1176 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TIIE BUSINESS FAB.VEITS PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
K*taM(*hftt iSSO 
Fubliihtd weekly by tbe Rural Fublfehlne Company, S13 West, XOtli Street. Xeu fork 
Herbert XV. COLLlMGVrooD, I'mddeut and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manatrer. 
XVm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Roylv. Associate Editor. 
I., H. Mt'KFHY, Circulation Manaper. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04. Remit in money 
order, e xpress order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Cltt-ts Matter. 
Advertising rates, $1.00 per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL" 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is barked by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable house s only. But'to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting uny deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisement;; In our columns, and any 
such swindlei will be publicly exposed. We are also often called upon 
to adjust differences or mistake-, between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible bouses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly uw our good 
offices to tills end, but such eases should not b* confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, bur we will not be 
responsible for the debts of holiest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of tbe complaint must In sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
Will you settle an argument about hanging the Amer¬ 
ican flag? John says the stars are to be hung to the 
right as you go up the walk. Bob says the stars are 
hung to left; that is, as you read, left to right. Flag 
hangs over doorway. We are subscribers to your paper 
and look to you to settle the argument. Every holiday 
starts the same old thing, so Bob says write The II. 
N.-Y. So please stop the argument. mbs. r. s. m. 
T HAT is 'beyond our power. At the War Depart¬ 
ment the Adjutant General says there is no 
Federal law now in force pertaining to the way the 
American flag shall he hung or saluted. Individual 
opinion differs—just as Bed) and John do. The War 
Department merely suggests that unless on a pole 
or staff the flag should he lning flat with the union 
to the north or east. It should not he used as a 
cover for a table, box or desk. When used on a cas¬ 
ket or bier, the stars should he placed at the head, 
and in no ease should the flag he permitted to touch 
the ground. We can find no other suggestions about 
hanging the flag. It is a matter of individual liking, 
of the people we have consulted, few seem to have 
given it any thought. The majority seem to prefer 
tin 1 stars at the left. In the government printing 
both positions seem to be used. Why not let Bob 
and John settle it on the basis of real service to their 
country! If Bob proves the truer patriot in civil 
life, let the family flag hang with the stars to the 
left. If John excels, put the stars at the right. Let 
these young men remember that they do not need to 
go to war to prove their patriotism. 
W E are receiving a few letters based on that 
report of the Committee of Twenty-one. Our 
wish is to give all sides a fair hearing, and we shall 
try to do so. When we issued the invitation to dis¬ 
cuss this report, we stated clearly that such discus¬ 
sion must he good-tempered and free from person¬ 
alities. and we shall adhere strictly to that rule. It 
is a mistake, and worse, to charge the members of 
this committee with trying to take any unfair or 
underhand advantage. We all admit that our school 
laws need revision, hut we know it is a thankless 
job to try to present a fair compromise between fac¬ 
tions which will oppose all progress and Hie imprac¬ 
tical people who propose to jump right into the im¬ 
possible. As a matter of fact, the State Department 
of Education does not appear to approve the com¬ 
mittee's report. We know that in some details, at 
least, the committee opposes the department’s ideas. 
The report contains Hie first definite proposition or 
set of propositions that lias been put before the pub¬ 
lic for discussion, and they ought to he examined 
with an open miml, and with fairness, on their 
merits. No possible good can come from impugning 
the motives of this committee ami arousing personal 
prejudice against them. Let us make the issue clear- 
cut and definite. If the suggestions in this report 
are unsound or dangerous, prove it by fair argu¬ 
ment. but let us assume that the suggestions tire 
made in good faith. 
