The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
849 
A Legal Test Over a “Milk Conspiracy” 
Another milk suit is now in progress of trial in 
Utica. It was begun on June 11. before Referee 
James 11. Merwin, who is a son of former Judge 
Merwin. This is the ease of Frederick (’. Raines 
against the Borden's Farm Products Company. Inc.. 
and the Dairymen's League Co-operative Association, 
Inc. The purpose of the suit is to determine whether 
or not the two defendants conspired or agreed be¬ 
tween themselves that the Borden Company should 
not. he cause of (lie agreement, buy milk from farm¬ 
ers who refused to join the pooling association. 
There are 11 lawyers in the ease, and it seems to be 
attracting unusual interest and being conducted with 
great energy on both sides. After taking testimony 
for one day the case was adjourned to June 27. 
The testimony of the first day was intended to 
show that the Borden's Company had not bought non- 
pooled milk since April 3. and that it refused to do 
s<> because of ils agreement with the pooling asso¬ 
ciation. President Fox of the Borden's Compeny was 
the first witness called by the prosecution as a wit¬ 
ness against his company. The purpose seemed to he 
to show the control of the Borden's Farm Products 
Company by the Borden's Condensed Milk Company, 
lie admitted that his company had refused to buy 
milk from farmers who were not members of the 
Association on April 1. lie said the decision was 
readied at a conference meeting of the ''official fam¬ 
ily,” but no record of the meeting had been kept. It 
is thought that the trial will occupy several days, 
and as the purpose is to establish what in law Is 
called a conspiracy, the testimony will probably be 
technical, at least in its application. 
A Verdict Covering Milk Prices 
A judgment of $524.74 was given William S. Cross¬ 
man, a milk producer, in the county court at Utica. 
N. Y„ last. week, against Carlo Graziadei. a local 
milk dealer, for 13.859 lbs. of milk, delivered last Oc¬ 
tober. The dispute was over the price to be paid for 
the milk. The contract provided that the milk was 
to he paid for according to the schedules prepared 
by the Dairymen’s League Co-operative Association. 
The Association, however, made two prices, one for 
the poolers and o lessor price for the non-poolers. 
In all the testimony there were three prices sug¬ 
gested: $3.88, $3.11 and $2.(58 per 100 lbs. The judge 
charged that the price must he the same as was paid 
the poolers, no more, no less; but left it to the jury 
to decide what that price was. The verdict was for 
tiie high Association price for liquid rniik. Willard 
K. Pratt conducted the case for the plaintiff, and 
Nicholas G. Powers for the defence. Both are at¬ 
torneys of Utica. The jury consisted of four farm¬ 
ers. two manufacturers, one secretary, one real estate 
man. one carpenter, one carriage maker and one 
janitor. It is said that this is a test case and that 
other suits are pending against Utica dealers on sim¬ 
ilar issues. 
The Subsidy for American Ships 
There is a great snarl over the question of voting 
a subsidy for American ships. During the war this 
government built many new ships. They were sup¬ 
posed to be needed to carry men and material to 
Europe, and no one seriously objected. When the 
war suddenly ended, hundreds of these ships were 
left on our hands. Most of them have been completed, 
and ore now idle, while England and other coun¬ 
tries have absorbed most of the carrying trade. II is 
now proposed to sell these ships to the highest bid¬ 
ders. which means practically giving them away. 
When owned and chiefly manned by Americans and 
carrying the American flag it is proposed to pay the 
owners a subsidy of so much money per ton capacity. 
This subsidy is n tariff or public present paid to the 
ship owners to enable them to compete with ships of 
other nations in the carrying trade. Like the pro¬ 
tective tariff, this subsidy is to be paid until Ameri¬ 
cans succeed in developing the business of carrying 
our export and import goods so as to compete with 
all other nations. This question of a ship subsidy 
has been before Congress again and again and lias 
usually been beaten by Western and Southern votes. 
This year the case is different, since we have a large 
number of idle ships to dispose of. They may be 
sold to foreign owners and thus make us entirely 
dependent on foreign ships for our carrying trade, or 
sold to Americans who will be granted a subsidy? 
The arguments for and against the scheme are much 
the same as those used in discussing the tariff. For¬ 
merly the Western farmers were opposed to both 
high tariffs and ship subsidies. This year some 
seem to favor both. At least, the Farm Bureau 
seems to favor the idea of a subsidy. The 
“farm bloc” in Congress has obtained satisfactory 
tariff rates on farm products, and they seem to have 
been convinced that this nation must have a fleet of 
American owned ships. They seem to expect that 
the new St. Lawrence Canal will be built so that 
ships will load at Chicago and sail direct to Europe, 
and they want these ships to be American. Those 
who oppose the subsidy say that the bill simply 
makes a present of our expensive fleet to private in¬ 
terests. and pays them to monopolize the carrying 
tiade. And now comes another complication. It 
seems that liquor is being sold on American ships up 
to the time they reach a point three miles from shore. 
