62 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 14. 192: 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
All letters to Publisher’s Desk depart¬ 
ment must be signed with writer’s full 
name and address given. Many inquiries 
are answered by mail instead of printing 
inquiry and answer, hence unsigned let¬ 
ters receive no consideration. 
My wife purchased an Auto-Knitter 
machine (Simplex) tn October, ami when 
it came l set it Up for her and attempted 
to use it according to their instruction 
book. It. was impossible tn make a sock, 
and, after studying the machine, I started 
to put it in shape. T'.eing a machinist, I 
was able to make the machine over, b.v 
changing various parts, filing here, bor¬ 
ing a hole there, and putting some parts 
ou that I made myself aud, after going 
over every part and changing it. I made 
il so that. it. now does perfect work, al¬ 
though I had to discard the directions in 
the instruction hook to do it, even after 
making the machine over. I have since 
made over 300 pairs of perfect socks, and 
a lot of women's and children’s stockings, 
and have studied the machine from a 
practical, technical and theoretical stand¬ 
point, and In-re are my findings: The 
machine is defective in design, material 
and workmanship. The company took 
our work for a few weeks, and then be¬ 
gan to reject work which was per¬ 
fect, and which readily sold elsewhere. 
They made many mistakes, either inten¬ 
tionally or otherwise, in their dealings 
with us. S. n. W. 
New Tork. 
T saw your article in The R. N.-T. 
about the “Auto-Knitter,” and I agree 
with what you said. 1 have run one four 
years and I don’t know all about it yet. 
As to getting rich with it. you can’t do it 
by sending tin* goods to the factory, but T 
can make nlxmt 30 cents an hour by sell¬ 
ing them around borne. 1 would not ad¬ 
vise anybody to buy a bouse with one. or 
to export, to run one without practicing 
about six months. It usually takes about 
three weeks to get repairs aud other sup¬ 
plies. a. n. 
New Hampshire. 
The above reports on the Auto-Knitter 
are more favorable than previous ones, 
but when a machinist has to make the 
machine over to get results it is easy to 
imagine the result, bad this machine fall¬ 
en into the hands of some poor widow 
without mechanical skill or money to 
make necessary changes and repairs to 
secure production. And. of course, ft Is, 
as a rule, women in the poorest circum¬ 
stances who seek to earn a little money 
in this way. 
I wonder if you could help me in a lit¬ 
tle matter. I was employed in the canton¬ 
ment laundry at Camp T’pton. N, Y., 
from May. 191S. to May 1920, and never 
received any bonus, ‘i tlo not know 
where to write, so am asking yon to help 
mo. The amount due is $230.67. 
New York. L. M. B. 
We were able to help the subscriber 
to get this payment. The proper person 
to address is the Auditor for the War 
Department, Washington. D. C. Pos¬ 
sibly some of our other renders have like 
claims and will want to write to the De¬ 
partment of War in regard to them. 
I enclose circular letter from Delatour 
Beverage Corp. I have received a num¬ 
ber of letters from these people, urging 
me to buy stock. It seems to me that 
they could get all the money they want 
from lug moneyed interests in New York 
if their business is what they claim. 
However. I thought you would he in a 
position to know whether they are all 
right; if not the people ought to be 
warned, ns they are sending a lot of cir¬ 
culars to Now England. n. l. b. 
Connecticut. 
The subscriber is perfectly logical in 
his conclusions. This is exactly the idea 
we are striving to put in the minds of our 
readers—that it is only worthless stocks 
or those of questionable value that go to 
country people for a market. It is never 
safe to Invest money on the representa¬ 
tion of the salesman or promoter. Al¬ 
ways investigate! 
What can you tell me about the en¬ 
closed proposition of Regal Tire and 
Rubber Company, Chicago? o. p. R. 
Ohio. 
