i32 
FEB. i4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
TIMELY TOPICS. 
While in Europe the winter has been in 
all places extraordinarily and in many 
places unprecendentedly severe for many 
weeks in succession, even as far south as 
the Mediterranean, to say nothing of the 
extremely rigorous colds and snows in 
Northern Africa, in this country our cold 
spells have been intermittent, generally 
comiDg in frigid waves from the weather 
factory up in Manitoba. Just now a severe 
blizzard—the worst since 1888—is raging 
all over Wyoming, Nebraska, North Da¬ 
kota and Minnesota, and rapidly spreading 
south and east. Wind howling and snow 
swirling at the rate of 35 to 60 miles an 
hour in a temperature of from 20 to 45 de¬ 
grees below zero. God pity the thousands 
of poor, ill-clad and worse housed new set¬ 
tlers who, with insufficient food and 
scarcely any fuel to temper the rigors of 
the storm, are scattered right along the far 
Western frontier. 
As anticipated, the Republican House 
has shelved the Senate Silver Bill, and, 
according to present indications, it can 
hardly be passed by the present Congress 
whose term expires on March 3. Both in 
the Senate and House the Democrats have 
almost unanimously been voting for free 
coinage, but more as a party measure to 
embarrass the Republicans, than because, 
it is thought, so many of them really favor 
such legislation. After March 4, the 
House will be overwhelmingly Democratic, 
and must therefore, if the party is “ play¬ 
ing fair,” vote for unlimited silver; and as 
a majority of the Senate has already placed 
itself on record as favorable to such a 
measure, it must be passed by both Houses. 
Then the President alone will stand in the 
way; but he is reported to be unalterably 
opposed to the free and unlimited coinage 
of the white metal, and in the Senate at 
any rate the bill cannot be passed over his 
veto. The late Secretary Windom’s last 
speech, ended a few seconds before his 
dtath, was a very forcible argument against 
the extreme measure by a man who strong¬ 
ly favored the monetization of silver, and 
the coinage of all that good policy would 
allow, and it is having a powerful effect on 
many who had previously been out-and-out 
silver men.” 
Some smart mathematician has been 
trying to show what a benefit farmer 
William Waldorf Astor would derive from 
the Stanford two-per-cent land project. 
Mr. Astor now owns $100,000,000 worth of 
real estate. On this he could obtain $50,- 
000,000 to put in more real estate and obtain 
$25,000,000 more from the government, and 
so on, still retaining the use of his property, 
drawing rents, interest, etc., etc. 
Judge W. A. Peffer, the new Senator 
from Kansas, was born of German parents 
in 1831, so that he is now 60 years old. His 
boyhood was passed on a farm, and from 
1846 to 1850 he taught district schools in 
rural neighborhoods. Then he went to Cal¬ 
ifornia, but returned East in two years. 
Having married, he began farming in St. 
Joseph County, Indiana, in 1853, and four 
years later migrated to Missouri, where the 
war forced him to abandon farming. He 
enlisted in the Union Army and remained 
there till the close of the war, having gained 
the rank of Judge Advocate, hence his title 
of “Judge.” On the restoration of peace 
he started again as a lawyer, in 1865, at 
Clarksville, Tennessee, and removed to 
Kansas in 1872, where he added agriculture 
and the newspaper business to his legal 
work. He was elected to the Kansas Senate 
in 1874, and was Presidential Elector on the 
Garfield and Arthur ticket in 1880. He es¬ 
tablished the Coffeeville Journal in 1875 
and becamo editor of the Kansas Farmer in 
1881. He is the author of the work, “ The 
Way Out,” advocating the Farmers’ Alli¬ 
ance’s scheme of government loans to farm¬ 
ers on the security of their land and farm 
products. He has always been a Republican 
iu politics until quite recently, when he 
adopted nearly all the principles of the 
Farmers’ Alliance. Judging by his record, 
he is not a free trader, as the Democrats 
claim, nor a high tariff.man, as claimed by 
the Republicans. He wants a moderate 
tariff, say an average of about 20 per cent, 
instead of an average of 60 per cent under 
the McKinley tariff, with free trade in the 
necessaries of the people. Of the two 
United States Senators notoriously elected 
by the Farmers’ Alliance, Irby in South 
Carolina to succeed Hampton, and Peffer 
in Kansas to succeed Ingalls, the former 
vigorously declared that he was a Democrat 
first and foremost and an Alliance man 
when Alliance matters didn’t clash with 
emocracy ; the latter is thought to be an 
Alliance man first and a Republican after¬ 
wards. Both were previously unknown 
outside their respective States, and had 
only quite recently acquired any prom¬ 
inence in them; and both succeeded men 
of national, if not world-wide reputation. 
Both will therefore have a hard road to 
travel not to suffer by comparison. 
