1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
25i 
Events of the Week. 
Domestic.—Several hundred masked men invaded the town of 
Palmetto, Ga., March 16, and seizing nine colored prisoners con¬ 
fined in the town jail, shot four to death, mortally wounded a 
fifth, and left four others so wounded and maimed that their con¬ 
dition is serious. The victims were under arrest for arson They 
were tied with ropes, and shot down in cold blood. After the 
lynching party left the town, armed militiamen were put on 
guard, to guard white citizens from an expected uprising of the 
negroes. . . Five men were killed in a street riot at Hot Springs, 
Ark., March 16. It was the result of a faction fight between 
adherents of the sheriff and the chief of police. . . Two men 
were killed in a fight at a St. Louis primary March 16. . . The 
shipbuilding plants on the great lakes have organized a trust 
with a capital of 830,000,000. A hide and leather tru&t is to be 
formed, with a capital of 860,000,000. . . A corporation of the 
canning interests of New York State is being formed, which will 
fight the tin-plate trust. The Cattle Raisers’ Association of 
Texas decided, in annual session, that they will ship no more 
cattle to Chicago unless the 82 terminal charge for switching at 
the stockyards is removed. This decision will affect Chicago 
very seriously, as the Association includes all the largest cattle 
raisers of the West. Not only the stockyards, but railroads and 
allied interests will be affected. . . A boiler explosion in a 
sawmill at Minnie Station, Pa., March 17, killed six men. . . A 
Chicago dental student was so severely injured by his classmates’ 
hazing that he died a few days later. . . A plow manufacturers’ 
trust is being formed, with a capital of 860,000 000. . . March 
18 a tornado wrecked the entire village of Rob Roy, Ark.; one 
man killed. . . The municipal authorities of New York put 
1,000 men to work digging out the ruins of the Windsor Hotel. 
Later information puts the number of victims at 24, but a num¬ 
ber are yet unaccounted for. The actual cause of the fire is still 
unknown, though generally credited to a lighted match thrown 
by a smoker into a lace curtain. The building, though a high- 
class hotel, was a tinder-box, without adequate facilities for 
escape. It was built in 1871. . . At Laredo, Tex , there are 
700 cases of smallpox, and riot is imminent over an attempt to 
enforce quarantine. The Texas Rangers have been called out, 
and several fights have occurred; one Mexican killed. . . Re¬ 
ports from Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi state that 18 
persons were killed and many Injured by windstorms March 
18. . . An 18-year-old inmate of the House of Refuge, Randall’s 
Island, New York City, set fire to the workshop March 20, and it 
was burned to the ground. . . The New York Court of Appeals 
has handed down a decision which holds that deposits in savings 
banks are exempt from taxation. The Supreme Court had held 
that savings-bank depositors were liable to a personal property 
tax on their deposits. . . New trusts reported March 21 were 
oyster fisheries, paints, oil stoves, screws, strawboard, varnish, 
hide and leather, and thrashing machines. . . In a fire at 
Omaha, Neb., March 21, two persons were killed and 20 injured. 
. . . The Illinois legislature has passed a bill for the incor¬ 
poration of pawners’ societies, with dividends limited to six 
per cent per annum. Pawnbrokers in Chicago have been 
operating under an ordinance authorizing them to collect 36 per 
cent per annum. . . An explosion of smokeless powder at the 
Dupont Powder Works, Carney’s Point, N. J., killed three men 
March 22. . . A boiler explosion at Seattle, Wash , March 22, 
killed two men and wounded four others. . . London is 
cornering quinine, and the price in New York has suddenly 
climbed from 28 to 41 cents an ounce. 
Army and Supplies.—The Court of Inquiry visited packing¬ 
houses at Omaha March 16; they saw a ham-curing process, but 
no embalmed beef. Several witnesses testified to the vile char¬ 
acter of the canned roast beef (which was not roasted) and its 
unsuitability as an army ration. It was also stated that one- 
fourth of the refrigerated beef was bad. From Omaha the Court 
went to Kansas City, where witnesses testified to the rejection of 
faulty cans In the packinghouses. Sergt. Mason, of the First 
U. S. Cavalry, who acted as commissary in Florida and Cuba, 
testified to receiving refrigerated beef which was coated with 
“ preservatine ”, which looked like a glazing of paraffin. The 
meat was generally bad in Cuba. . . The fact has been brought 
out that several hundred thousand pounds of the canned meat 
were purchased in New York for 11 to 14 cents a pound. Last 
Summer retail grocers sold Armour’s canned roast beef for 13 
cents a pound can, so the Government paid an average retail 
price for its big purchases. The chuck used for canning, raw, 
was worth six cents a pound, and was sold for this higher price 
after a lot of nutriment was boiled out of it for beef extract. 
