4887 
THE RURAL REW-VORKER. 
Caw. 
“Every Man is presumed to know the Law. 
Nine-tenths of all Litigation arises from Ig¬ 
norance of Law." 
RECENT DECISIONS OF INTEREST TO 
FARMERS. 
Commission's on Loans Usurious.— A <le- 
cisiou of great iuterest to farmers and others 
who have suffered from the grasping extortion 
of money-lenders and their agents was ren¬ 
dered a week ago by Judge Emory Spear, 
presiding in the United States Circuit 
Court for tho Southern District of Georgia. 
The decision involves the validity of the con¬ 
tracts of money loans on land made by loan 
companies. He holds that the practice of 
these companies, of withholding from 15 to 20 
per cent, of the amount loaned under the de¬ 
vice of commissions for negotiating the loan, 
is usurious and illegal, and that where the 
money-lender who deals through tho loan 
companies is shown to have carried on a set¬ 
tled business where these exorbitant and ex¬ 
travagant rates, in addition to regular inter¬ 
est, are charged, he is presumed to understand 
the nature of the contracts the loan companies 
are making, and that in the absence of satis¬ 
factory proof to rebut this presumption he can 
recover only the amount received by the bor¬ 
rower and the legal interast, and not the com¬ 
missions which are included in the amount 
stated in the rate or mortgage. Verdict had 
been rendered in Georgia upon this basis in 
the case of Sherwood vs Rountree. The loan 
company bad moved for a new trial, and the 
decision of Judge Spew over-ruled that mo¬ 
tion. The decision is distinguished from the 
leading case of Cole vs. Palmer, llti U. 8., 
where there was but a single loan, and the 
proof was clear that the lender knew nothing 
of the usurious commissions charged and did 
not authorize them. This is the first decision 
upon this precise*question in the UnitedStates 
Courts, and is thought to have an important 
bearing, particularly in the South and "West, 
where these contracts are numerous. 
Discharge of Surface Water.—A laud 
owner has a right to discharge the surface 
water of his land through a ravine where it 
naturally runs and has been permitted to run 
for 20 years, but he has no right to dig ditches 
or drains, throwing his surface water on to 
the lands of a neighbor, and equity will re¬ 
strain him from doing so. 
E. S. L., La Crosse, Wis, —A, living in 
Philadelphia, lends money to different parties 
here. His agents foreclose some mortgages, 
taking the property ostensibly for A; but real¬ 
ly keeping it themselves whenever they can 
get a bargain. One of them, B, offers to sell a 
piece of this property to the original owner, 
C. C accepts the offer, aud goes to the Re¬ 
corder’s office to look at the title. Tho only 
one recorded is the Sheriff's deed conveying 
the property to A, under foreclosure. C tells 
B that he has tho purchase money ready, and 
will pay it as soon as B puts his title on re¬ 
cord, supposing it was merely a case of neglect. 
Instead of doing so, B sells the property 
in small lots to foreign immigrants who 
know nothing about the importance of a 
sound title. C again iuspects the record, and 
finding no title and haviug been so far left in 
undisturbed possession of the land, notifies the 
foreigners that B does not own the land, aud 
cannot give a title to it. To this they reply 
by showing a warranty deed, signed by B and 
wife. A is dead, and none of his heirs is 
known to C, who wants to repurchase her for¬ 
mer home. What is the legal state of the 
case? 
Ans. — C can hold possession against 
any others claiming, except by title from 
A. The purchasers from B can be legal¬ 
ly ousted by force as trespassers, and can be 
kept off the land by force. C can be removed 
only by duo process of ejectment, but she can¬ 
not force any person to soil the land to her. 
In default of heirs of A, C, haviug possession, 
can hold possession against all comers but A’s 
representatives, but as soon as possession is 
wrested from her by trick or force, not hav¬ 
ing any title, she cannot regain it. 
E. G. IF., Oswego Co., N. Y.—A keeps a 
herd of native cattle, aud lets a native bull 
run with his herd. B, who owns an adjoining 
farm, keeps a herd of Ayrshire cattle, one of 
which breaks into A’s field, through B’s part 
of the line fence, and is served by A’s native 
bull. Is A liable for damages for letting his 
bull run at large in his pasture ? 
Ans. — Certainly A is not liable for 
damages, lie has u perfect right to let his 
hull range as he likes over his own laud. 