fr 
I T seems to us that the big cities of this country 
tire now larger than they should he for the good 
of the nation. There ought to he a new and more 
even distribution of population. There are too many 
people in the great cities xvlio are underfed and not 
proi>erly housed. They make up the turbulent, un¬ 
satisfied elements of population, usually without 
responsibility or great moral restraint. The bigger 
the city the more it draws upon the country, not only 
in population, hut in opportunity. The nation would 
he far hotter off if the great cities could he broken 
up, with their population scattered into a dozen or 
more small groups. If each group could he put out 
to form a new town, back near the water powers, or 
natural places for supplying certain sections, the 
entire country would be helped. Values of land 
Tht RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
would rise, there would be available more property 
for taxation, human life would, on the whole, be 
safer and happier, farmers would he brought nearer 
their markets, and something of the bitterness be¬ 
tween city and country would disappear. We have 
a feeling that sometime in the near future this idea 
will enter the brain of the American people, and 
thus work itself out. The problem of city life is get- 
ling away from all of us. We are beginning to see 
ihat this idea of herding great masses of humanity 
into little spots of territory is simply playing into 
the hands of the group of strong and wealthy men 
who, in truth, control the nation. It is not so desir¬ 
able that great bodies of city people should go out 
and buy farms. If too many of them tried to do 
that it would prove a calamity. What we most 
need is to scatter manufacturing and its industry 
into smaller groups—out nearer the sources of pro¬ 
duction. 
* 
F ARMERS generally have supported the sugges¬ 
tion to nominate Senator James Towner for 
state Controller as a reward for his nine years’ 
service to agriculture in the State Senate. Dairy¬ 
men are particularly anxious to recognize his service 
to the dairy industry. At the same time it. is gener¬ 
ally admitted that his legislative work, while help¬ 
ful to the farm, has been consistent with the best 
interest of all people of the State, lie has helped 
agriculture in a way to help all. 
No nomination has yet been made, and there seems 
to he no special competition for the place. It would 
be a gracious concession of the leaders of the Repub¬ 
lican party to farmers to nominate Senator Towner 
as a concession to their preference and to their de¬ 
sire to reward a friend. It would he good polities 
as well, because it would increase the farm vote for 
the whole State ticket. 
T IIE newspapers tell of a Pennsylvania chicken 
man who found a roll of money amounting to 
$9o0 in his chicken house. A thief came in the night 
and stole about 30 hens. In his haste to get away 
lie dropped his roll on the floor! The hen man ad¬ 
vertised the “find,” and lias received an indirect 
message from the thief, who says, “Take out the 
price of the chickens and send me the balance.” The 
chicken man is too wise for that. He says, “No! 
Come up and prove your property and take the 
money—and the consequences!” Tf this man proves 
that the money belong? to him lie admits that he 
entered the henhouse—that he is the thief! That 
would mean a fine and jail sentence, and he would 
have no sure thing on getting his $900 hack! It is 
liis move! But where did this thief get $900 to¬ 
gether? Those of us who go on the markets and see 
the display of money some of these peddlers make 
are not incredulous. We have seen ragged men pull 
out a roll of hills as big as a stovepipe—all the result 
of holding up farmers and knocking down consum¬ 
ers. We waste no sympathy on that chicken thief. 
We are glad lie dropped his roll, and that he was not 
shot. 
I F we ever expect to make a “clean-up” in politics 
we must pay attention to the county and .state 
committees of both parties. These committees usu¬ 
ally settle things for us. They select candidates, 
make issues and determine policies and, as a rule, 
what they decide “goes." We all know how hard it 
is to defeat any candidate, however bad he may he, 
when lie has the committee back of him. Now in 
most of the rural counties these committees are 
selected and could he controlled by farmers. It 
would he possible to have a majority of the county 
committees, and also the State committee, under con¬ 
trol of the rural voters. If that were done we 
could quickly change the policy of the party if that 
became necessary. As it is, we are letting the poli¬ 
ticians control tbe committees, and then attempting 
the impossible task of trying to bout their candi¬ 
dates. The thing to do is to go right to the fountain 
head and control the committee. 
* 
O NE of the most singular things connected with 
farming is the way we keep on, year after 
year, producing more than we can distribute at a 
profit. Most likely all of us have decided at the end of 
a disastrous year that we will stop working so hard, 
raise a little less, cut out unprofitable crops and not 
go through the hard drudgery another year. It is 
quite easy to say these things in the Fall—at the 
dead end of the year—hut it is another thing when 
Spring stirs the earth into life once more, and trees, 
cattle, grass—every farm companion—prepares hope¬ 
fully for another campaign. Then the farmer usually 
forgets the economic mistakes of lust year anil plans 
September 30, 1022 
for the old work. It is hard sometimes to under¬ 
stand how this happens. In no other line of labor 
can men be found who will with each recurring Spring 
come back to their hard task anil start it anew. It 
is a form of instinct which prompts the farmer to 
work in this way. It is really an expression of deep 
unconscious religious feeling or thought of liis neces¬ 
sity to the world and a sense of his humble duty to 
humanity. Thoughtless people cannot understand 
the depth of this instinct to keep alive the founda¬ 
tions of society. The politician understands 
enough of it to capitalize it. for his own advantage. 
