1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
363 
good enough now ? ” is also answered. It would be 
far better if all our coin were made of aluminium than 
of either or both gold and silver. Aluminium, like 
paper, would be cheap, light and beautiful, but some 
financial cranks would doubtless advocate putting 100 
cents’ worth of the metal in each dollar. 
The fourth question is, “ What is money, and can it 
have two values—intrinsic and fiat’—and, if so, which 
value do we use ? ” Money should be merely a medium 
of exchange, of fiat value only. Gold coin has both 
values, intrinsic and fiat, the first almost, and the lat¬ 
ter quite 100 cents on the dollar. During the civil 
war its intrinsic value was much above its fiat value. 
Silver coin also has both values—intrinsic about 65 
cents, and fiat 100 cents in limited numbers. Paper 
money has a fiat value only, and should be free from 
all exception clauses. Our gold coin does not pass at 
full face value between our American banks in large 
quantities, but is weighed and shortage deducted. All 
our paper money passes at full face value throughout 
the United States, and is therefore better than gold, 
in spite of the efforts of bankers to depreciate it with 
exception clauses. 
W. E R.’s last question, “ Is it not a fact that the 
prices of all farm products have declined with the 
depreciation of silver, and would not gold have de¬ 
clined in value if it had been demonetized in place 
of silver ? ” is an important one. The advocates and 
producers of silver seem to be jealous of gold. A pro¬ 
ducer of wheat during a declining market might with 
equal propriety be jealous because some other farm 
product did not decline in value. Demonetization had 
no more to do with the decline in price of silver or 
farm products than the man in the moon. All pro¬ 
ducts vary in price owing to cost, supply and demand. 
The cost of production of silver, iron, steel, alum¬ 
inium and farm products has been reduced. The value 
of all these and many others has declined because of 
this. Some producers of silver sell their product at 
four times its cost. Would W. E. R. take from the 
Government its 50 per cent profit in coining and give 
it to the silver miners ? That is all the silver pro¬ 
ducers and their mistaken friends are asking for. 
Silver producers ( i . e. advocates of free coinage) do 
not want to put 100 cents of intrinsic value in a silver 
dollar. They want the 50 per cent profit now made 
by the people. That’s all there is in this great ques¬ 
tion of free coinage. If gold should be demonetized 
by Congress to-morrow it would not depreciate an 
iota, because of the demand for gold in foreign coun¬ 
tries. If all nations would demonetize it, no doubt 
it would depreciate considerably in value, and it would 
then be governed by the laws that govern all other 
products of man’s labor. The worship of gold is only 
one of many superstitions man has yet to outgrow. 
I find in the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette an edi¬ 
torial containing the following: 
Silver has been cheapened by cheap production, growing ou t 0 f 
cheap and rapid transformation, the revelation of the secrets of the 
rocks with steam drills, the bursting of ledges with dynamite, the In¬ 
creased power of machinery, skill in labor, and the marvels of modern 
chemistry. These influences also apply to gold, and the production of 
the most precious metal Is enlarged. There is reason to believe It 
will be very much augmented within a few years. Meantime, there Is 
a story of the discovery of gold by the ton In the sands around a group 
of Islands south of Terra del Kuego. There are three of the islands. 
On two of them gold has been found. An expert has visited them, 
and writes: 
“ They are mountainous and covered with timber. The soil is al¬ 
ways damp; it is like a soaked sponge The three cover, perhaps, 70 
square miles. There are lakes on these islands. There are safe har¬ 
bors and creeks all around taem, and they have a beautiful beach of 
auriferous sand. To these islands the gold seekers flocked. In six 
months they extracted, by the simple method of washing the sand, 
no less than two tons of gold.” 
Suppose gold should be found so plentiful that it 
could be produced for one-fourth or one-tenth of its 
present cost, and in such quantities as to greatly over¬ 
supply the demand of the world for art and coinage 
purposes. Its value would decline just as the value 
of silver has declined, and for the same reason. A 
gold dollar mig 1 t then contain only 25 or 10 cents’ 
worth of gold ; and its fiat value might be in greater 
excess over its intrinsic value than is now the case 
with the silver dollar. S ; lver advocates should not 
in their jealousy anathematize all opponents of free 
and unlimited coinage of silver as ‘‘gold bugs,” for a 
very large per cent of these are as little advocates of 
gold as of silver. Their wish is the greatest good to 
the greatest number, and special favors to none. 
