1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
753 
THE PROSPECT. 
When President Cleveland appointed J. Sterling 
Morton Secretary of Agriculture, the Western agri¬ 
cultural papers were loud in praising the appointment. 
Of late, however, they have changed about and are 
now attacking the Secretary savagely. It is all about 
a speech delivered by Mr. Morton at Chicago, in which 
he said: 
The most Insidious and destructive foe to the farmer Is the profes¬ 
sional farmer, the promoter of Granges and Alliances, who for politi¬ 
cal purposes farms the larmer. It Is true that American farm life Is 
Isolated and that In the newer sections there Is too little of social 
pleasure and festivity, but my hope for the future of the farmer Is not 
based on gregariousness. He will not succeed better by forming 
Granges and Alliances, which generally seek to attend to some other 
business than farming, and frequently propose to run railroads and 
banks and even propose to establish new systems of coinage for the 
government, than he will by Individual Investigations of economic 
questions. Humanity generally, and the farmer particularly, has no 
enemy equal In efficiency for evil greater than Ignorance, therefore 
each tiller of the soil should Investigate for himself various methods 
of cultivating lands, of producing good crops, and of securing re¬ 
munerative markets. The one book which I can recommend the 
farmers for their perusal Is Adam Smith's “ Wealth of Nations.” 
I would also have, If possible, a dally newspaper from a great city 
at every fireside. The dally newspaper Is an educator because It 
leads out Into full view every morning all the markets of the world; 
It turns the light upon all the cause of fluctuating markets; It con¬ 
stantly Illustrates the terse truthfulness of that great sentence In 
modern political economy: "A market for products Is products In 
market.” 
We saw this reported speech at the time it was de¬ 
livered, and hoped to see a denial or correction from 
Mr. Morton. None has come. Secretary Morton has 
a perfect right to air his peculiar views wherever he 
sees fit to do so. He has put himself on record as op¬ 
posed to the Anti-Option bill, and certainly has noth¬ 
ing to say about the illegal sale of bogus butter. 
When he comes forward to attack the Grange and 
Alliance, he either does not know what he is talking 
about or is guilty of willful misrepresentation. As the 
Ohio Farmer plainly indicates, ther^ would have been 
no such thing as a Secretary of Agriculture to-day had 
not the Grange demanded it and created a sentiment 
in favor of it. It is true that there are representatives 
of the Grange and Alliance who are mere wind-bags— 
filled with a poor quality of wind at that—but any 
sane man who has given the subiect any attention at 
all knows that such men are mere excrescences, and 
that back of them is an organization of honest, hard¬ 
working and thoughtful men and women, whose lives 
are made stronger, happier and better by being drawn 
together by the principles of the Grange and Alliance. 
X t t 
It must be a singular condition of the human mind 
that advises the farmer to crawl into his own shell 
with a city paper and a book over a century old for 
companions. We have supposed that cooperation was 
desirable in the country as well as in town. It appears 
not, however, if the Secretary of Agriculture is a fit 
person to advise the farmers of America. According 
to this oracle, the agricultural papers and the experi¬ 
ment station bulletins are of no value to farmers. 
His ideal farmei must be one who remains contentedly 
at home, grows his crop, and thankfully takes for it 
whatever the city commission-man sees fit to give him. 
By thoughtfully studying “ Wealth of Nations,” he 
will probably succeed in making the Nation rich as a 
whole, but very little of the wealth will remain in his 
own pocket. No, No ! There seems no possible ex¬ 
cuse for such talk from the man selected to head and 
represent American agriculture. Such ideas are those 
of a Rip Van Winkle, and their author would do less 
harm if he would again go to sleep and remain asleep 
for the remainder of his term. 
t X t 
On Monday, October 30, the Senate passed what is 
known as the Repeal bill by a vote of 43 to 32, thus 
ending one long contest and beginning another. 
Most of our readers are doubtless familiar with the 
details of this prolonged struggle. We wish here to 
refer to a number of incidents connected with the 
affair that have not been generally considered. The 
battle was not a square issue between “ free silver” 
and the “gold bugs.” It was simply over the purchas¬ 
ing clause of the Sherman law, wh ch authorized the 
purchase of $4,300,000 worth of silver each month. 
The proposition was to prohibit or stop this purchase 
so that no more silver would be bought for use as 
money. The opponents of repeal argued that this 
would practically demonetize the white metal and 
held out for a promise or agreement to adopt some¬ 
thing else that would continue the use of silver. The 
Repealers said in substance, “ Do this first and con¬ 
sider the rest afterwards.” Thus it was that several 
Senators who favor the increased use of silver as money 
voted for repeal. J J J 
Of the 32 Senators who finally voted against repeal, 
19 were Democrats, 10 Republicans and three Popu¬ 
lists. The Democratic party as represented in the 
Senate was about equally divided on the measure, the 
Populists are all in favor of free coinage and the 
Republicans were in a great majority favoring repeal. 