. . At the last session in Chicago, evidence was given regard" 
ing the use of preservatives. Some of the beef received in Flor-. 
ida was badly decomposed Chaplain Odell, of the Third Illi¬ 
nois, said that the refrigerated beef was malodorous, stringy 
and nauseating. Dr. John G. Byrne, assistant surgeon of the 
Second Illinois, was called to the stand. He told of beef received 
from Swift & Co.’s cars at Jacksonville, and of condemning it at 
once on getting It from the refrigerated car. “ It had a bad odor, 
a bad appearance and a bitter taste,” he said. “It had a pecu¬ 
liar ‘sheen’, and the serum I found on cutting into it was peculiar 
and had a decaying odor. At one time, Company F was taken 
sick with vomiting and colic, and I received five of them in the 
hospital. This was commonly attributed to the beef they had 
eaten. We had canned roast beef as a travel ration from Spring- 
field to Jacksonville. It was nauseating, and we threw it away. 
We had the same stuff in the State encampment the year before, 
and had thrown it away then.” Lieut. C. H Hedeker, Third Cav¬ 
alry, said that the refrigerated beef in Cuba was rotten by the 
time it reached camp. From before daybreak until 11 or 12 
o’clock, It was brought to camp in uncovered wagons over a 
rough road, about 5!4 miles. “ Did you have reason to suspect 
or believe that chemicals had been used in preserving the re¬ 
frigerated beef ?” asked Col. Davis. “ Yes, sir; the night after I 
joined my troop, the beef appeared on the table in the form of 
steak. Upon tasting it, I remarked a peculiar taste which I had 
never before noticed. The peculiarity was independent of the 
taint. Nevertheless I ate it heartily. The result was I was at¬ 
tacked with dysentery, and was unable to ascribe the disease to 
any other cause.” Soldiers testified, as before, that the canned 
roast beef was nauseating. A provision expert testified that the 
process of canning robbed the beef of its nutrition. 
Philippines.—Gen. Wheaton continued to drive the rebels for¬ 
ward March 16, capturing Cainta and Taytay. Pasig is now held 
as Gen. Wheaton’s headquarters. . . Quiet prevails at Cebu 
and Negros; Samar and Leyte are occupied. The insurgents’ 
control is now confined to Luzon. . . Gen. Otis seems;confident 
of cessation of hostilities, but conditions still appear serious. 
Nearly every house in Manila displays a foreign flag for protec¬ 
tion. The residents are the chief sufferers, for all commodities 
have nearly doubled in price, and business is at a standstill 
About 300 new saloons have been opened since the American 
occupation, and many drunken soldiers are to be seen in the 
streets. . . The Navy Department is forming a mcsquito fleet, 
for use in the Islands. The Oregon reached Manila March 18. . . 
Fighting continued at Pateros March 18, the Twenty-second In¬ 
fantry having two killed, 15 wounded. March 19 Gen. Wheaton 
continued the fight, scattering a large force of rebels, and driving 
them 15 miles. All the land between Manila and Laguna de Bay 
is now held by our troops. Ten villages have been burned, and 
it is estimated-that the enemy’s loss during the week is 2,000. 
Armed tugs have aided in destroying rebel villages and boats. 
Our loss on the 19th was seven killed and 30 wounded. . . The 
British warship Plover has secured the release of a British sub¬ 
ject held by the rebels. . . The mountain banditti of Panay 
threatened a serious attack upon Iloilo. They were repulsed by 
Gen. Miller with a loss of 200. Aguinaldo is reported to be taking 
extreme measures to suppress any signs of yielding on the part 
of his subordinates. . . The Filipino secretary of war has 
issued a manifesto requiring all foreigners to aid the native 
cause, under penalty of death. . . The natives have fortified 
Catbalogon, on the Island of Samar, and are preparing a desper¬ 
ate resistance. Foreigners there are in great danger. Gen. Otis 
is arranging a general movement against Aguinaldo. The trans¬ 
ports Sherman and Solace arrived at Manila March 22, with re- 
enforccments and supplies. 
