She  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1129 
made  by  a  minor  during  his  infancy  may 
be  avoided  by  bim  nt  bis  option  when  Im 
becomes  of  age.  and  anyone  dealing  with 
him  runs  this  risk,  lie  is,  of  course,  re¬ 
sponsible  for  any  debts  contracted  by  him 
since  bis  majority.  You  would  not  be  re¬ 
sponsible  for  liis  debts  other  than  those 
for  his  necessaries,  any  more  than  would 
a  stranger,  unless  you  have  by  contract, 
or  by  express  or  implied  implication  held 
yourself  out  as  guaranteeing  his  con¬ 
tracts.  Under  the  facts  as  given  you 
,  ,  ,  .  in.  would  not  seem  to  be  holding  for  them. 
Infant  s  Right  to  do  Business 
What  right  had  a  minor  to  do  business 
in  his  own  name?  I  have  a  boy  who  has  Collection  of  Freight  Charges 
run  my  farm  for  the  past  two  years  in  ,  .  „  ,  -  .  ,  ,  - 
this  way.  1  have  hired  it  to  him  for  a  n  ™  ^ shipped  a  ear  of  stock  or  goods  from 
certain  sum  of  money,  I  was  in  the  milk  ®  <*rt«n bl11  °f  ladmf 
i  •  j  n  n  mi  %  V  i  lulled  t  <  >  oursMws,  or  to  our  order.  A  sent 
business  and  the  milk  check  was  to  come  biJ1  „f  r.ol],.ct  freight  on 
.n  my  name,  as  security  for  the  rent  *th  f,nfL  We  otta“he4l  sight  (lVaft  to 
After  got  my  rent  I  gave  turn  what  was  bn,  of  lading  and  Rfiut  it  through  the 
c  t.  He  is  my  son  ;  he  has  run  up  some  bank  to  buy|l%  the  draft  to  cover  price 
V  s  aU(.  ^  an'  fu  '  aui  responsible _ for  0f  g00<jg  only.  A  few  days  after  the 
those.  According  to  law,  had  he  a  right  ageut  called  us  on  the  ’phone  and  said 
business  and  is  lie  responsible  bun-  that  the  point  shipped  to  was  a  prepay 
self.  lie  says  that  he  paid  those  bills,  .station,  and  for  us  to  collect  freight  and 
*  responsible  for  the  debts/  lie  was  send  check  for  the  same.  We  asked  the 
_0  when  he  took  charge  m  1914.  F.  R.  party  to  do  so,  but  he  did  not.  We  have 
iNew  lork.  contract  of  sale  f.o.b.  shipping  point. 
As  a  general  proposition  contracts  Who  will  the  law  decide  is  to  pay  the 
The  Needs  of  Eastern  Fruit  Growers 
Co-operate  or  be  Left  Behind 
easier  and  better  and  your  lives  nobler 
and  purer  as  they  are  lived  close  to  Na¬ 
ture  and  Nature's  God. 
Extracts  from  an  address  at  the  Lockport, 
N.  Y.,  farmers’  congress  June  1,  hy  Seth  J.  T. 
Rush,  Manager  of  the  Eastern  Fruit  and  Produce 
Exchange. 
Part  III. 
Improving  Conditions. — Rome  was 
not  built  in  a  day  and  you  cannot  revol¬ 
utionize  the  marketing  system  of  a  great 
8tute  in  fifteen  minutes.  It  takes  time 
to  accomplish  big  things,  but  hunest.  con¬ 
certed.  intelligent  effort  will  overcome  any 
obstacle  and  accomplish  any  desired  re¬ 
sult.  Too  much  must  not  be  expected  at 
first  (he  impossible  can  out  be  attained. 
