8o8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 2 
OUR SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 
I have gotten into a chronic habit of 
believing everything that I read in The 
R. N.-Y., but I um6t say that in your 
issue of November 11, you have sat down 
too hard upon our Secretary of Agricul¬ 
ture. You have read meanings into his 
speeches which are not there as reported. 
I am most heartily in sympathy with him 
in what he says regarding the Grange 
and Alliance. In theory these organiza¬ 
tions are excellent. The farmer does 
need social and educational training and 
these organizations ought to be able to 
supply this in part. So far as they do 
supply this lack, God speed them. But 
when they begin to dabble in finance 
and political economy, they result in the 
amusement of intelligent persons and the 
applause of others. 
I am glad that Mr. Morton has put 
himself on record against the Anti-Option 
Bill. Betting on the future price of pro¬ 
duce is as wrong as is any other form of 
gambling, but it is an open question if 
the government has a right to interfere 
in what is merely a question of ethics, 
unless it endangers the public safety. It 
is a good old principle of political econ¬ 
omy (forgotten since the use of the Kan¬ 
sas school of political economists) that 
“ the government which seeks to do more 
than to protect the lives and property of 
its citizens, exceeds its prerogative.” Let 
us preach against the produce gambler 
if we will, but please do not attempt to 
reform him by legal methods. 
I do not think that Secretary Morton 
meant at all to restrict the farmers read¬ 
ing solely to the daily paper and the 
“ Wealth of Nations.” These were two 
which he desired to have read above all 
others. I have no idea that he meant to 
crowd out the agricultural papers and 
the experiment station bulletins. But 
after all, a metropolitan daily journal 
will give a man broader views of life and 
the world than any number of Alliances 
whose members grow red in the face, 
fulminating against “Gold Bugs” and 
“ Eastern Shylocks.” The Rural says 
that the “Wealth of Nations” is a book 
more than a century old. Very true ; 
but we must remember that while the 
theories of the natural sciences come and 
go, the eternal axioms of political econ¬ 
omy go on forever. 
And does he not come squarely to the 
point when he says that the farmer has 
no enemy so great as ignorance ? Until 
the farmer as a class learns to think—to 
work with his head as well as his heels 
—he will be what he always has been— 
the tool of politicians and the puppet of 
demagogues. A working farmer. 
Schoharie County, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—The address itself is printed 
on page 803, and it will bt fully discussed 
on both sides before we are done with it. 
One thing about “ Wealth of Nations.” 
Since it was written the°whole range of 
industrial life has been changed by 
mighty inventions. Is it probable that 
Adam Smith would express the same 
views were he writing to-day ? 
THE MIDDLEMAN. 
The middleman is a fat, easy-going, 
flourishing, contented.fellow. He gets a 
very good living out of distributing the 
farmer’s produce; I think he deserves it. 
But eyidently you do not. You give him 
a punch at every opportunity, but I think 
that he rather enjoys it. He is like the 
Dutchman, a big, burly fellow on whom 
his wife occasionally laid the stick. He 
was laughed at, and admonished for his 
want of spirit. You, no doubt, are 
familiar with his reply: “ It does not 
hurt me and it seems to do her a lot of 
good.” Now, whether you will or no, 
by your own showing, that happy Dutch¬ 
man represents the middleman. He is 
defined by all who speak against him, as 
getting the most of the profits, with no 
labor—at least, no hard, manual labor. 
Well, do you wonder that he does not 
mind your whacks! 1 do not, for most 
of the strikes never touch him to the 
quick, since he rarely reads an agri¬ 
cultural paper. The farmer, then, is 
the hard-working little wife of the 
middleman. Would it not be better that 
their conjugal relations were less acri¬ 
monious? How abcut pleading the 
merits of the middleman? Has he none? 
