AND THAT WAS TRUE. WE DID NOT CARE.
WE DID NOT HAVE TO CARE. I KNEW THERE WERE TWO PARTIES
AND THAT WAS IT. SO THE QUESTION IS, DO WE REALLY
WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS? DO WE WANT TO HAVE EVERYDAY THAT
THERE'S A NEW THING WE HAVE TO GO TO WAR OVER?
I FEEL LIKE WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR COUNTRY SINCE EXTREMISM
BECAME THE DOMINANT STRAIN OF POLITICS HAS BEEN SO PAINFUL AND
IS TAKING YEARS OFF OF PEOPLE'S LIVES.
I CAN'T IMAGINE PEOPLE REALLY WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS.
AMNA: WHAT YOU SHARED ABOUT YOUR FRIEND THOUGH IS I THINK
SOMETHING A LOT OF PEOPLE CAN RELATE TO.
MORE AND MORE AMERICANS IN PARTICULAR WILL HAVE FOLKS IN
THEIR LIVES WHO THEY DISAGREE WITH OVER POLITICS.
20 YEARS AGO IT MIGHT HAVE MEANT YOU JUST DON'T TALK POLITICS
ANYMORE. NOW IT MEANS BROKEN FRIENDSHIPS,
BROKEN FAMILIES IN SOME CASES. ARE YOU AND YOUR FRIEND
RECONNECTED AGAIN? >> YES.
WE ARE COOL. HE AND I ARE REALLY COOL.
HE ACTUALLY SUBSCRIBES TO A PODCAST I COHOST.
AMNA: [LAUGHTER] >> WE ARE RECONNECTED.
BUT I DO HAVE PEOPLE IN MY OWN FAMILY WHERE IT'S DIFFICULT, OR
THERE ARE CERTAIN THINGS WE CAN'T TALK ABOUT.
LIKE IF EVERYONE IN THE FAMILY SHARES AN ARTICLE I WROTE, THEY
CAN'T CHIME IN ON IT BECAUSE THEY ARE WORRIED IT MIGHT GO
AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP. AMNA: I THINK THE CENTRAL
QUESTION YOU ASKED IS DO WE REALLY WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS?
THAT IS SOMETHING YOU ADDRESS SO WELL.
AND THE OTHER PART OF IT IN THE CONVERSATION HAVE THE BOOK IS
THIS IDEA THAT ALL POLITICS, AS WE TALK ABOUT IT, ALL POLITICS
IS PERSONAL AND SHOWS UP IN OUR PERSONAL LIVES.
>> YES. AND HOW MUCH OF THIS IS REALLY
ABOUT IMPROVING THE MATERIAL CONDITIONS OF THE PEOPLE WHO
SUPPORT HIM AND HOW MUCH OF THIS IS REALLY ABOUT STIGMATIZING OR
DESTROYING IMAGINED ENEMIES. OR MAYBE PEOPLE THINK REAL
ENEMIES BUT I WOULD SAY IMAGINED.
WE'VE GONE VERY FAR OFF TRACK FROM WHAT THIS POLITICAL SYSTEM
IS TECHNICALLY SUPPOSED TO BE. WE ARE SUPPOSED TO FIGURE OUT
HOW TO IMPROVE MATERIAL CONDITIONS.
HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET PEOPLE HEALTH CARE, HOW ARE THEY GOING
TO GET FAT? HOW ARE KIDS GOING TO GET
EDUCATED? HOW CAN KIDS GET JOBS OUT OF
SCHOOL? SO MUCH OF IT IS TALKING ABOUT
STICKING IT TO EVERYBODY ELSE. GEOFF: YOU CAN WATCH THAT FULL
EPISODE OF SETTLE IN ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL OR WHEREVER YOU
GET YOUR PODCASTS. REMEMBER, THERE'S A LOT MORE
ONLINE INCLUDING LIVE RESULTS FOR TODAY'S MIDTERM PRIMARY
ELECTIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, INCLUDING IN CALIFORNIA.
THAT'S AT PBS.ORG/NEWSHOUR. AND THAT'S THE NEWS HOUR FOR
TONIGHT. I'M GEOFF BENNETT.
FOR ALL OF US HERE AT THE PBS NEWS HOUR, THANKS FOR SPENDING
PART OF YOUR EVENING WITH US. ANNOUNCER: MAJOR FUNDING FOR THE
"PBS NEWS HOUR" HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY --
? >> MOVING OUR ECONOMY FOR 100 60
YEARS. THE NSF.
THE ENGINE THAT CONNECTS US. >> THE WILLIAM AND FLORA HEWLETT
FOUNDATION. FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS,
ADVANCING IDEAS AND SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONS TO PROMOTE A BETTER
WORLD AT HEWLETT.ORG. >> THE CHARLES F. KETTERING
FOUNDATION. WORKING TO ADVANCE INCLUSIVE
DEMOCRACIES. LEARN MORE AT KETTERING.ORG.
>> FRIENDS OF THE NEWS HOUR INCLUDING NELL, MARTHA, AND MARY
MINOW IN HONOR OF THEIR PARENTS NEWTON AND JOSEPHINE BASKIN
MINOW, AND JULIE AND ROBIN POWELL THROUGH FIDELITY
CHARITABLE. CARNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW
YORK, WORKING TO REDUCE POLITICAL POLARIZATION THROUGH
PHILANTHROPIC SUPPORT FOR EDUCATION, DEMOCRACY, AND PEACE.
MORE INFORMATION AT CARNEGIE.ORG.
AND WITH THE ONGOING SUPPORT OF THESE INSTITUTIONS.
THIS PROGRAM WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS
STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU. THANK YOU.
? >> YOU'RE WATCHING PBS.
[CAPTIONING PERFORMED BY THE NATIONAL CAPTIONING INSTITUTE,
Debra Reid: So, it really is a ground swell WHICH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS
Debra Reid: So, it really is a ground swell
of interest in especially rural and agricultural
America.
They're ready for a tractor that is going to
be lightweight and relatively dependable.
Neil Dahlstrom: And it's not until about 1913, 1914
with the introduction of the Bull tractor, the
gorgeous nightmare period, as one editor called it,
where there was a small tractor built for the
average sized farm, that changes everything.
Christian Overland: And so, even though the
tractor was a loss leader for Henry Ford, it was a
value proposition that he felt the world needed to
go into and he wasn't thinking about that amount
of time as loss, he was thinking about that amount
of time as investment.
??
During the first two decades of the 20th
century, a war took place among agricultural
implement companies to build a tractor that would
replace horses, increase productivity and grow
profits.
Over a 20-year span, hundreds of companies
would enter the tractor market.
But three companies would emerge as market leaders.
Farming was moving into the power age.
??
