niE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
9 
ions 
Hvents of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—A wrook on the Southern Pacific. Rail¬ 
road. near Byron Springs. Cal.. December 20. caused the 
deatli of 18 persons and injuries to 21 others. 
December 20 Fulton Market. Chicago, was partially de¬ 
stroyed by fire, with a loss of $100,000. The market con¬ 
sists of wholesale butchers and manufacturing plants. 
. . . . Judge Beman. of Malone, Essex Co., N. Y., 
lias granted a nonsuit in the case of Rockefeller against 
l.,amora, an action to recover penalties for unlawfully 
fishing in Rockefeller’s private Adirondack park. It was 
shown that the streams and ponds of the park had been 
stocked from the State hatcheries at public^ expense, and 
Judge Beman held this to be a complete defense under the 
statute authorizing the formation of private parks. This 
decision, unless it shall be reversed by some high'er court, 
destroys Mr. Rockefeller’s park and the preserves of 
other millionaires so far as exclusive fishing and hunting 
rights are concerned. The case was appealed and will 
probably be carried to the Court of Appeals. 
The bubonic plague has appeared simultaneously at four 
places on the Pacific coast of Mexico. At Mazatlan the 
plague death rate Is six to 10 a day.The collision 
of two sailing vessels off the Massachusetts coast Decem¬ 
ber 18 caused the drowning of six men; four others died 
from exposure in an open boat, and another, crazed by 
his sufferings, committed suicide. Ten survivors were 
picked up in a desperate condition from freezing and 
starvation three days after the wreck.Fire in 
the commercial section of Knoxville, Tenn., December 
22, caused a loss of $340,000.The government of 
British India refuses to permit the Standard Oil Com¬ 
pany to enter Burma, for the purpose of controlling oil 
fields in that country. The Standard Oil Company ap¬ 
pears to have been so sure of its right to go into business 
in Burma under the existing commercial treaties between 
England and this country that it bought land in Rangoon 
and made the necessary preparations for erecting a re¬ 
finery. The only reason given for the action of the In¬ 
dian government was that it is “undesirable for an 
American company or a subsidiary company to gain a 
footing in India.” Anglo-Indian opinion is said to in¬ 
dorse the attitude both of the Indian government and 
the Viceroy. 
ADMINISTRATION.—The principal business transacted 
by the House of Representatives December 19 was the 
passage of the Pure Food bill introduced by Mr. Hep¬ 
burn, of Iowa. Four bills for the purpose have been In¬ 
troduced in the House, but the Hepburn bill w’as reported 
from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Com¬ 
merce, of which Mr. Hepburn is chairman. It is a bill 
“for preventing the adulteration, misbranding and Imita¬ 
tion of foods, beverages, candies, drugs and condiments 
between the States and in the District of Columbia and 
the Territories, and for regulating inter-State traffic 
therein.” It directs the Secretary of Agriculture to or¬ 
ganize the chemical division of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture into a Bureau of Chemistry, which shall be 
charged with the Inspection of food and drug products, 
and shall from time to time analyze samples of foods and 
drugs offered for sale. 
VENEZUELA.—"War was formally declared between 
Great Britain and Venezuela December 22. This legalizes 
the seizure of Venezuelan vessels. President Roosevelt 
has been asked to act as mediator, but it is his wish 
that the matter be submitted to the Hague Tribunal. The 
rapidity with which the alleged pacific measures of Ger¬ 
many and Great Britain have been changed into actual 
and acknow’ledged war may be due in some part to the 
action of the United States. Some time ago the blockad¬ 
ing Powers were notified that the United States would 
not recognize a peace blockade as applying to American 
ships. As a blockade which applied merely to Venezuelan 
ships would be totally useless, owing to the non-existence 
of a Venezuelan merchant marine, this notification neces¬ 
sitated either the abandonment of the blockade or Its ex¬ 
tension into actual war. This result was foreseen and 
deplored at 'Washington, but the State Department was 
unable to take any other view'. It was felt that a most 
dangerous precedent would be established if a Power, 
under the pretense of a “peace blockade,” could exclude 
all commerce but its own from ports of another Power. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NB'WS.—The earthquakes in 
Asiatic Russia December 16 caused a large loss of life, 
about 9,000 dwellings being destroyed at Andijan. 
