5S0 
7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE JiVSlSRSS FARMER'S PAPER 
A. National Wool.tv Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes 
Established isno 
Piihltifard weekly bj the Rural PiiblMiin* fompnnjr. 33S West 30tli Street, Now York 
Hkhbtot IS'. Cobt tKOWooo, I'lC'HK'ut and Editor. 
John . 1. lm.LOff, Treasurer and General ManatreOi 
Wm. F. Ditxon, Secretary. Mlts. E. T. ItOYt.F., Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A TEAR 
To foreitrn countries in the Universal Uorta! Union, $2.(H, equal to 8s. Od., or 
marks, or 10\. francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, peitaonat check or batik draft. 
Entered at New York Post 0filer as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, >1.00 per agate lint—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
••A SQUARE BEAL" 
Wo believe that every advertisement in this paper is hacked by a respon¬ 
sible person. We nse every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only, flat to make doubly gure, wo will make good any loss 
to paid subscriber? sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading adverlisonrient* In our columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We nip also often called upon 
to adjust difference:! or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly rise our good 
offices to this end, hut ttuoh eases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscriber-* against rogues, hut we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint tmiKt he sent to ns w ithtn one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention Thk Rural Nkw- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
The first paper of yours I saw was packed in a box 
of setting eggs 1 had sent from New Hampshire. I was 
very much pleased with it and ordered it right away. 
The owner of it very likely did not think he was getting 
a subscriber for your paper when be used it as a cover 
for the eggs. w. c. fisciier. 
Rhode Island. # 
W ELL, it was a good hatch for us. We could 
tell some remarkable stories of the unexpect¬ 
ed places in which The R. N.-Y. has found new 
friends. 
* 
T IIE United States Senate has offered a new tariff 
bill which provides for many articles higher 
duties than have been known since the Civil War. 
The “farm bloc” in the Senate is responsible for high 
rates on most farm products. For example, the fol¬ 
lowing brief list shows what the Senate bill pro¬ 
poses. as compared with the Underwood tariff, 
passed by the previous Administration: 
Senate Bill Underwood 
Potatoes. 5Sc per ewt. Free 
Milk. 2%e per gal. Free 
Butter. Se per lb. 2 cents 
Live poultry. 3c per lb. 1 cent 
Eggs in shell. Sc per doz. Free 
Apples. 30c per bn. Free 
Lemons. 2c per lb. % cent 
Dried beans. 2c per lb. Free 
Wheat. 30c per bu. Free 
Corn. 35c per bu. Free 
Cotton. 7c per lb. Free 
While wool was free under the previous tariff 
bill, the Senate proposes duties running as high as 
36 cents a pound in some cases. It is expected that 
the bill will pass, with some few changes. It is 
proposed to make the new tariff hill “elastic”: that 
is, it gives the President power to change the duties 
on various items within certain limits. For ex¬ 
ample. if the tariff on potatoes seemed for any rea¬ 
son too high or too low, the President, under this 
law, could change the rate of duty. While the 
"farm bloc" has had its way in framing this bill 
so as to put prohibitive duties on farm products, the 
manufacturers also seem to have obtained their 
share—or more of it than they deserve. While there 
will be fierce opposition to this hill, we think it will 
become a law. The South is becoming more and 
more a manufacturing section, and the high tariffs 
on cotton and sugar will gain some Southern sup¬ 
port. The bill is estimated to yield about $350,000,- 
000 annual revenue. 
* 
Recently the farmers here joined together and threat¬ 
ened a boycott on two grocers if they did not stop sell¬ 
ing oleo. They stopped, but the local paper keens 
printing attacks upon farmers and honest butter. Is 
it true that oleo is cheaper than butter,and that it will 
go further? B. 
W E do not attempt to argue along these common 
"food value*’ lines. Ham fat, lard and suet 
might give nearly as high an analysis as butter, hut 
that would not prove them its equal. We have a 
report of a colored man at the South who bought a 
dozen crackers and a box of axle grease and used 
the latter as butter. No doubt the axle grease would 
analyze higher than the butter. Oleo is a mixture 
of cheap commercial fats, none of them equal to 
butter fat. because the latter contains liberal quan¬ 
tifies of vitnmines. which represent the growth prin¬ 
ciple in foods. All or most of the fats used in mak¬ 
ing oleo have been used in feeding experiments, and 
have proved inferior to butterfat. It is true that the 
oleo men employ an army of high-priced chemists to 
try to prove that oleo is fully equal to blitter. It is 
not likely that these chemists can convince even 
themselves. Both they and the manufacturers who 
know most about oleo use butter. In spite of any 
analysis, oleo is inferior to good butter as a food. 
