568 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
AUG. 27 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker, 
n National Journal for the Country and Suburban Home, 
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. 
Conducted by 
EliBEBT S. CARMAN. 
Address 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
No. 34 Park Row, New York. 
8ATUKDAY, AUG. 27, 1881 
A Farmer’s Holiday.— The annnal 
“ harvest home ” celebration or farmers’ 
pic-uic is an event eagerly anticipated by 
the farmers of lower New York, and 
Itockland Lake is the chosen place for 
the yearly holiday. Last Wednesday 
some 10,000 or more “ merry-makers ” 
assembled there to enjoy a good old- 
fashioned pie-nie, and, as we have no 
reason to doubt, it was a gala day for 
them. However, we do not mention this 
simply as a fact, but for the moral. If 
there is one cl ass of people who deserve, 
and can enjoy, such a day of recreation, 
it is the farmer, yet no class thinks so 
little about a day’s or a week’s rest as 
they. Now that harvest, in most parts 
of the country, is over, why cannot the 
farmers in every town unite in a day’s 
recreation and resolve to have a little 
respite from continual toil? Our holi¬ 
days are too few, and the farmer’s “ off” 
days in the Summer are scarce, yet he 
can increase them if he will. 
♦»♦ - 
The Boston Exhibition. — Boston’s 
Mechanical Fair opened in that city on 
the 17th inst. under favorable anspioes. 
It is the first annual exhibition of the 
New England Manufacturers’ and Me¬ 
chanics’ Institute. Governor Long of 
Massachusetts presided at the opening 
exercises and the oration was delivered 
by Commissioner Loring. Beginning 
with an interesting outline of the 
changed condition of life resulting from 
modern invention and science, and glanc¬ 
ing at the usefulness of State and National 
Expositions, he passed on to a considera¬ 
tion of the leading industries, of this 
country. The exhibition is intended to 
fully represent New England’s arts and 
industries and we have no doubt but 
that it will be a grand success. The 
buildings cover about ten acres of 
ground, and will be open from now until 
November; thus ample time is given for 
many thousands to be present from all 
parts of the land. We congratulate 
Boston on her enterprise. 
-- 
A Marvelous Change. —The Bureau 
of Statistics has just stated that during 
the month of July 1881 there arrived at 
the principal ports of the United States 
56,000 immigrants, against 49,850 during 
the corresponding period in 1880. Sta¬ 
tistics show that of all the immigrants 
who arrive in this country seven-tenths 
land at Castle Garden in this city ; thus, 
39,200 of the new-comers must have 
passed through this huge caravansary. 
One of its departments is a Labor Bureau, 
whose object is to provide for the labor¬ 
ing classes among the strangers work in 
any part of the country where their ser¬ 
vices may be needed. In spite of the 
enormous influx of late, the Bureau finds 
the supply of this class less than the de¬ 
mand. Requisitions for help are pour¬ 
ing in from the wheat and oorn fields of 
the Northwest and West, from the cot¬ 
ton fields of the South, from the railroad- 
building works of the Southwest, from 
the factories of New England, the mines 
of Pennsylvania and the varied indus¬ 
tries of the other Middle States. Singly, 
in tens, in hundreds and once or twice in 
thousands the strangers are sent off to 
their various fields of labor to make a 
livelihood for themselves and add to the 
wealth of the country. It was only the 
other day that hundreds of immigrants 
after a vain search for work here, re¬ 
turned embittered and disconsolate 
“home”—home whence distress and 
starvation had driven them. How mar¬ 
velous a change in a few years! And 
then in what exultant trumpet-tones 
does it not speak of the mighty push and 
energy of our multitudinous industries ! 
-- 
PLANT BLACK WALNUT. 
The Boston Fnrniture Exchange, at a 
meeting the other day, announced an ad- 
vanoo of from 10 to 15 per cent, in the 
price of black walnut furniture. The 
advance was based on information that 
the great demand for furniture of this 
kind sinoe the war had made such great 
inroads on the black walnut forests of 
Indiana, our main source of supply, that 
the supply there had begun to fail. 
Everywhere prices for this timber are ris¬ 
ing. From $75 to $80 a thousand in 1874 
the price has already gone np to from 
390 to 3125 a thousand, according to 
size and quality. Next to oak and 
hickory, black walnut used to be the 
the oommorest tree in the State .of 
Illinois, but the State of Illinois is 
now almost destitute of black wal¬ 
nut, and attention is being directed 
to other sources of supply, especially to 
Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. 
