1894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
445 
THE PROSPECT. 
The average Fourth of July orator feels it a part of 
his duty to brag about the greatness of this country 
and the blessings enjoyed by the average man by 
reason of living under a Republican form of govern¬ 
ment. In olden times there was little fear for the fu¬ 
ture, for the country was then crude and undeveloped, 
and the advantages held by one man over another 
were mainly those conferred by skill, industry and 
human energy. Within the last quarter of a century, 
enormous wealth has settled into comparatively few 
hands. This concentration of the power of money 
has made itself felt in many ways. The Fourth of 
July orators who led up to the political movement that 
has resulted in the Populist party, taught the masses 
that the moneyed class had broken the law—taken 
advantages of the financial condition of the country 
to make the debtor class pay a double tribute from 
their earnings. This idea has grown, and the tend¬ 
ency of those who preached it has been to advocate 
another violation of the law in order to set matters 
right. Anarchy from its mildest to its most rabid 
form appears to have for its basis a redivision of prop¬ 
erty—something to be taken from the rich and dis¬ 
tributed to the poor. The Fourth of July orator of 
1894 might well have taken for his theme the fact that 
disobedience to constituted law has become too 
general in this country, and that it presents the most 
dangerous tendency of the times. 
• 
The old monarchies have always held that there is 
not force enough in the government of a Republic to 
keep down what they would call a “ disturbing ele¬ 
ment.” They had no faith in popular government. 
They believed that the preaching of universal freedom 
would drive men to insane ideas of personal liberty. 
In short, they believed that the ordinary, common 
man is incapable of self government—that sooner or 
later he will make a fool of himself politically, either 
through ignorance or bigotry. So long as men recog¬ 
nized the fact that every law is a compromise which 
all must obey, even to our inconvenience, in order 
that a standard of conduct could be established, this 
country was safe. The danger has come in with the 
idea that one disobedience to law will correct a former 
one. It is true that the past 30 years have shown how 
men may prosper under the government of a Republic, 
but they have also shown the fatal weakness of a 
government of the people when the people are too 
busy to attend to the governing. Lincoln and Garfield 
have been shot down and scores of prominent men have 
met death at the hands of revengeful, if not insane 
cranks. Carnot, the French President, has met the 
same fate—in fact it must be admitted that anarchy 
has done its bloodiest work in lands where men are 
supposed to have most freedom. New York City to¬ 
day is governed by a gang of brutal and insolent 
foreigners. At the West, a band of railroad men are 
holding up a nation’s commerce—defiantly dictating 
terms to the General Government itself. The sting of 
all this is that these things would not be possible in a 
despotic government like Russia, or even in Germany, 
or in England. ^ 
What does it all mean ? Put as simply as possible, 
it means that Americans have lost something of the 
meaning and importance of obedience to constituted law. 
Men on both sides have taken advantage of the 
freedom existing under a government like this, and 
now trample on the rights of others in order to benefit 
themselves. The time has come when men must be 
forced to obey the law by their own sense of honor and 
duty or the general government must be given more 
power to mcLke men respect common rights of rich and 
poor alike. There are two chief reasons that lie at 
the bottom of this trouble: 1. Good men have lost 
interest in practical politics. They may perhaps vote, 
but they take little interest in the primary or in the 
education of ignorant voters. Men of good repute 
have left the details of politics to demagogues, and 
have thus weakened and injured their government, or 
they have permitted the money classes to legislate on 
their own terms, 2. Unrestricted immigration has 
filled our towns and cities with ignorant and savage 
men—paupers, criminals and the scum of European 
pest holes. No true man will protest against the com¬ 
ing of those who seek homes and have an honest de¬ 
sire to improve themselves. We are all but a few gen¬ 
erations removed from such immigrants. Three classes 
of men from abroad are injuring this country: The 
human rats who are poured out of prisons and asy¬ 
lums, anarchists who mistake the freedom of this 
country for a place in which to teach and practice 
their doctrines, and the contract laborers who are im¬ 
ported like sheep to do the work that belongs by 
right to Americans. ^ 
The times at present demand restraint rather than 
goaoing—obedience to law rather than violation of it. 