Shelby County, Ohio. EMORY, p. robinson. 
A KANSAS HEN HOUSE. 
I noticed in a late issue of The Rural a request for 
a description of a practical chicken house and setting 
room combined. At Figs. 134, 135 and 136 are pictures 
of one I built this spring and which I find very con¬ 
venient. It is 12x14 feet and made of native lumber 
with a shingle roof six feet high at the eaves. The 
posts are set in the ground, plates 2x6, girts the same, 
cut into posts two inches, so that the boarding would 
come flush. I made it with a double roof, as it mikes 
a stronger building, which we need to stand our heavy 
south winds ; the south side is boarded horizontally, 
the two bottom boards forming a swing door, which 
in warm weather, can be left up all the time. The 
setting room and passage-way are each four feet wide. 
I nailed a board on the bottom of the partition 
between the passage-way and setting room just high 
enough from the ground (as there is no floor) so that 
the nest boxes will slip under the partition, the rest 
of which is wire netting. 
The nest boxes are 12 inches square, opsn at the 
bottom and on one side with the exception of a four- 
inch strip nailed across the lower side. They stand 
with the open side facing the passage-way, being close 
together. Of course no hen can get through into the 
setting room. When I wish to set a hen, I reverse the 
box, leaving the open side in the setting room and 
supplying feed and water, so that the fowls can help 
themselves. If they change nests when they come off 
to feed—as they sometimes do—I don’t disturb them. 
The dropping board is made of matched lumber ; the 
roosts are slats laid across two 2x4 pieces—the slats 
are let into these one-half an inch to keep them in 
place, but not fastened—about six inches above the 
highest, or front side of the dropping board, leaving 
room to clean under the roosts ; all the drcppings fall¬ 
ing on the dropping board can be easily swept or 
pushed down with a light scraper and all pass 
directly out into the yard through swing doors. The 
space under the dropping board can be utilized for 
keeping feed or extra nests for laying hens. I find 
the open shed quite useful; hens can stay out there 
A Kansas Hen House. Fro. 134. 
Ground Plan of Kansas Hen House. Fro. 136. 
in cold weather and have the benefit of the sunshine 
without being exposed to the cold north wind. 
The expense of such a house here in Kansas for 
material is about $14 and any one handy with tools 
can build it. .ros. m. barney. 
NO MORE “ EMPTIES ” SENT BACK. 
“free hand” talks about free crates. 
Sample Letters. 
The fruit growers of this peninsula are opposlnK Klft crates and are 
determined to ship only to those who are not leagued to force them to 
use them Will The It. N.-Y. inform us of a number of substantial 
commission Arms who have not combined In this way, and who are 
favorable to return-crates?. f p h. 
Rldgely, Md. 
We would like The Rural to give us the name and address of the 
Secretary of the Commission Merchants’ Union of New York. We 
want to know all of the commission men who will return all berry 
crates and separators, less cups, as heretofore. c. f. s. 
Rldgely, Md. 
Some Schemes of Commission Men. 
“ What about this return crate business ? ” I asked 
one of the old commission merchants who has grown 
gray in the business, and yet hasn’t retired with the 
competence that such men are supposed to amass. 
“Return crates are dead, and^ot even Gabriel with 
his trumpet can ever bring them to life again. That 
business is settled; no more crates will be returned 
from this city to growers.” 
“ What about the organization of commission men 
who are pledged not to return crates ? ” 
“ I don’t know of any such; it isn’t necessary. I 
don’t belong to any league, not even to the Mercantile 
Exchange, because I purpose to do my own business 
in my own way, without being bound by any rules or 
restrictions they might make and of which I didn’t 
approve. I have been solicited many times to sign 
this, that and the other agreement in regard to cer¬ 
tain methods of doing business, and have always re¬ 
fused. Many times those who were the most active in 
circulating these papers would be the first ones to 
violate the agreements contained in them.” 