A black walnut tree will grow to sawing 
size sooner than a pine ; and to-day in 
our markets it is quoted at three times 
the price of pine. In view, then, of the 
ease with which it can be propagated, 
its rapid growth, the high value of its 
timber and the certainty of a constant 
and profitable demand, why is it not 
more extensively planted ? In this as 
in other cases, we are living on our tim¬ 
ber capital instead of on the inte rest of it. 
- «»» 
INTERNATIONAL SYMPATHY. 
One thing even the most careless ob¬ 
server of events will scarcely have failed 
to notice, and that is the sympathy for, 
aud interest in, ourstri ken Presid. nt, as 
manifested by foreign governments and 
peoples. Almost every civilized nation 
has more than onee cabled its messages 
of condolence and sympathy, and the in¬ 
tense anxiety with which the least item 
of news from Washington is awaited in 
foreign lands shows plainly th it these 
expressions of sympathy are not simply 
cold aud formal, but sincere. Especially 
is this true of our Mother Country, Eng¬ 
land, wbioh tlirongh its admirable Queen, 
bas mauy times expressed the greatest 
concern for our President; indeed, if re¬ 
port be true, the whole populaoe are on 
the quivive for the latest cablegrams. But 
in the message which Queen Victoria 
sent t > Mrs. Garfield, when recently 
the President suffered a serious relapse, 
there was a warmth of womanly feeling, 
an inteuse anxiety, a keen sympathy for 
a sister iu afflic tion, such as have not been 
expressed by any other ruler in Europe. 
Mrs. Garfield’s unusual fortitude, which 
has won for her the highest encomiums 
of the American people, is acarely less 
appreciated abroad, and the sufferings 
of the President and this fortitude of 
his wife are subjects of comment in other 
countries than our own. These marks 
of respect from other peoples Americans 
will not easily forget. 
- # ♦» 
AMERICAN OLEOMARGARINE OIL IN 
HOLLAND. 
Holland is the largest European im¬ 
porter of American oleomargarine oil. 
The pioduct is there churned with about 
20 per cent of fresh milk and some ool- 
c ring matter and after it has been chilled 
into “butter,” or butterine, it is exported 
chiefly to Great Britain, either under its 
rightful name or in the guise of genuine 
Dutch butter. It began to be imported 
in large quanties in 1874, and so profita¬ 
ble to all parties connected with it did 
the handling of the stuff prove that in 
1878 there were 20 butterine factories, 
which had increased to fully 100 iu 1880, 
according to the report ju-it made by our 
Consul at Amsterdam. In that year es¬ 
timates of the qaantity imported vary 
from 75,000 to 120,000 tierces, or from 
11,000 to 15,000 tons. For the first time 
almost all concerned in the business then 
suffered heavy losses. Prices of the pro¬ 
duct varied greatly every month of the 
twelve, from 110 francs per 100 kilo¬ 
grams in January to 65 francs per 100 
kilograms in March, sinking in No¬ 
vember from 106 to 88 francs per 100 
kilograms. Daring the fierce competi¬ 
tion thft then reigned a great deal of in¬ 
ferior stuff was thrown upon the market, 
and the butterine made from this, com¬ 
ing into direct competition with the poor 
article made from the low-grade, home¬ 
made oleo of France, Austria and Russia, 
inflicted heavy losses on all who handled 
it. Hitherto it had been the general 
praotiee with Dutch dealers in American 
oleo to buy and sell the article on the 
faith of inspection certificates from Ameri¬ 
can inspectors; bnt as onr exporters of 
the concoction in the heat of the straggle 
frequently palmed off on their customers 
an article much inferior to that called for 
by the certificates, it is likely that in 
future all consignments will be sold on 
arrival, at public sale, an opportunity be¬ 
ing afforded intending buyers to inspect 
as many tierces of each lot as they may 
desire before purchasing. American greed 
seems to have over-reached itself here. 
—-» »•»- 
COMBATTING RAILROAD ABUSES. 
The Anti-Monopoly League is an or¬ 
ganization lately founded, whose efforts 
are at present directed mainly against 
the abuses of railway transportation. 
