1809 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
789 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—At Faires, Ala., October 23, two entire 
families, consisting of 14 persons, lost their lives in the 
burning of their home. The cause of the fire is unknown. 
. . Three men were killed by a premature explosion in 
a mine at Iron Mountain, Mich., October 26. . . New 
cases of yellow fever are reported at Key West, Fla. . . 
At Milwaukee, Wis., a perfumer was arrested October 25, 
charged with counterfeiting the labels of foreign per¬ 
fumes. He has made thousands of dollars by selling 
domestic perfumes with foreign labels. . . A trolley car, 
carrying a theater party from Detroit to Mt. Clemens, 
Mich., -was struck by a Michigan Central train October 26; 
one man was killed and 25 persons injured, some very 
seriously. . . Gen. Guy V. Henry, Military Governor of 
Porto Rico, died in New York October 27, after a short 
illness, of pneumonia. . . Further race troubles between 
whites and negroes are reported in Leake County, Miss. 
. . Broom manufacturers are raising their prices, owing 
to the great rise in broom corn. . . The Carriage Build¬ 
ers’ National Association has refused to admit builders 
of automobiles as full members. . . In consequence of 
the miners’ strike at Decatur, Ill., a fight occurred 
October 27 between union and non-union men; two were 
shot, one fatally. . . October 25, the house purchased 
by popular subscription for Admiral Dewey was formally 
presented to him. The house is on Rhode Island Avenue, 
Washington, D. C., and cost about $50,000. . . October 
28, a student in Cornell University was drowned in the 
Seneca Canal while undergoing horseplay in connection 
with initiation into a secret society. . . All the canneries 
in New York State are preparing to unite. There are 
about 100 canneries in the State, and their united capital 
will amount to about $11,000,000. . . The Pennsylvania 
ferryboat Chicago was struck by the steamer City of Au¬ 
gusta while in midstream, between Jersey City and New 
York, shortly after midnight, October 31. She sank al¬ 
most immediately, in 70 feet of water. Two lives lost; two 
persons missing. . . During the past year, 60 men of the 
Gloucester (Mass.) fishing fleet were lost. . . Robt. P. 
Jennings, treasurer of a cable line in St. Louis, Mo., was 
robbed of nearly $50,000, while riding in a street car in 
that city October 30. . . A New York man was robbed 
October 30, of $9,000, which he had concealed in a piano. 
. . Vice-President Hobart is critically ill, and, even if he 
recovers, will never be able to resume public life. . . A 
train on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was held 
up by robbers between Sherman and Denison, Texas, Oc¬ 
tober 31, the express messenger was mortally wounded, 
and $10,000 stolen. . . An outbreak of malignant diphthe¬ 
ria has occurred at Herkimer, N. Y., and the spread of 
the infection is credited to books in the public school. . . 
The Webster Hotel at Montreal, Canada, was burned 
October 31, and three persons perished. . . The Pitts¬ 
burg Coal Company was recently incorporated in New 
Jersey with a capital of $64,000,000. . . A petition signed 
by 431 American citizens, resident in Central America, has 
been sent to Secretary Hay, asking him to remove the 
Hon. W. Godfrey Hunter, Minister to Guatemala. The 
petitioners complain that they have been driven to the 
verge of bankruptcy by the failure of Minister Hunter 
to protect them; that they have been thrown into prison 
and subjected to all manner of humiliation without se¬ 
curing from him the slightest relief or even satisfaction. 