It is claimed that this must be done in order to com¬ 
pete in tiie passenger trade with foreign ships, al¬ 
though this country is under a prohibitory law. Now 
Congress proposes to shut off this liquor trade, or to 
prohibit all ships of any nationality from entering 
our ports with liquor on board. This side issue is 
probably being used by the opponents of the subsidy 
to hold it up. At this moment the outcome is in 
doubt. 
An “Agricultural Legislation” Platform 
Mr. Ceorge H. Whiteher of New Hampshire is a 
candidate for Congress at the primary to he held in 
that State. His is an agricultural district, and lie 
conies out square-footed for agricultural legislation. 
Here is the issue, put by Mr. Whiteher, as well as 
we have ever seen it: 
That this basic industry, through which civilization 
has been made possible, has never had a square deal, is 
proven by the fact that enormous capital invested in 
farms, equipment, live stock, etc., does not today earn 
any interest whatever, if normal labor wages fur the 
farmer are charged. Stated another way. if the farmer 
charges up bis labor at even the rate of unskilled 
workers, then lie receives no return on his invested cap¬ 
ital. or if lie charges 2 or 3 per cent on his capital he 
receives nothing for his labor. A competent authority 
assures me rliat in New Hampshire the net income, cov¬ 
ering both the farmer’s labor and interest on invest¬ 
ment, is only 2 per rent on the value of his investment. 
Iu the matter of taxation the farmer gets the full 
force of the ever-increasing tax levy, while in matters 
oi markets, transportation charges, raw materials, etc,, 
artificial conditions brought about by tariff schedules, 
rates, etc., work unjust discrimination. 
No industrial worker today labors more than two- 
thirds the number of hours that are the rule in farm¬ 
ing; no industry is subject to so many uncontrollable 
risks, and yet rhe labor income for the farmer and his 
family, if the most modest interest rate is figured on his 
investment, dwindles to nothing or less. 
Regardless of party platforms, I unqualifiedly com¬ 
mend the action of the so-called agricultural bloc in such 
efforts as they have made in the direction of improving 
the economic status of the farm industry. Should op¬ 
portunity ever come to me I should join both in effort 
and vote with any group, regardless of party affiliations, 
working for measures which hold out a reasonable prom¬ 
ise of better remuneration for labor and capital em¬ 
ployed in agriculture. 
Reflections of an Old Boy 
In an editorial you said there were some young 
men who wished to go on a farm, object, ownership. 
I wondered where you found the breed. We have 
a normal supply of young men here; a few who 
left school and are mostly with their fathers are do¬ 
ing well and will make desirable citizens. But most 
of the better class go through high school or college 
(agricultural or otherwise) and have joined tiie high 
collar boys, and their days of toil on these old hills 
are over; soft jobs only. As for the other class, 
they couldn't own a farm if you gave them one clear, 
and as long as they can get 35 to 40c per hour on 
highway or track no farmer can bid. 1 have a very 
good man. just come, hope he will stay three months. 
I ran tin' grass seeder wide open all Spring, and next 
year will put tiie old plow to rest if they don’t want 
to work. 
A section man told me recently that the Lehigh 
had one section always vacant. They could not keep 
a boss even, and had to do most of the work with 
the work train gang, merely because this section is 
away from towns, or, as he said, up in the brush. A 
fine chance for a hill farmer to hire one of these 
men! Well, some of them may have more excitement, 
but there are few men safer in their old days than the 
hill farmer with a good farm, well improved and 
stocked. 1 can make a living and not work over six 
hours per day. and lay up some money, or have a 
new car occasionally. Few of these boys I know 
are not in debt from one pay day to tiie next, and 
they have no chance for anything better in the fu¬ 
ture. B. L. HATHAWAY. 
Schuyler Co., N. Y. 
New York State Notes 
I spent considerable time in eastern and southern 
Schenectady County this: week, and find that farmers are 
finding the labor problem fully as acute as during the 
war. Men out of work in the industrial centers who may 
have enough background of training to be of help on 
the farm are being encouraged by many labor leaders to 
remain idle and not work on the farm. It was reported 
ni a recent labor meeting that one man who has consid¬ 
erable influence rose in tiie attitude of an oracle and 
told the members of the meeting not to work on farms, 
as the city Would take care of them if they became des¬ 
titute. lie stated : “Do not work for these farmers and 
let them get rich on you.” It docs not seem possible 
that men with a rudiment of horse sense could listen to 
this kind of bunk and swallow it. It is true that many 
city laborers would be no good on farms, but there are 
many, especially those from the Scandinavian coun¬ 
tries, who have been good help. 
