692 
October li 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKE 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. 
Established 1850. 
Herbert W. Collingwood, Editor. 
Dr. Walter Van Fleet, | . . . 
Mrs. K. T. Koylk, ^Associates. 
John J. Dillon, Business Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, 
equal to 8s. 6d., or 8 V 2 marks, or 10% francs. 
“A SQUARE DEAL.” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is 
backed by a responsible person. But to make doubly 
sure we will make good any loss to paid subscribers 
sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising 
in our columns, and any such swindler will be publicly 
exposed. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we 
do not guarantee to adjust trifling differences between 
subscribers and honest responsible advertisers. Neither 
will we be responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts 
sanctioned by the courts. Notice of the complaint must 
be sent us within one month of the time of the trans¬ 
action, and you must have mentioned The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
Name and address of sender, and what the remittance 
is for, should appear in every letter. 
Remittances may be made in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
409 Pearl Street, New York. 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1902. 
Low ocean freight rates on the Pacific are working 
to the advantage of farmers near the western coast, 
and it is asserted that the competition among cargo¬ 
carrying vessels will put at least $4,000,000 in the 
pockets of northwestern grain growers. The barley 
crop in Oregon and Washington is the largest on 
record this year, and practically all the surplus will 
be shipped by way of tidewater ports on the Pacific, 
Instead of coming across the Rockies. There are so 
many idle ships roaming the ocean in search of 
freights that even the heavy tonnage of grain and 
lumber piling up in Pacific ports is unlikely to in¬ 
crease ocean rates. 
* 
The New York State Dairymen’s Association has 
secured a large exhibition hall for the display of dairy 
goods and dairy machines at the annual meeting at 
Jamestown in December. The management is anxious 
to secure a large exhibit and has shown commendable 
enterprise in providing a suitable building for the 
purpose. Jamestown is in the center of a rich dairy 
section. The attendance is sure to be large. Exhibi¬ 
tors rarely have a more favorable opportunity to show 
up their goods to a progressive class of buyers. We 
hope to see the exhibition hall filled to its utmost 
capacity. Inquiries may be addressed to W. W. Hall, 
Secretary, Fayetteville, N. Y. 
* 
Growers are becoming interested in the apple box. 
We have sent many of the California boxes to those 
who want a sample for manufacturing. The box is 
far superior to the barrel as a package for family 
trade, yet it will take time, money and patience to 
bring about the change. Some growers are discour¬ 
aged because the commission men do not take kindly 
to the boxes. If these dealers were to receive an order 
for boxed fruit, do you think they would reject it? 
There will be money in buying fruit in barrels and re¬ 
packing in boxes. We want the grower to get all the 
profit there is and also have the credit for filling the 
original package. 
• 
The Chicago police recently raided seven “get-rich- 
quick” concerns, and the literature seized throws light 
upon the way these swindles are managed. The con¬ 
cerns raided included “matrimonial bureaus,” con¬ 
cerns offering sure tips on the races, and a “mutual 
securities company,” which promised returns of 600 
per cent upon investments in liver pills. These con¬ 
cerns worked harmoniously together upon a system 
of mutual cooperation. When a man sent for infor¬ 
mation concerning their infallible system of “beating 
the races,” he would soon receive circulars from the 
matrimonial bureaus, and any lonely soul yearning 
for a life partner with all the cardinal virtues and a 
fat bank account would be invited to invest in liver 
pills. No doubt the names were passed on still further 
to the dealer in “green goods” and all the rest of that 
unsavory army engaged in preying upon the public 
through the medium of Uncle Sam’s mail-bag. Racing 
tips and 600-per-cent investments are bad enough in 
the theft of money and morals, but the alleged matri¬ 
monial bureaus are more dangerous still. Through 
them innocent young people may easily enter into 
dangerous correspondence with strangers, to reap a 
harvest of moral deterioration—perhaps shame and 
disgrace. We cannot safeguard our household against 
every moral risk, but we can at least see that curiosity 
or cupidity does not induce us to give honest names 
to “the powers that prey.” 