But there is nothing finer in the world than this 
primal instinct of the true farmer to come hack to 
his duty—no matter how hard liis year has been— 
whenever Spring leads him on. 
* 
W E have just harvested our crop of- Sudan 
grass. As a fodder crop it. is one of the best 
we have ever planted. It gives a little more weight 
to the acre than fodder corn; that, is, corn planted 
thickly in drills. The stalks or stems are much finer 
than corn, so the fodder is eaten up clean, while, as 
we all know, nearly half of corn fodder is often 
wasted. The Sudan grass gives a heavier crop than 
millet or oafs and peas. Our crop was grown in 
drills and easily cut and cured. It ought to do well 
as a silo crop. Many gardeners want a crop to be 
used as a mulch for strawberries but they cannot 
give the space needed for wheat or rye. Sudan grass 
will fill this need well. It will make a heavy yield, 
and is coarse enough to cover the plants well. On 
the whole, Sudan grass is a crop well suited to our 
Eastern farms. 
* 
T HE tariff bill over which Congress struggled 
for more than a year has now been enacted 
into law. It contains many rates which are higher 
than were ever known in any previous tariff bill. 
This is particularly true as regards rates on agri¬ 
cultural products. For example, wheat, 30 cents a 
bushel; apples, 25 cents; potatoes, half a cent a 
pound; butter, eight cents a pound, and eggs, eight 
cents a dozen. When the hill finally passed four 
Northern Senators voted against it, while three from 
Southern States voted in favor. Nothing quite like 
such a mixing of sectional feeling over a tariff hill 
has been known before. One feature of this bill is 
not well understood. It gives the President power 
to revise tariff rates when in his judgment such 
revision is needed. Formerly a tariff schedule stood 
unbroken until Congress enacted a new law. Under 
the new plan it. would be quite possible for the peo¬ 
ple to elect a new President on a lower tariff issue 
and have him cut existing rates in two. In a way 
this brings the question nearer to the people. 
Opinions will differ as to the effect of this new tariff 
upon agriculture. We shall have to admit that the 
“farm bloc” in the Senate and most of the farm 
“leaders" demanded the high rates on farm products, 
and they agreed to correspondingly high rates on 
other goods. Any tariff which goes beyond the point, 
of providing fair revenue is economically unsound, 
by providing special privilege or advantage to some 
favored industry. What our farmers may possibly 
gain by keeping foreigu-grown food or liber out of 
our markets is usually more than lost through in¬ 
creased price of wluit they must buy, and the in¬ 
ability of Europe to pay her debts with manufac¬ 
tured goods. Of course the organized interests will 
gain more from a high tariff on manufactured goods 
than the unorganized farmers ever can on farm 
goods. At the same time farmers, us represented in 
Congress, demanded this high tariff, and most of 
them appear to think it will benefit them. The 
psychological effect will be helpful, and it may bring 
the confidence so much needed in business. 
Brevities 
A few years ago there was a heavy run on “hog 
oilers.” Are they still in general use? 
Peas and buckwheat arc both good ns chicken feed. 
Is there any good reason why a man cannot grow a crop 
of oats and peas and follow with buck wheat? 
The dozens of people who write us about making ap¬ 
ple juice and cider should obtain Bulletin No. 1204 
from the Department of Agriculture at Washington. 
roNSlDKRAHi.K of the clover has been covered with a 
white mildew iliis year, and a number of farmers have 
asked if it is dangerous to feed it. No. There seems 
to be up harm in if. 
The Imperial Valley in Lower California produces 
superior melons, which are sent all over the country. 
Nearly 13,000 cars were shipped ibis year; the market 
broke and the growers lost nearly $."5,000,000. We are 
all in it this year. 
A 80 -c.uj.ei) “canning powder," claimed to preserve 
frui'ts or vegetable with lilUe or no heating, contained 
0”> per cent boric acid and 5 per cent salt. If did not 
preserve fruit properly, and the “canned” stuff was in¬ 
jurious, Use butt uml plenty of it, 
