7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Development of Muscle Shoals 
Practically all the people at Washington who keep 
track of public matters seem to agree that Congress 
is likely to accept the offer made by Henry Ford for 
the government, property at Muscle Shoals on the 
Tennessee River. At this point on the river Nature 
has arranged the water and the banks of the stream 
so as to make possible a tremendous development of 
water power. As everyone knows, the government 
started, during the war, to develop this project, 
chiefly for the purpose of obtaining nitrogen to be 
used in explosives. The end of the war stopped this 
work, after millions had been spent on it. Millions 
more will he required to put the project in working 
order. Mr. Henry Ford has made an offer to the 
government. He will pay $5,000,000, guarantee a 
dividend on the government's expenditure, and de¬ 
velop the project if the government will complete 
the present works. There are many details, but, 
briefly stated, this is what it amounts to. 
There has been a great controversy over the mat¬ 
ter. There are some who argue that the government 
should complete the work and run the busines:, as a 
government job. After the experience of govern¬ 
ment control of the railroads, this scheme has little 
backing outside of the labor unions. The great dis¬ 
pute comes over Iho plan of fanning out the work 
to Henry Ford. The fertilizer manufacturers, the 
importers of nitrate, the sulphate of ammonia mak¬ 
ers, and the great chemical industries are all. or for 
the most part, opposed to the plan. They have spent 
large sums of money in conducting a propaganda 
against accepting the Ford offer. 
On the other hand, the Farm Bureau and farm 
organizations generally have approved the plan. 
Thousands of resolutions have been passed, and lit¬ 
erally millions of letters written by farmers in favor 
of acceptance. The chief argument of these farm or¬ 
ganizations is that Ford will manufacture fertilizers, 
both of nitrogen and phosphorus, so cheaply that the 
price of all fertilizers must come down. It is also 
believed that with the tremendous power of the Ten¬ 
nessee River available at all seasons of the year, 
there will he a great reduction in manufacturing 
costs and consequent reduction of prices. 
As we have stated, it appears at this moment as if 
Congress would accept the Ford offer. By doing so 
it will hand a tremendous and valuable privilege 
over to a private corporation. The result may be 
both disappointing and dangerous. Personally, we 
doubt if the dreams of cheap fertilizer will ever be 
fully realized. This great plant, at its best, can sup¬ 
ply only a part of our fertilizer needs. It may pro¬ 
duce enough fertilizer nitrogen to control the market 
price and compel other manufacturers to lower their 
prices, but we do not believe that the enthusiastic 
hopes of the farmers who are backing the scheme 
will ever be fully realized. We can easily remember 
the time when even greater dreams were indulged in 
over legislation to promote industrial alcohol! We 
think the Muscle Shoals proposition will be devel¬ 
oped along the line of a great manufacturing enter¬ 
prise. It will build up in the heart of the upper 
South a manufacturing center which will in time 
slowly but surely drain business and enterprise away 
from New England and other sections where manu¬ 
facturing is now concentrated. It may he that such 
a development and change is desirable, but those who 
are now advocating the plan so strenuously should 
understand the possibilities of their actions. 
Milk News and Prices 
The weighted average price for January milk was 
$2,165 per 100 pounds of 3 per cent milk in the 201- 
210 milk zone, and the net return to producers in 
the pool was $1.01. The details were as follows: 
Class A. $3.10; Class 2, $2.10; Class 3, $1.24 ; Class 
4A butter. $1,115; 4B cheese, $1.33. 
The pool prices for February have not as yet been 
announced, but the class prices have been deter¬ 
mined on the butter and cheese quotations for 
Classes 3 and 4. The average price for 02-score 
butter was 37.16c per pound. For manufacture 5c 
is deducted, leaving net 32.16c. The Overrun allowed 
for butter is 0.16 of a pound for moisture and im¬ 
purities. <o that every pound of fat produces 1.16 
pounds of butter. The milk is figured on an average 
of 3.6 per cent butter-fat. ITenee 100 pounds of 
milk makes 4.176 pounds of butler, and at 32.16c 
a pound it is worth $1,343, there being no allowance 
for skimmed milk. From this 21c is allowed as a 
differential, making the net price $1,103. 
The average price for fresh cheese is estimated at 
lD.375c per ]>ound. For manufacture 4“ is deducted, 
leaving 15.375c net. The cheese in 100 pounds of 
3.G per cent milk is fixed at 9.6S pounds, and at 
15.375c per pound it amounts to $1.4883. Deducting 
24c, the net is $1.25. 
Figuring in the same way on the butter, inside 
and outside quotations, a price of $1.09 is established 
for 100 pounds of 3 per cent milk. The differential 
o f 25c brings this up to $1.34 for Class 3, which in¬ 
cludes condensed and powdered milk. The February 
prices then are as follows: 
Class No. 1, 201-210 miles—Milk for city con¬ 
sumption, $2.9014. 