Some papers are satisfied to give record of history as It 
is developed. Others endeavor to help make history by 
taking an active part in the discussion which settles 
the mind of the people upon a definite course. The 
cautious souls who follow behind the true fighters in 
the army, solemnly “exposing” frauds and denouncing 
humbugs after they have done their evil work record 
history but have no part in its making. The R. N.-Y. 
is not satisfied to mangle dead lions after some braver 
hunter has faced them and brought them down! We 
prefer to help make history rather than to cut the 
laurels that belong to others with a pair of shears 
and paste them in a scrap book. 
* 
The twenty-second annual meeting of the Farmers’ 
National Congress will open at Macon, Ga., October 
7. This promises to be the best meeting ever held by 
the Congress. The topics offered for discussion are 
timely and sound and they will be considered by able 
and well qualified speakers. There was a time when 
this Congress was not supposed to represent any¬ 
thing in particular, but now it has gained in character 
and dignity until it is recognized as a representative 
and useful medium for an exchange of agricultural 
opinions. We are sure that the thorough discussion 
of the oleo problem at last year’s meeting had a strong 
influence upon the final legislation. 
• 
The fight to prevent child labor in the southern 
cotton mills waxes hot. In defense of the system it 
is claimed that the little children are better off in the 
mills than at home! What sort of a home in the 
country can it be that is worse for a child than the 
dust and whirl of a busy mill? Another argument in 
favor of the system is the old familiar one of “It’s 
none of your business!” That argument has lost a 
good deal of its force lately—since farmers began to 
join issues and “get together.” When the child crop 
of the southern farms is slaughtered to make a few 
extra dollars for mill owners, every farm home in the 
country is affected, and every farmer has a right to 
protest 
• 
Attorney-General Sheets, of Ohio, has petitioned 
the courts of that State to prevent the American Farm 
Company from doing business in Ohio! He calls the 
company a “corporate myth,” claims that it has no 
authority to do business in Ohio, and that while in¬ 
corporated with $1,000,000 capital stock it began busi¬ 
ness with only $200 working capital. He also claims 
that it has been paying dividends out of its capital 
stock, that is, paying back to the stockholders a por¬ 
tion of what they paid for stock, thus trying to make 
it appear that they are paying dividends. Another 
charge brought against the company is the claim that 
it is opposed to the anti-trust laws, as it proposes to 
monopolize the agricultural interests of the State. 
* 
A fruit grower in Seneca Co., N. Y., writes as fol¬ 
lows: 
‘There Is quite a fair crop of apples in this vicinity, of 
good quality; $2 is the price being' offered by buyers for 
good fruit without the barrel. Your paper has been of 
great benefit to the farmer in getting posted on apple 
prospects. Don’t give all the credit to the Fruit Grow¬ 
ers’ Association. Take a good share yourself. 
We are quite willing to take the share of credit 
which our readers think we deserve. That has proved 
very satisfactory thus far. Our readers seem to be¬ 
long to a class of farmers who know a good thing 
when they see it and know where to look for it. 
Credit and cash both come as we deserve it. 
* 
Farmers who are able to go to the wood lot and 
haul a load of fuel know little of the fearful situation 
which faces coal burners in the towns and cities. 
There are farmers who burn anthracite almost en¬ 
tirely, but their troubles are nothing compared with 
those that confront the poor people in town. Winter 
is at hand and the little fuel in sight is held at prices 
which will put heat and comfort entirely out of reach 
when the frost finally comes upon us. We see chil¬ 
dren and women watching the unpacking of boxes 
and barrels as wolves watch a hunter’s camp—ready 
to rush in and fight over the small staves or boards! 
It is reported that salaries of teachers in one large 
city are to be cut down in order to make up the in¬ 
creased cost of fuel needed for heating school houses. 