He is the distributer. I wonder where 
he comes from? Has he not been once a 
farmer? Let that go. Here is the fact that 
he is exceedingly useful. He has always 
existed. Perhaps there may be too much 
of him at times. He may be too fat and 
flourishing, and a little lazy. I know 
people from the city who come into the 
country, and soon get the impression 
that the farmer is outrageously lazy, 
shiftless, and untidy in his habits. Then 
save that stone. Do not foist too many 
at him. But as to his occupation, it is 
the greatest problem of this age, the 
matter of distributing anything produced. 
You can throw it aside lightly as of no 
importance, yet it will not down. I see 
it in the cry of the anarchist, the social¬ 
ist, the charitable, the hired emyloyee. It 
bothers the brain of the conscientious 
editor. The attention you give to it in 
your paper is very great to one who reads 
between the lines. It begins on the farm 
with the fertilizer which best distributes 
the food plant. It follows when the 
plant is ready for market. Who can best 
put that plant where it will bring back 
to the farm what it has taken away—of 
air, water and soil ? 
Of course the controversy is with the 
middleman’s charges for distribution. 
The farmer does not seem to get his 
share for his labor with the air, water 
and soil. Now, my protest is this. He 
is the husband, because his duties are 
mental and greater. Take the case of 
establishing a creamery. It is easy 
enough to get all the cream you need, 
and the machinery, and make a large 
quantity of butter. It is ten times as 
hard to get a sure market whereby you 
can distribute the immense output, day 
in and day out. That is why creameries 
fail. They do not count the cost of the 
distributer. He is the middleman, de¬ 
spised and rejected. And farmers would 
better rate him a little higher. But sup¬ 
pose he is yet to be poled with well laid 
strokes. He can stand it. He is as dur¬ 
able as a marble wall, so smooth, too, 
that a vine cannot climb up him. Better 
by far acknowledge the necessity of his 
existence and live on amicable relations 
with him. The middleman may not be 
a saint; but when it comes to as far as 
the farmer cares to go with produce, he 
is there to take it up and stipulate his 
own terms, “ The husband is the head 
of the wife.” And the middleman is the 
head of the farmer, gold bug farmer. 
[R. N.-Y. But suppose the Dutch 
woman stands out for woman’s rights 
and shows that s^e does not need a hus¬ 
band. What then?] 
cloth before it is cut to make up into 
garments, which in suits is nearly one- 
quarter more than goes into the made up 
suit. 
Now, allowing the price for labor and 
the price of linings, trimmings and the 
materials that go to make up the finished 
suit or garments to remain unchanged, 
how much is free wool going to cheapen 
woolen clothing. A laboring man ones 
answered this question by saying one- 
half; another from $2 to S3. A man who 
wore a broadcloth $75-suit thought free 
wool would reduce the cost of his suit 
$15 to $20. I have found that many have 
as vague, indefinite and incorrect ideas 
of the effect of free wool upon prices as 
these answers indicate. Now, what are 
the facts ? The duty upon Merino and 
other wools which are used in making 
cloth for clothing, dress goods, under¬ 
wear and hosiery, is 11 cents per pound, 
and upon coarser wools for carpets six 
to seven cents per pound. Now, with 
this fact before us, how much would 
the prices be changed or cheapened ? 
Let me put it down, as seeing the fig¬ 
ures is often convincing where words 
fail. Taking the weights given above, 
the difference on a heavy winter suit 
would be 60% cents; on a light suit, 
33 cents; on trousers, 16% cents; on 
undershirt or drawers, from 4 to 
6 cents; pair socks, 1 cent; woman’s 
dress, 26 cents; child’s flannel dress, 5% 
cents; woman’s or children’s stockings, 
1 to 2 cents a pair; broadcloth suit, 55 
cents; one yard carpeting, 9 cents. These 
figures are based upon the supposition 
that all the cloths are made of wool only, 
but if the cloths have a mixture of cot¬ 
ton or shoddy, then these figures would 
all be less according as there is more 
shoddy and less wool. 