Class No. 2, 201-225 miles—Milk for soft, fancy 
cheeses, cream, ice-cream, and plain condensed, $1.70. 
Class No. 3. 201-250 miles—Milk for ease goods, 
whole milk powder and hard fancy cheeses, $1.34. 
Class No. 4A, 201-250 miles—Milk for butter, 
$ 1 . 10 %. 
Class No. 4B, 201-250 miles—Milk for American 
eheese, $1.25. 
The schedule of prices for March milk contains one 
new classification. Heretofore all fluid milk sold for 
consumption was sold under Class A. ruder the new 
plan, Class 1A is limited to milk sold in bottles. The 
now class is IB, and consists of milk sold in bulk, 
usually in 40-quart cans. The March prices per 100 
lbs. for 3 per cent milk in tin* 201-210-mile zone are 
as follows: Class 1A, $2.52 for bottled milk: Class 
IB. $1.75 for bulk or can milk: Class 2. $1.50—milk 
going to make cream and ice cream. Class 3 in¬ 
cludes milk to make sweetened condensed and evapo¬ 
rated milk. The price is based on butter quotations 
with a differential of 25 cents per 100 pounds. Class 
4 includes milk made into butter and American 
cheese, the price of which will he based on the cur¬ 
rent market quotations. 
The contract, for the city hospitals for March for 
milk in hulk went to N. A. Van Son at $2.36 per can, 
oi 5.9c per quart. 
Protested Milk Checks 
1 he Conneautville Bank closed its doors on January 
28. On the 22d the farmers received their milk checks, 
payable on this bank. Some of the farmers had time 
to present the checks and get their money, luir most of 
us deposited the cheeks with another bank, and the 
Conneautville Bank dosed ils doors before the checks 
were paid. The cheeks came back protested. Can we 
Collect our bills for the month from the milk company, 
or ilo we stand the loss of our month's milk hill, or will 
it be necessary to turn the checks in to the receiver and 
take our share, if any. of the proceeds? Your advice 
wi'l he apnreciated by the subscribers in this vicinity. 
Pennsylvania. j. r. ‘ 
1 lie failure of the bank does not release the milk 
dealers. The checks are simply orders on the bank 
for the money due the producer. When the bank 
refuses or neglects to pay the order, the milk dealer 
is just as responsible as he was before. The pro¬ 
tested checks would simply serve to show the amount 
due the producer. The proper course is to advise the 
milk company that the check was returned protested 
and request a new remittance to cover the original 
bill and the protest fees, if any. Sometimes when 
the receivers of checks neglect for a long time to 
make the collection and the bank fails, claim is made 
that the holder of the check is responsible because 
of his neglect to make the collection promptly, but 
in this case there was no delay to justify such a 
claim. Assuming the milk company is responsible, 
the claim is perfectly good. 
Notes on the Albany Legislature 
A serious attempt is being made to repeal what is 
left of the direct primary law. It is true that our 
present law has been expensive for what it has actually 
accomplished, but the trouble is we have never had a 
real primary law. 
Mr. Betts has introduced a good bill which would 
deny the paid agent of any interest the right to hold 
any State office or to act as representative of the people 
in either branch of the Legislature. 
Shortly after you printed the letter covering what 
happened at the New York Conservation Association 
convention at Syracuse the president, Mr. Brennan, 
wrote requesting a conference. This shows how any 
move the farmers make is being watched, as though 
agriculture were, indeed, a slumbering giant, and that 
those who have been treading on her toes and scoffing 
at her past apparent unsensitiveness are fearful that a 
full awakening will actually take place. 
I attended the hearing on the prohibition bills, desig¬ 
nated as the triplet enabling acts. The purpose of these 
hills is to make it legal for the smaller political sub¬ 
divisions. cities, villages and towns, to pass ordinances 
and reinforce the efforts of the State and nation in 
securing a thorough enforcement of our prohibition 
laws. Mr. Anderson, of the Anti-saloon League, forc¬ 
ibly led the forces in support of the bill, lie pointed 
out that the main object of the bills was to crystallize 
local sentiment in support of the Eighteenth Amend¬ 
ment. 
At the opening of the session there was no response 
to a call for opposition to the hill, but as the proponents 
developed their arguments Assemblyman Burton D. 
381 
Esmond, a member of the Assembly committee, proved 
an able representative of the opposition. Near the end 
of the hearing Louis A. Cuvillier declared the whole 
matter to be unconstitutional. Near the close of the 
hearing it was intimated by the opposition that there 
would be some chance of passing the bills if they could 
be amended so that they would have jurisdiction over 
prohibition matters only to the exclusion of other 
criminal or civil cases. 