From the beginning of domesticated agriculture
in the Middle East 9,000 years ago, farm labor was
done using the muscles of humans and animals,
turning the soil to prepare for planting,
eliminating weeds and bringing in the harvest.
Neil Dahlstrom: Basically, you're using horsepower,
you're using oxen, you're using mule, but it's a
single person, day-in, day-out drudgery, sun-up
to sundown.
It's just hard, backbreaking work.
??
In 1837, innovation came in the
form of John Deere's self-scouring plow.
The new tool could slash the time needed to prepare
an acre from 96 hours to as few as five.
The work, however, remained the same, a
combination of manual and animal labor.
At the time, America was rural, the economy
agrarian.
As late as 1870, more than half the population called
themselves farmers.
Those farmers used almost five million horses and
mules in every kind of job that required power.
The herd swelled to over 25 million in 1920 as the
prairie of the Midwest was converted into farmland.
As Native Americans who had lived in the Midwest
for thousands of years were displaced by
Europeans moving West, the steel plow broke the
prairie and crops emerged.
Christian Overland: The issue was how do you
actually make it more effective growing more
yield with less labor?
That has always been the component, still is.
And quality, quality of product.
You get innovators, Yankee ingenuity,
resourcefulness, the idea that you can actually make
things better by actually inventing and trying
things out.
So, you have people like John Deere who basically
was a blacksmith dealing with a problem that
farmers were dealing with and that is plowing.
??
But horsepower had its limits.
Horses were capable of heavy work for only a few
hours of the day and required food and water,
whether they were being worked or not.
A productive tool for much of the year, they were
mostly idle in the winter.
Farmer productivity soared with the steel plow.
Faster plowing increased demand for other horse
drawn farm implements.
Discs and harrows helped smooth fields after being
plowed.
Seeders and planters were faster and more effective
than spreading seed by hand.
Horse drawn cultivators helped eliminate weeds.
Many inventors over the centuries had tried to
mechanize harvest.
But none solved the engineering puzzle until
Cyrus McCormick in 1831.
A blacksmith by trade, McCormick's reaper used
the drive wheel to successfully transfer
animal energy into mechanical movement that
replaced hand labor.
The simple act of cutting grain with a horizontal
bar increased productivity exponentially.
Later versions of the reaper would gather the
grain into piles, then bind them into shocks.
Work that had required a half dozen people could
now be done by a single farmer and a pair of
horses.
Separating the grain from the stems still remained a
manual labor challenge.
??
McCormick's invention of the reaper
created demand for belt power to run threshing
machines to produce the mechanically harvested
grain.
By 1847, McCormick had found enough sales
momentum to move the company to Chicago.
Steel plows, mowers, shellers and other
machines were soon added to the McCormick catalog.
McCormick Harvesting Machine Company rapidly
grew into a manufacturing behemoth.
Neil Dahlstrom: At the turn of the 20th century,
you're coming out of the Gilded Age, it's an era of
trusts and big business and the idea is we're
going to build everything, we're going to build more
of it, it's more profitable for the
company, in theory it's a one-stop shop for the
customer.
And if you're building farm implements, the idea
is simple -- we want you go to our dealership and
buy everything from us and if you need repairs,
you're going to come to us, if you need
replacement parts, you're going to come to us.
And so, that is the really simple philosophy behind a
full line.
International Harvester is really the first company
to do it and they can do it because they've got 85%
market share in the harvesting business, which
is by far the most profitable business if
you're in the farm equipment business.
And then everyone else is racing to catch up and
survive.
??
Cyrus McCormick died in 1884 having
witnessed the mechanization of
agriculture and earning vast wealth.
His sons Cyrus Jr. and Harold would take control
of the growing company.
A merger would expand the company's footprint.
Neil Dahlstrom: In the early 20th century, after
the formation of International Harvester in
1902, they're the fourth or fifth largest company
in the United States.
So, you're talking U.S.
Steel, American Tobacco, International Harvester,
farm equipment manufacturer.
They're a hundred million dollar a year business.
John Deere is a three million dollar a year
business.
We're not comparing the same thing when it comes
to size or resources.
??
The power output of the steam engine was
revolutionizing economies around the world.
Factories drew workers from the countryside into
ever-growing cities.
Steam power moved boats on rivers and drove trains
ever further into the countryside.
Steam power also reduced months of hand threshing
to a single day's work.
Operating a wheat thresher in 1870 required up to 13
men who could thresh 300 bushels per day.
By the 1890s, giant steam-driven threshers
could process 1,000 bushels per day.
??
Threshing day was often a working holiday on
the farm and if a photographer was hired to
document the work, a photograph of the setup
often did double duty as a formal family portrait.
By 1900, more than 30 firms were manufacturing
5,000 steam-powered tractors every year.
The appearance of steam power required large
capital, large capital required more acres and
higher yields to pay the larger mortgages.
??
But the downsides of steam were overwhelmed
by the benefits.
Continuous portable power was available for
important jobs on the farm.
Yet the price of steam power and specific
function limited sales to only the largest of farms.
Neil Dahlstrom: So, it's not a huge booming market.
It has got its role and its place.
But it gives people this idea that we can do more
with more power.
And that is really where the idea of the gasoline
or the kerosene powered tractor comes from.
??
Many thought steam was the last word in
engine technology.
But when the Otto gas engine appeared in 1877,
it revealed the potential of small portable engines.
It provided instant power at a time when their
larger steam siblings required long warmup
cycles.
Otto's patent expired in 1889 and hundreds of
machines powered by a portable gas engine
appeared on the market.
??
Neil Dahlstrom: So now that tech is available
to everyone.
So now all of a sudden you can have a one and a half
horsepower, a three-horsepower
stationary engine.
Maybe it's on wheels so you can move it around.
Now you can run a single hole corn sheller or a
washing machine or an irrigation pump.
So now you have power.
??
The improvement in productivity was dramatic.
The United States Department of Agriculture
estimates that in 1822, 60 hours of labor could
produce 20 bushels of wheat.
By 1890, steam power cut the hours needed down to
eight.
As steam brought efficiencies to
agriculture, Henry Ford considered how he could
reduce the drudgery of farm work.
Debra Reid: There are a couple of things in his
childhood that I think were formational or
foundational.
One of the things Ford sees this Nichols and
Sheppard steam engine and he is fascinated by it and
that prompted him to want to learn more about steam
and the power of steam.
He actually goes to pursue this as a career with his
father's blessing.
He becomes an apprentice in a machine shop.
But then about 1882, he is back on the farm and that
is when he repairs this Westinghouse steam engine
that was used by a threshing crew in his
area.
And those two things give him confidence and really
galvanize his efforts to become more of an
industrialist or a machinist than a farmer.
??
But an agrarian lifestyle did not appeal
to Ford and he returned to Detroit and began working
as an engineer for inventor Thomas Edison.