Last Thursday a conference of this body 
and of other organizations in sympathy 
with it objects, was held at Utioa, New 
York. The pinciples enunciated must 
meet with the hearty support of all good 
citizens. Pithily they were, the duty of 
advocating, supporting aud defending 
the rights of the many against the priv¬ 
ileges of the few ; that corporations, the 
creation of the State, shall bo controlled 
by the State; that labor and capital are 
allies, not enemies, and that both should 
have even-handed justice. Among the 
expressed objects of the organization that 
meet our unqualified approval are, 
briefly, the enactment of laws compelling 
transportation companies to base charges 
upo ■ cost and risk of service, instead of on 
the theory, “ what the traffic will bear ;” 
also of laws to prevent discrimination in 
freight charges against aDy citizen or 
place, as well as of laws making it the 
duly of public law officers to defend a 
citizen’s rights against injustice by pow¬ 
erful combinations. We also heartily 
advocate laws to prevent the further 
“ watering ” of stock and other devices 
by which a fictitious value for public 
highways is created; stringent laws 
against bribery, including the prohibi¬ 
tion of free passes to legislators or to in¬ 
fluence legislation, and laws providing 
for the restriction within proper limits, 
of corporate powers and privileges gener¬ 
ally. While not willing to oppose, we are 
not prepared to support without, quali¬ 
fication some of the other enunciated 
objects of the body, such as the enactment 
of laws to prevent railroad combination, 
which in our opinion should be restricted, 
not entirely prevented ; and the appoint¬ 
ment of a Board of Railroad Commission¬ 
ers, a measure towards which we are well 
disposed, but whose paramount advan¬ 
tage is still a matter of fair discussion. 
In view of the approaching Fall elec¬ 
tion of those who will have to deal leg¬ 
islatively with transportation questions 
in the various States, and also in consid¬ 
eration of the gross abuses of the privile¬ 
ges accorded to railroad companies as well 
as of the danger to the public interests 
from the monopolizing tendencies of these 
gigantic corporations, and the difficulty 
of reaching a just decision as to the best 
form of legislation in regard to them, we 
shall henceforth give more attention and 
Bpace than heretofore to the discussion 
of the important question of railroad 
transportation. 
-- 
FAIR TRADE AND FREE TRADE. 
In 1846 the British Parliament, under 
the leadership of Sir Robert Peel, and 
through the tireless agitation of Rich¬ 
ard Cobden, supported by the widespread 
and energetic Anti-Corn-Law League, 
passed an act repealing the duties on 
importations of cereals. The measure 
was bitterly opposed by the farmers of 
the United Kingdom with whose products 
it permitted foreign goods to be brought 
into free competition ; and for this reason 
the farmers of the United Kingdom have 
ever since been outspoken in their 
antagonism to it. It was also bitterly op¬ 
posed by the Conservative Party beoause 
that party found its main support in 
rural districts where its leaders were 
mighty land-owners; its leaders have 
continued to be mighty land-owners, and 
the party has continued to find its main 
support in rnral districts, and therefore 
though the Conservative Party has from 
policy generally masked its disapproba¬ 
tion of the repeal of the corn-laws ; yet 
whenever a favorable opportunity has 
arisen to strike a damaging blow at the 
principle on which the repeal was made, 
the Conservative Party has never 
hesitated to strike that blow. 
Quick upon the repeal of the duties on 
imported cereals, the duties on importa¬ 
tions of a great number of other articles, 
especially those on all raw materials, 
were also removed, aud England straight¬ 
way became the apostle t f Free Trade 
among the Nations—the earnest, ubi¬ 
quitous advocate of the removal of im¬ 
port duties on all foreign wares by all 
governments. The country was a vast 
workshop in which goods were made by 
the best machinery, the most skillful la¬ 
bor aud the largest capital in the world. 
The raw materials of her manufactured 
products were her only importations of 
any account beyond the food for her 
toiling millions. By removing the im¬ 
port duties on both of these she cheap¬ 
ened the bread of the multitude as 
well as the goods they turned out, and by 
advocating Free Trade abroad she was 
merely canvassing for markets every¬ 
where for her cheapened wareB. Other 
countries having continued deaf to her 
persuasions and having so vastly im¬ 
proved their own manufactures that 
not only is England losing what markets 
she has in them, but finding them sharp 
competitors in other markets which she 
has hitherto deemed exclusively her 
own, Bhe is now changing her cry of 
Free Trade to Fair Trade. 
