4o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Jan. 21 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
A national Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, Editor-In-Chief. 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, Managing Editor 
ERWIN G. FOWLER, Associate Editor. 
Copyrighted 1893. 
SATURDAY , JANUARY 21, 1893. 
The announcement in the Publisher’s Desk last week 
of the award of the $200 in cash to senders of clubs of 
trial subscriptions ought to he sufficient encourage¬ 
ment to our subscribers to “ hustle” in the raising of 
clubs in competition for the $2,000 cash to be awarded 
on May 1st among all those who send in clubs of five 
or more new subscriptions, not counting their own in 
any case. 
A Baltimore widow, with six minor children, is 
suing a firm of local horse dealers for $25,000 for the 
death of her husband due to their fault. They sold 
him a horse which they knew was affected with glan¬ 
ders; he caught the disease and, after weeks of hope¬ 
less agony, died. In view of the incurable nature of 
the disease in man and beast and of its terrible char¬ 
acter in its last stages, doesn’t the person or firm 
knowingly selling an affected animal to another with¬ 
out warning, deserve a severer punishment than a 
mere money indemnity ? 
* * 
The farmers’ institute to be held at Mineola, Long 
Island, January 25—26, promises to be one of the most 
unique and interesting meetings of the kind ever held 
in the State. Several of the best speakers connected 
with the State institutes will be present, and there will 
be a perfect host of local speakers, headed by such 
men as Geo W. Hallock, C. L. Allen and Nicholas Hal- 
lock. This will be really a Truck Farmers’ or Market 
Gardeners’ Institute, and these important branches of 
Long Island industry will be exhaustively discussed 
by experts—men who have made the business “ pay” 
in the best sense of the word. 
* * 
One of the chief arguments of the dishorners has 
been that the operation takes all the fight out of the 
subject. The other day, a dishorned Jersey bull at¬ 
tacked his owner, and but for the speedy arrival of 
help, would soon have put an end to his earthly 
career. His lack of horns didn’t prevent a most 
effective use of his feet and his mallet-like head, which 
were little less deadly than horns would have been. 
It is very likely that while the soreness resulting con¬ 
tinues, a dishorned bull will continue comparatively 
peaceable, but, after this has passed, the idea that the 
propensity for fighting is all gone is on a par with that 
exploded notion that the milk of the ordinary cow 
came from the horns. 
* * 
For years, nay for generations, the public press 
of most European countries, but especially of England 
and France, has been in the habit of pharisaically 
denouncing or reprobating with almost demoniacal 
glee any notable exposure of commercial or official 
dishonesty or corruption in this country as a national 
characteristic—something that might be expected 
under the semi-turbulent conditions and lax morality of 
a new, pushing, driving, scatter-brained nation natur¬ 
ally unscrupulous financially and politically, but 
which would be impossible among the staid, respect¬ 
able, dignified, upright, high-toned and high-principled 
people of countries like their own, where financial 
honor and political integrity were hereditary glories. 
These glories, however, have just been besmirched in 
England and befouled in France. In the former 
country, among the multitude of building associations 
and other “ get-rich-quick” enterprises which have of 
late been enriching their promoters at the public ex¬ 
pense, the Liberator Building Society was one of the 
greatest, if not the greatest of all. By the most 
specious and alluring promises it sought investments 
in its stock, and, doing a quasi-banking business, it 
offered such high rates of interest that it secured 
millions of deposits. After a brief but bril¬ 
liant career, it has just collapsed with liabilities 
of over $35,000,000, and hardly any assets. Its 
stockholders will lose everything; its depositors may 
recover a mere pittance from the wreck. It was 
a fraud from the outset, and preyed chiefly on the 
thrifty lower middle classes and the owners of small 
annuities and fixed incomes, who through it tried to 
increase their hand-to-mouth allowances, only to lose 
all! Across the Channel, the greatest and most dis¬ 
graceful politico-financial scandal that has ever black¬ 
ened the criminal records of any age or any country, 
is seriously threatening the stability of the Republican 
form of government in France, and may, quite possibly, 
yet cause its overthrow in deepest scorn and contumely. 
Of the $400,000,000 contributed for the construction of 
the Panama Canal by the people of France—chiefly 
the thrifty lower classes and frugal farmers and work¬ 
ing people—it now appears that only one-third was 
honestly used in the work, while one-third was squan¬ 
dered in extravagant contracts and wasteful jobbery, 
and one-third lavished in the most shameful corruption 
of newspaper editors and publishers, bankers, capital¬ 
ists, speculators, judges, legislators and even half a 
dozen members of the Cabinet, while President Carnot 
himself has just been besmirched by one of his former 
colleagues in the Cabinet under President Grevy. Of 
the politicians who have been prominently associated 
with the French Republic during the last 15 years, 
three only—Ribot, the present head of the Cabinet, 
Constans, a former Premier, and the chief promoter 
in the present turmoil, and Brisson, Chairman of the 
committee investigating the damning turpitude—still 
remain untarnished and generally trusted. For the 
last seven years there appears to have been a very 
saturnalia of corruption among prominent French 
financiers and politicians, and fresh revelations of its 
damnable depth and widespread extent are being made 
every day. 