Ford tinkered with steam and gasoline engines in
his spare time.
In the 1890s, farm implement manufacturers
began building internal combustion engines that
mimic the output of steam traction engines, but with
a smaller footprint and lower cost.
These machines can drive grain threshers using a
belt drive in the same way as steam engines and were
also capable of plowing fields in the spring,
doubling their versatility on the farm.
??
Neil Dahlstrom: You can maybe hook it up
to run a threshing machine or something that is going
to be fairly stationary, but they are built for
plowing.
So, it's a huge investment to make, just to plow,
and then you put the tractor away for the rest
of the season.
So, it's not very economical in those terms.
There was a short period of time on these big farms
where big prairie tractors were great.
It was kind of the gateway to what the industry would
become.
??
Iowans John Froelich built the first
gasoline tractor in 1892.
It successfully worked a thresher in South Dakota
for 50 consecutive days in temperatures that ranged
from over 100 degrees to minus three degrees below
zero.
It became the forerunner of the Waterloo Boy.
Two engineering graduates from the University of
Wisconsin, Charles Hart and Charles Paar
introduced their first tractor in 1902 and by
1906 were producing half the tractors sold in the
United States.
In 1907, there were roughly 600 tractors on
American farms, 200 were Hart-Paar.
??
Dozens of other manufacturers were
introducing similar vehicles to capture the
demand for power farming.
Many would sell a few tractors, then fall into
bankruptcy, unable to harvest enough revenue to
cover the enormous manufacturing costs.
One company that found success at building
tractors already had a track record of
profitability in farm implements.
The McCormick Harvesting Machine Company was a
leader in the sale of farm tools and implements in
1902.
??
A merger between the McCormick Harvesting
Machine Company, the Deering Harvester Company
and three smaller firms had created the
International Harvester Company.
The new firm was the fourth largest company in
the United States and had a global reach.
IHC controlled 80% of farm implement production in
the United States and was vertically integrated.
The company owned iron works, twine factories,
huge stands of timber, sawmills, coal and iron
mines.
It even owned the Illinois Northern Railroad, which
moved materials and finished equipment in and
out of its sprawling factory complex on the
south side of Chicago.
??
By 1900, much of the tough prairie soil had
been broken and row crop farming had become the
norm across much of the Midwest.
While the wheat fields of Canada and the prairie
states could utilize the large steam engines for
plowing and threshing, demand for a smaller
tractor for smaller farms was on the rise.
Rather than pulling 12 plows at once, farmers in
the Midwest only needed to pull two or three plows at
a time.
A 1910 study of horse plowing estimated a farmer
following a single horse drawn plow walked over
eight miles per acre plowed.
The market for a faster, less taxing method of
tilling the soil was enormous.
??
IHC was ready to capture this new market.
Company owners put their cash, experience and
designs to work in the development of gas and
kerosene powered tractors.
International Harvester launched the Titan and
Mogul brands of tractors.
The machines were lighter and more maneuverable and
could pull multiple plows in most conditions.
By 1910, even with the high cost of each unit,
the Titan line accounted for half of the new
tractors being used in the United States.
??
This was also the era of populous politics
and a public that was weary of large
corporations.
International Harvester was found guilty of using
its monopoly power against its competitors in 1912.
The company was forced to divest some of their
subsidiary companies, sell off some alternate brands
and cut parts of their dealer network.
In the long run, the legal decision was a win for
International.
The government was only able to show damages to
its industry competitors and not its customers,
setting the stage for 40 years of market dominance.
??
The rapid pace of tractor innovation
hid a growing conflict between International
Harvester President Cyrus McCormick, Jr. and John
Deere President William Butterworth.
Both companies were working to complete a full
line of equipment for their dealers.
The goal was to capture farmers' business from
machines to repair to replacement parts.
??
Neil Dahlstrom: Really this era for me
starts with a series of meetings between William
Butterworth at John Deere and Cyrus McCormick,
Jr. at International Harvester.
Deere is trying to build a full line.
International Harvester knows it.
Neither one of them wants to tip their hand and so
they have a phone call, then a face-to-face
meeting and Butterworth says, no we're not going
to go into the harvesting business, and Harvester
says, okay, but if you do, we're going to go into the
plow business, basically destroying a 70-plus year
kind of gentleman's agreement between the two
companies.
Well, we know that Deere is going into the
harvesting business and we know that International
Harvester has already bought a plow company just
in case.
??
Many late 19th century tractor designs
mimicked popular implements that placed the
farmer behind horses.
Engineers at a company that was eventually
absorbed by International Harvester mounted an 1891
Deering engine on a new ideal mower.
It became the first self-propelled implement.
While it wasn't a tractor, what became known as a
motor cultivator was an early step in that design.
??
Before the development of Henry
Ford's assembly line, industry had been hobbled
by a lack of standards and precision.
Each part was unique to each machine, making
fabrication inconsistent and repairs difficult.
The assembly line forced standardization of parts
manufacturing.
International Harvester took a page from Ford's
book and put the practices to work.
The race to introduce a practical tractor brought
a variety of machines to market.
An early success was the Bull.
Introduced in 1913, its three-wheeled design
helped make the machine light and cheap.
It was an immediate hit with farmers and nearly
cornered the tractor market.
Sales of IH tractors plummeted 76%.
While the Bull was underpowered and could
roll over on hills, it proved there was a market
for lighter, more agile tractors.
But the early success for Bull was overtaken by
manufacturing problems and new competitors.
By 1918, the Bull had been driven into bankruptcy.
The Fordson, Henry Ford's entry, was exponentially
more successful.
Wisconsin, watching along
And, you know, thinkings.
one of those programs that
Wisconsin is, right? It's a
about the kind of thingary
about this in history class.
thought about, you know,
the history of the tractor.
foundational element of
of Midwest culture. And so,
Wisconsin that dives deep
something that you justbout
otherwise. Right. That's
Wisconsin, and it's exactly
PBS Wisconsin if programs
find anywhere else onn't
You got to call that number
(800) 236-3636.
and I'm a member of theon
here at PBS Wisconsin. And
PBS Wisconsin and join usth
be happy to provide a gift
We've got some great gifts
deepen your understanding
this program. So at the $10
can choose either the DVDou
you're watching or thehat
will give a deep diveich
Look into more detailsapter.
that you're learning about.
you will receive both the
a thank you. And then if as
month level, we'll be5 a
with even more. You'll getu
book. You'll also receive a
hat, and a nice color, and
So this mug is also prettyg.
tractors on it. Nice size,
It'd be great with your
morning. So give us a call
>> Hi, I'm Michael
here at PBS Wisconsin, and
programs like this to you.
interesting because when
1911, 1912, right in there,
when my grandfather wasme
purchased in Wisconsin. So
he was doing at the time.at
emotional. I'm just aing
I want to talk to you about
is an ongoing support. It's
support to PBS Wisconsin by
your checking account or
thing is, you remain ine
member. I decide when to. I
increased it recently. That
decrease it or end it if I
Sustaining membership is
your opportunity to become
1-800-236-3636.mber at
why for a moment, right?he
you're not yet a member off
You're watching Tractor are.