The circular letter is marked “Per¬ 
sonal,” and offers the recipient the “first 
privilege” of obtaining a full set of cord 
tires “especially constructed for racing 
cars that will run 15,000 miles,” etc. A 
pretty mess of hunk and deception to lure 
orders and remittances from the unsus¬ 
pecting. The Regal Tire and Rubber 
Company has no established financial re¬ 
sponsibility that we can find, and every 
liue of the circular breathes of the “tire 
gyp.” Those patronizing such houses 
have only disappointment and loss in 
store for them. 
I am sending you circular received to¬ 
day. and believe that you will be able to 
warn some of your readers who may be 
lodge members of some kind. w. I. 
New Jersey. 
The accompanying circular is an ap¬ 
peal for investment in the Victor-Page 
Automobile Company. This subscriber is 
solicited as an alleged recommendation of 
someone who is a member of the same 
“lodge.” Such schemes for interesting 
investors carry their own condemnation. 
The Victor-Page proposition bears the 
“earmarks” of a promoter’s scheme lo get 
easy money, and regardless of the good 
or bad intentions back of the enterprise, 
there are no good prospects in sight for 
a new organization in the automobile 
field, and certainly no chance for a con¬ 
cern trying to get money by such means 
to finance a company. 
Can you give the financial standing of 
the Middletown Rubber Company, Mid¬ 
dletown. X. Y.? j. M. c. 
New York. 
The Middletown Rubber Company has 
no financial standing or standing of any 
other sort, so far ns we are able to dis¬ 
cover. We regard it as one of the many 
stock-selling schemes in connection with 
the automobile tire industrv. 
T thank you for the candid opinion you 
expressed in your letter regarding E. .T. 
Reefer. It agrees perfectly with mv own. 
A friend sent your letter to the publish-j 
ers of the-. I enclose their 
reply, which may be of interest to you. 
Massachusetts. e. m. c. 
The publisher in question claims to 
have had no complaint from subscribers 
and that the Reefer advertising lias been 
carried by the leading publications. The| 
stock excuse of publishers who desire to 1 
close their eyes to fake advertisements. 
“There are. none so blind as those who 
will not see.” 
Have you any knowledge of the honesty 
of the American Educational Association, 
who have offices in Boston. New York 
and several other large cities in this coun¬ 
try? Our son. who is a minor, tried to 
find work to do in his Summer vacation, 
and failing to find anything, accepted a 
job with this above-named company, and 
signed ft contract to work 50 days for 
$150, and they were to keep him posted 
where to work. etc. He faithfully fol¬ 
lowed their directions and wrote them 
every day. ns they requested, but they 
failed to keep hiiu assigned to territory 
to work, as the places they sent him \ 
were back small country towns; therefore I 
he had to wait here at home a few days 
for orders to go to another place. They 
recalled him in August for more training 
in Boston, and charged him for training. 
He objected to that, and they cut the ex¬ 
pense in two. He wrote them for a set¬ 
tlement lately. Now they write us, .sav¬ 
ing he is owing them, hut they first say 
he owes them $30 or so; then they say 
they will give him $25 and give him a 
receipt in full, which would mean about 
fifty-odd dollars. Our son has received 
only $5 from them, and what bonus he 
was to have on the 13 books he sold, 
which would not reckon up to $150 or 
anywhere near it. He worked over his I 
time at their request to make up the 1 
days he lost trying to find where to go, 
and they claim he went on a straight I 
commission Ikisk after he worked the last 
14 days. We did not know anything of 
that, and hr did not know it either. Are 
such companies allowed to go on cheating) 
innocent young men trying to earn a little I 
money to get nu education? If ii is. I am 
afraid there will not he many that would 
get to college with their help. E. A. B. 
Maine. 