The rich and the powerful must be held sternly and 
fairly up to their duty. They are more responsible for 
the present state of affairs—for the first disobedience 
of law was theirs. They represent one class and the 
bitter workmen who are going to the other extremie 
against them represent another. There is still an¬ 
other class which has not yet openly entered the dis¬ 
cussion. This is the largest class of all, composed 
mainly of conservative and reasoning land owners— 
farmers and those with small places who have not 
thus far been heard from. It is well that we have 
such a class in this country. It is the strongest safe¬ 
guard we have left. Sooner or later the fi^ht between 
labor and capital must go to the farm for settlement 
and the decision will be an honest one. Just now 
the country needs conservative and cool-headed advice 
far more than radical and ill-advised teachings. 
tt 
The Department of Agriculture has issued a pam¬ 
phlet on the Russian thistle, giving its history, habits 
and the best means of fighting it. Among other sin¬ 
gular suggestions is that of fencing it out of the farm 
by putting up a barrier against which the thistle will 
roll and stick. When the thistles ripen, they break 
loose from the ground and roll for miles with the 
wind, scattering countless seeds as they go. But it 
would hardly pay to build a fence around a large 
Western farm for the sake of keeping out thistles, 
and here comes in the remarkable part of the sug¬ 
gestions. It is proposed to sow a double row of sun- 
fiowers around the farm each year—thus making a 
temporary fence which would stop the rolling thistles 
and hold them until dry enough to burn. There is a 
scheme worthy of a Yankee. The sunfiowers will not 
only keep off the thistles, but they will supply fuel 
and food for poultry or horses. The advocates of no 
fence and cheap fence should now take a back seat 
in favor of the sunflower. 
TUBERCULOSIS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
MB, FOULKE HAS HIS SAY. 
Having read Dr. J. Cheston Morris’s “ Talk about 
Tuberculosis ” with much interest, some thoughts 
were suggested thereby which I submit in the hope 
that they may help to make this vexed subject still 
plainer to dairymen. Dr. Morris says that “ Forty 
years ago ‘ bovine tuberculosis ’ was recognized as a 
disease akin to, but distinct from, ordinary consump¬ 
tion.” But science has made tremendous strides in 40 
years, and so many eminent men to-day consider them 
identically the same disbase—which sometimes tikes 
a different form in animals—that prudence alone 
would forbid our exposing our herds to useless risk 
of contagion until this point is settled. This ques¬ 
tion of the pathology of the disease is one with which 
farmers have nothing to do, nor, strictly speaking, 
should we concern ourselves to decide whether tuber¬ 
culous milk is dangerous or not, except to take all 
precautions recommended by the medical profession, 
to protect ourselves and the consumers. 
We are told by competent authority that tubercu¬ 
losis is a very contagious disease, and that tuberculous 
milk has been proved to convey the disease in many 
cases. Why not, therefore, take steps to stamp out 
such a disease ? But, no, we stand and argue about it 
and deny facts, while all the time our cattle are be¬ 
coming more infected by the diseased specimens 
among them. There should be no question as to the 
contagiousness of tuberculosis, in view of the weight 
of evidence to that effect. This does not mean that 
every animal or person coming in contact with it will 
necessarily contract it, but it does mean that they run 
a great risk of doing so. For example, one of the 
resident hospital physicians in Philadelphia, has come 
in daily contact with thousands of cases of scarlet 
fever, and other dangerous diseases without contract¬ 
ing any of them. Why not argue, therefore, that 
these diseases were not contagious? So we might 
drink tuberculous milk all our lives and not be harmed, 
unless the conditions favored the development of the 
disease. Unfortunately for most people, they are not 
in this robust condition, and we are confronted with 
statistics showing that of all the diseases, tuberculosis 
seems to be peculiarly liable to fasten on the human 
race—claiming one-seventh of all who die! So it is 
among cattle, the conditions surrounding them seem 
to favor their being easily infected. Dr. Morris told 
the West Chester dairymen that Mr. Gillingham traced 
the loss of some 30 odd cows to one cow bought at a 
bazar sale of fancy cattle in Philadelphia. Both his 
and Mr. Trimble’s experience (where five out of seven 
young heifers raised solely on creamery milk to wean¬ 
ing were condemned, while his cows and calves raised 
on their milk did not react to tuberculin), should 
prove that we dare not trifle with this disease, but 
should legislate for State inspection and remunera¬ 
tion. Physical examination has been proved abso¬ 
lutely worthless, as so many cattle passed after a 
skillful veterinary examination were condemned by 
tuberculin and shown to be badly diseased on post 
mortem. There have been many objectors to tuber¬ 
culin on the ground that it might convey the disease. 
Dr. Dixon, of Philadelphia, condemns it because he 
says that he has found the bacilli in it—in the same 
article he says he has “never found the bacilli in milk 
except when taken from cows where the mammary 
gland was diseased.” But why doesn’t he, therefore, 
condemn all milk, if he condemns all tuberculin ? 
He is illogical if he does not. The highest authority 
in the world to-day says that tuberculin “properly 
prepared and kept is perfectly safe.” Tuberculin 
containing bacilli has been badly prepared or care¬ 
lessly kept, and is no more fit for use than milk con¬ 
taminated with the germs would be. Then, again, it 
is urged that it is not “an infallible” test; maybe 
not, but do we know anything “infallible ” ? So far, 
tuberculin comes nearer infallibility than any other 
process known; let us use it until we do get something 
better, taking care to employ only skilled veterina¬ 
rians. The claim that the disease cannot be stamped 
out, is not founded on fact—our best veterinarians be¬ 
lieving that it can. So let us act promptly and face 
the issue as it exists, without trying to avoid it on 
such foolish grounds as are frequently presented— 
claiming that the oleo people started a scare, etc. 