You didn't have to pay,t.
up the phone and give usk
want you to think about isI
Wisconsin, the P and PBSBS
your help, we can keep with
accountable to the public,
serving your interestsy
providing the money to make
that sounds so simple, but
aspect in the mediaique
quite like that. And it'ss
precisely because you
already a member, thank you.
member all the more, thank
is the time to join us. now
>> That's right. Now is the
enjoying the film thatu're
tonight by becoming aus
love to thank you with that
month level, you can choose
receive as a thank you or
I've got to say that this
as well. It's reallyivating
America. The colors are
book would make a greate
life who loves tractors.
level, you will receive as
and the book, and then at
love to thank you with thed
the PBS Wisconsin hat,Wars
got to be worn outside,t's
someone you know has aif
like this to, to be wearing,
be great. And then included
is the Tractor Wars mug. So
1-800-236-3636.
you about some of thelling
you gifts that you can getk
membership. But there are
member. Generally,t as a
member, for example, wills
which comes to you 12 times,
find out what's on the air,
month, and get someor the
about some of the programs,
going on here at PBSties
benefit of membership isfic
a considerable largepens up
streaming that you canr
member, you just log in,a
things, things from long
things that haven't made it
a good and interestingeally
Passport. Another good
member at any level at here
number is (800)2 363636.
Michael was just saying is
Because PBS Wisconsin isn't
pocketed sponsor. Itsep
It's the fact thatbers.
Wisconsin families aref
in what they can to makeng
all of us. Maybe you cano
which case you'll get the
hearing about. Maybe youst
that. There's a there's aan
with PBS Wisconsin, right?
action that we all benefite
can. That's the public of
what we need to sustain,
wonderful show of support
with the federal fundingme
sustain it because public
year as it did last year,s
just as much next year.r
1-800-236-3636.
you join us as a member of
do tonight, we have theseou
you as a thank you. We've
the program that you'reD,
again and again at home or
and love the Tractor Warsow
at that level. At $15 ase
both of these. And then at
we've got the DVD for you,
exclusive Tractor Wars mug.
are these folks in youro
gift it to? Give us a callo
>> We're going to go back
moment, and we're going to
probably have met him, you
we've been hearing about
of the tractor and how ity
And then Ford comes into
things even more. It'ss
about what happens. Andtory
we love to share with youat
do consider now becoming a
watch the program knowingd
(800)2 three, six, 3636.
get this Fordson released to meet more demand, there [MUSIC]
get this Fordson released to meet more demand, there
are about 124 companies producing about 30,000
tractors a year and those companies are all more or
less operating with farm implement frame of mind.
And that means they're not individually developed,
but they're constantly trying to figure out okay,
how do we lighten it with still retaining the
structure?
With all due respect, they're like blips on a
screen because none of them have the capital to
invest in the research and development that Ford has.
And that research and development pay off in
this product that transforms the entire
tractor industry.
Making tractors is harder than it looks financially.
When you've got a company like International
Harvester leading in the ag equipment business and
their brand comes through reapers and other
agricultural technologies.
But yes, International Harvester was maybe one of
124, but it was leading in the ag implement business.
??
Sales at International Harvester
rebounded as Bull tractor sales fell.
By 1916, IH had taken back its 40% market share.
That year, those 124 companies sold a combined
63,000 machines.
??
(nature sounds)
But horses still dominated
the farm economy.
The 1920 farm census showed 246,000 tractors on
American farms, but 26 million horses still did
the majority of the work.
The USDA estimated that buying a tractor saved a
farmer around 250 hours of horse care per year.
The math was now shifting towards power farming.
(plow sounds)
??
International continued to
drive much of the industry's growth.
Their MD 8-16 featured three forward speeds and
an optional power takeoff for powered implements.
It was the first IH tractor built on an
assembly line.
But production problems kept the model from
meeting demand.
The company knew Ford was gaining ground and rather
than compete with the Fordson directly, they
moved towards a higher quality machine that was
easy to maintain and promised a long working
life.
(machine belt running)
The primary enemy of tractors
was dust.
Bearings and transmissions were mostly unsealed.
The average life of some models was only 12 months.
Farmers would buy a tractor for $1,000, about
$30,000 today, and end up paying as much as $400 for
maintenance, a little more than $12,000 today.
Despite paying nearly one-third of the purchase
price in repair costs, tractor sales skyrocketed
from 21,000 in 1915 to 200,000 in 1920.
??
The year before the Bull's demise, Henry
Ford put his Fordson on the market.
The four-wheeled tractor found immediate success.
But the Board of Directors was dismayed with Ford's
single-minded obsession with his tractor project.
??
Christian Overland: Henry Ford who
had his little prototype going in the Piquette
plant is now running the Highland Park plant in
Detroit, making automobiles and Model Ts
at that point.
He gave up on the other things and just became
singular-minded and his Board tells him no.
The Dodge Brothers were on his board too and they
said, no, no, they're cool to that one.
It's like, stay the line, we're making money, Henry,
build the Model T.
So, what does Henry do?
He makes his own company and he calls it Ford and
Son.
Ford was over a decade in on his automotive assembly
line as he targeted the tractor business.
Debra Reid: Ford was always looking for that
next effort.
But he has had the tractor in his mind this whole
time, that notion of putting things on wheels
that are self-propelled.
So, he is experimenting with tractors before the
Model T is finalized and Ford actually calls the
tractor the automotive plow.
They use a Model B, as in boy, engine and an
automotive radiator and back wheels of a grain
binder and front wheels of a steam engine and put
this piece together.
And they're constantly trying to figure out, can
you use an automotive engine to move this
automotive plow?
It takes them a decade before they figure out
that no, the tractor needs a different engine, a
different frame, but it is ultimately an automotive
assembly line process.
??
In 1915, Ford secretly purchased 2,000
acres near Dearborn, Michigan with the idea of
building the world's largest industrial
complex.
He hoped that what eventually became his
River Rouge facility would build a million vehicles
per year.
Ford wanted to cut out suppliers and middle men.
Every element of the car and tractor would be
created on site.
The reception of the Fordson was based more on
its reputation than the merits of the machine.
Gas Powered magazine wrote in 1916, nothing
spectacular or unusual in its performance.
Most would have taken the machine without question
just because it was built by Henry Ford.
??
While the market was ready for a new
tractor, Ford still wanted to experiment and refine.