VERMONT MAPLE SYRUP. 
THE EFFECT OF A LAW, 
What Can Be Done About It? 
In Had Shape. —Unless there is a speedy change 
in the system of marketing our maple products, maple- 
sugar making will soon be an industry of the past. 
For the last 10 years, the price of maple products has 
been on the decline, until it is now below the cost of 
production. The only thing that induces many farm¬ 
ers to make sugar at all is the fact that they have a 
set of utensils that they cannot sell, and as the time 
of sugarmaking comes at a season when other farm 
work is not pressing, a little money may be secured 
that otherwise would not come in. But if a farmer 
has no “ rig”, he is sure not to buy one, or if it be¬ 
comes necessary for him to hire all the work done in 
the sugar bush, he simply does not hire or make sugar. 
What the causes are that have l?d to the present 
low prices for maple products I will leave the reader 
to infer after reading a statement of some facts, as I 
will endeavor to place them before him. 
Anti-Adulteration Law.— On November 25, 1884, 
our State enacted a law prohibiting the adulteration 
of maple products, and on November 13, 1890, through 
the influence of a “ Syrup Co.”, the penalty for such 
adulteration was increased. The amended law of 1890 
reads as follows: 
Sec. 1. No. 81 of the Public Acts of 1884, approved November 25, 
1884, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: A person who 
shall adulterate maple sugar, maple syrup or bees’honey with 
cane sugar, glucose, or with any substance whatever, for the 
purpose of sale, or who knowingly sells maple sugar, maple 
syrup or bees’ honey that has been adulterated, shall be punished 
by a tine of not less than 850 or more than 8200 for each offense; 
and one-half of such fine, on conviction, shall go to the com¬ 
plainant. 
Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect from its passage. 
At once this law became known to men that know 
a good thing when they see it; hundreds of maple (?) 
product concerns sprang up all over the country— 
outside of Vermont—and the output of maple (?) syrup 
rapidly increased. So-called Vermont maple syrup 
can be bought in almost every grocery in the United 
States outside of Vermont for a less price than pure 
maple can be bought of grocers in Vermont. The 
orders from grocers and families to the producers of 
pure maple sweets have been steadily falling off for 
the past 10 years, until now they are few and far 
between. 
How It Works.— This is about the way the matter 
is working. The Vermont sugarmaker writes the 
New York grocer (or as for that, any State other than 
Vermont) to know whether he can use any of his 
syrup or sugar, and gets a reply something like this : 
“ I have bought a supply of a furnishing house at 
lower figures than you have ever quoted me.” An¬ 
other sugarmaker writes an old customer—the head 
of a family—asking him about his usual order, and 
what shape he wishes it this year, and gets a reply 
that it hardly pays to put so much trouble into get¬ 
ting a few pounds of sugar and gallons of syrup, as it 
can be bought of the grocer here for less prices than 
it costs to have it come from Vermont. 
The production of pure maple sugar and syrup has 
not materially increased, but the prices have dropped 
35 to 50 per cent within the last 10 years, while the 
amount of adulterated stuff manufactured is nearly 
or quite 400 per cent above that of 10 years ago. If 
these adulterated goods do not give better satisfac¬ 
tion than the pure, why so large an increase in the 
output of adulterated, and why the large falling off 
in the orders for pure goods ? 
Some Reasons for It.—We are obliged to ad¬ 
mit that pure maple syrup, as put up by the average 
sugarmaker, does not always prove satisfactory, as 
quite often it will sour or else crystallize during warm 
weather. I am led to believe that such conditions 
have quite a deal to do with the loss of customers for 
Vermont-made goods. We have to admit, too, that 
the adulterated syrup as it is made to-day, is a fine 
article, and much heavier than pure maple can pos¬ 
sibly be made, and not become sugar after a time. 