In fact, of the 43 votes in favor of repeal, 23 were cast 
by Republicans. The fight of the silver men is all the 
more remarkable when we consider the wording of the 
bill. After repealing the Sherman law it reads : 
And It Is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to 
continue the use of both gold and silver as standard money, and to 
coin both gold and silver Into money of equal Intrinsic and exchage- 
able value, such quality to be secured through International agree¬ 
ment or by such safeguards of legislation as will Insure the mainten¬ 
ance of the purity In value of the coins of the two metals and the 
equal power of every dollar at all times In the markets and In the pay¬ 
ment of debts. 
And It Is hereby further declared that the efforts of the Govern¬ 
ment should be steadily directed to the establishment of such a safe 
system of bimetallism as will maintain at ail times the equal power of 
every dollar coined or Issued by the United States In the markets and 
In the payment of debts. 
In spite of this declaration in favor of the use of 
both metals as money the silver men would not trust 
the present Administration to suggest legislation favor¬ 
able to silver. It is a significant fact that with the 
exception of Senator Cameron of Pennsylvania, the 
vote favorable to silver came entirely from States 
wherein agriculture is the most prominent industry. 
The Southern States cast 17 votes against to seven in 
favor, and at least four of the seven who voted for 
repeal would vote for free silver if that issue were 
presented alone. In the States west of the Missouri 
River, 16 votes were given against repeal with but 
two favoring it. J J J 
In fact it was evident all through the debate that 
the chief supporters of an increased silver coinage 
either “free” or at a recognized ratio with gold were 
those who represent States wherein farmers are in a 
majority. Almost all the petitions favoring repeal 
and arguing against [silver were sent from Boards of 
Trade in towns or cities. These are the facts. They 
are worth considering calmly and dispassionately. 
We have no desire here to go over any of the old 
arguments for or against silver. It seems to us that 
the silver men in losing in this question of repeal have 
won a larger victory in the fact that they have made 
wide splits in party lines and gained for their cause 
a popular hearing that it never had before. If the 
Populists were now in condition to come forward in 
just the right way it seems to us that in at least 15 
States the old party lines would be completely broken 
up and many of the old, time-worn traditions would be 
swept away. In many respects this would be a most 
desirable outcome of the discussion. 
X X J 
The decision by Judge Williams that the New York 
law permitting women to vote for school commis¬ 
sioners is unconstitutional will cause disappointment 
to many women who registered and decided to vote. 
This decision does not settle the matter for good, and 
perhaps before this reaches our readers the Attorney 
General may have decided that women’s votes are to 
be received and counted. We now simply wish to 
refer to the reasons given by Judge Williams for say¬ 
ing that the proposition to allow women a vote is 
against the State constitution. He states that the 
constitution distinctly provides that only “ male citi¬ 
zens of the age of 21 years,” with certain other re¬ 
quirements, shall be considered voters. The office of 
School Commissioner, he says, was created by law 
after the constitution was adopted, and as the officers 
are to “be elected by the people”—meaning lawful 
voters—the legislature has no power to create new 
voters or grant the voting franchise to a new class of 
voters. To sum up his decision, he says: 
It will be well settled that the provision has had the effect to ex¬ 
clude all persons who are not males from the right to vote for the offi¬ 
cers referred to In the provision, and the legislature has no power to 
pass any act authorizing females to vote for any such officers. We 
are brought, therefore, to this conclusion: The office of School Com¬ 
missioner having been made elective by the people, no person can 
vote for an Incumbent of the office who Is not authorized under pro¬ 
vision of the constitution to vote, and only male persons are so 
authorized to vote. 
That is the decision, and if it holds good it will be 
necessary for the advocates of woman’s suffrage to 
have the coming Constitutional Convention recom¬ 
mend a change in the present constitution which 
must be ratified by the voters later. 
X X X 
Many good lawyers do not agree with this decision 
and insist that the law will stand the test of the high¬ 
est courts. These men claim that the legislature has 
power to extend the suffrage to women so far as the 
election of officers created since the adoption of the 
constitution is concerned. In other words, if the 
legislature can create a new office, it can also deter¬ 
mine who may vote to fill that office. From this view 
the legislature could not grant the suffrage to women 
for the election of Governor, but it can do so for the 
election of newer officers. The School Commissioners 
were not originally provided for in the constitution, 
and hence the rules laid down in that constitution 
could not exactly apply to them. A leading lawyer of 
this city is reported to have said : 
If this decision Is Just there are scores of unconstitutional laws on 
the statute books, for If the franchise cannot be extended to fe¬ 
males, It certainly cannot be restricted among males further than 
the constitution expressl) allows, for the constitution states that 
“ every male citizen” shall have the right to vote. 1 have In mind 
many laws which provide for the election of officers, such as Water 
and School Commissioners, In various municipalities In the State 
where a property qualtticatlon Is required of the voter. 