His tinkering was stopped by the U.S.
declaration of war in 1917.
An outspoken pacifist, Ford had campaigned for an
end to the war.
His Ford Motor Company had refused to build war
materials for any country engaged in the conflict.
However, once America entered the war, Ford
Motor Company's factories supported the effort and
the contracts that came with it.
Tanks, trucks and other vehicles streamed off the
assembly lines until the Armistice was declared 18
months later.
??
The power of the Ford name had already been
seen in a contract signed with the United Kingdom.
Britain had been fighting in Europe for three years
with no resolution in sight.
The country was desperate for tractors after
millions of farmhands went to France and Belgium to
fight.
The British Ministry of Munitions ordered 6,000
Fordson's sight unseen in 1917.
??
Debra Reid: They're munitions
tractors, so M-O-M is the term that they go by and
those went exclusively to Great Britain.
But Henry Ford does not release for U.S.
domestic purchase until early 1918.
Sometimes farms adopted the farm engines before
they purchased an automobile and sometimes
they did both before they purchased a tractor and
sometimes they purchased them all together.
So, it really is a ground swell of interest in
especially rural and agricultural America.
They're ready for a tractor that is going to
be lightweight and relatively dependable.
??
The Fordson presented a compelling
financial picture to farmers.
Compared to a team of horses, plowing was 40%
cheaper with a tractor, and the job could be
completed in one-quarter of the time.
In April of 1918, the 7,000 Fordsons were
delivered to the United Kingdom.
Henry Ford then opened sales to the U.S.
market and nearly double the orders flowed in.
Over 50,000 tractors were delivered worldwide by
June of that year.
Priced at $795, the Fordson was well above the
planned and announced $200 goal.
The Fordson nameplate was chosen because the Ford
Motor Company Board of Directors still hadn't
signed off on the project.
In order to focus on the tractor business, Henry
Ford surprised his board by stepping down from the
presidency of the Ford Motor Company in December
1918.
Ford then ran his tractor business with the same
narrow margins that he used for his Model T.
Volume and market share mattered over profits.
80,000 tractors were quickly sold in the first
two years and farmers began to push the limits
of their new machines.
Other tractor manufacturers avoided
direct competition with the Fordson, positioning
themselves as different in some way, better at
plowing, more durable, or able to do more jobs on
the farm.
Over at John Deere, Butterworth watched Ford's
rising market share and grew concerned about his
competitor's success.
Neil Dahlstrom: Fordson was very scary to American
tractor manufacturers at this period in time.
And we see this, Ford debuts his tractor at a
farm show in Freemont, Nebraska in 1916 and
immediately after that we see letters from William
Butterworth of, alright, let's slow down, I'm
opposed to this tractor business.
What he means is, we're not going to build
tractors, we're not going to invest in a new factory
because we're not going to compete with Henry Ford on
things like price, on volume.
And so, it kind of changes Deere's perspective on
things, which is how do we build and design something
that doesn't directly compete with the Fordson?
We want something that maybe pulls three plows.
So, it's a different segment of the market.
We're going to carve out a different niche so we're
not directly competing.
Debra Reid: It outsells International Harvester,
which had led in tractor sales up to that point.
??
Despite early farmer approval, the
Fordson had drawbacks.
Like most tractors, it was too low to the ground to
cultivate cotton or corn and had no power takeoff
to drive harvesting implements.
Debra Reid: Farmers are seeking something to
replace the labor needed on the farm, dependable
power source and affordable operation.
All those things require a transition on the farm,
but this is the time when farmers need it.
Every horse that was replaced by a tractor
allowed the farmer to put five more acres into
arable production.
So, Ford claimed that the Fordson tractor was really
a three to four horse replacement.
And suddenly you've got 10, 15, 20 more acres.
It is also standardized as a two-plow tractor.
And for expanding row crop agriculture, it satisfied
an intense need.
??
Fordson sales put IHC on the ropes and
quickly devoured their market share.
By 1923, 100,000 Fordson tractors were rolling off
the line annually.
And Fordson commanded a 76% share of the market.
But by 1925, sales of the Fordson were beginning to
slide.
At the same time, the Model T, essentially
unchanged since its debut 18 years earlier, was
fading against its competitors.
Ford and Fordson both had to change.
??
For John Deere, the way to a full line had
been one of small steps.
The John Deere Board had approved its preliminary
designs for a three-wheeled project
called the tractor plow in 1912.
Company engineer C.H.
Melvin produced the first units the same year.
By 1914, it became apparent to the John Deere
Board that it had three options in the tractor
business, start a new company or division,
contract with or buy an existing tractor company,
or contract to buy the various components and
assemble tractors under the John Deere name.
As the board considered its options, Joseph Dain,
another of the company's engineers spearheading
tractor development, added the B-2 to the Deere
design menu.
In what would eventually become a mainstay for
Deere, his first Model B was even smaller than
Melvin's machine and utilized a four-cylinder
engine.
??
Neil Dahlstrom: There's a lot of
experiments going on at John Deere.
I've often been asked, why was Deere so late getting
into the tractor business?
So, there's a lot going into the mix here and
Deere just couldn't quite figure out where they
wanted to build that machine and what it was
going to look like.
??
The Deere Board of Directors knew that the
early prototypes were going to be expensive to
manufacture and sell.
They also knew they would struggle to compete
directly with the lighter, cheaper, Bull-style
tractors and motor cultivators already on the
market.
Rather than cut corners, Deere chose to take the
high-quality route, regardless of price and
hoped that the reputation for durability would win
the day.
??
Deere engineers took inspiration from past
designs, looking closely at various motor
cultivators and the Moline Plow Company's Moline
Universal.
The Deere Board approved the building of 25
machines based on motor cultivators and called
them tractivators.
Design and testing of these prototypes revealed
the sale price would be $475.
The machine did offer a savings on labor, the but
numbers revealed no real savings over horses.
??
Neil Dahlstrom: There were a couple of
really loud voices at John Deere that were advocates
for the farm tractor.
One was Willard Velie.
So, this is John Deere's grandson.
He is the CEO of a very successful automobile
company, the Velie Automobile Company.
He thinks the tractor is the future.
You've got George Mixter who is the Superintendent
of Factories at John Deere.
Deere builds a full line, buys all of these
companies and you've got to get them all to work
together and he is doing this and he is a huge
advocate.
So, you've got these pockets.
But then you have someone like our CEO William
Butterworth who says, yes tractors are the right
track, but I can't convince any bankers to
loan us any more money for development.
And also, they know that Henry Ford is coming and
that scares everybody because he has resources
and capital and all the things that John Deere
doesn't have as a company.
??
After gathering their resources and making
a few designs, the tractor plan suffers setback.
In 1917, Dain, the chief architect of the B-2, died
from pneumonia he contracted while testing
his tractor.