# * 
The expected cholera scare has set many scientific 
persons hunting in new and unthought of places for 
“ germs ” of disease. Old paper money has been ex¬ 
amined and found to contain many “ colonies of bac¬ 
teria.” In fact, a bill has been introduced in Congress 
to secure “ the speedy and frequent redemption of all 
United States paper currency and national bank notes 
that have become soiled, impure, unclean, etc.” This 
may be presented in sums of not less than $100. The 
Rural Publishing Co. will do better : it will redeem all 
such money in sums of $1 or more and pay a big pre¬ 
mium on it—in other words, we will send 52 issues of 
The R. N.-Y. for every paper dollar sent us, without 
respect to its age or previous condition. 
* * 
A large number of farmers have recently been 
victimized by a swindling commission concern in New 
York City. There was nothing new or strange in the 
methods of the swindlers. They went to work in the 
stereotyped manner and have succeeded in swindling 
a large number of people in very considerable amounts. 
Circulars were sent to dairymen offering two or three 
cents per pound more for butter than it was selling 
for in the markets, and these brought them very liberal 
shipments for which they never paid. The Rural 
has so often urged on farmers the unwisdom of ship¬ 
ping goods to commission men without first ascertain¬ 
ing their standing, that we can hardly believe any of 
our readers are numbered among the victims. 
# * 
We are glad to see the advertising journals calling 
attention to a ruling of the Post-Office Department, by 
which no information is to be given out regarding the 
users of post-office boxes. When some small and petty 
fraud or fakir wants to humbug the public, he has his 
mail matter sent to a box in the post office. This 
gains him a certain amount of respectability for many 
people think: “He must be all right or he couldn’t 
rent a box in the post office.” Under the ruling men¬ 
tioned, a paper like The R. N.-Y. will not be told who 
receives the mail sent to a certain box, even though 
its readers have been swindled by the renter of it. 
Such a ruling is wrong. It ought to be so that the 
postmaster may use his discretion in such cases. 
* * 
Probably few men with a full knowledge of all the 
conditions would engage in farming with the expecta¬ 
tion of making a fortune at the business. Yet, if 
fortunes from farming are the exception, absolute 
failures in it are probably fewer in number than in 
almost any other calling. It is said that 95 per cent 
of city business men fail in business, sooner or later. 
Besides these, many others eke out a precarious, hand- 
to-mouth existence, and apparently never know 
“where they are at.” Does the agricultural class make 
any such miserable showing as this ? If farming isn’t 
all that might be desired, isn’t it more of a certainty 
than these figures would indicate some other vocations 
to be ? Isn’t there, too, less wear and tear on the 
nervous organization, more solid comfort, less sham, 
more real enjoyment than in many other callings in 
life ? In short, all things considered, isn’t the farm 
life preferable to the others ? 
* * 
Congressman M. D. Harter, of Ohio, the well-known 
anti-silver Representative, declares that, according to 
his careful calculations, Government has sustained 
enormous losses in the purchase of silver. It appears 
that at the present fictitiously high price of the white 
metal due to the monthly purchase of 4,500,000 ounces 
of it by the Government, the loss on the amount of 
silver bullion now in the Treasury is not less than 
$150,000,000, He insists that 50 cents an ounce would 
be a high legitimate price for silver to-day, and a 
deduction from its fictitious price, due to the differ¬ 
ence between its legitimate and fictitious prices, would 
mean a loss of $138,000,000 more. Of course, this 
statement represents only one side of the question, 
but the Representative states that the truth of his 
assertions can be demonstrated, and.no attempt to dis¬ 
prove them has yet been made, and if it is right to be 
taught even by an enemy, would it not be well for 
the advocates of free silver to ponder on their op¬ 
ponent’s allegations ? * # 
BREVITIES. 
It was my job In boyhood's state to sift the ashes on the path 
That led unto our front-door irate. That job no sound attraction hath 
For any boy that ever worked either in country or in town: 
And so I must confess I shirked and threw the ash unsifted down, 
And, like another jrullty thief, I tried detective eyes to stop; 
I pushed the good coal underneath, the useless ash I put on top. 
And then I’d hold my head up high when visitors would say: “ I ween 
You’ve got a mighty trusty bov, he sifts his ashes very clean.” 
But oh, alas! there came a rain; It washed the light ash all away. 
My reputation gave me pain; the good coal all unsifted lay, 
And I was hustled out to pick that wasted fuel from the mud. 
With aching back and lingers thick, my pride went downward with a 
thud. 
So learn the lesson— naught can hide unfaithfulness, life's searching 
rain 
Will show your shirking, crush your pride, and fill your life with bitter 
pain. 
Thinning makes thick fruit. 
Life’s puzzle Is to know what not to do. 
Where and how do you get insurance on a clover catch ? 
Have your cattle ever found any feeding value In straw other than 
as a “ filler ? ” 
You need a heaped measure of keenest pain to make the advantage 
of health quite plain. 