People who are brought face to face with the terrors 
of the coming Winter have lost much of their interest 
in the cause of the present coal strike. As a reader 
in Kansas puts it: 
I take it that a majority of your readers, as well as 
a majority of the people of the United States, are more 
concerned about the welfare of the millions who burn 
coal and dig coal than about the ‘rights’ of the corpo¬ 
rations who ‘own’ the coal 
That is undoubtedly true, but the time has come 
when the rights of the coal burners drive out other 
considerations. It is now a matter of self-preserva- 
R. 
tion, and neither miner nor coal operator has the 
right to deprive the people of fair-priced fuel. In a 
general way the American people have been willing 
to admit that individuals or corporations have a right 
to “own” or control the Nation s fuel supply. At the 
same time there has always been a feeling that coal, 
like water or other natural products, really belongs 
to the people, and that those who are said to “own” 
it are really agents to handle and deal it out. We be¬ 
lieve that the American people have felt that way 
about the coal supply. The idea has not been clearly 
defined, but at heart they have felt that the coal really 
belongs to them by a higher right than any we recog¬ 
nize as purely human. When, therefore, two sets of 
men, in order to settle a business difference, stop the 
distribution of coal, uhis undefined feeling takes shape 
and becomes a conviction. The American people de¬ 
mand fuel. It belongs to them by a right which tran¬ 
scends that of any railroad or corporation in the 
world. This is not anarchy, but a statement of the 
common rights which belong to humanity. The lesson 
of this coal strike will never be forgotten. The end 
will surely be Government supervision and control of 
monopolized industries! 
A reader writes about a tree agent who is telling 
big stories about the stock he offers at a high price. 
This agent secures a written contract and makes a 
verbal promise about as follows: “If the stock is not 
satisfactory when it comes you may return it” Some 
buyers are so satisfied with this that they sign a 
printed contract in which they agree, without any 
reserve, to take the trees. That is where they make 
a big mistake. The verbal promise will amount to 
nothing—it is one of the tricks often used by dis¬ 
honest people. The man who agrees by word of mouth 
to take back rejected stock, never comes back the 
second time. A new man comes to collect the money 
and he ignores what the other man said! Your name 
is at the bottom of the contract and you will be held 
up to it. Never accept what a stranger says as part 
of your contract. 
One great lesson learned by many during the pro¬ 
longed coal strike is that we can often do without 
things apparently necessary. Many housewives have 
learned to economize fuel as they never did before; 
to make a handful of fire do the work of a whole grate 
full, like our thrifty fx-iends across the sea. In On¬ 
tario, Canada, it is predicted that the use of peat as 
fuel will be largely extended, and it is possible that 
this will have its effect in the future. In Ireland and 
Scotland peat or “turf,” as it is called in the former 
country, is a standard fuel in localities where wood is 
scarce. Greater use of wood is the legitimate result 
of the coal famine, but it must be remembered that 
the heating system in many modern houses does not 
permit the use of wood. People with old-fashionea 
stoves are really better off than their neighbors with 
modern heaters. Whatever the final outcome, the 
forced economy thrust upon us has kept a good deal 
of money at home, since many nave not even had the 
choice of paying high prices for coal; we have simply 
gone without. 
* 
BREVITIES. 
The Angora goat is eating its way into favor. 
When a hog gets sick enough to mope he generally dies. 
Some farmers prefer to “haw” around. They need a 
left-hand plow. 
When the pot called the kettle black there came near 
being a case of “scrap” iron! 
One question has stumped our readers thus far—have 
candles been used to heat brooders? 
Ihe time has come for Apple Consumers’ Leaguers to 
get in their talk. Start up the demand! 
A steam automobile has been driven a mile in one min¬ 
ute 514 seconds. Too fast for a farmer! 
Dozens of questions about that Hitchings orchard have 
come from readers. They will all be answered. 
There has seldom been a time when a nomination for 
a public office had so little do with the real choice of 
the people, as right now. 
Why, certainly, the best advice about fruit culture, es¬ 
pecially varieties, will be obtaineu from the men near 
you who succeed. We can suggest, but the men actually 
in the harness know best—that is, if they have learned 
how to pull. We do not train a colt by the side of an¬ 
other colt. 
A correspondent in eastern New York writes: “There 
have only been two or three autos through here this sea¬ 
son. The roads in our town are good, but there are two 
or three short, bad places between us and the main 
routes of automobile travel, and I don’t know but they 
are an advantage, as they scare away the drivers of these 
nuisances.” 
Eastern farmers have been hoping for lower prices for 
feed, as they have been told of the immense corn crop 
out West. They may be disappointed after all. Oats are 
a little cheaper, but corn is still high and frost has al¬ 
ready done some damage. Our reports show that the 
crop is late and soft and we believe that the amount of 
hard, dry grain actually harvested will fall short of the 
estimate. 