Even if the cow had broken through A’s 
fence, he would not be liable unless it was in 
bad order. If_.B’s fence .was in] bad order 
where the cow broke through, A can sue B for 
trespass. 
F. T. Saratoga Springs, N. Y. —What is the 
law iu New York State about cutting the 
bushes along the highway whore the land is 
uninclosed and under timber? The highway 
commissioners order me to cut and clear away 
a heavy growth of bushes on the road running 
through land of such nature belonging to me; 
while I claim it is their business to remove 
the obstruction. 
Ans. —You had better comply with the com¬ 
missioners’ request. Trees, bushes, grass, etc., 
on the highway, belong to the owner or occu¬ 
pant of the adjacent land, and you have only 
to remove your own property. If a man owns 
the property on both sides of the road,he owns 
the whole road, subject to the right of the 
public to travel on it. If he owns land on one 
side only, his title to the road extends only to 
the center, and he need not remove noxious 
weeds, etc., from the other side. 
R. M,, Martinsville, Ind. —A mortgages 10 
acres of wheat to B, and when the crop was 
ripe cut it without B’s consent, thrashed it se¬ 
cretly at night, hauled the grain to market 
and sold it to an innocent purchaser. It is no 
use to sue A. Can B recover the value of the 
grain from C? 
Ans. —Yes, if tho mortgage was recorded; 
otherwise, no. The purchaser of a mortgaged 
crop takes it subject to the mortgage if this 
has been recorded, although he has no knowl¬ 
edge of it at the time of purchase. 
II. N. B., White House, Ohio. —Some time 
ago I bought a nice, black mare; in a short 
time the color began to fade, and now she is a 
nice roan; is there any law in this State 
against such rascally deception? In selling 
the horse nothing was said about color. 
Ans, —No. nor in any other State either. 
Ceveat emptor —let the buyer beware—is the 
rule in such cases. It has been often decided, 
however, and only a few months ago by the 
Supreme Court of Minnesota, that any false 
representation of any quality or other chatter 
affecting the value of property about to be sold, 
whether made by one interested in the sale or 
not, is false representation of a material fact, 
and for it an action will lie. 
s. Q. LENT. 
Once more I wish to enter a plea for road¬ 
side beauty. Between the m ithod of keeping 
the road perfectly clear and the lack of meth¬ 
od which allows everything to grow and de 
velop at will, without care or hindrance 
commend me to the latter practice. In Mich¬ 
igan we have a law which commands each 
“path-master” or overseer of highways to 
mow the noxious weeds from the roadsides of 
his district twice during the year, and cause 
them to be destroyed, once before July 1 and 
again before the first of September. The 
valuable results to be obtained from this re¬ 
quirement depeud very r largely upon the defi¬ 
nition placed upon the term “noxious weeds.” 
Our overseer has showu his interpretation of 
the law in the following manner on the sec¬ 
tion of highway over which I travel every day 
to the city. 
There was upon this bit of road occasionally, 
next the fence, one of our native spiraeas, 
beautiful in leaf and fiower. Two species of 
our wild Michigan roses grew in clusters here 
aud there, one on the high ground and the 
other near the little stream that we cross. 
Some vandal, a few years ago, cut off several 
oak trees that shaded the wayside, and strong 
sprouts hail sprung up from the stumps w i eh 
lovely dark green foliage, the growth of which 
has partially compensated for the loss of the 
trees. Through a marshy place the road-bed 
had been raised and graveled above the sides 
of the byway; along the border of the 
traveled track for 40 rods on either side,a fringe 
of willows in which four species delicately 
mingled, had grown up, giving a rare attract¬ 
iveness that must have pleased every passer¬ 
by. Next the little creek on either side, 
great clumps of red dogwood and the two 
species of elder grew with a rankness almost 
tropical in its character. Several groups of 
hazel were scattered along the lower ground, 
and two of the dwarf species of wild cherry 
were so arranged along the fence as to break 
up the monotony of the posts aud boards with 
their well marked aud evenly divided perpen¬ 
dicular aud horizontal spaces. Great masses 
of golden rod intermingled with strong-grow¬ 
ing purple asters have each year sprung up 
among the shrubbery, lending for two months 
a rare beauty to tho roadside. Many other 
details I might record that contributed to 
make this one of the most delightful pieces of 
road I know so near a large town. Unfor¬ 
tunately here and there in the open spaces 
masses of yellow-dock have grown, some milk¬ 
weeds, occasionally a mullein and rarely a 
“stick-tight.” 
