1604. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
497 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—Troops under Adjutant General Sherman M. 
Bell, of the Colorado National Guard, had a light with strik¬ 
ing miners June 8 at Dunnville, 13 miles south of Victor, 
in the Cripple Creek district. General Bell's force stormed 
positions held by the miners, killed one of the miners and 
took 14 prisoners. At Big Ilill, two miles east of Victor, 
seven soldiers sent on horseback to arrest union miners, had 
a hot light before they succeeded in capturing seven men 
and taking them to Cripple Creek. The cost of the various 
strikes in Colorado during the past 16 months is estimated 
at $23,036,000. Of this amount the State has had to pay 
$030,000 for maintaining troops in the field, and the loss to 
strikers and others directly affected in wages, etc., and to 
the employers in loss of business is placed at $32,400,000. 
With the exception of a few brief periods the National 
Guard has been on duty at one point or another in the State 
since early in 1903. President Campbell, of the Colorado 
Mine Operators’ Association, estimates that the loss to metal¬ 
liferous miners alone may be placed at nearly $5,000,000, 
and it is estimated that the total cost to the State, with 
the troops now in service, must ultimately reach $1,000,000. 
The contemplated lifting of martial law and withdrawal of 
troops from the mining district have raised a storm of protest 
from the Citizens’ Alliance and Mine Owners’ Association, 
and it is likely that Gov. Peabody will be asked to keep the 
soldiers in the field indefinitely. Citizens say that martiql 
law has had a salutary effect and they fear that if it is 
declared off’ at the present time many of the deported men 
will return, which will result in all kinds of trouble. The 
citizens also maintain that the declaration of martial law 
and its enforcement are putting the State under nominal 
expense, as there are only 100 soldiers on duty in the dis¬ 
trict. . . . Levi Z. Leiter, the Chicago millionaire, died 
suddenly June 9, at Bar Harbor, Me., of heart failure, in his 
seventieth year. As the associate of Marshall Field, F. II. 
Cooley, Potter Palmer and John V. Farwell, Mr. Leiter was 
one of the richest and most noted of the big business men of 
the West. . . . The passenger steamer Canada was sunk by 
a collision in the St. Lawrence River, near Sorel, Que., June 
12; six lives lost. . . . According to a decision of Judge 
Ryan, of St. Louis, June 13, the financial condition of a 
patient should not be taken into consideration by physicians 
in making charges for professional services. “The character 
of the service, the seriousness of the complaint, the skill and 
time required, the result reached,” Judge Ryan holds, “are 
elements to be considered, but not the wealth or poverty of 
the patient.” The decision was rendered In setting aside the 
verdict of the jury in the suit of Dr. M. P. Morrell against 
Dr. .1. J. Lawrence, of Nesv York. Dr. Morrell went to New 
York and performed a surgical operation on Lawrence, 
charging $30,000. The jury awarded him $12,000, but Judge 
Ryan deemed this amount excessive. . . . By an explo¬ 
sion June 11 in the big sewer being constructed along Thir- 
ly ninth street, Chicago, four men were killed, a frame build¬ 
ing was demolished, and the manholes were blown for many 
blocks. Three workmen, accompanied by City Engineer Guy 
Miltimore, who carried a gasoline torch, were going down 
into the sewer, when they encountered sewer gas, and the 
explosion followed. In addition to sewer gas, it is thought 
possible that petroleum had leaked into the sewer, as for 
fifteen minutes after the explosion fire burned fiercely. It 
was two hours before a successful attempt could be made to 
rescue the bodies. . . . The Executive Board of the 
World’s Fair has announced the official attendance figures 
for May as follows: Paid admissions, 542,028; admissions 
by pass, not counting workmen’s passes, 459,303, making a 
total of 1,001,391 persons attending the Exposition in May. 
. . . Ten persons were drowned June 10 in the floods in 
Indian Territory and Oklahoma. Mrs. R. II. Wilson, her 
two-year-old baby and Miss Fay Davis were asleep in the 
Wilson house, in Mill Creek, when a cloudburst carried the 
building away. In Kiamichi Valley, five children of Tony 
Jones were drowned and a child was swept away at Bengal. 