That, however, is not the argument for farmers. 
There is a moral as well as a commercial principle 
involved. Dairying is the most useful industry in 
the world, because, of all foods, milk is the most 
necessary. Dairying is one of the poorest paid in- 
dustries. It involves hard and constant work, and 
i.-. perhaps more injured by counterfeits and frauds 
than any other. Whole milk, butter and ice cream 
are all favorites with the counterfeiters and food 
robbers, who palm off Inferior goods for the genuine 
article. All this counterfeiting and substitution 
injures the milk business by preventing full use of 
the surplus milk. When oleo is sold in the place of 
butter the production passes from the dairyman on 
liis farm in the hills to the sweating workman in a 
slaughter house and the filthy half-savage, harvest¬ 
ing cocoanuts on some South Pacific island. In the 
unequal contest between beef fat and cocuanut oil on 
one hand and pure cream on the other, the cow and 
the farmer will surely he crushed out. The in¬ 
creased use of oleo and oiled milk can have but one 
outcome—that is, the disappearance of the smaller 
dairymen, the men with herds averaging around a 
dozen cows. The larger men with capital and first- 
class equipment, may hold their places, but the ex¬ 
tended used of oleo will certainly drive the smaller 
dairymen out of business. This is the argument to 
present to dairymen. Some of them think they can 
continue to sell pure milk or butter and then buy 
oleo for their own use. Possibly some of them are 
fortunately situated so that there is little competi¬ 
tion in the sale of milk, yet by their selfish action 
they are operating to ruin the business of other 
dairymen less fortunately situated. “A house divid¬ 
ed against itself cannot stand.” 
5k 
T HERE is a bill before Congress calling for the 
annual registration and taxing of aliens. Un¬ 
der the terms of this hill all aliens would be re¬ 
quired to register, submit to inspection and pay an 
annual tax of $48. There are many other details; 
for example, an American woman, under this pro¬ 
posed law, would not lose her citizenship merely be¬ 
cause she married an alien. There are. in New York 
State, 446.859 male and 564.261 female aliens. This 
is out of a total of 2.729.272 foreign-horn whites. 
We have always regarded the alien as an expensive 
luxury for America. Of the foreign-born whites here 
mentioned. 1,153,813 have been naturalized, while 
only 234,098 have taken out their first papers. We 
think such aliens may well be registered and taxed. 
Why do they come to America and enjoy the advan¬ 
tages of this republic if they refuse to become citi¬ 
zens and assume their share of responsibility? We 
would certainly tax them, like any other "luxury.” 
Can any alien give a patriotic or reasonable excuse 
for not being a citizen? The figures given above 
refer to persons horn in foreign countries. There is 
a greater number of those whose parents were horn 
in other lands. In New York City alone the figures 
just published show the following elements of for¬ 
eign parentage: 
Russia . 
Italy . 
Ireland . 
Austria-Hungary . 
Germany . 
994,356 
802,893 
637.744 
603,167 
593.199 
This means that there are more Russians whose 
parents were born in Russia than there are in War¬ 
saw or Moscow: more Italians than in any Italian 
city save two. In New York City these children of 
foreigners outnumber the native whites about three 
to one. 
-k 
The New York Conservation Commission states that 
more trees are being distributed for forest planting 
than ever before. The resources of their northern nur¬ 
series are being taxed to the limit. Lewis County land- 
owners will set out nearly 600,000 little trees, which 
is equivalent to about 000 acres. 
O N many New York State farms a crop of pine 
and hemlock will pay better than anything else 
that could be planted. This, of course, means a crop 
fur the next generation, but most of us have candi¬ 
dates for that generation coming along to fill our 
places. A hill pasture, well started in pine, spruce 
or hemlock, will he a splendid legacy for the young 
people. Concrete and steel have their place, but 
the future will have need of wood as well. We 
know of one case where, years ago. an old neglected 
orchard was left without care. Bines came in, and 
today it is estimated that 300,000 feet of lumber 
can be cut. 
* 
D URING the past, week Liberty bonds went prac¬ 
tically to par. while Victory bonds reached a 
point somswhat above par. The It. N.-Y. has ad¬ 
vised its readers to hold on to (heir Liberty bonds. 