Now what has our path-master done to il¬ 
lustrate his interpretation of the law? Why, 
being a little late in complying with the legal 
requisition, the dock milkweed, mullein and 
“stick-tights” had seeded, and as he would 
only be scattering bad seed on good ground 
by touching them with a scythe be let them 
severely alone. But he must show his good 
intention with regard to the law, so with his 
bush hook he has swept away every vestige 
of beauty from this mile of roadside, I would 
have remonstrated if it would avail anything. 
I would weep if it would bring back the 
wealth of beauty so ruthlessly destroyed. I 
could swear if it would make any of the fol¬ 
lowers of such lunacy stop and listen to rea¬ 
son. 
A large measure of the satisfaction I get 
in this world comes from enjoying native 
beauty as developed in growing things unaf¬ 
fected by any interference of man; and as the 
city comes nearer to me each year, tearing 
away bits of lovliness that have become a part 
of my life, I grieve and long to own a spot of 
ground that I can keep unchanged by the 
tendency of man to sweep the land of every na¬ 
tural growth. But when the 1 ‘king of our high¬ 
way” to show his power over nature, snatch¬ 
es in an evil hour a whole mile of beauty that 
has daily not only rendered life more endura¬ 
ble, but po itively made me thankful that I 
live iu so beautiful a world, I confess that 
all the Sunday-school training of a generation 
availeth not in softening my indignation. 
And then, as if to add insult to injury, I am 
compelled by law to help pay for this un¬ 
natural and uncalled for destruction. Michi¬ 
gan has large insane asylums, but the lunatics 
are not all gathered there, and I regard it as 
a serious problem in our economy how best 
io deal with the species of lunacy to which I 
have here called attention. 
Grand Rapids, Mich. 
A dispatch from Urbana, Ohio, says that 
the farmers of Champaign County have 
formed an organization to resist payment of 
royalty on Green’s patent on driven wells. 
Parties representing over 100 wells at once 
joined the association, and a committee was 
appointed in each township of the county to 
spread the organization. Between £1,200 and 
£1,500 were collected the previous week from 
parties who considered they were infringers. 
The Rural, with a clear knowledge of the 
details of Green’s “invention,” has always 
thought his patent invalid, and denounced 
his claims as extortionate. A large propor¬ 
tion of the United States Circuit and District 
Courts which passed a decision on the patent, 
were of the same opinion. The matter, how¬ 
ever, was decided by the United States Su¬ 
preme Court, aud from that there is no ap¬ 
peal; neither is there a “ fighting chance” that 
it will alter its decision in favor of the valid¬ 
ity of the patent. It is throwing away good 
money, therefore, to fee lawyers to resist it 
any longer. There isn’t one of them worth 
his salt, who does not kuow that such a strug¬ 
gle is hopeless; hence, there isu’t one of them 
who will engage iu it for a contingent fee. 
Just as we warn our friends against other 
pitfalls, open their eyes to other plausible de¬ 
lusions, so we now caution them against spend¬ 
ing a cent, on litigation so utterly hopeless. 
Hot indignation at the exactions of Green 
and his agents is quite justifiable; but indig¬ 
nation, however hot, shouldn't lead to folly. 
The lawyers are the deceitful sharpers in this 
case. Green’s agents, however, are very like¬ 
ly to demand royalty on wells which are not 
subject to it. The only wells subject to roy¬ 
alty are those put down during the life of the 
patent, from January 14, 1888—the date of 
the issue of Green’s original patent—and 
January 14, 1SS5, the date of the expiration 
of the re-Issued patent of 1871. Bored wells 
are not subject to royalty—only wells in the 
construction of which the earth was forced 
aside by a descending rod or tube, instead of 
being brought to the surface. 