Four hundred thousand persons are reported to be desti¬ 
tute and starving as a result of the crop failure in Fin¬ 
land. The Anglo-American Church at St. Petersburg has 
undertaken to feed and clothe the school children of four 
Finnish parishes, and Pastor Francis has issued an appeal 
for assistance in this work. Pastor Francis says the con¬ 
ditions to-day are worse than those of 1867, when 100,000 
persons died. In the north of the country the crops of 
barley and oats had been completely ruined by frosts, 
which followed an extremely cold Summer. The damage 
done by these was increased by a succession of great 
floods, which swamped many of the fields before the har¬ 
vest could be brought in. Thousands of families were 
sutYering from starvation and its attendant diseases. 
. . . . Advices from Honolulu state that the recent 
outbreak of bubonic plague there is due to use of Infected 
food from China and Japan, which had been Imported at 
San Francisco and reshipped to Hawaii. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The twelfth annual meeting of 
the Connecticut Pomological Society will be held at Hart¬ 
ford February 4-6. 
Preliminary steps are under w'ay In the northwestern 
counties of Indiana, including Laporte, Starke, Porter, 
Lake and Jasper, to construct an artificial waterway to 
reclaim hundreds of thousands of acres of Kankakee 
marsh lands now regarded as worthless. A contract has 
been let for the first 14 miles in Laporte and Starke coun¬ 
ties for $120,000. The ditch will be 80 feet wide and 16 
feet deep. It is the plan of the other counties to continue 
the ditch to Illinois State line, a distance of 60 miles. 
The total cost will be about $1,000,000. The project has 
been taken up by the owners of large ranches along the 
Kankakee. The payment is to be made by assessments 
on benefits derived from the ditch. 
During tile International IJve Stock Exposition at Chi¬ 
cago, at the time of tlie dedication of the new Live Stock 
Record building, the home of the Purebred Stock Asso¬ 
ciation and a resting place for visiting stockmen in Chi¬ 
cago, a life-size portrait of Prof. W. A. Henry, dean of 
tile College of Agriculture in the University of Wiscon¬ 
sin, was hung in the “hall of fame,” as the room in the 
building that is to be an art gallery is called. The pres¬ 
ent and former students of Prof. Henry, under the direc¬ 
tion of Prof. W. L. Carlyle of the animal husbandry de¬ 
partment, are the donors of the portrait. It was decided 
to organize the International I^iv'e Stock E.xposition on 
a permanent basis and on lines substantially the same 
as those followed by the British associations. Life mem¬ 
berships in the new organization will cost $100 and an¬ 
nual memberships $10 each. The Stockyards company 
made a tender to the organization of a free home for the 
exposition for 10 years and to turn over to its treasury 
all gate receipts for that length of time. 
The Wisconsin Cranberry Growers’ Association will 
hold its sixteenth annual meeting at Grand Rapids. Wis., 
January 13. 
At a recent meeting of the Board of Trustees of the 
Iowa State College of Agriculture, the following action 
was taken with reference to buildings to be erected Irom 
the State tax levy voted by the last Legislature for 
building purposes: Fifty thousand dollars for buildings 
for soils and farm mechanics, greenhouses for horticul¬ 
ture and agronomy and a two-story judging pavilion 
for animal husbandry and agronomy; $225,900 for a central 
college building for science and administration; $200,000 
for an agricultural building and $60,000 for a central heat¬ 
ing plant. The erection of the buildings will be taken 
up in the order named. 
The fourteenth annual exhibition of the New York 
Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock Association will be held 
in Madison Square Garden, New York, January 6-10. 
The Colorado State Horticultural Society will hold its 
annual meeting in Denver January 28-29. One evening 
will be devoted to an apple banquet, with choice varieties 
of apples for refreshments followed by toasts by promi¬ 
nent men in and out of the apple-growing industry. 
Chas. L. Parsons, secretary, Boulder. 
The Indiana State Dairy Association offers a first prize 
of $10, and second prize of $5, for essays on the cost of 
producing milk, butter or butter fat. The essays are to 
be written by persons residing in Indiana, and must be 
sent to the secretary, H E. Van Norman, La Fayette, 
Ind., before January 21. 
The forty-eighth anniversary of the Western New Y'ork 
Horticultural Society will occur January 28 and 29, 1903, ai 
Rochester, Among the speakers will be Professor 1. P. 
Roberts, of Cornell University; Dr. H. J. Webber, and 
Professor Harold Powell, of the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, Washington, D. C.; Dr. W. H. Jordan, director oi 
the Geneva Station; Professor M. V. Slingerland; Pro¬ 
fessor S. A. Beach, Dr. L. L. Van Slyke, Professor F. C. 