The failure of Minister Hunter is attributed to the rela¬ 
tions which exist between him and the government of 
Guatemala, which it is charged, make it impossible for 
any American to secure justice from him. The petitioners 
offer to furnish the evidence to Secretary Hay that 
Hunter is involved in various Guatemalan schemes, that 
he is unfit to represent the United States there or to pro¬ 
tect American citizens. . . The German ship Corlola- 
nus reached Victoria, B. C., October 31, from Panama, 
with yellow fever on board; 15 deaths occurred during the 
voyage. . . A fierce northeast gale swept the Atlantic 
coast October 31, and much damage to shipping ensued. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Cotton States Association 
of Commissioners of Agriculture was organized at At¬ 
lanta, Ga„ October 25. Its object is to improve the con¬ 
dition of agriculture in the States indicated. . . Among 
the Herefords sold at the recent show in Kansas City, 
the heifer, Armour Rose, sold for $2,500, the three-year- 
old Babe of Alamo for $1,600, and the yearling bull Aaron 
for $1,950. . . There is so much grain awaiting ship¬ 
ment at Fort William, Canada, that the government has 
suspended the law forbidding foreign vessels to ply be¬ 
tween Dominion ports. . . Hog cholera is causing heavy 
losses in McLean County, Ill. . . An extensive poultry 
show will be held at Milwaukee, Wis., December 20 tc 
26, by the Feathered Stock Association. . . The Good 
Roads Convention at Manitowoc, Wis., October 20, was 
attended by about 1,500 farmers. . . A competitive ex¬ 
hibition of cheese, will be held at Fond du Lac, Wis., No¬ 
vember 6. . . The short course in agriculture at the 
Wisconsin Agricultural College will begin at Madison 
December 5, continuing for 14 weeks. . . The sheep pens 
at the Kansas City (Mo.) stockyards were destroyed by 
fire October 28, and 600 sheep were burned. Four fire¬ 
men were injured by falling walls, and the property loss 
was $30,000. . . The forty-second annual meeting of the 
Missouri State Horticultural Society will be held at 
Princeton, Mo., December 5-7. The Society will take 
charge of fruit intended for the Paris Exposition, putting 
it in cold storage, and will discuss such arrangements at 
the meeting. . . Heavy frosts over central and northern 
Texas October 27-30 destroyed all possibility of a top crop 
of cotton. . . By a drainage canal 55,000 acres of swamp 
lands will be reclaimed in Juneau County, Wis. . . Cul¬ 
tivators in Washington are discussing the cranberry crop 
in that State, it being thought that there is a likelihood 
that it may be made profitable. . . Hog cholera is caus¬ 
ing heavy losses in Wallet Walla County, Wash. . . 
Agents are seeking cavalry horses in eastern Oregon, but 
they report difficulty in getting animals of the proper 
qualifications. 
PHILIPPINES.—The insurgents are reorganizing a.t 
Malabon. The leading inhabitants of that section have 
asked Gen. Otis to garrison the towns, because the in¬ 
surgents are living off the people, but there are not suf¬ 
ficient troops to do this. Conditions are very unsettled at 
Iloilo. . . A wealthy Visayan has been arrested at Iloilo 
for conspiring against the Government, after swearing 
allegiance. . . Gen. Young's force defeated the enemy 
at Tuboatin October 27. Attempts are being made to pre¬ 
vent any concentration of the enemy in Luzon. . . 
Aguinaldo continues to fall back before the American ad¬ 
vance. . . A purchase of 75,000 standard rations has been 
ordered for the Philippine garrisons. . . Spanish com¬ 
missioners who visited the insurgents report that Lieut. 
Gillmore is at Bingat. . . Prof. Schurman, president of 
the Philippine Commission, is opposed to the forcible 
“civilizing” of the Sulu Islands. He says that any at¬ 
tempt to change the customs of the inhabitants would 
lead to a long and bloody war, and that we have no right 
to make any such attempt. . . It is now asserted that, 
owing to the ignorance of the Spanish-American Peace- 
treaty commissioners three islands north of Luzon were 
not included, and the Spanish now suggest making these 
the basis for negotiations concerning the release of Span¬ 
ish prisoners. 
CUBA.—Heavy storms during the last week of October 
caused much damage in the Province of Santiago, and in 
the vicinity of Havana. 
GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS.—Russia has agreed to 
arbitrate the Bering Sea claims, which were for the 
illegal seizure of American sealers. The cases have been 
pending for eight years. . . The beleaguered garrison 
of Kimberley, Rhodesia, South Africa, conducted a suc¬ 
cessful sortie against the Boers October 27. So far, the 
European powers have declined to intervene, and Presi¬ 
dent McKinley has also refused intervention. The Boers 
are trying to cause disaffection among the natives, who 
are loyal to England. American women in England are 
raising a fund to equip a hospital ship for English use 
in South Africa. Another battle occurred at Ladysmith, 
Natal, October 30. The British were outnumbered, and 
lost heavily; two battalions, numbering 2,000 men, were 
captured by the Boers, after desperate fighting. The 
British position at Ladysmith is precarious, and the Boers 
are again shelling the town. Kimberley and Mafeking 
continue to hold out. Reinforcements cannot reach the 
British for 10 days or more. . . Germany wishes to in¬ 
crease her navy, and it is said that extra revenue will 
be secured by increasing the grain duties. Germany is 
arranging the renunciation of her claims in Samoa to 
Great Britain, in return for English territory in the Gil¬ 
bert and Solomon Islands. 
THE PRICE OF FARM IMPLEMENTS. 
Further Facts About It. 
Two weeks ago we gave some reports from manufac¬ 
turers of farm implements, as to prospects foi higher 
prices next year. We give more of these notes this week. 
Next week we hope to give the farmers’ opinion about 
this increase in price. 
Just how much more is being paid for labor in 
manufacturing steel, between the mine and the fin¬ 
ished product, we do not know; but certainly a por¬ 
tion of the advance in the price of raw material is 
for labor. The manufacture of implements has not 
been very profitable for a number of years, simply 
because for the past 25 years the tendency of the price 
thereon has been downward faster than the reduction 
in the cost of raw material, plus what has been saved 
in the cost of production. Goods sold on short time 
have an established trade at higher prices, and im¬ 
plements are sold on such unusually long time that 
the manufacturer must of necessity buy his material 
nearly a year in advance of the time when he re¬ 
ceives pay therefor. Prices began to advance last 
December, and manufacturers expecting a decline did 
not buy until after it was necessary to pay the ad¬ 
vanced price. The slight increase on the price of 
implements this year practically covers only the in¬ 
creased cost to which manufacturers have been sub¬ 
jected in procuring such materials, and they are only 
able to make this favorable price because most of 
them carried over large stocks. When the stocks have 
become depleted prices will materially advance; 
therefore, the farmer will surely have to pay much 
more for his implements in 1901 than in 1900. 
From 50 to 60 per cent of all the steel that can be 
produced in 1900 has already been sold. A year ago 
steel was worth less than $1 per 100 pounds, deliv¬ 
ered; now it is worth $2.50 per 100 pounds at mill, 
with nothing in sight to reduce the price. Iron, too, 
is fabulously high, and will remain so. Implements 
to-day are not sold at as high a price as in 1892, and 
if iron and steel were to drop back to $1.75, which is 
about what they cost in 1892 (75 cents less than what 
they are sold for to-day), you can see that it would be 
necessary to advance the present price for 1901; con¬ 
sequently, the farmer who refuses to buy in 1900 on 
account of the slight advance that is asked, will have 
to accept the inevitable in 1901, at a very material 
increase above what he can buy for the coming 
Spring. A MICHIGAN MANUFACTURER. 
Conservative in Prices. 
For materials to make implements for the trade of 
1900, the market price of iron and bar steel has ad¬ 
vanced 125 per cent; pig iron, 100 to 110 per cent; 
bolts, 100 per cent; hard-wood lumber, 40 per cent 
to 50 per cent; steel springs, from 200 per cent to 400 
per cent; other minor articles all the way from 40 
per cent to 100 per cent. The average in advance of 
the cost of material to manufacture implements 
would not be less than 75 to 100 per cent. If we 
get from 20 per cent to 25 per cent advance on the 
selling price, we shall be satisfied, under the cir¬ 
cumstances. Some things farmers have to sell, nota¬ 
bly cattle and hogs, are bringing a good price, as 
high as they have received for a good many years in 
the past, but the price of corn, wheat and oats has 
not advanced in proportion to the cost of implements. 
For these reasons we expect to be very conservative 
in our prices for next season’s trade. 
AN ILLINOIS FLOW CONPANY. 
Small Profit at High Prices. 