Would this very slight difference in 
the cost of free-wcol clothing induce the 
people to buy so much more as to cause 
“great factories to spring up like 
magic,” employing increased workmen 
enough to consume the extra amount of 
products which farmers, driven by free 
wool out of sheep raising, would have to 
grow to replace the losses caused by the 
annihilation of the shtep and wool in¬ 
dustries? Would the small saving on 
woolen clothing be any compensation 
for the millions of loss that would accrue 
to the country by the destruction of 45,- 
000,000 sheep and their product, which 
now give employment to hundreds of 
thousands ? Texas alone has more than 
100,000 engaged in sheep industries. 
Would free wool enable our manufact¬ 
urers to export large quantities of cloth 
to sell in markets where they would 
come in competition with those nations 
who have not only free wool, but low 
wages ? chas. o. newton. 
Homer, N. Y. 
THE “ CHEAPNESS ” IN FREE WOOL. 
One would imagine from Mr. Wing’s 
.rticle on page 774 of The R. N.-Y. that 
ree wool was the one thing wanting to 
itart woolen manufacturing upon a new 
ine more extensive and prosperous than 
sver before, resulting in the greatly de¬ 
ceased cost of woolen clothing. Let us 
lee if there are any grounds for such an 
>pinion. The question arises, how much 
vould free wool reduce the cost of 
voolen clothing ? To more fully inform 
nyself, I went to a clothier and there 
veighed some cloths, as follows : Heavy 
voolen cloth for a winter suit weighed 
j% pounds; for a summer suit, 3 pounds; 
,he cloth for a pair of trousers, 1% 
sound; heavy, all-wool undershirt or 
Irawers weighed 14 ounces ; light ones, 
7 ounces; a pair of all-wool socks, 2 
sunces. The worsted cloth for a woman’s 
Iress weighed 2% pounds; the flannel 
for a child’s dress, one pound ; all-wool 
stockings for women or children, 2 to 4 
sunces per pair ; broadcloth for a full 
suit, 5 pounds. One yard of two-ply 
ivoven carpet weighed 1% pound. These 
are actual weights, including the whole 
A LONDON MIRACLE. 
AN IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY A WELL- 
KNOWN CITIZEN. 
Mr. E. J Powell Relates His Remarkable 
Experience to an Advertiser Represent¬ 
ative.—Tortured by Malignant Rheu- 
tism from Boyhood.—He at Last es¬ 
capes from Agony.—A Story Full of 
Hope for Other Sufferers. 
[From the London (Ont.) Advertiser.] 
At 33 Alma Street, South London, lives 
Mr. E. J. Powell, a gentleman who has 
resided in London and vicinity for about 
six years. He has been a sufferer since 
his youth with rheumatism in its worst 
form, but now the haggard face and al¬ 
most crippled form a year ago have given 
away to an appearance of health and 
vigor. 
Hearing of this, a reporter called on 
Mr. Powell and asked him to relate his 
experience. 
“ The first time I really felt any rheu¬ 
matic trouble,” said Mr. Powell, “ was 
in 1872. A twinge of pain caught me, 
but passed away in an instant. I did 
not know what it was. After that 1 was 
attacked at various periods, and in 1876 
I began to grow alarmed. In 1878 
I suffered from sciatica in the left leg. 
“For a number of years afterward 1 
continued to grow worse and worse. In 
the summer of 1884 I experienced the 
pain constantly. It was all day and at 
all times. I took the electric treatment 
steadily for several weeks, but it did me 
not the slightest good. 
“ A year ago last winter I was seized 
with a pain and for 14 weeks I never left 
the house. The only way in which I 
could be moved was by being wheeled 
around in an easy chair. What I suf¬ 
fered during that period no one but my¬ 
self can ever realize. Mr. Marshall, of 
whose case you have heard, is an ac¬ 
quaintance of mine, and said he could 
not say whether Pink Pills would cure 
rheumatism or not, but they were good 
for the blood anyway, and at least it 
would do me no harm to try half a dozen 
boxes. 