In Hobart, Ok la., Charles Ilennessy was lost crossing a 
flooded creek. Twelve miles of railroad tracks between 
VVister and Bengal, and seven miles of track near Mill Creek, 
I. T\, were washed out. All the tributaries of the Washita 
were out of their banks, and cotton and other crops have 
been destroyed. Almost the entire Arkansas River bottom 
was inundated June 10, and much of the cotton crop in 
Arkansas has been washed out too late for successful re¬ 
planting. Representative Reid telegraphed the Department 
of Agriculiure asking for cotton seed that will mature early, 
and was informed that the Department could send none, and 
that the chances of a crop from Immediate replanting would 
be slim. Arkansas farmers were advised to plant corn in¬ 
stead. . . . Superintendent O. It. Casey, of the Society 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, has brought crim¬ 
inal proceedings against the New York Central Railroad, and 
Olds & Clark, of Adams, N. Y., have brought a civil action 
growing out of the same Incident. Nineteen horses were 
shipped from Buffalo to the Adams firm on February 29, 
and, according to the complaints, five died en route and the 
others were badly lamed through neglect. It is charged 
that the section of the Penal Code was violated which pre¬ 
scribes that animals shall not remain in open cars more 
than 24 consecutive hours without unloading, and shall not 
go without feeding for more than 10 consecutive hours. The 
civil action asks $2,000 damages. 
AN EXCURSION HORROR.—An estimated total of 800 to 
1,000 dead, besides several hundred Injured, Is the record 
of I he fire disaster which June 15 destroyed the big excursion 
steamer General Slocum, which was burned to the water’s 
edge before her captain succeeded in beaching her on North 
Brother Island, in the East River, off New York. Nearly 
all the dead and missing are women and children and were 
members of an excursion party taken out by St. Mark’s 
German Lutheran Church, of New York. The fire started 
forward. It is believed that it began in the storeroom of the 
boat on the lower deck. Here a lot of odds and ends of rope, 
canvas, oily rags, and other truck were stored. In this 
immediate vicinity, too, was a large stove, on which the 
chowder was to have been cooked and in which the fire for 
cooking had already been lit. It was maintained by the 
survivors that while there seemed to be a good supply of life 
preservers on board, those were worthless and rotten. For 
hours after the disaster the waters around North Brother 
Island were thick with dead bodies, and these were pulled- 
aboard all kind of craft as quickly as they could be, and 
laid out in the awful rows on the pier. The Slocum did not 
remain at North Brother Island more than 10 minutes from 
the time she struck, but there did not seem to be a living 
person aboard of her when she drifted off down stream, and 
finally landed more than a mile away on the beach at Hunt's 
Point. She was then burned to the water's edge, but when 
the supports of the decks gave way hundreds of bodies 
were precipitated into the hold and lay on the lower deck, 
masses of charred embers. Very few men were on board, 
and the victims are nearly all women and children. 
ADMINISTRATION.—The Court of Appeals of the Dis¬ 
trict of Columbia affirmed the decision of the court below 
in refusing to compel the Secretary of War by mandamus 
proceedings to reinstate Miss Rebecca J. Taylor as a clerk 
in the War Department. Miss Taylor was discharged for 
writing a newspaper article criticising the President. . . . 
Philander C. Knox, Attorney-General of the United States, 
will succeed the late Matthew S. Quay as United States Sen¬ 
ator from Pennsylvania. Mr. Knox, whose name was the 
last to be presented as a Senatorial possibility, was chosen 
June 9 by the Republican State leaders. The Attorney- 
General has agreed to accept the place, and, upon appoint¬ 
ment by Gov. Pennypacker, he will serve out the unexpired 
term of Senator Quay, which terminates next March. 
ON AN OREGON STEAMBOAT. 
The following clipping from the Portland Oregonian gives 
an idea of the way things are done in that western country; 
The morning was cool and dewy when we signaled the 
steamboat at a little lauding this side of Salem. Four 
passengers and two milk cans got aboard. Two of the 
passengers were workingmen from a neighboring ranch. 
“We hain’t got no money,” said one to the purser, “but 
we got an order.” 
“Been working up to Macintosh’s 7” 
“Yes.” 
“Oh, John’s all right; I’ll cash it for you.” 
With a queer little hoarse “toot” the steamboat drew 
away from the bank and swept down the placid current. 
Around the next bend a square white canvas announced an¬ 
other milk can. The gangplank was run out and almost 
ere the boat's nose had touched the bank two deck-hands 
were ashore and hustling back with a few more gallons 
for Portland babies, coffee-drinkers and breakfast-food con¬ 
sumers. Another “toot” and on again. So for hours ’round 
bend after bend, while the sun shot up gloriously over the 
eastern slopes.” 