The mixture of glucose with maple syrup docs not de¬ 
tract from its flavor, while it adds materially to its 
consistency. Now that the time has passed when the 
consumer will order maple goods from the producer 
on the farm, and all the product must go through 
syrup-mixing concerns, and be placed through “ the 
trade ”, it is evident to any one who has looked into 
the matter, that something will have to be done by 
Vermont sugarmakers in the way of cooperation in 
the manufacture and marketing of all the maple 
products of the State, in order to meet the present 
competition, and once more secure paying prices for 
the product. 
What Way Out ?—The scheme which has lately 
been inaugurated by a few members of the Vermont 
Maple Sugarmakers’ Association, and named the Ver¬ 
mont Maple Sugarmakers’ Market, is all right so far as 
it goes, but as it is understood there is to be no mixing 
of anything that passes through that “Market”, the 
conditions of competition remain just the same, and 
the whole thing can but fail. As the demand calls 
for the thick or glucose-mixed syrup, it will be neces¬ 
sary for th ! s “Market”—if it is to continue and be 
successful—to use glucose in maple syrup contrary to 
law. Or by installing a “Branch Market” outside 
the State where the mixing may be done with im¬ 
punity, or by securing the repeal of the law prohibit¬ 
ing the mixing of “ anything whatever ” with maple 
products, it may successfully meet the present 
competition, and secure for the producers of maple 
sugar and syrup in Vermont something like the prices 
of the past. 
I can see no possible hope for the maple sugar in¬ 
dustry of Vermont, except Federal legislation take 
a hand in controlling the output of pure and adulter¬ 
ated foods. If there is no hope from that direction 
in the near future, I most certainly should favor the 
repeal of the law mentioned above, and the forming 
of a stock company similar to the “ Market”, with 
funds enough to control all the maple product of the 
State—the stockholders to be sugarmakers—and then 
put up the whole product in shape for the consumers, 
be it pure or mixed as demanded, before it is shipped 
outside the State. vebmonter. 
THE LAW OF LICENSE. 
IS A FARMER REQUIRED TO FAY ? 
It is certainly true on the authority of both reported 
cases and the writers on constitutional law, that a 
municipality may be authorized by statute to license 
and control venders and peddlers, providing that the 
license fee is a reasonable one, and there is no dis¬ 
crimination against non-residents. Suppose a munici¬ 
pality, under such a statute, should require a license 
from all meat peddlers. Now, clearly, a farmer 
who should occasionally butcher a cow or sheep and 
sell a quarter of beef or a dressed lamb to some per¬ 
son in the municipality, would not be a “ meat ped¬ 
dler”. It would not be his regular business, but a 
mere incident to his regular occupation, and no license 
could be exacted from him. Suppose, on the other 
hand, that the farmer should engage extensively in 
the business of breeding cattle, sheep and swine, 
should regularly butcher them, set up a meat cart, 
and regularly run it through the streets of the munici¬ 
pality, selling meat to such customers as he could 
obtain. No less clearly, that man would be a “meat 
peddler”, and could be compelled to pay a license, 
although he raised all his cattle and other animals 
from which the meat was obtained. Neither that 
fact, nor the one that he was a farmer, would save him. 
But such extreme cases are rare, and usually, it be¬ 
comes a more or less close question of fact, whether 
or not the alleged offender is in fact within the defini¬ 
tion of the class upon which the license is levied. Un¬ 
doubtedly, if the municipality could show that the 
man whom it sought to be licensed, was engaged in 
buying up from other producers the products which 
he was selling, it would be very strong evidence that 
he was, in fact, making the retail selling of these 
products, his business, and not merely and incident¬ 
ally selling such produce as he raised. In other words, 
to show that a man sells only his own produce or 
otherwise, may be very important evidence as to 
whether he is or is not m the business of vending or 
selling, within the fair meaning of the term. I think 
a careful reading of the cases in which stress is laid 
on the fact that the seller was merely vending his 
own products, will convince you that such fact was 
relied upon, simply as evidence tending to show that 
the man was not a vender, not in the business of 
vending. 
Take a parallel case. If you, on an occasion, lend a 
man money, and take as security therefor his watch, 
you are not a pawnbroker , but if you habitually lend 
money and take pledges of personal property therefor, 
you are then in the business, and must take out a 
license and, in other ways, conform to the laws reg¬ 
ulating pawnbrokers. lawyer. 