“ What is their object in doing this ? ” 
“To get the advantage of other dealers and thus 
secure shipments to themselves.” 
“ Do you recall any particular examples of these 
practices? ” 
“Yes; a number of years ago Mr.- concocted 
the schenoe of furnishing free baskets to such growers 
as would ship their peaches to commission men fur¬ 
nishing the baskets. . I was solicited to sign such an 
agreement, but I refused.” 
“ What was the objection to doing that ?” 
“ In the first place the dealer who makes any such 
offer intends to reimburse himself in some way for 
his outlay, with interest. He will rob the shipper to 
the extent of the cost of the baskets, with a good mar¬ 
gin added. The scheme of furnishing free baskets 
caught a good many shippers, but they had to pay 
dearly for it. Again, it is a bad thing for the dealer 
many times. It was tried a good many years ago 
with berry crates. Quantities of them were sent to 
growers up the State to be filled and returned. Some 
of them came back all right; many of them were used 
to ship berries to other markets and never found their 
way bade. There were few of the crates left at the 
close of the season.” 
“ How did it work with the free peach baskets of 
which you were speaking ? ” 
“ It worked with some. The projector shipped a 
car-load of baskets to Dr. -, of Wilmington, Del., 
expecting to receive his shipment of peaches. The 
Dr., who was at the time one of the most extensive 
growers of peaches on the Peninsula, was in my store 
after the season was over. ‘ Did you ship your 
peaches to Mr. # -?’ I inquired. ‘Some of them.’ 
‘ But he furnished you a car load of free baskets so as 
to be sure of your fruit, didn’t he? ’ ‘ Yes; but I knew 
he would rob me of more than enough to pay for 
them, so I shipped him some peaches until I calcu¬ 
lated that he had cheated me out of nearly enough to 
pay for his baskets, and then I shipped them else¬ 
where. You had a lot of my peaches in his free bas¬ 
kets.’ So you see that some of the growers are on to 
these little games.” 
Reasons Why Crates Should Be Free. 
“ But why should this change to free crates be made 
now ? ” 
“ Because it is high time for it. It has been agi¬ 
tated for years, but it is impossible to bring about 
these reforms in a day. Circumstances have been 
paving the way for the change.” 
“ How about return packages for other goods ? ” 
“ They have all been done away with. I can remem¬ 
ber when every barrel containing sweet potatoes or 
other truck from the South had to be returned, or 35 
cents forfeited ; when every barrel or crate contain- 
ing eggs or poultry must be returned or paid for. The 
Old Dominion steamers formerly came up loaded with 
truck, and went back loaded with barrels and boxes 
returned to the shippers. The empty barrels made so 
much extra freight on the return trip to Norfolk that 
an extra steamer was necessary in order to carry all 
the empties, and this steamer would come back about 
empty. But these things have all been changed grad¬ 
ually, until return packages for every thing but berries 
have been done away with.” 
“ Has there been any great objection to this 
change ? ” 
“ Oh, yes, by some growers ; but they must come to 
it or not sell their fruit.” 
“What are the most potent factors in bringing 
about the reform ? ” 
“ The buyers and the railroads. When this season 
began I started in to charge buyers 25 cents apiece 
deposit on crates. Many of them wouldn’t buy unless 
they could get the berries enough cheaper to offset 
this charge, while others refused to buy at any price 
unless the crates went with the berries absolutely 
free. If I didn’t sell them under these terms, some 
other dealer would, so I abandoned the idea, and now 
all crates from here go with the berries. Then the 
railroads and express companies refuse to return 
empties free, so that the return becomes an expensive 
matter.” 
“ But why shouldn’t this reform have been adopted 
years ago ? ” 
“Because crates formerly cost more than they do 
now, and it would have been a heavy tax upon the 
grower. We get bushel crates from the South now 
that are made not to be returned, that are plenty 
strong enough to be reshipped from here to any part 
of the country, that answer the purpose well, and yet 
sell for not much over 20 cents apiece. When you 
count the return freight, and the cost of handling, 
they amount to more than the expense of returning 
them to the growers. Then the berry business has as¬ 
sumed such immense proportions that it is almost im¬ 
possible to handle the empties in the rush of the season.” 