There are many concerns like this one, 
lending canvassers for books and other 
articles to believe that they will he paid 
n salary, hut the contract is so worded 
with conditions impossible of fulfill-! 
ment, at least without the co-operation: 
of the employing Company, that the con-1 
cern always has a loophole to crawl 
through. It is clear that the American 
Educational Association had no intention 
of paying this boy a salary unless his 
commission on the hooks sold was suffi¬ 
cient to pay the amount of the salary. It 
is essentially a commission proposition, 
and it w r as a deception to lead the boy to 
believe lie was to receive n salary. Ex¬ 
perienced hook agents would be likely to 
get caught on such a bait. 
Inquisitive one (to old gentleman 
sticking in a coal hole) : “Dear me. Have 
you fallen through the coal hole?” Old 
gentleman (with a gleam in his eye): 
“Oh, no, indeed. I happened to be here 
when the road was built, and so the 
workmen, unwilling to disturb me, merely 
built it around me.”—Pathfinder. 
Why King George Doesn’t Like 
to Live at Windsor Castle 
A NEWSPAPER item says King George doesn’t 
like to live at Windsor Castle. He prefers Buck¬ 
ingham Palace, because the plumbing is more up to date. 
Modern plumbing is quite different from the 
plumbing of Queen Elizabeth’s time, but in one respect 
the plumber of today follows the custom of three 
hundred years ago. In all cases where permanence 
and real economy are desired, he still uses lead 
for piping. 
Water will run through lead pipes for ages, without 
causing decay or deterioration. Drainage methods 
improve, and fixtures become more convenient and 
more beautiful; but underneath, where real utility is 
required, lead pipe is still used, because men have 
never found any rust-resisting metal the equal of lead. 
A* A* 
Lead is also the best material for the rain-water 
drainage system of the house. The picture on this 
page shows a pipe-head on one of the outer walls of 
Windsor Castle. It was installed, along with gutters, 
leaders, and spouts, in 1589. For more than three 
centuries the rains that beat upon this ancient royal 
residence have been carried off by these lead pipes— 
and they are still intact. 
Civilized man has found hundreds of other uses for 
lead and lead products, and of them all the most 
important is the use of white-lead as the principal 
ingredient of good paint. 
Tons of paint are used, every day, to adorn and 
preserve the surfaces of buildings. Tons of pure 
metallic lead are corroded, every day, to produce the 
white-lead which gives to paint its protective power. 
“Save the Surface and You Save All” is a slogan 
which is teaching the world that paint-protection 
means the conservation of millions of dollars yearly 
in property values. 
A* A* 
Most painters prefer to use the paint known as 
“lead-and-oil,” which is pure white-lead thinned 
to paint consistency with pure linseed oil. Paint 
manufacturers use white-lead as the principal ingre¬ 
dient of the paint they make—and the quality of the 
paint depends on the amount of white-lead it contains. 
National Lead Company makes white-lead of the 
highest quality, and sells it, mixed with pure linseed 
oil, under the name and trade mark of 
Dutch Boy White-Lead 
Write to our nearest branch office, Department G, 
for a free copy of our “Wonder Book of Lead,’’which 
interestingly describes the hundred-and-one ways in 
which lead enters into the daily life of everyone. 
NATIONAL LEAD COMPANY 
New York 
Cleveland 
Boston 
Buffalo 
Cincinnati 
Chicago 
San Francisco 
St. Louis 
' "Save the surfic* tnj I 
you save I 
JOHN T. LEWIS & BROS. CO.. Philadelphia 
NATIONAL LEAD & OIL CO., Pittsbur|h 
Some Products Made by National Lead Company 
Dutch 
Dutch 
Dutch 
Dutch 
Dutch 
Dutch 
Boy White-Lead 
Boy Red-I.ead 
Boy Linseed Oil 
Boy Flatting Oil 
Boy Babbitt Metals 
Boy Solders 
Battery Litharge 
Battery Red-Lead 
Pressure Die Castings 
Cinch Expansion Bolts 
Ulco Lead Wool 
Sheet Lead 
Hoyt Hardlcad Products for Buildings 