The shores are so surpassingly lovely that one cannot 
tire of gazing. Fresh growths of sweetbriar and cottonwood 
lade the air with such fragrance that you must perforce 
till your lungs deep with it again and again and exclaim to 
yourself: “God made the country, man made the town.” 
The deck-hands seem a happy lot of fellows, with some 
little leisure for a smoke and a bit of “joshing” now and 
then between milk cans. Occasionally a few passengers and 
other kinds of freight than milk are taken on. When some 
dainty Valley girl, dressed in her best for a visit to Portland, 
essays to walk up the narrow plank, the pilot, or the purser, 
gallantly meets her half-way, extending a hand to aid her. 
Sometimes something funny happens, as at a little place 
about an hour’s run above Oregon City. Here was a ware¬ 
house on the high bank with a long, steep chute to chute 
freight aboard the boat. A man in shirt-sleeves on the 
bank waved his hat. The pilot “tooted” his whistle and 
turned the boat shoreward. 
“What you gotV” queried the captain, as the mau in the 
shirt-sleeves made fast the line. 
“Thirty-four sacks o’ spuds.” 
“All right; run ’em down.” 
In a moment a short section of chute was shoved up from 
the boat, and the connection being complete, the “spuds” 
shot down and were hustled aft by deck-hands with trucks. 
The purser stood by and “checked off.” 
Presently a diffident-seeming old farmer with long whiskers 
appeared on the bank, with a carpetbag in one hand and 
a bundle done up in a red bandana in the other. 
“You can slide down the plank after the sacks are run 
down,” called out the captain to the old man. 
“All right,” returned the latter. “Reckon I can make it." 
The purser checked off the 34 sacks and cried out: 
“Thirty-four ! Get aboard there, Mister. Hurry up!" 
The old man rather gingerly climbed upon the chute and 
started to work his way down the steep incline, verv mind¬ 
ful of his bag and the red bandana. Suddenly the man 
in shirt-sleeves made an outcry. It was too late. The 
thirty-fifth sack of spuds came down at express speed, strik¬ 
ing the old farmer in the rear and bunting him down and 
into the arms of the deck-hands with such velocity that his 
trousers almost smoked with the friction of it. 
“Gosh !” was all he said. 
“Never mind,” said a deck-hand, consolingly. “This is 
our private chute-the-ehutes, an’ you got a free trip.” 
The old man extracted half a dollar from a knot in the 
red bandana and paid the purser, while the whistle tooted 
for another start. 
It’s a fine trip, and when it’s over one has acquired a few 
unforgetable impressions of beauty; farmhouses nestled coz- 
ily in yellow-green hillsides; placid waters in tones of deep, 
cool green ; banks of young fir and cottonwood ; sweetbriar 
thickets smelling like great heaps of apples, and you wonder 
why people don’t rave more than they do about the “Beauti¬ 
ful Willamette.” 
WHY THE “BOYS” LEAVE THE FARM. 
I enclose a clipping from Rochester paper that easily ex¬ 
plains why the young men of to-day are not seeking the 
farms as a business venture; also a solution of the reasons 
why men are not hiring out upon the farms: 
“Le Roy, June 3.—A foreclosure action which took place 
to-day at Pearl Creek, south of here, gives a good illustra¬ 
tion of the difference in the price of land now from what it 
was a number of years ago. The sale which took place 
yesterday was a tract of farming land of 08 acres in the 
town of Middlebury. The action was brought by Miss Lucy 
M. Lent, of Le Roy, against Ellen Powers and others. Henry 
Bristol, of Warsaw, was the referee in the action and A. Dix 
Bissell, of Le Roy, the plaintiff’s attorney. The land was 
put up at auction, and was purchased by George W. Leaton, 
of Middlebury, for $1,530, being a little more than $22 an 
acre. The amount of the claim was more than double what 
the land brought. A number of years ago land in this 
locality brought $100 an acre, so that the loan on the prop¬ 
erty at the time it was made was considered a very con¬ 
servative one.” 