It seems to us that this is a fair interpretation of 
the matter, and we hope the law will stand, partic¬ 
ularly as there is little hope that the Constitutional 
Convention would suggest the desired change. 
X X t 
Last week we mentioned the fact that the New 
York Mercantile Exchange had adopted resolutions 
opposing the sale of bogus butter. Several meetings 
have been held by the Exchange for the purpose of 
discussing this subject. The resolutions finally 
adopted, after reciting the facts that certain manu¬ 
facturers are making desperate attempts of question¬ 
able character to foist their products upon different 
markets as natural butter in violat’on of law, and that 
large numbers of retailers and restaurant keepers are 
furnishing it to their customers as natural butter, go 
on to condemn such action, and pledge the assistance 
of the Exchange in ferreting out the violators of the 
law, and in assisting the Commissioner of Agriculture 
in any way he may besire. The resolutions also con¬ 
template an appeal to the Legislature at its next ses¬ 
sion for an appropriation of at least $100,000 for the 
protection of the dairy interests, and the consumers 
in the Metropolitan district. These meetings were first 
called because of the dissatisfaction of the trade with 
the management of the Metropolitan district under 
the charge of Deputy Commissioner Van Valkenburg. 
These were to be indignation meetings. Charges had 
been made that the employees were open to bribery, 
and that the department was simply a part of a politi¬ 
cal machine. Mr. Van Valkenburg was present and, 
after referring to the objects of the meeting, explained 
the reason why the department has been apparently 
derelict in performing its duty. His explanation was 
to the effect that the criminal law applicable in these 
cases did not go into effect until October 1 ; that the 
department had been hampered in its work by this 
fact which was not generally known, and that it had 
been thought best not to make the fact of the defi¬ 
ciency of the law public, as this would lead to flooding 
the market with the bogus butter. The department 
chose to rest under the imputation of laxity in the 
performance of duty until such time as the facts could 
be made known without detriment to the dairy inter¬ 
ests. Commissioner Schraub upheld his assistant, who, 
by the way, was appointed by his predecessor, Mr. 
Brown, in all his statements. Then the resolutions 
summarized above were unanimously adopted. 
X X X 
A dispatch from Washington stated that the inter¬ 
nal revenue authorities had discovered that the Armour 
Packing Co. had been packing 64 pounds of oleo in 
firkins stamped 60 pounds, thus defrauding the gov¬ 
ernment of eight cents revenue on each package. Mr. 
Van Valkenburg was asked in relation to this matter 
in this district. While admitting that he had heard of 
it, he didn’t care to say anyting about it at present. 
He, however, gave numerous instances in which the 
law was violated in other ways, both by the packers 
and the retailers. Evidence had been obtained in a 
large number of cases, and prosecution would follow. 
The law requires that whenever a sample of oleo is 
taken, a duplicate sample must be given to the sus¬ 
pected party. Then the samples taken by the in¬ 
spectors must be analyzed, all of which requires con¬ 
siderable time. j j j 
Fiiom other parts of the State complaints against 
the department similar to those made in this city are 
heard. The same explanation is given in relation to 
them. It seems that never before have such persistent 
efforts been made to flood the markets of the State 
with bogus products as at present. The high price of 
butter has probably had something to do with this. 
But this agitation can but do good. It shows the 
authorities charged with the enforcement of law that 
a strong trade association is watching them. It shows 
the dealers in bogus goods that they have a powerful 
and uncompromising foe. And it assures the farmers 
of the existence of an ally that is fighting for the pro¬ 
tection of honest goods. The consumers, too, are in¬ 
terested, for it is an assurance to them that an im¬ 
portant article of food is to have more thorough super¬ 
vision and more careful protection. There is a strong 
force against the bogus business, and it is to be hoped 
that the right will win. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Tub official report of the World’s Fair awards states that Mason & 
Hamlin, of Boston, have taken highest honors on both pianos and 
organs. 
Mit. 3. M. Duclos, proprietor of Park Farm, New Brunswick, N. J., 
begins to use The K. N.-Y. as a middleman. He has 100 little young 
Berkshlres to sell to BlJBAL readers. 