The Canadian Parliament has been dis¬ 
solved and both the Liberal and Conserva¬ 
tive parties are hard at work to secure a 
majority at the elections on March 5. 
It was at first thought that the Premier, 
Sir John Macdonald, as shrewd and long¬ 
headed a statesman as any on this con¬ 
tinent, had voluntarily advised the Gover¬ 
nor General to dissolve the body, thinking 
the present a first-rate opportunity once 
more to secure a majority; but there are 
reports that the Imperial Government 
forcibly suggested that the people should 
be allowed an opportunity, by their votes, 
to express their wishes with regard to the 
nature and scope of the proposed recipro¬ 
city treaty between the Dominion and the 
Union, and also with regard to the final 
settlement of the fishery troubles in the 
northern Atlantic and Pacific. Sir John inti¬ 
mated that Secretary Blaine first expressed 
a willingness to discuss such a treaty; 
but this the latter emphatically de¬ 
nies; anyhow a definite set of terms has 
been proposed for discussion by Canada, as 
a basis for such a treaty. The Canadian 
Liberals favor free trade with this coun¬ 
try, or something very much like it. This 
would be granting this nation better terms 
than those possessed by the Mother Coun¬ 
try. The Conservatives do not want to “ go 
back on ” the latter, but favor free trade in 
some lines, and a great reduction of the 
tariff on others, while still maintaining 
protection for Canadian manufacturers 
and giving the Old Country the same 
terms as the most favored nation. The 
elections are sure to turn on the proposed 
relations between the two countries, and at 
present the prospects seem to favor the 
Conservatives. To some extent we are ex¬ 
pected to give the privilege of trading with 
65,000,000 people in return for the privilege 
of trading with 5,000,000. 
The beauties of our protective system 
are well illustrated by constantly recurring 
disputes over the collection of duties. For 
several years there has been trouble over 
the application of the terms woolens and 
worsteds, the decisions usually having no 
relation to the wording of the law but to 
the construction put upon it by Custom¬ 
house officials. A prominent firm of im¬ 
porters recently brought suit in the U. S. 
Circuit Court to recover an excess of duty 
paid on worsteds which were classed as 
woolens under the Dingley Act. The j udge 
decided in favor of the plaintiffs. He 
characterized the act under which this 
classification was made as a very extra¬ 
ordinary species of legislation. It virtually 
authorized an officer of the government to 
declare one kind of goods which pays a 
certain rate of duty to be another kind of 
goods paying another—and in this case a 
higher—duty. Importers in several cities 
have brought suits claiming that the Mc¬ 
Kinley Bill is unconstitutional and duties 
collected under it therefore illegal. While 
there is little doubt that the bill will be 
sustained ultimately, there is likely to be 
no end of legal quibbling and expense over it. 
This expense the people must pay. A cer¬ 
tain brand of kid gloves were appraised at 
one valuation by one appraiser and at a 
higher one by another. The General Board 
of Appraisers has sustained the higher 
valuation. The McKinley bill placed sago 
flour on the free list; the customs author¬ 
ities have decided that it must pay two 
cents per pound duty. Italian cloths paid 
a certain rate of duty so long as they were 
used as coat linings, but when they were 
used for women’s dresses they were classed 
as dress goods and were charged a higher 
rate of duty. There have been almost 
numberless similar exactions. The im¬ 
porters have been compelled to pay the 
unjust duties to get their goods; these 
have been added to the cost and purchasers 
have paid the increase. The courts have 
almost invariably decided against the 
government, which was forced to refund 
the unjust overcharge, but no case is on 
record where purchasers have received any 
return of the overplus. The importers are 
subject to constant annoyance, litigation, 
and expense, but the consumers eventually 
foot the bills. The protective theory is a 
very nice one, but the complications, mis¬ 
understandings, red tape, etc., connected 
with it sometimes make the uninitiated 
wonder if the game is worth the candle. 
Common-Sense Chairs. 
We have had such complete satisfaction 
for 14 years past in the use of Sinclair’s 
chairs, that we heartily recommend them 
to our readers, and have made arrange¬ 
ments to offer them 
as premiums. For 
descriptive catalogue 
address F. A. Sin¬ 
clair, Mottville, N. 
N. We give the 
Centennial Rocker 
(maple frame, double 
cane back and seat, 
natural color or ma¬ 
hogany stain, price $6) in return for five 
new subscriptions at $2, or nine new sub¬ 
scription at $1.50 each. With a year’s sub¬ 
scription for only $5 50. Any other chairs 
in the catalogue furnished on a similar 
basis. If your own subscription is 
paid for 1891, you can sell the subscrip¬ 
tion to your neighbor. 
The Light of New Days. 