So long as Free Trade gave the multitude 
cheap bread and promised an unlimited 
foreign demand for their goods,the multi¬ 
tude hurrahed for Free Trade, but hav¬ 
ing failed in its promise, the multitude 
is likely to abandon it, and with equal 
enthusiasm shout Fair Trade, which 
makee the same promise. The country 
is seeking ample markets for her goods, 
and is willing to preach any doctrine the 
voluntary or compulsory adoption of 
which by other nations is* likely to give 
her the boon she craves. Reciprocity is 
the burthen of the new cry—that all 
foreign goods shall be admitted duty 
free only from those countries which 
shall admit British goods on the same 
terms. It is proposed to admit duty free 
the raw materials of Britain’s manufac¬ 
tures, bnt not those of her population, 
for, as a sop to the farmers, a vary mod¬ 
erate duty is to be levied on ail arti¬ 
cles of food from foreign countries. This 
principle i3 likely to grow in popular 
favor and to have much weight hence¬ 
forth iu political action. Already the 
agricultural community, the manufac¬ 
turers and the Conservative Party may 
be put down as its supporters, and on 
the plea of protection for British agri¬ 
cultural and manufacturing industries 
thousands of the working classes, hith¬ 
erto mainly Liberals, will probably 
soon yell lustily Fair Trade instead of 
Free Trade. 
--- 
BREVITIES. 
Growing graiB is personal property, and an 
attachment upon it will hold good as against 
a subsequent mortgage, according to a recent 
decision of the Supreme Court of California. 
* 
Those who have so kindly favored the Ru¬ 
ral with specimens of their wheat would 
greatly oblige us if they would state the yield 
when it has proven large, and also to what 
special cause they think it is due. 
No property pays so well for improving as 
a flock of sheep and none can be so well im¬ 
proved by careful breeding. But a shepherd 
should exercise the greatest care in changing 
his rams. When one has procured good 
stock he should hesitate to destroy it by intro¬ 
ducing animals that will not match. Matching 
is necessary to successful mating, especially 
with sheep which are so easily impressed for 
good or ill by breeding, 
Bbcrbtaby W. I. Chamberlain telegraphs 
us from Columbus, Ohio, under date, Aug., 21, 
‘ 'The August eatim ate of the Ohio Board of Ag¬ 
riculture. compared with 1S80, is as follows: 
wheat, 72 per cent., or US,000,000 bushels; 
againstr>2,500,000 bushels; corn, 70 per cent., or 
74,000.(XX) bushels; against 105,000,000 bushels; 
outs. 107 percent., or22,1500,000bushels ; against 
21,000,000 bushels. The wheat estimate is 
baaed on actual measurements of the yield per 
acre from 1,000 thrashing machines for three 
week’s thrashing In all parts of the 8tate.” 
Compare thiB with our estimate of the out¬ 
come of the crops in our Crop Special as long 
ago as June 25—a remarkable coincidence, 
isn’t it? 
Is the relation of supply and demand, tem¬ 
pered by speculation, the only means of regu¬ 
lating the price of grain ? Nations that have 
advanced farthest in political economy seem 
to think so. Russia is not In the front rank of 
these, so Russia is about to try to regulate the 
price of grain by governmental Interference ; 
or, to put It in more official language, “ the 
Ministry of the Interior is considering meas¬ 
ures for preventing the productive power of 
the people from being improperly turned to 
account by speculators." It is intended to 
establish throughout the Umpire official con¬ 
trol over all the Russian grain markets, aud 
over the price of grain for home consumption 
and exportation. 
In the case of Thomas vs. Moody, tried the 
other day before the Supreme Court of Califor¬ 
nia, the facta were these:—Moody instructed 
an irresponsible firm to buy wool for him, ex¬ 
pressly agreeing to furnish the money to pay 
for it. When the wool was delivered to him 
he aold it, and, after deducting his commission 
for selling it, placed the proceeds to the 
account of his purchasing agents who were 
indebted to him. (Upon demand being made on 
the agents for the price of the wool, they stated 
the facts to the sellers who at once brought 
an action for the price of the wool against the 
principal, Moody. When they sold the wool 
they were ignorant of the relations between 
Moody and hiB agents.. The Court below had 
given judgment in favor of the defendent; but 
this was reversed by the Supreme Court which 
gave judgment for the price of the wool, $13,- 
268,20. in a scathing opinion the judge indig¬ 
nantly exclaimed . •• Whence comes the right 
of the defendant to make the property of the 
plaintiffs, innocent parties, pay the debt of his 
agents ?’• 
In the cubo of Dresbach V6. |the California 
Pacific Railroad Company, decided on July 2, 
the railroad had taken a lot of grain sacks to be 
carried from San Francisco to Jacinto, and 
they were lost. Dresbach sued for their 
value and the company set np as a defence that 
as its line ended at Knight’s Landing, a 
point short of Jacinto, it was not liable for 
damages. The Court, however, said that as 
the evidence Bhowed the sacks had been re¬ 
ceived at Jacinto by the company’s agents and 
had been lost through their negligence, the 
company must be held liable for thair value. 
