Caveat Tractor
(Page 3 of 3)
January/February 2007
Bill Vossler
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The Biggie
In 1919, with his tractor failures and one notable success behind him, Wilmot Crozier was elected to the Nebraska legislature. He introduced a bill that stated no tractor could be legally sold in Nebraska without a permit. No permit would be issued until the tractor performed as the company claimed in its advertising.
It became known as the “Nebraska Tractor Test Law.” Farmers everywhere cheered. The first tractor ever tested in Nebraska – Test 01 starting on March 31, 1920 – was a Waterloo Boy Model N tractor manufactured by the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. of Waterloo, Iowa. The company had been bought by Deere & Co. in 1918.
Other than an erratic governor, the Waterloo Boy passed with flying colors. In quick order, several other tractors were tested successfully and the standardized test was off and running.
The Beginning of the End
From that point on, tractors sold in Nebraska had to pass the stringent tests or could not be sold there. Within a few years, across the nation the entire tractor industry adopted the Nebraska Farm Tractor Tests as the gold standard. No longer could fly-by-nights or unscrupulous manufacturers and salesmen dupe unsuspecting farmers. Tractors had to do what they claimed they were able to do, or else they couldn’t be sold. The Nebraska Tractor Tests had saved the American farmer.
Veteran writer Bill Vossler has written about the history of farm tractors and other diverse subjects for 170 magazines and 11 books. He lives with his writer wife in Minnesota.
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