“ So I did ; bought six boxes, took four 
and received no benefit that I could recog¬ 
nize, but while taking the fifth I noticed 
that for a period of three or four days I 
felt no pain. I supposed it was a tem¬ 
porary relaxation due to natural causes. 
However, it gave me some hope to finish 
the sixth box. Then I knew I was get¬ 
ting better—much better. The pain 
which had been constant became inter¬ 
mittent and less severe. My friends aDd 
family told me that I was beginning to 
look like another man. My face, which 
had begun to wear a drawn expression, 
common with people who are suffering, 
commenced to show a better color. My 
system was being toned up. Inspired 
with increased hope I purchased six 
more boxes from Dr. Mitchell, the drug¬ 
gist, and continued to take them, and 
with each box I realized more aDd more 
that it was a cure. I used up 13 boxes 
in all, and when the 13 were finished I had 
not a symptom of pain for three months. 
“ Now,” concluded Mr. Powell, “you 
have my experience. I know what I 
was ; I know what I am. I know that 
from boyhood I have been a victim of 
malignant rheumatism, which has been 
a torture the last few years. I know 
that I have tried every remedy and been 
treated by the best medical skill, but in 
vain; and I know that Pink Pills have 
succeeded where everything else failed, 
and that they have brought me back 
health and happiness. Therefore 1 
ought to be thankful and I am thankful.” 
And Mr. Powell’s intense earnestness of 
manner could admit of no doubt as to 
his gratitude and sincerity. “ You may 
ask Rev. Mr. McIntyre, of the Askin 
Street Methodist Church, or Rev. G. A. 
Andrews, B. A., pastor of the Lambeth 
circuit, whether I was a sick man or 
not,” were his parting words. 
The reporter dropped in on Rev. C. E. 
McIntyre at the parsonage, 82 Askin 
Street. “ I know Mr. P well well,” said 
the reverend gentleman when ques¬ 
tioned. “ He is an esteemed parishioner 
of mine and is attending the Askin 
Street Church again.” “ Do you remem¬ 
ber Mr. Powell’s illness a year ago last 
winter?” “Yes, he had a very bad at-^ 
tack of rheumatism which laid him up 
for a long time. He had to be wheeled 
around the house in a chair. /Now he 
appears to be a well man. I heard he 
had been cured by Dr. Williams’ Pink 
Pills. Mr. Powell is, in my opinion, a 
most conscientious person, and any state¬ 
ment he would make would be perfecly 
reliable.” 
Mr. B. A. Mitchell, the well-known 
druggist, upon whom the reporter next 
called, said: “I know of Mr. Powell’s 
cure and it is every word true. I have 
sold thousands of boxes cf Pink Pills, 
and knowing that they always give sat¬ 
isfaction, have no hesitation in recom¬ 
mending them as a perfect blood builder 
and nerve restorer, curing such diseases 
as rheumatism, neuralgia, partial pa¬ 
ralysis, locomotor ataxia, St. Vitus’ 
dance, nervous headache, nervous pros¬ 
tration and the tired feeling therefrom, 
the after effects of la grippe, diseases 
depending on humors in the blood, such 
as scrofula, chronic erysipelas, etc. Pink 
Pills give a healthy glow to pale and 
sallow complexions, and are a specific 
for the troubles peculiar to the female 
system, and in men they effect a radical 
cure in all cases arising from mental 
worry, overwork or excesses of what¬ 
ever nature.” 
These pills are manufactured by the 
Dr. Williams’ Medicine Company, Sche¬ 
nectady, N. Y., and Brockville, Ont.. and 
are sold only in boxes bearing their trade 
mark and wrapper, at 50 cents a box, or 
six boxes for $2.50, and are never sold in 
bulk, or by the dozen or hundred, and 
any dealer who offers substitutes in this 
foraa is trying to defraud you and should 
be avoided.— Adv. 
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Trade supplied by Peter Van Schaack & Sons 
GUNS 
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