“The  Lord  helps  them  that  help  them¬ 
selves.”  Carrying  out  the  plan  we  have 
suggested  will  not  insure  you  against  all 
possible  trouble  or  worry  for  the  balance 
of  your  natural  life  -it  will  not  put  good 
crops  on  your  trees,  or  untold  wealth  iu 
your  pockets.  Tilings  will  still  go  wrong 
occasionally,  and  disappointments  will 
come  to  us  all  from  time  to  time,  but  we 
will  at  least  have  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  we  have  acted  with  intel¬ 
ligence  and  done  our  best.  Many  farm¬ 
ers,  after  the  novelty  of  the  new  ex¬ 
change  has  worn  off  and  they  are  not 
handed  something  handsome  in  the  way 
of  unheard-of  prices  or  a  soft  job  with 
a  good  salary  attached  seem  to  lose  in¬ 
terest  in  their  organization.  You  must 
have  someone  capable  and  tireless  on  the 
job  every  day  iu  the  year,  fighting  for 
your  rights — there  must  be  a  firm  hand 
in  control  to  hold  your  enterprise  steady 
— men  with  a  vision  extending  beyond 
MID-YEAR 
MODEL 
o.  b.  Racine 
the  end  of  their  noses,  and  the  results 
will  take  care  of  themselves.  The  or¬ 
ganization  of  the  farmers  and  fruit 
growers  of  New  York  on  a  large,  compre¬ 
hensive  scale,  as  I  have  suggested,  will 
enable  them  to  control,  through  their 
central  organization,  the  sale  and  dis¬ 
tribution  of  their  products,  and  will  mean 
an  average  increase  of  25  per  cent,  in  , 
their  returns.  You  can  never  get  proper 
distribution — you  can  never  have  any¬ 
thing  to  say  about  the  price  to  he  paid 
for  your  products,  until  you  have  cen¬ 
tralized  all  of  your  local  exchange  units 
into  one  central  organization  which  can  I 
John  W.  Bate’s  Surprise 
This  Mid-Year  Mitchell  came  out  in  April  as  a  where  the  strain  comes.  There  is  much  Chrome* 
nation-wide  surprise.  Vanadium  steel. 
It  combined  in  one  car  all  the  best  new  concep-  lie  has  aimed  at  a  lifetime  car,  enduring  and 
tions  found  in  257  Show  models.  It  embodied  26  trouble-proof.  Six  of  his  cars,  as  a  result,  have 
extra  features,  most  of  which  all  other  cars  omit.  averaged  164,372  miles  each.  That  is  over  30  years 
exercise  control  over  the  entire  system. 
With  such  an  arrangement  tens  of  thou¬ 
sands  of  dollars  eau  be  saved  annually 
to  New  York  growers  both  on  what  they 
buy  and  what  they  sell.  Such  an  or¬ 
ganization  as  we  have  outlined  cannot 
be  operated  on  wind — it  takes  money  to 
secure  and  hold  the  services  of  exports 
to  handle  your  business ;  it  takes  ormney 
to  pay  rent,  telephone  and  telegraph  bills, 
and  hire  competent  inspectors  and  adver¬ 
tise,  but  it  will  cost  far  less  under  the 
plfui  proposed  than  it  does  now,  and  you 
have  got  to  pay  the  bill  in  either  case. 
Now  you  don’t  know  what  it  costs  but 
pay  the  bill  blindly — then  you  will  know 
exactly  what  it  costs,  who  gets  it  and 
what  you  get  in  r  turn. 
Recognition  Required. — The  great 
agricultural  and  horticultural  interests  of 
this  State  are  not  given  proper  recogni¬ 
tion  at  Albany.  A  few  of  us  working 
earnestly  for  three  years  finally  succeed¬ 
ed  iu  getting  a  bill  through  the  Legisla¬ 
ture  creating  the  State  Department,  of 
Foods  and  .Markets — the  greatest  piece  of 
legislation  ever  placed  upon  the  statute 
books  of  this  State  for  the  benefit  of  pro¬ 
ducers.  and  not  one  farmer  in  one  hun¬ 
dred  is  familiar  with  the  splendid  pro¬ 
visions  of  this  law.  And  the  Legislature 
after  creating  this  Department,  has  re¬ 
fused  to  grant  it  an  appropriation  worthy 
of  the  name,  but  on  the  contrary  has 
crippled  it  and  made  it  almost  impossible 
for  the  commissioner  to  accomplish  any¬ 
thing  for  the  producers,  and  all  this  in 
face  of  the  fact  that  the  marketing  ques¬ 
tion  is  just  about  the  biggest  question  in 
the  State  today.  They  appropriated 
$150,000  for  bath  houses  at  Saratoga 
Springs,  and  allowed  $21,500  for  the  De¬ 
partment  of  Markets;  adding  insult  to 
injury  by  putting  this  measly  appropria¬ 
tion  in  the  shape  of  a  “budget,”  the  sole 
purpose  of  which  was  to  embarrass  the 
commissioner  and  make  it  more  difficult 
for  him  to  help  the  producers.  Unlimit¬ 
ed  money  for  “investigating  committees” 
and  “junkets,”  but  rigid  economy  when 
it  comes  to  the  solution  of  your  problems 
and  the  salvation  of  your  business.  We 
want  more  farmers  in  the  Legislature — 
farmers  with  something  besides  an  angle- 
worm  for  a  backbone — we  have  a  few  of 
that  sort  there  now.  The  business  of 
farming  and  fruit  growing  is  the  great¬ 
est  business  in  the  land — the  value  of  the 
farm  products  of  this  country  is  ten  bil¬ 
lion  dollars  annually-  a  business  to  com¬ 
mand  the  respect,  the  intelligence  and  the 
ambitions  of  men.  Agriculture  and  hor¬ 
ticulture  are  the  rocks  upon  which  all 
true  prosperity  rests.  Let  us  accept  the 
responsibility  that  goes  with  our  calling 
and  betid  our  efforts  to  the  improvement 
of  all  conditions  affecting  our  lives  and 
our  business.  With  your  faces  turned 
toward  the  morning  and  your  wagon 
hitched  to  a  star,  let.  there  be  a  common 
bond  of  sympathy  and  interest  stretching 
from  every  farm  on  every  hillside  plain 
and  valley  of  this  great  State  to  every 
other  farm  and  fireside,  carrying  and  em¬ 
bodying  good  cheer  and  fellowship  among 
all  the  sons  and  daughters  of  agriculture 
and  horticulture,  to  the  end  that  your 
calling  may  be  dignified,  your  living  made 
Yet  it  sells  at  a  price  which  is  way  below  other 
cars  of  its  size  and  class. 