We—wife and I—have been more than 
pleased with our Pittsburgh lamps. At 
first we only half believed the claims of the 
manufacturers. We did not know that 
any kerosene light could be so beautifully 
soft and strong—a powerful light without 
glare and flicker, 
easy and delight¬ 
ful for tired eyes. 
Now we are con¬ 
vinced and hearti¬ 
ly indorse all the 
claims so far test¬ 
ed. The lamp it¬ 
self is a thing of 
beauty. Here is a 
picture of perhaps 
the handsomest of 
the series. They 
are finished in sil¬ 
ver, embossed and 
highly ornamen¬ 
tal. The “ Pitts¬ 
burgh ” is a prom¬ 
inent feature of our Premium List and we 
would be glad to send one to every home in 
the great Rural family, and we have ar¬ 
ranged to furnish our subscribers with any 
of these lamps at special x-ates. The silver 
lamp above figured, complete, with a year’s 
subscription, for $5 50 ; in brass, ditto, at 
$4.50. Retail prices for these lamps are con - 
siderably higher. For other styles see 
special circular, which will be sent on ap¬ 
plication. 
jg f°If your own subscription is already 
paid for 1891, you can sell the subscrip¬ 
tion to some other party, .JgB 
One cent will mail this paper to 
your friend in any part of the United 
States, Canada or Mexico, after 
you have read it and written your 
name on the corner. 
The Keystone Washer. 
We have on hand a small lot of these 
washing machines left over from last year’s 
premium work. It is claimed that over 
300,000 are in actual use. Price $6. We 
will send one to any subscriber who will 
forward us a club of fire new subscrip¬ 
tions at $1.50 each; or give it together with 
one year’s subscription for $4. • 
2 ®”If your own subscription is paid for 
1891, you can sell the subscription to your 
neighbor. 
The Keystone Wringer. 
This machine has a reputation of being 
one of the best in use. We offer a No. 1% 
(patent solid, white rubber rolls, 10 inches 
long, adjustable cog¬ 
wheels, metal bearings 
and guards). Price $7. 
With a year’s subscrip¬ 
tion for $5. Given for 
a club of five new sub¬ 
scriptions at $1.50. 
Manahan Ladder 
Hook. 
The illustration shows 
this little article in per¬ 
fection. Price $1 per 
pair. Sold to any sub¬ 
scriber to The Rural .New-Yorker at 60 
cents, sent prepaid for six trial subscrip¬ 
tions at 25 cents. 
• Scroll Saw and Lathe. 
This scroll saw is one of the best made, 
swings nearly 16 inches clear,is composed en¬ 
tirely of iron and 
steel except the 
tables and pitmans, 
has very little fric¬ 
tion, will saw Black 
walnut one half 
inch thick, two feet 
a minute, and will 
saw inch walnut 
readily. A hand 
drill, screw driver, 
$1 worth of pat¬ 
terns and one dozen 
saws go with each 
machine. Price $8: 
given for a club of 
12 new subscrip¬ 
tions at $1.50. The lathe with stand and 
turning tools, all of excellent make, for $2 
additional. Saw and lathe complete sent 
for 15 new subscriptions at “club price,” 
$1.50 each. 
Vacuum Tipped Arrow Pistol. 
This is as nearly harmless as any shoot¬ 
ing toy can possibly be. The projectile is 
an arrow armed with a rubber cup, which 
acts on the principle 
of a fly’s foot, stick¬ 
ing to the target by 
pressure of the atmos¬ 
phere. It is as accurate 
as a revolver. Price of pistol with arrow 
and target, bronze, 50 cents; nickel-plated 
75 cents. The first is sent, prepaid, for four 
trial subscriptions; the nickel-plated one 
for six at 25 cents. 
OUR BOOK CLUB. 
The Rural New-Yorker, price, $2; The American Garden, 
price, $2 ; taken together, $3. 
Either Rural or Garden, 1 year, in club with any American 
books (strictly on one order) at regular retail prices to 
the value of $1.00, sent prepaid for $2.50 
: ir • n , * “ 2.00, “ 3.00 
If sent upon one Order, * « 3 00 ; « 4 00 
Lxxxxo XX** * * It X X X X X X « X X » X X X X X X H» tti “ 5.00, “ '5.50 
“ 10 . 00 , “ 10.00 
Both Rural and Garden, 1 year, in club with any American books to 
the value of $1.00, sent prepaid for $3.85 f3gf" Exclusive of any books at special prices 
If sent upon one Order. 
tgplf your own subscription is already paid for 1891, the paper 
or magazine may be sent to any other address, the books to your own, 
if sent upon one order. 
THE RURAL PUBLISHING CO., Times Building, New York. 
1.50, 
4.25 ** 
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2.00, 
it 
4.50 | 
3.00, 
it 
5.25 | 
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5.00, 
it 
6.50 
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10.00, 
a 
11.00 
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