When the price fell to a little above 80 we advised 
buying, for we knew that a solid security of this 
sort would surely rise. The low figures were reached 
when some of the big buyers dumped their holdings 
April 22, 1922 
on the market. They were mostly contractors arid 
manufacturers, who were forced to buy bonds in 
order to secure government contracts. They made 
good profits on the contracts, and saw chances to 
use their money at high interest. So they dumped 
their bonds at (he very time they were advising 
small investors to hold. We advised our readers to 
■buy, and those who did so have made 10 to 15 per 
cent on the investment. These Liberty bonds will 
go higher yet. As the years go by they will be con¬ 
sidered more and more as a safe and solid security, 
and we shall not be surprised to see them go to at 
least 310. We cannot understand what a farmer (or 
anyone else) can be thinking of to buy wildcat oil 
or mining stock when the Liberty bonds or Federal 
Farm Loan bonds can be obtained. 
* 
J UST listen to this! Why. if a new high school is 
to he built in your town, should it always he 
located in the little collection of houses known as 
the village? As a rule, this village is not at the cen¬ 
tral point of the township; certainly not the point 
most easy of access for all families. A good high 
school should he placed where all may have reason¬ 
able access to it. The little villages are not beauty 
spots, by any means, and a* a rule the new school 
building will never be placed where the grounds sur¬ 
rounding it may be beautified and kept neat. Many 
of such village high schools look as desolate as 
lonely barns. Gardens and "grounds’ are impossible 
in such situations. Why not locate such buildings 
out in the country, where all can reach them? 
Roads are being improved and cars are now com¬ 
mon. In the country it would be possible to locate 
the sehoolliouse in a 10-acre lot. which could in time 
be turned into a perfect beauty spot, and a sort of 
garden experiment station. How much better that 
would be for all the town than the little cooped-up 
quarters in the village. We think such rural high 
schools, right out in the country, would give our 
children a far better training in American life. That 
is what the high school should be—not a place sim¬ 
ply to fit the few for college. 
* 
W E regret to be obliged once more to refer to 
the bad habit of sending unsigned letters 
which some of our readers adhere to. Last week 
there were more than a dozen of them, signed “Con¬ 
stant Reader.” “One Who Knows,” or various in¬ 
itials. Some of these letters contain personal ques¬ 
tions which we would gladly answer if we could. 
Others contain anonymous attacks upon business 
men or even neighbors. Sometimes we have a letter 
in which the writer says “I want you to show this 
man up at once, but under no circumstances what¬ 
ever can my name be used!” Needless to say. no 
attention can be paid to these unsigned communica¬ 
tions. Now and thou we get a second letter, accus¬ 
ing us of favoritism for not answering the first one. 
On several occasions we have been able to send the 
first unsigned letter back as evidence, which settles 
it! Now. please understand that we will do our best 
to take care of all signed correspondence, hut that 
absolutely hq attention trill be paid to unsigned or 
unidentified commutiicatiom. 
* 
O N the next page we are told how these Dela¬ 
ware farmers made good with a co-operative 
scheme for canning tomatoes. They got together 
and put up 23.000 cases, at a profit. Now they plan 
to pack 100,000 cases this year! If that means get¬ 
ting in more farmers without Increasing the total 
output, it is wise policy. It* it means trying to pro¬ 
duce four times as much as this group of farmers 
did last year, we doubt the wisdom of it. That 
what we call “plunging.” and if all were to try to do 
the same we should have a “bumper crop." The peo¬ 
ple who get the bumps from such a crop are the 
farmers who produce it. We think an extra heavy 
crop this year would bo the worst tiling that could 
happen to farmers, and under our present system 
of distribution no one else would bo helped by the 
over-production. Our great hope this year lies in a 
fair or medium crop, which will enable farmers to 
work off the surplus and stnblize prices. Let’s be 
fair about it, and not try to double production. 
Brevities 
After repeated failures to raise turkeys successfully, 
we have substituted the goose. 
Thu Pennsylvania Railroad offers to sell old railroad 
ties to individuals for fuel. 
Wk never heard of more than one place in all history 
where a man can run a farm or garden without work 
and sweat. 
Breathes there a man so much the slave of harm 
that you can find no rhubarb on his farm? Go mark 
him well; disease has him in mesh, ami he shall rue the 
barbs stuck iu his liesb. 
