Dividend from Farmers

One of the fattest dividends from rising farm income (TIME, May 12) is going to the makers of farm equipment. Their sales, which turned down long before the recession, are on the rise. International Harvester reported its best April farm equipment sales since 1955; sales for the six months ending April 30 were up 5% over 1957. "The tractor business is ahead of last year for everyone," said Milwaukee's Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. The most dramatic comeback has been staged by J. I. Case Co., which lost $2,845,027 in the first six months of fiscal '57. "Now," says Case's President Marc B. Rojtman, "we're in the black for the first six months of fiscal '58. Sales are up over 70% from last year."

Case's success stems from more than the upturn in farm income. It comes from the razzle-dazzle sales tactics of its President Rojtman, 40. Rojtman, who merged his American Tractor Corp. with Case in January 1957, demonstrated his sales flair last fall with a $1,000,000 circus. He airlifted nearly 4,000 farmers and dealers to Phoenix, Ariz, to unveil the "1960 Case-O-Matic Line," lashed his tractors stern to stern with competitors' models to show how they could outpull them. All told, Rojtman wrote up $164 million in orders, signed up 300 new dealers.

So fast have sales risen that Case could run "for several months" on present orders; dealers must wait more than two months for some models. The biggest season for sales of heavy farm equipment is still ahead; more than 50% of the demand for such heavy-duty equipment as hay balers, combines and corn pickers comes in the second half of the year.

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