Visionary company engineer Theo Brown is transferred
off the program and into military manufacturing.
The tractor project was in peril and without
momentum.
Knowing that Ford was on his way to dominating the
market, the board of directors finally
committed to building a tractor of their own.
By June of 1918, the first 50 Dain tractors were
completed.
Velie was still concerned the tractor program was
too timid and pushed to either go big or get out.
Neil Dahlstrom: So basically, the people who
are controlling the purse strings are saying, we
have to be very careful how we go about this
because we can't lose everything for this
speculative new technology and that is the way they
viewed it.
So, William Butterworth I think was in both camps.
He was saying, let's do it, let's put the brakes
on until the time is right.
And that was the scary part, which is there's not
a huge market, now all of a sudden we go from 10
companies building tractors to 100 and we
don't think a lot of those are very good.
And so that is detrimental to the industry as well
and we don't want to be another one.
??
Even as the board members argued about the
direction of the tractor program, they were not shy
about seizing the moment.
Deere purchased the Waterloo Gas Engine
Company and its popular Waterloo Boy Model N in
1918.
The purchase price was over $2 million, an
acquisition that made sense to the board.
Neil Dahlstrom: The Waterloo Boy tractor kept
coming up in these field tests where they said, oh
that's a good tractor, yep, we're hearing good
things about that, okay we're going to test one
and that's good.
They weren't necessarily in the market to acquire a
tractor manufacturer.
But in 1918, the opportunity came up.
It seems like a very quick acquisition, which is in a
period of a few months and there is a lot going on
behind the scenes of shareholders saying, we're
for sale, but if you don't decide tomorrow we're
pulling our stock and we're not going to be for
sale and you have six or seven years of development
under your belt, you know what you're looking for,
you know it's really hard to do and you see an
opportunity, they took it and all of a sudden John
Deere was full-fledged in the tractor business,
buying a company that was selling over 5,000
tractors a year.
??
The Waterloo Boy burned kerosene, which was
cheaper than gasoline, and it had a simple
two-cylinder engine that was more durable than the
four-cylinder engines Deere had been using in
its prototypes.
And as a three-plow tractor, it didn't compete
directly with the two plow Fordson.
Deere management believed the Waterloo Boy did 50%
more work per day than other tractors, which
justified the higher price of $1000 per unit.
But in 1919, Deere was splitting its focus
between horse implements and machine power.
For many farmers, a tractor was viewed as
being an expensive option because 90% of the farm's
power still came from horses.
??
Tractors brought pluses and minuses to farm
production.
They offered a chance to put more land into use.
Typically, one-quarter of a farm's acres were
devoted to feeding horses.
Practical application had already proven a tractor
could plow up to 75% more acres per day than horses.
Once those acres were released into production,
they contributed to a crop surplus, reducing the
prices paid to farmers.
Tractors also reduced the need for farm labor.
The children of farmers were freed up to choose
between remaining on the farm or seeking work in
the cities.
A steady depopulation of rural America that had
begun during the Civil War was further fueled by the
increase in mechanization.
Wisconsin, and I hope
program. Tractor Wars as
getting to dive in andy
culture. And if you are,est
your financial support for
on PBS Wisconsin. Becauses
Current PBS Wisconsinreak.
donation to match yours.ra
1-800-236-3636 during this
will be doubled and we are
this break. I want to hear
know what? This program is
special. This kind of is
And the best way to let us
for you is to give us ase
>> And just like David, I'm
this film. Tractor Wars.ith
things about PBSvorite
me kind of craving more and
if you're one of thoseAnd
curiosity piqued, thenheir
gift for you. The Tractorou
chapter deep dive into ally
covering the same time
get a lot more information
questions answered. So at
you with the Tractor Wars
$15 a month. We'll thank
the DVD. Now, you'veok and
maybe be thinking about who
film to? Who's the tractor
that you'd like to share it
month level, become a $25 a
we'd love to thank you with
you'll also receive the PBS
the Tractor Wars mug. Sohe
1-800-236-3636.
Andrew mentioned the idea
and that's really a goodip,
you're sustaining member is
commitment to say every
certain amount in support
you as a sustaining member
write a whole bunch of to
remember what you owe this
keeps on going as long as
also good for PBS Wisconsin
stream of support and makes
to anticipate what kind ofn
support all the fabulous
you watch here on thishat
becoming a sustainingut
at different levels and you
start it, stop it, whatever.
driver's seat when it comes
But in order to get that.
our volunteers right now at
>> You know, there are
watch a documentary or an
Although if I'm being.
trying to think, when was
history documentary thata
been a while, but like,s
But you know what? You're
find anywhere else is a
connects directly to our
farming culture inWisconsin,
Because PBS Wisconsin cane.
must be responsive to the
funding is coming from. Our
There's just certain topics
to the kind of nationalves
structure that every other
programing would have, and
break is so important.nge
We're already a quarter of
five calls starting to get
That's great. That lets us
programing matters to you,
seeking it out. In this
another local PBS affiliate.
ourselves. What matters is
that you want us to keep
>> 1-800-236-3636 and if
enough for you to get you't
today, we have someive
at the $10 a month levels
you, either the Tractorhank
Wars book, which would look
at home on the shelf. Great
the $15 a month level,At
and the book and that theVD
receive as a thank you the
Wars Mug, and the PBSactor
volunteers that are waiting
of the phone. They'reer end
easy for you. So maybee it
someone in your life that
these thank you gifts to.
give them a call. Just have
So give us a callress ready.
>> We have eight calls on
20 calls. 20 calls duringof
break here at PBS Wisconsin.
will get us to that goal of
challenge break. And
is a member of PBSyone who
that pledges thirty fiveld
receives "Airwaves" year
that comes to you once ae
membership. It's a greatur
viewing, for finding outur
up on PBS Wisconsin, andg
out about some of the some
Wisconsin. It's one oftPBS
support at $35 or more. And
in some cases, there areing,
the bottom line benefitally,
the screen. It's theee on
that you enjoy, that you
way to support those. Call
>> We are at least halfway
accounts a little highernal
go. We're catching up now.e
quarters of the way to our
know what? I have good news.
we'll still keep takinglls,
reason why we're going to
kind of programing ishis
and support and want more
your screen one (800)2, on
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break. Just a few minutesis
Wars, but also the other
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programing on PBS Wisconsin.
this for adult viewers. We
programing and educational
make for Wisconsins that we
educational mission of PBS
And you are supporting nott.
of that when you call andl
one (800)2, 363, 636.ed,
ringing, which is really
you're waiting to getif
Our volunteers are really.