Time was wheu the “bunco” or “confidence” 
men confined their operations almost exclu¬ 
sively to the cities, with occasional trips, for 
combined recreation aud profit, into the adja¬ 
cent towns and villages. When, also, for any 
reason—extra energy of police in one city; or 
some extra crowd-drawing show iu another— 
they wished to chauge their quarters tempo¬ 
rarily or otherwise, from one city to another, 
of course they paid their.way by,'‘working” 
the intermediate country. Rarely, however, 
did they leave bricks and mortar for haw¬ 
thorn and heather to engage in regular 
“business.” It wasn’t that the bar-rooms and 
cognate attractions were restraining influ¬ 
ences; for, as a rule, the rascals are sober; 
indeed their business demands steady nerves 
and a cool, audacious mendacity which are im¬ 
possible in a tippler. Probably the chief reason 
was that on attaining success, immediate dis¬ 
appearance was necessary, aud they thought 
this could be more easily accomplished in the 
crowds of large cities than the solitude of 
country places. 
Just as the sharpers in speculative ventures, 
who used to confine their operations to the 
stock markets,have lately been playing havoc 
in the produce markets, so the sharpers in the 
“confidence game,” or at least many of them, 
who used to confine their operation mainly to 
fleecing greenhorn visitors to large cities, now 
go boldly in search of them in country places; 
and, alas! they find them there in abundance. 
Week after week; yes, day after day, the 
Eye-Opener is either angered or amused by 
reading in “exchanges” from all parts of 
the country, accounts of “confidence” swin¬ 
dles perpetrated on farmers. There is little 
originality in the dodges of sharpers. Judg¬ 
ing by the monotonous sameness of their 
modes of swindling year after year, and in 
widely separated parts of the country, these 
fellows can possess very little inventive in¬ 
genuity. But really why should they exercise 
any, since the same old game can be success¬ 
fully played over and over again, and in Cal¬ 
ifornia as well as in Maine, in Texas as well as 
in Minnesota? 
The rascals hunt in pairs in cities ; and in 
the couiitiy also they hunt in pairs or triplets. 
As their name indicates, their chief means to 
secure success is to inspire their intended 
dupe with confidence either in their own hon¬ 
esty, or in some project by which he is certain 
to make large gains with little trouble or risk. 
Whatever their modus operandi, this is the 
principle upon which they work. Like nearly 
all other swindlers, their appeals are almost 
always made to the greed of their victim ; to 
his desire to make a good but unfair bargain ; 
a profitable but tricky trade, or to win a large 
amount by gambling or some other form of 
rascality. They have little faith in abso¬ 
lute human integrity where large profits are 
to be made by trickery or dishonesty, especi¬ 
ally if these can be disguised under a hand¬ 
some hypocritical garb. Rascals through and 
through themselves, they believe in a large 
admixture of active or latent rascality in oth¬ 
ers, and plot and work accordingly. The 
E. O., on an average, reads two or three ac¬ 
counts of their successes a week. The number 
published must be vastly greater than those 
that come under his notice, and not half those 
that are perpetrated ever appear in print, so 
that the aggregate amount of money of which 
these sharpers swindle farmers every year, 
must be high up among the tens or hundreds 
of thousands. The schemes by which they 
effect this are few, simple and uniform, and 
will be detailed here next week. 
BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED. 
Dairy Commissioner's Report. — Third 
annual report of the N. Y. State Dairy Com¬ 
missioner is received from J. K. Brown, Al¬ 
bany'. This report was transmitted to the 
Legislature February 1, lssT. It is au inter¬ 
esting volume, one that all dairymen should 
secure. The contest with oleomargarine is 
well described. The “Report on Cheese” is of 
special interest, as several well-known cheese 
makers have contributed their methods of 
cheese making. The report of Mr, B. F. Van 
\ alkenburg. the assistant dairy commissioner 
for this city is a very able document. It 
shows what has been done in the matter of 
preventing the sale of bogus butter and the 
great difficulties that have hampered the 
officials. We advise our dairy friends to se¬ 
cure the report and keep it for reference. 
Olive Culture.— Pamphlets from Louis 
Gregoere & Co., San Francisco, Cal., price 
£1. This book is written by a Californian, 
Mr. Adolphe FlatnauL It is designed to be a 
practical treatise ou olive culture, oil making 
aud olive pickling. The work appears to be 
well done. Much information regarding this 
comparatively new industry can be obtaiued 
from the pamphlet We believe it will help 
those who are interested iu olive culture. 
Breed’s Universal Weeder.— Circular 
from the Universal Weeder Co., North Weare, 
N. H. This is a new implement which we be¬ 
lieve will find its way into popularity. It 
works on an entirely new principle, does its 
work well’and costs but little. Surely these 
characteristies.ought to^call^attentlon to it. 