Even worse than this are the ignorant and sometimes 
willful misrepresentations made by men who are 
“agin inspection” on principle, and deliberately 
spread reports not founded on fact. 
In this connection a few remarks may not be out of 
place on the articles of Mr. Benj. Sharpless and “Milk¬ 
man” in The R. N.-Y. of June 30 Passing over the 
heinous crime charged against me by the former of 
“being a small farmer who recently came from the 
city,” I must correct his statement that I had “ six 
cows tested,” for there were 10 head of cattle in all. 
Again he says, “ of the five killed, only one showed 
the disease very decidedly,” another error, for the last 
cow killed, a superb Holstein, showed extremely large 
tubercles, as did all the others but one, she being 
mostly affected in the bowels. Mr. Sharpless furnishes 
a strong argument for State inspection, and puts the 
opponents of it in a hole when he says, “ The veteri¬ 
narian just takes the temperature, sounds the lungs 
and gives a certificate, for that is what he is paid to 
do, not to find sick animals.” Is it any wonder that Mr. 
Sharpless has “ heard of no tuberculosis being found, 
and none is likely to be ” ? 
“ Milkman ” states “that three cows were killed, 
one was affected, one uncertain, and one probably 
clear,” which statement is so inaccurate as to make 
one wonder if he belongs to that class “ who don’t 
read the papers.” Strange to relate, he has also heard 
of no diseased animals except “ one case.” His logical 
conclusion that “ The oleo men have much to do with 
the present excitement, and that the young vets also 
are running it as a money-making scheme ” will no 
doubt decide many now on the fence to make up their 
minds against inspection. The local reporter who said 
that there “ appeared to be a strong feeling among 
the farmers against the discovery of the disease,” hit 
the nail on the head. The farmers have been their 
own worst enemies in this matter, and by their failure 
to protest against the sham veterinary inspections 
which are, by their own admission, “ not made to dis¬ 
cover sick animals,” have fully justified the severe 
criticisms now being made against them in the city 
press, to the effect that they “ do not desire to send 
in milk which is pure and wholesome, but only that 
which the lax law and their own ignorance—criminal 
in the face of widely known facts—allow them to claim 
is pure and wholesome.” Farmers, do not let this 
stigma rest upon us, but let us act as men and accept 
the issue as such, thus proving to the world that the 
mass of us are not represented by the rascals who are 
willing to send milk from dairies “ where the inspec¬ 
tors were paid not to find any disease.” 
QEOKQE KHYFEDD FOULKE. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
“ A GRAND LOT,” Is what Is Said of the imported yearliEj? Shrop¬ 
shire rams and ewes offered by The Willows, Paw Paw. Mloh. 
South Downs, old and young, and of both sexes, from the best 
strains of Imported blood, are offered by E. U. Holcombe & Bro., 
Lambertvllle, N. J. ’ 
Scotch Cheviot sheep of both sexes at special prices, are offered by 
D. F. Wilber, Oneonta, N. Y. He also sells Holsteln-Frleslans from 
his World's Fair Champion herd. 
Every reader should examine the advertising columns every week. 
More and more subscribers are begging to use Tub Kdhal as a 
middleman to buy or sell. See Mr. Bussell’s Inquiry for a Shropshire 
ram this week, and the many other announcements of things tor sale. 
Peter Henderson & Co.. 35 and 37 Cortlandt St., New York.- 
Mldsummer catalogue of strawberry, celery, cabbage and cauliflower 
plants. Tne Henderson "Nectar” collection of strawberry plants Is as 
follows: Beder Wood, Haverland, Beverly, Princess, Parker Ear e, 
Edgar Queer, Gandy’s Prize, Tlmbreli. Then follows the standard 
list, pot-grown or layer. This Arm offers Crimson clover seed for 17 50 
per bushel of UO pounds. 
Henry a. Dreeh, 714 Chestnut St., Philadelphia.—Midsummer list 
of strawberries (pot and layer), celery and cabbage pants and vege¬ 
table seeds for summer and tall sowing. The newer sorts of straw¬ 
berry plants ottered are Tlmbreli. Marshall. Clarke’s Seedling, Her- 
sey. Van Deman and Banquet. We would call attention to the Dreer 
lawn mower which we have been using for two years, it Is as light 
and as light-running as any we have tried and does thorough work. 
The price for 10-lnch width Is but 15. It is a first-rate house. 