There are many sheep which have been on old pas¬ 
tures which have come through the Winter in poor con¬ 
dition, no doubt due to their rundown condition, caused 
by stomach worms. More stomach worm trouble is 
found iu Eastern New York than in Western New 
York, probably due to the fact that more sheep in the 
western part are on pastures which are rotated. 
I followed the barge canal across the State this week, 
and there was apparently more traffic than last year 
During the number of trips last Summer I did not no¬ 
tice any traffic worthy of mention. The boats this week 
seem heavily laden ami in long units. 
Bees began to swarm as early as the first of June this 
year. Farmers in the eastern section have been getting 
a good flow of clover honey unusually early this year. 
Nothing lias been heard lately from the State associa¬ 
tion which organized for the purpose of marketing their 
product co-operatively. Probably they will begin to 
think of that after the swarming season is over. 
While the hop industry has been on file decline for 
the past three years, nevertheless we find remnants of 
the old industry still in a limited amount in many parts 
of the State. I passed a farm in Schoharie County this 
week where there were 50 acres iu one block of very 
thrifty hops. On this same farm many poles were piled 
up, to show what the industry had been. I was told 
that at one time this single farm had as high as 100 
acres under cultivation. 
A Steuben County farmer has the distinction of own¬ 
ing the champion Guernsey cow for her class in the 
State. This cow is owned and tested by Marion Lewis 
nf Cameron Mills. In addition to winning in her own 
class, she ranks second in Class GG and tenth in Class 
G. Her record, recently completed, is 12,620.(5 lbs. of 
milk and 707.03 Ihs. of butterfat, with an average test 
of 5.60 per cent. She carried a calf 265 days of her 
testing period. Mr. Lewis, until a few years ago. was a 
poultry farmer exclusively, but became interested i i 
G uernseys a few years ago, and started testing in No¬ 
vember, 1921. 
Much has been said during the past few years about 
re-foresting lands that are not adapted to farm pur¬ 
poses, and there are many such acres in New York 
State. While we see a few acres scattered here and 
there, usually put out by some estate owner or by some 
city on a watershed, yet there is no consistent plan ac¬ 
tually to put out trees on what might be termed a prac¬ 
tical basis. The Herkimer Post of the American Legion 
has started something for us to think about, at least, 
along this line. This year they put out 50,000 white 
pine trees in the township of < )hio. and intend to con¬ 
tinue making this a regular part of their Memorial Day 
program. 
While there is a tendency for growing more potatoes 
in the State than last year, yet the indications on Long 
Island would not point to an increase there, as in many 
other parts of the State. In Western New York there 
is an indication of an increase of 10 per cent, and in 
Central New York an increase of 15 per cent, but on 
Long Island there is but 3 per cent increase. 
The Long Island Poultry Association will hold their 
annual meeting next mouth. The date selected is 
July 11. 
In starting anything we are usually not so much con¬ 
cerned with the number of people that start as we are 
with the number who stick it out. It is interesting to 
know that of the 710 who enrolled in the dairy project 
of hoys’ and girls’ clubs of the State, 544 stuck it out to 
the end. 
Some of the men who were at the State College a few 
years ago had the opportunity of knowing Dr. Liberty 
Hyde Bailey. Since leaving rhe college he has been oc¬ 
cupied with editing and writing books dealing with 
things relating to the subject of agriculture. One « f the 
large tasks which he has carried on has been the revis¬ 
ion of his Cyclopedia of Horticulture. He has re¬ 
cently returned from Trinidad, where he has been 
studying. 
Interest in the county spelling contest to select the 
contestants at the State Fair has not been confined to 
any one territory in the State this year. The most in¬ 
teresting thing T have run across has been in Franklin 
County, where the winner of the contest was Beatrice 
White, daughter of the chief of the St Regis Molt iwk 
tribe of Indians. She defeated 11 other contestants, 
and as a reward will go to the State Pair this Fall to 
compete for the State prize. iti order to defeat her 
opponents it was necessary to spell 70 words correctly. 
Miss White is said to be the Only Indian contestant in 
the State. A few weeks ago. when the township contest 
was held in Bombay. Miss White captured honors over 
the other competitors. This entitles her to enter the 
State contest. 
Farmers have hold every conceivable kind of meeting 
during the last three or four years. One of the latest 
developments has been a meeting on wheels. Orange 
County recently staged a novel meeting that was n suc¬ 
cess. This meeting was in the form of an Alfalfa auto 
tour. The purpose of the tour was to spread the gospel 
of more Alfalfa by seeing how the other fellow had done 
his work successfully. Meetings of this sort have a tre¬ 
mendous advantage over those held within the four 
walls of a building where what is said, at best, can only 
be abstract. There is still an argument in favor of the 
old adage, “Seeing is believing.” E. A. k. 