But  what  you  see  here  is  the  final  result  of  13 
years  of  effort.  John  W.  Bate,  the  efficiency  engi¬ 
neer,  has  devoted  those  years  to  the  Mitchell.  The 
car  which  amazes  you  today  has  come  through 
that  evolution. 
The  Extra  Values 
You  see  here  extra  values.  You  see  the  most 
complete  car  ever  shown.  You  see  many  costly 
features,  exclusive  to  the  Mitchell.  And  you  wonder 
how  we  give  them  at  our  price. 
The  reason  lies  in  factory  efficiency,  due  to  Mr. 
Bate.  He  has  built  and  equipped  here  a  model 
motor  car  plant.  He  has,  in  six  years,  cut  our 
factory  cost  in  two. 
We  now  build  in  this  plant,  by  his  up-to-date 
methods,  98  per  cent  of  this  car.  And  all  of  the 
extra  values  we  give  you  are  paid  for  by  factory 
savings. 
of  ordinary  service. 
That’s  the  sort  of  car  that  wise  men  want  when 
they  buy  a  car  to  keep. 
Added  Luxuries 
He  has  given  you  a  car  big,  roomy  and  powerful, 
yet  very  economical  of  fuel.  For  ease  in  driving 
he  has  given  you  a  new  type  of  control.  He  has 
given  you  ball-bearing  steering  gear,  an  engine 
primer  at  the  driver’s  hand,  a  power  tire  pump,  etc. 
For  easy  riding  he  has  given  you  Bate  cantilever 
springs,  52  inches  long. 
He  gives  you  a  22-coat  finish,  deep,  rich  uphol¬ 
stery,  a  light  in  the  tonneau,  a  locked  compartment, 
and  many  unique  appointments. 
/  - 
Those  are  results  of  efficiency.  They  vvquld  be 
impossible  at  the  Mitchell  price  without  this  model 
plant.  And  such  a  car  would  be  impossible  with¬ 
out  a  John  W.  Bate, 
700  Improvements 
But  Mr.  Bate,  in  those  years,  has  done  more 
than  you  see.  He  has  worked  out  in  the  car  over 
700  improvements. 
That  is  why  so  many  big  men  are  buying  Mitchells 
now.  Many  engineers — men  of  nation-wide  fame — 
have  lately  bought  the  Mitchell.  Thousands  of 
business  men  select  it.  They  know  what  efficiency 
means. 
Under  his  direction,  every  part  has  been  studied. 
You  will  want  this  car  when  you  know  it.  You 
And  every  part  brought  to  per¬ 
fection. 
Castings  have  been  practically 
eliminated.  He  employs  drop  forg¬ 
ings  and  steel  stampings  to  make 
lighter,  stronger  parts.  There  are 
440  such  parts  in  this  Mitchell. 
He  gives  you  big  margins  of 
safety.  There  are  oversize  parts 
$1325  Racine 
For  5-Passenger  Touring  Car  or 
3-Passenger  Roadster 
7-Passenger  Touring  Body  $35  Extra 
High-speed  economical  Six— 48  horse¬ 
power — 127-inch  wheelbase.  Complete 
equipment,  including  26  extra  features. 
will  want  its  attractions,  you  will, 
want  its  endurance.  Let  your 
nearest  Mitchell  dealer  show  you 
in  how  many  ways  it  excels.  If 
you  don’t  know  who  he  is,  ask  us 
for  his  name. 
MITCHELL  MOTORS  COMPANY,  Inc. 
Racine,  Wis.,  U.  S.  A. 