Our contracts for material for the coming season 
have now been closed for two or three months, but. 
even at that time it was necessary for us to pay an 
advance on material, all the way from 75 to 100 per 
cent over last year’s costs. In fact, on a certain 
article, of which we use a large quantity, the increase 
was nearly 300 per cent. Some farmers have got the 
idea that the trusts are back of this whole advance, 
but it’s not so, there is simply a tremendous demand 
for iron and steel. Nearly all of the steel mills, 
foundries, etc., have on hand at the present time, 
orders enough to run for at least six months. We 
asked for prices from a firm from which we desired 
to buy material, and in answer to our letter they 
wrote us that their output for one year had been sold. 
We have found it necessary to advance our prices 
from 25 to 40 per cent, yet at these figures we are not 
beginning to make the profit that we have made 
heretofore. a new jersey manufacturer. 
More Metals in Use. 
We are paying more than double what we paid for 
steel last year, and other materials which enter into 
the construction of our goods have advanced in price 
from 25 to 60 per cent; in fact, everything which goes 
into the manufacture of goods has advanced very ma¬ 
terially, except labor, which has gone up five or 10 
per cent. The net result is that the cost of agricul¬ 
tural implements has been advanced to manufactur¬ 
ers from 20 to 40 per cent, according to the kind o[ 
goods and class of material they use, and you can 
readily understand that under these circumstances it 
is impossible for them to continue to sell at the old 
prices, and very heavy advances will have to be made 
in some lines of goods. 
We have advanced prices on our own goods from 
20 to 30 per cent, according to the class of goods. 
The advance, in our opinion, is due largely to the in¬ 
creased demand for all kinds of iron products, and 
this demand is due partly to better business condi¬ 
tions, and partly to the fact that iron and steel are 
now used very much more extensively than they were 
a few years ago, in the construction of buildings, cars, 
etc. The fact that many large concerns have con¬ 
solidated, and that a large portion of the iron ore ob¬ 
tainable is in the hands of comparatively few owners, 
is also some factor in the situation, but this is not 
the only country where iron and steel products have 
advanced in price. They have advanced abroad in 
the same way that they have here, but not quite so 
much, because general business conditions are not 
so good over there as they are here in America. The 
advance, of course, has been extreme, and has been 
rapid, but so far the high prices do not seem to have 
reduced the volume of business offered, and the iron 
and steel mills of the country are to-day sold ahead 
for many months, so we do not look for any consid¬ 
erable break in prices for at least a year, and it is 
altogether probable that prices will remain at or near 
present figures for two or three years to come. 
A PENNSYLVANIA IMPLEMENT MAKER. 
The anti-Boer statement, on page 773, may well be 
said to represent the British view of the Transvaal 
war. We are still waiting for a presentation of the 
Afrikander side from a native, but the Boers are too 
busy for that: they are fighting just as hard as they 
know how. T he defect in our respected friend’s argu¬ 
ment, to our mind, is this: The Anglo-Saxon races, 
including Americans, of course, are quite likely to 
consider any form of government that they do not 
approve as in need of immediate rectification. The 
government of the Transvaal Republic may be very 
defective from our standpoint, but the Boers them¬ 
selves have made no clamor for outside interference. 
Our race assumes that all the gold in Africa, or in 
sight anywhere, must immediately be dug from the 
earth, forgetting there 'is quite as much need for it 
in the future as in the present. As for the restric¬ 
tions upon the Outlanders, it must not be forgotten 
that they are not compelled to stay in the Transvaal, 
and were not asked to go there. It is not likely that 
100,000 or any other number of Afrikanders who 
might emigrate to England or America could have 
their children taught Transvaal Dutch in the public 
schools, or get a hearing in the courts or Parliament 
in that language, except through an interpreter. The 
fact of the matter is that both England and the 
United States are engaged in wars for commercial 
conquest, of which the people of the respective coun¬ 
tries are at heart ashamed. It is just possible that the 
Dutchmen of Africa, if let alone, might in time evolve 
a civilization which, for real human justice, may be 
as far ahead of ours as a calcium light is to a tallow 
candle. 