Bricks made of tar and sawdust are burned In some Florida orange 
orchards In time of threatened frost. 
Corks come to the surface because they are light, but a man must 
have solid worth and weight In order to rise. 
And now the young American betrays himself a churl, for, hoarse 
with robe and cutter, he goes forth to sleigh his girl. 
How many manufacturers who want free trade in raw materials 
are willing to give up the patent tariff which protects their finished 
products ? 
If you must feed bone meal to cows, don’t feed it through the manger 
but through the manure pile. In other words, add It to the manure 
and thus grow more food for the cows. 
The R. N.-Y. takes a lively Interest In the coming big fair at Chicago. 
It hopes that all Its readers can attend. Elsewhere we begin a series 
of notes about the fair and how to get to It, etc. 
The latest poultry advice is to feed oats to the heavy breeds like 
Cochins or Brahmas, on the principle, we suppose, that oats will make 
these dignified birds lively just as they give spirit to a driving horse. 
Does the present Senatorial selection In New Y’ork State make a 
good argument In favor of the scheme of electing United States Sena¬ 
tors by direct vote of the people? Could either of the Senators from 
this State be elected “ by the people?” 
In 18S9 the great State of Louisiana produced only 257 bushels of 
wlieaton 41 acres—a decrease of 1,460 a res la 10 years. A decrease In 
the wheat acreage would be a good thing for many States, but for a 
State that must buy all Its white bread, would not an Increase be more 
economical? 
The State of Oregon will, It is said, send to the World’s Fair some 
cedar shingles that have seen out-door service for over 25 years. 
They were laid five Inches to the weather and are still good for service. 
This exhibit Is expected to prove two things—that Oregon shingles are 
hard and Oregon weather Is soft. 
Many persons are worried by superfluous hair on the face. The 
latest remedy proposed Is, not to remove, but to bleach It so that It will 
be Invisible. To do this hydrogen peroxide is applied, first washing 
with a solution of powdered borax. It Is probably safer to whiten 
the hairs than to try to kill them. 
This week we begin a department which we trust will be found use¬ 
ful. We propose to group here facts from practical men concerning 
the most economical buying and using of fertilizers, and also Informal 
tlon for those who wish to make use of various waste substances that 
have little or no commercial value. We invite the cooperation of our 
readers. 
The idea suggested, some months ago, by an Illustrated article In 
The Rural New-Yorker, Is about to be put In practice by J. L. 
Frlel and brother, of Woodbury County. Iowa. They have made con¬ 
siderable money by catching wild skunks In winter, for which they 
got $2.50 to $3 apiece, and think they can make a tidy profit by raising 
the animals at home. There’s little danger that the skunk business 
will be overdone. 
According to a recent order of the Imperial Council of Russia, the 
real estate property of a peasant cannot be transferred under any 
circumstances. Whether obtained by inheritance, purchase, or as a 
gift from the Government, under the law of 1873, it cannot be taken 
from the owner or from the jurisdiction of his borough. Mortgages on 
such property are Invalid, and it Is not affected on account of judg¬ 
ments for debt against the owner. The decree was issued mainly to 
save the improvident peasants from the unscrupulous greed of usur¬ 
ious Shylocks—chiefly of Shylock’s race. 
The old land boom swindle not unknown in Kansas and some other 
Western States some years ago, has reached New York City. Owing 
to the rapid increase In land values it is easy to obtain mortgages on 
land pretty well up to its selling value. Hence. A. representing him¬ 
self as an agent for B.. buys a vacant desirable lot for $120,000, and be¬ 
fore the papers pass sells It to A for $235,000. Ou the strength of this 
transaction, B then obtains a mortgage of $200,000 on the property! If 
there’s any rascality In any part of the world unknown to New York 
sharpers they soon learn it and “ improve upon” It. 
The Russian Commission on Public Economy recommends the use 
of compressed leaves as fuel where wood, coals and turf are scarce. 
The Commission on Forests, however, raise strong objections. They 
argue that decayed leaves are the natural food for trees, and that 
their use as compressed fuel in large quantities would result in the 
wholesale destruction of forests, and ultimately in the destruction of 
rivers. This question may be of some importance to Americans in the 
remote future, but so long as our supplies of coal and timber are not 
seriously diminished, it’s a matter of curious speculation alone. 
That wages are not regulated In different countries to any great 
extent by the laws of protection and free trade Is proved by the fact 
that in free trade England wages are from a little to a great deal 
higher than In 11 protected ” countries In Europe. But In “ protected ” 
America they are much higher still than In the United Kingdom. For 
Instance, here, per day, workers on boots and shoes get, on an average, 
$2.31, there 85 cents; here cotton goods printers make $4.65, there $2.01; 
mechanics, here $2.31, there $1.16; rolling mill hands, here $3.44, there 
$1,21; tinners, here $2.46, there $1.22. The average dally wages paid 
In this country in 19 occupations Is $2.56; In the same occupations In 
Great Britain, $1.23—a difference of $1.33 in favor of the American 
workman. Is this due to “ demand and supply,” better organization 
among workmen, or protection, or to all three ? 
k. 