The bill designed to stop the manufacture and sale 
of filled milk is traveling a rocky road. A hearing to 
settle the details of this bill was scheduled for February 
22, but a postponement was secured by the filled milk 
interests, so that the bill is just now assuming its 
probable final shape. The aim of the legislation is to 
prohibit the sale of filled milk. The accomplishment 
of this object is relied upon by using the same phrase¬ 
ology first adopted to suppress the oleo interests. The 
manufacture and sale of any article in imitation or sem¬ 
blance of milk is prohibited. This law in its relation 
to oleo was declared unconstitutional, but in this case, 
if the matter is carried up, there is hope for a contrary 
decision, because it can be shown that filled milk is 
deleterious to the health of infants. I suggested that 
if the market is ever opened to substitutes the law 
should prescribe that a one-colored wrapper, such as 
red. should be used on all such articles. 
Condensed skim-milk will be permitted to be sold in 
packages of 10 lbs. or over in weight. The provision 
prescribing that it shall not be possessed in packages 
of less than 10 lbs. lias been withdrawn at tb<* instance 
of serious opposition from the manufacturers of pan¬ 
cake flour and other prominent interests. 
The Bureau of Farm Settlement is slated to be abol¬ 
ished. Commissioner Fyrke told me that he saw no 
reason why the State should foster such aid to agricul¬ 
tural interests and not to other classes of people. 
The Knight bill, which aims to permit savings banks 
and trust companies the opportunity to invest in bends 
of the l.and Bank, has been amended so that money so 
invested by such New York institutions must be used 
for agricultural development within the State of New 
York. It probably will be reported out of committee, 
but its destination is obscure. 
The ice cream bill has been amended agreeable to the 
manufacturers (J f ice cream, and apparently other in¬ 
terests ns well. It provides a minimum standard of 
8 per cent milk fat and I s per cent milk solids for 
straight ice cream, with a flight reduction in these 
percentages where fruit is added. 
The repeal of the full crew bill is being actively 
pushed by agricultural organizations, but labor is de¬ 
luging the legislators with thousands of letters and 
cards demanding the retention of this law. D. 
The New Co-operative Marketing Law 
President Harding has signed what is known as 
the Capper-Volstead marketing law. recently passed 
by Congress. A ‘number of readers have asked just 
what this law is. and what it is expected to do, and 
so we print the following statement, by Secretary of 
Agriculture Wallace: 
The new law expressly authorizes farmers and others 
engaged in the production of agricultural products, in¬ 
cluding nut and fruit growers, to act together in asso¬ 
ciations for the purpose of marketing their products 
collectively In interstate and foreign commerce. 
On the other band, the interests of consumers and 
the public generally arc safeguarded, since the Secretary 
of Agriculture is authorized to proceed against an asso¬ 
ciation of this sort if he finds that it is operating in 
restraint of trade to the extent that prices of farm 
products are unduly enhanced. For such cases a special 
pr< reeding is authorized. The Secretary of Agriculture 
will hold hearings and determine all the facts before 
action is taken in the courts. 
These associations may incorporate, or not. according 
Jo the wishes of their members, and have capital stock 
if they so desire. They may also have marketing agen¬ 
cies in common. They must be operated for the mutual 
benefit of their members, but may also deal in thj 
products of non-ineuibcrs. with the express limitation 
that the value of such products must not exceed the 
value of the products of their members. It is required 
that they comply with either of the provisions that no 
member shall have more than one vote and that divi¬ 
dends shall not exceed eight per cent. 
Farmers have always felt ;b:\t conditions governing 
the market I tig of their products are essentially different 
from those governing the marketing of the products of 
Other industries, and that if they are to be on a com¬ 
parable basis without being deprived of individuality 
in production, they must have the right to bargain 
collectively. 
The new law expressly recognizes these contentions 
ami greatly reduces the possibility of litigation which 
farmers’ marketing associations have frequently faced 
h, the past when they have associated themselves to¬ 
gether for their mutual benefit. 
Too Many Peas Planned For 
Present indications are that the green pea acreage 
throughout Madison Co.. N. Y.. the coming season will 
he double that of 1921. Lhie to the abnormal conditions 
and correspondingly high prices for last year’s crop, 
every farmer seems to have contracted the pea-growing 
fever and intends planting ar least a few acres. As 
near as can be ascertained at tbe present time, twice as 
many bushels of pea <eed have been secured as were 
planted last season The increase is not due to the 
large growers, for the real pea specialists are planting 
just the same as they usually plant, year in and year 
out. But men who never grew peas before are plan¬ 
ning on anywhere from one acre to five acres, and 
these smaller growers are adding the inereased acreage, 
With a normal crop the markets will be over-suppl r ed 
and the chuuccs are very much in favor of some of the 
would-be pea growers losing a good part of the amount 
invested in the crop. With the present cost of produc¬ 
ing and marketing peas a grower must secure $1.50 a 
bushel on an average crop of 125 bu, to the acre in order 
to meet expenses. One prominent pea grower thought 
the situation looked dubious enough so that he offered 
to sell 50 bu. of his seed, or enough to plant 25 acres. 
The pea growers are hoping for the best, but few of 
the specialists are expecting to receive much more than 
cost of production for the coming crop. T. n.T. 