Stewart and others. 
The Vermont Horticultural Society will hold its annual 
meeting at South Hero, Vt., January 27-28. 
WHAT THE SOCIALISTS WOULD DO. 
The unexpected sum of the Socialist vote in the recent 
general election, over 400,.000, has greatly exercised publi¬ 
cations committed to exploiting present capitalistic con¬ 
ditions. They have much to say about the steady growth 
of the “noxious weed” of socialism and try to cheer 
themselves up by predicting its early decline. Interest 
in socialistic theories, however, is widespread in fair- 
minded, intelligent communities and requests come to 
'i'HE R. N.-Y'. for an exposition of socialistic doctrines, 
it is only possible in this limited space to give a brief 
mention of the leading features. Socialism is defined in 
VV'ebster’s Dictionary as “a theory of society which ad¬ 
vocates a more precise, orderly, and harmonious arrange¬ 
ment of the social relations of mankind than has hitherto 
prevailed.” It advocates the perfect but gradual or¬ 
ganization of industries having to do with the resources 
of nature and the necessities of mankind, and their ulti¬ 
mate transference to public ownership, to be operated 
for the general good without private profit, except liberal 
compensation in the way of salaries to all the workers 
and managers concerned. This is to be done in an or¬ 
derly manner through the machinery of election and 
government now provided, thus enlarging the opportu¬ 
nities of all industrious producers, while limiting the 
power of the few that possess abnormal acquisitiveness 
to extort unfair tribute from their fellows. To this end 
Socialists advocate everywhere the widest extension of 
municipal. State and National ownership of public utili¬ 
ties, beginning with those of the most pressing necessity, 
such as the transportation of merchandise, passengers 
and intelligence, the supplying of water and light and 
the mining of coal and other natural products of daily 
need. The regulation of hours of labor and the mini¬ 
mum compensation thereof are thought to be appropriate 
subjects for legislative regulation, and are to be found 
in many socialistic platforms. Socialism is thus a gen¬ 
eral plan for orderly social advancement along humani¬ 
tarian lines, and not a mere political formula to be tink¬ 
ered up to fit each campaign. Great progress is being 
made in practical socialism, and it enters into our daily 
life in a proportion undreamed of by many of its fearful 
opponents. Our magnificent postal service, the greatest 
business enterprise on earth, though hampered on every 
side by the greed of monopolies, is a conspicuous ex¬ 
ample of State socialism; our public schools, our roads 
and highways, public care of the sick and insane, even 
our police system. National ,army and State militia 
are socialistic in every sense of the word, though their 
management under present conditions leaves much to 
be desired. Many persons are Socialists in thought and 
aspiration, though they have little knowledge of the 
theory as a general principle, and others are consistent 
Socialists In actlofi though they may be ready to disavow 
the name. The resolutions passed at the last meeting of 
that dignified and conservative body, the National 
Grange, page 809, are a good example of unconscious so¬ 
cialism. They would make an acceptable platform for 
a State or National socialistic campaign. Socialism, 
consciously or otherwise, so permeates modern life that 
it may truly be said that all real humanitarian progress 
is being made along Its lines. 
Nothing Is more absurd than the charge that socl.afism 
means a forced equality—a general dividing up of prop¬ 
erty. While all persons must be of equal importance to 
the Creator they are certainly not similar in desires nor 
equal in achievement. It seems folly, in our present state 
of undevelopment, to think of uniform compensation, 
but each advance in socialistic progress will lessen the 
opportunities of abnormal greediness and immeasurably 
further the chances of the just-minded. With anarchy 
Socialists have absolutely nothing to do. as it is the 
very opposite of the socialistic ideal. Tlie latter is the 
perfection of organized government, while the former 
would do away with all government and restraint ex¬ 
cept such as comes from a personal sense of fairne.ss. 
Communism has small part among the principles of So¬ 
cialists. Natural resources and public utilities would be 
operated for the common good, but the smallest possible 
interference with private life and initiative where not 
harmful to the public, is ever advocated by true So¬ 
cialists. _ w. V. P. 
THE MILK SITUATION. 
The milk yield in this section is not up to its usual 
amount by at least 20 per cent. Hay was of a very poor 
quality, being largely weeds and daisies, and much of 
that was secured in poor condition owing to excessive 
wet weather. Corn was as poor as the hay, much of it 
standing for days after killing frost before being put into 
silos or shock. For what milk there is produced good 
prices are obtained. At the milk station the December 
price is $1.30 for 40-quart can, while the Standard Butter 
Co. pays the highest creamery price less three cents for 
making on Babcock test. w. o. ii. 