And remember when you join
member, you will receivesin
or more than one of ourfts
month, we. You will be able
Tractor Wars or the bookDVD
month, you will receive as
and the book and. At $25 a
you with the book, the DVD,
the Tractor Wars mug. Now,
been talking about some of
as a PBS Wisconsin member.
is your access to PBSfits
stream so many more PBS and
shows. Let's learn a little
with that, let's take a
>> You're watching PBS
what you find here, fromve
travel and journalism, what
even more shows you loveut
Wherever you stream TV,them?
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have free on demand showse
Plus, when you support PBS
benefits can open up even
Passport. It includes more
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around the world.as from
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PBS Wisconsin possible for
community. So join with ar
we're suggesting, and then
adventures with PBS
>> Earlier this evening,
about being sons of theng
grandparents, our
grandfather on in ourt one
course, a farmer. And you
more people were farmers.
concentrated, but is still
fabric of life in Wisconsin
Midwest. And a program like
deeper. It's interesting to
transition into mechanized
of stuff that was going on
people's heads, and what
all this kind of stuff. and
much connects to life fory
all of us, whether we have
or not. And it's a goodnd
your support to PBSshow
something from it. Yourn
Your grandkids may learn.
going to get somedy is
that may pique theirhis
case and you want to the
then give us a callf thing,
>> So I'm noticing
phone bank here in the our
phone ring in a while, but
one of our volunteersngle
that tells me is there What
are currently waiting to
As long as you have okay.
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through, your money willt
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time getting through isrd
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So, Deere buys Waterloo in 1918 and it's not only
tractors but stationary engines.
And the company is selling thousands of stationary
engines.
That is seen as more of a long-term business.
The tractor business was still a bit of an unknown.
And it's going to get really scary in 1921 where
there is an economic recession and sales fall
to 79 tractors.
And there is a price war and there's a lot of
competition and a lot of bankruptcies and folks at
Deere are looking around going, did we make a
mistake?
It's going to take Deere seven years to turn a
profit in the tractor business.
So, there was a lot of worry and concern whether
or not they made a huge mistake and put the entire
company at risk.
But at the end of the day, the Waterloo Boy is
everything they wanted it to be.
??
In late 1917, the Deere Board of Directors
authorized the production of a newly-designed
all-wheel drive tractor.
Neil Dahlstrom: Really, what the board said was,
we've invested so much, we've got to do something,
we've got to have it in our back pocket in case we
don't come up with something better.
So now Deere has two tractors.
Not a lot happens with the all-wheel drive.
We don't know exactly what happened to most of them.
Probably 90 to 100 were built.
And the Waterloo Boy is the workhorse of the
company.
So, it becomes a very, very different competitive
market.
??
John Deere was also looking for a design
that could compete with the Fordson, if not
directly challenging its place in the market.
Requests from engineers to experiment with
four-cylinder engines were denied as Deere lacked the
cash flow for testing and development.
Deere repurposed the Waterloo Boy two-cylinder
engine and made it the heart of what became the
John Deere Model D.
Three decades of production of the iconic
tractor started in 1923.
The new tractor competed with both the McCormick
Deering 10-20 and the Fordson, but was aimed at
wheat country, where farmers were less
concerned with cultivating corn and more with plowing
huge farms and driving a wheat binder in the field.
Deere aimed to produce 1,000 Model Ds in
Waterloo, Iowa by 1924.
Neil Dahlstrom: And ultimately when Deere
comes out with the Model D tractor, it's because they
were focused on wheat growing parts of the
country, whereas International Harvester
and their Farmall tractor, which was the first really
true general-purpose tractor, was focused on
corn growing parts of the country.
??
The 1918 victory by the allies in Europe
was followed by an economic depression in the
early part of the 1920s.
During the war, there was a worldwide shortage of
grain, horses and hired hands.
Farmers were spending
twice as much on labor compared to just a decade
earlier.
The farm sector, which had planted fence row to fence
row to feed America and Europe now found itself
awash in grain and choked with livestock.
From July 1920 to November 1921, the price of oats
and corn fell 72%.
Livestock prices were cut in half.
??
Tractor manufacturers found
themselves buried in canceled orders and
mounting debt.
In 1921, International cut prices for its popular
10-20 and 8-16 models.
With $41 million in canceled orders, the
company went on the offensive.
Dealers held demos to compare IH tractors with
the Fordson.
They managed to claw back 12% of the market during
the downturn.
Ford responded to slowing sales by slashing prices
of the Fordson from $790 to $395 a unit.
Debra Reid: International Harvester says, we've got
to meet it.
And for about five years these two companies are
selling below production costs and Ford has the
capital, even though they're losing money.
Christian Overland: And the tractor wars are
hitting an economic issue because it's tough on
everybody.
And why Henry Ford does it is he's trying to control
the market.
But he has a system that he can do it with.
He has kind of built the whole assembly line
system, figured out an employee base that builds
these things, and he was actually moving forward
into a new world about how can I actually invest in
the values of agriculture and keep farm life
sustained?
And so, even though the tractor was a loss leader
for Henry Ford, it was a value proposition that he
felt the world needed to go into and he wasn't
thinking about that amount of time as loss, he was
thinking about that amount of time as investment.
??
In a battle for its existence, John Deere
lost money.
Sales of tractors in 1922 were only 40% of the
previous year.
Deere factories were closed for months waiting
for the inventory backlog to clear dealerships.
Other manufacturers with deep pockets tried to
enter the battle looking for a win.
General Motors purchased the Samson Tractor Company
in 1918.
The automobile giant lost $33 million over the next
four years and exited the tractor business after
learning an expensive lesson in tractor
economics.
While the short-lived Depression put multiple
tractor companies into bankruptcy, the resulting
price war put tractors on farms that had not been
able to afford them previously, yet many
farmers still believed that as long as they had
horses, you might as well keep them for every job on
the farm.
If tractors wanted to compete against centuries
of tradition, they would have to prove they could
do more than just cultivate row crops.
??
Just as the economic Depression of the
early 1920s was brewing, International Harvester
engineer Bert Benjamin developed a new design.
He had reversed the motor-cultivator form,
placing the bigger wheels in the back of the
tractor, and dubbed the creation, the Farmall.
It was designed to serve more than one purpose by
pulling both planting and harvesting equipment.
Rapid sales of the Fordsons began pushing IH
management towards a decision on future
tractors.
Internal company resistance to an
all-purpose tractor began to fade when it became
obvious the Fordson was a success.
??
A handful of Farmalls were sent to
Texas in 1924 and farmers loved them.
A test drive became a successful sales ploy.
Texas dealers loaned out Farmalls to hesitant
farmers.
None were returned to the dealership.
An IH dealer in Houston wrote the company after
receiving a shipment of prototypes, if you don't
adopt the Farmerall for production, we will
organize a company in Houston and build it down
here.
IH marketing promoted the tractor's versatility on
the farm.
A Farmall could operate 11 common implements with one
operator.
Research showed the new machine saved cotton
farmers $27.70 per bale, making U.S.
cotton the world's cheapest to grow.
It was estimated that 300,000 Farmall tractors
could replace 250,000 mules.
The performance of the Farmall won over farmers
before many boardroom executives.
Yet production was limited, so as not to hurt
the sales of the still popular McCormick Deering
10-20.
The $825 price tag of the Farmall was competitive in
the marketplace.
But the company was building the innovative
tractor at a loss.
??
By 1927, production had grown to 60
tractors per day.
Internally, there were still concerns that the
Farmall would kill off the MD 10-20.
In 1928, it did.
Farmall sales exploded to 25,000 tractors that year
and the 10-20 was retired.
Neil Dahlstrom: Well, you have this huge transition
in kind of the American landscape.
1920 is the first time that more people live in
the city than on the farm.
You have labor shortages.
So, you're trying to produce more with less.
And that is where the tractor starts to become
an investment that makes sense because long-term
you are going to be more profitable.
You also see with the automobile that now I can
raise more than my family needs.
And that is the major transition.
Instead of growing for my family, now I can raise
more and I can go sell it and I can go travel a
little further and distribute.
And this is what Henry Ford calls, the business
of raising food.
And that is really the major transition that
takes place, largely driven by mechanization
and power farming, as they called it.
??
Henry Ford was struggling to keep the
Fordson competitive.
The Farmall was coming into the market and stood
to push the Fordson out.
??
Neil Dahlstrom: Henry Ford was incredibly
stubborn, which is putting it mildly.
But he said the Model T was a perfect automobile,
we never need to improve it.
He said, the Fordson was the perfect tractor and we
never need to improve it.
Of course, he has got economies of scale.
He's got the assembly line.
He's got a low price point.
He's selling hundreds of thousands of Fordson.
But there's no improvement made on the Fordson
tractor.
And there's some drawbacks.
It has a tendency to overheat.
It can tip over, especially backwards if
you're pulling a plow under load.
But really no incremental improvement.
And what happens is machine forms start to
change.
So, you have the D, you have the Farmall, you've
got a lot of other competitor machines that
are listening to feedback from customers who are
saying, well, it's great for plowing, but I want it
to do this, I want it to do this, I want it to do
this.
Henry Ford says no, like, this is what you get.
And so, all of a sudden, the Fordson is outdated and
everyone starts planning for the demise of the
Fordson, but also assuming there's just going to be a
new version of the Fordson, which ultimately
never comes.
??
With Ford standing his ground and refusing to
make any improvements, the innovative model was left
behind.
??
Neil Dahlstrom: The Fordson was a good
entry-level machine, had a good price point, it did
what I needed it to do.
But now I'm ready to move on.
What's available?
So, the Fordson started to be left behind by 1925,
1926.
??
In 1926, Fordson produced almost 94,000
units.
But its market share had dropped below 50% for the
first time in eight years.
International went on to surpass Ford and dominated
sales with a 55% share of the market.
Neil Dahlstrom: The big question for competitors
is, is there going to be a new Fordson?
And initially they thought yes, because the Model T
is replaced by the Model A against Henry Ford's will.
So, then you're thinking about what does the
replacement of a Fordson look like?
And then you start to wonder, is the Fordson
going away?
??
In January 1928, the Fordson line at River
Rouge had stopped for retooling.
But it never restarts.
Even with the Fordson logo on two-thirds of the
tractors in America, the sun had set on the iconic
brand and the mighty automaker exited the
market.
Henry Ford moved all Fordson work to Cork,
Ireland.
Limited production continued in Ireland and
England and the last unit rolled off the assembly
line in 1933.
??
Neil Dahlstrom: Farmers are incredibly
progressive.
They have always been that way.
The other side of it is, these things take a long
time to kind of incubate and come to fruition and
work themselves out.
Horses outnumber tractors on American farms until the
early 1950s.
And tractors keep getting bigger and bigger and
bigger and horsepower continues to expand and
implements get bigger.
??
By 1929, only 33 tractor makers were still
operating in the United States.
By the end of the 1920s, International Harvester
and Deere stood alone among tractor
manufacturers.
Both would continue to battle for market
dominance for another 50 years.
The adoption of technology in rural America had been
thorough.
In a 1925 survey of Illinois farms, 80% had a car,
12% had electricity,
6% had indoor plumbing
and 30% had a tractor.
??
Despite the rise of mechanized farming,
total horsepower from tractors did not exceed
horsepower from horses until 1945.
??
Today, John Deere is the only company to
have survived the tractor wars into the 21st
century.
The International name faded into history in 1985
when the automotive parts company Tenneco bought the
agricultural division and merged
J.I. Case was eventually purchas
Industrial, an Italian-American
corporation.
The agricultural giant continues to build and
sell J.I. Case designs.
Debra Reid: If you define tractors wars of the 20s
as this fight to the death over market share, Ford
steps out, International Harvester does not
necessarily win even though it has, with its
Farmall, taken over the market share, but it's a
company that had to rebuild itself more or
less in the image and likeness of that
automotive assembly line to compete with that new
upstart tractor.
Neil Dahlstrom: I think it's really hard to wrap
it up in a bow.
But I always go back to this phrase, tractor wars.
This was a fundamental shift in the history of
agriculture and I think that's what this period is
about, which is now we can expand.
It's about doing more with less.
It's about getting more out of the land.
It's about greater yields.
It's about profitability for farm businesses.
But it's about what's next.
It's about new technology and regardless of the
decade or the century, this is a technology
story, which doesn't feel like it because it's on
the farm.
Debra Reid: That's the lasting consequence of
that war, automotive assembly line mentality in
tractor production.
And then I find it fascinating because the
numbers of farmers is not increasing, it's not like
people on the road.
There's a shrinking sales pool constantly for this
business, that consolidation of
production in fewer and fewer companies really
factors into the changes in rural America that I
think have lasting consequences today.
??
here at PBS Wisconsin. And
documentary, Tractor Warss
first and first and say
Whether you are already a
whether you're about to or
Wisconsin, it is viewers
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right time to make thathe
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I'm a member of thearlson,
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really enjoying thisve been
you're anything like me,f
questions. You want to
want a deeper dive intoyou
it's all how it's alld how
And we have some fantasticy.
with that. So if you join
a month, you can choose $10
or the Tractor Wars book,VD
deep into everything that's
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Tractor Wars mug, which has
Tractor Wars logo. It's ahe
beautiful blue inside.is
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I'm a volunteer here. In,
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That means that I've made a.
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And every month PBS my bank.
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It's really easy to do. you.
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>> You know, PBS Wisconsin
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And here's an interestings.
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over the generations grew
if we can do weather well,
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PBS Wisconsin wants tond
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