Spencer, N. Y. 
The Fall was very fine for stock, cows having good 
pasture until the latter part of November, and they went 
into Winter in good .shape. The hay crop was short, but 
nearly all the farmers have silos, and although corn w’as 
damaged by the wet Summer nearly all secured enough 
to fill their silos, so with the grain feed they purchase 
they will have no trouble in taking their stock through 
all right. Milk is now bringing 3 % cents per quart at 
station net. Cows are holding up in milk well, and hope 
they will continue to do so. Inquiry among the dairymen 
of this section brings out the fact that there is a great 
difference in the amount of milk received from their 
cows, some reporting as low as five quarts per cow, 
while others report as high as 12. but think the average 
is below that, about eight quarts per day. There are a 
number of cooperative creameries in this section and they 
all report a favorable season. The patrons are well sat¬ 
isfied with their returns. Some have closed for the Win¬ 
ter; some are running all through the year, and making 
good returns. Fresh cows are bringing good prices, from 
$45 to $50 for good ones and scarce at that. f. m. k. 
Skinners Eddy. Pa. 
Reports by Milkers. 
Following is a three- days’ test of eight cows, milked in 
the ordinary w-ay (the milk weighed and sampled at each 
milking), then the cows were after-milked in same pail, 
and later the eight individual samples, the one strippings 
sample and one mixed sample, taken at separator, minus 
the strippings, were tested by the Babcock test: Medora. 
23 pounds, 4.8 per cent butter fat; Nydia, 18.5 pounds, 5 
per cent; Janet, 34 pounds, 4.6 per cent; Juliet, 31.5 pounds, 
4.6 per cent; Singer, 24 pounds, 5.3 per cent; Evelina, 31.5 
pounds, 3.8 per cent; Myra, 41 pounds, 4.3 per cent; Diana, 
21.5 pounds, 4.7 per cent; mixed, 4.5 per cent; strippings, 
7.5 pounds, 7.3 per cent. It seems to me that stripping the 
cows after the regular milking will lower the fat content 
of the milk for the next milking. j. p. o. 
Ripon, W’is. 
The method of manipulations recommended by the Wis¬ 
consin Experiment Station after the regular milking has 
been done, I consider most practical, especially so for 
young cows and fresh milkers. I have practiced for a 
little more than one year going through my dairy after 
the regular milking was done, and strip cows the second 
time. I am well pleased with the result. At the regular 
or first milking each milker has his own cows generally; 
at last milking we commence at one end of the row and 
alternate down the line of cows, thereby milkers keeping 
tab on each other. There is a real science connected with 
the art of milking, and it needs to be cultivated, also 
taught by our dairy schools. w. h. v. 
Amsterdam, N. Y. 
I hav'e been working along sometliing the same lines in 
milking as described in Tiik R. N.-Y.. page 8.30. I find that 
by working the udder 1 can get more milk, and by getting 
the milk all out one tends to increase the flow. Some 
cows I do not see that it affects in any way, but do find 
a gi-eat advantage in those with large fleshy udders, and 
also those that milk slowly. In one instance the amount 
of milk was nearly doubled in a three-weeks’ course. I 
do not think it would be best to make two jobs of milking 
a cow, as that would take too much time. My method is 
to milk all that will come readily in the usual way and 
then with one hand work the udder, each quarter in suc¬ 
cession, and milk the corresponding teat with the other 
hand and keep it up as long as milk of any consequence 
can be got. I usually spend half a minute on an average, 
but different cows take different time. I find it hard to 
get any help that will do this, as they all think it non- 
sence, even when I show them the weight card. 
Charlotte. Vt. o. m. it. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
Perhaps the cheapest and most popular system of 
Identifying farm animals is that of appending a metal 
label to the ear . Millions of these labels are sold every 
year by F. S. Burch & Co., 178 Michigan St., Chicago. 
This firm also makes a specialty of marking devices. We 
recommend our readers to procure a copy of their cata¬ 
logue. 
The Keystone "Watch Case Co., of Philadelphia, is 
sending out to applicants an illustrated booklet of 34 
pages which is one of the most artistic of the year. It 
exploits the merits of the Jas. Boss stiffened gold case— 
relates its history, explains its construction, tells how to 
identify it and warns against the substitution of a “just 
as good.” It is sent free, on application to The Keystone 
Watch Case Co., Philadelphia. 