Young men of ambition and push are slow to embark in a 
business that when they reach the end of their laboring days 
sees the product of their labor worth about one-quarter or 
less of the actual cash outlay to them. What is wrong 
about agriculiure when the State must needs be called upon 
to build its colleges and educate the children? Where is the 
incentive? The same energy, economy and careful business 
management In other callings will Insure a competency, the 
dollars of which will not shrink to nickels in your old 
age. I might extend tills article to great length, but will 
content myself with a very apt illustration of the point I 
wish to make plain. I live upon and own a farm that has 
been in the family for more than 100 years. It is a good 
farm, with plain, substantial buildings, well fenced and un¬ 
derdrained, good fruit, etc. The cost of this farm per 
acre (not repairs), but actual permanent improvements 
would be hard in estimate, but anywhere from $200 to $300 
per acre would be low enough. Place it upon the market 
and see what it will bring. Where Is the Incentive to Invest 
your cash and energy in farming, and when you have reached 
old age, see it sold for one-eighth to one-quarter whaj it 
has cost you? 1 do not write these few lines to discourage 
anyone; i certainly have had success on the farm. 1 believe 
there are born farmers as well as those adapted to other 
callings. Success or failure depends largely upon a liking for 
the business. a. it. 
R. N.-Y.—Does anyone know of a good farmer who studies 
his busiuess as carefully as a merchant or a blacksmith or 
a doctor,'who has let his farm depreciate in this way? To 
offset Lhis newspaper item we can name many eases where 
men have taken farms at a low figure, brought them up to 
a good state of cultivation, and made them sell for twice the 
purchase price. One trouble with an estimate of the value 
of farm property is that we want to compare it with other 
forms of property which are from their nature easily sold. 
When a young man buys a farm lie usually has in mind an 
investment ror a home—not a thing to buy and sell as he 
would stocks or bonds. If a farmer would regard his farm 
as a permanent investment—a place to invest his savings— 
the property would be worth more and be more readily 
salable. 
One reason why the dollars invested in other lines of 
business do not “shrink” is because the cream of the farm is 
sent away for investment in these other lines of trade. Let 
us consider the millions of dollars which came originally 
from New York farms and are now invested in railroad 
shares, stock or trust companies, banks or other commercial 
enterprises. If we could get the exact figures we should 
be astonished at the total. Now suppose this sum, or any 
large part of it, had been invested in local needs—-such 
as good roads, better buildings and orchards, drainage and 
household conveniences. The Interest received by farmers 
would be greater than now, farming as a business would be 
respected by all, and the farmer would be sought after, while 
the value of farm property would be increased. Farming 
in the East will be made more profitable, if at all, by, farmers 
themselves—through greater confidence in their business. 
CROP NOTES. 
Apples will be a fair crop the way it looks now. Bears 
almost all frozen; cherries same. Strawberries late; goose¬ 
berries and currants hurt some by frost. Wheat poor; oats 
look well. Grass good; early potatoes fine; weather just 
now cool. v. L. H. 
Garrett, Ind. 
It is the coldest, most backward Spring 1 ever saw, and 
very dry. Corn planting is not nearly done; some who 
planted early are planting over again, but most of the 
ground is so dry it cannot grow till we have rain. It is al¬ 
most impossible to plow, the ground is baked so hard. Fruit 
trees were nearly all full of bloom. j. m. mc’l. 
Franksville, Wis. 
Winter wheat is heading, and the weather has been very 
favorable for this crop. The prospects for a good crop are 
much above an average. The oat crop and hay and pasture 
are in good condition. The first crop of Alfalfa 4s being 
cut and is unusually heavy. Last season many iields of 
Alfalfa were cut three and four times. The outlook for a 
good crop of peaches is flattering. a. m. m. 
Thayer Co., Neb._ 
The foreign labor recently brqught here from New York 
by A. C. Glidden, of 1’aw 1’aw, does not all pan out first 
class. Three men Hired by the West Michigan Nursery Co., 
whose fare was paid by the company, worked a short time, 
then stole some clothing and skipped. The sheriff is look¬ 
ing for them—Hartford, Mich., Day Spring. 
MICHIGAN PEPPERMINT.-—This section of the Stale is 
becoming famous for its product of peppermint oil, there 
being a large acreage devoted to the raising of mint, a few 
miles east of Niles. Michigan produces annually more pepper¬ 
mint oil than all the other States combined, and St. Joseph 
County, in which it was first successfully produced on a 
commercial scale, still furnishes something more than 
half of Michigan’s annual product. Next in order of their 
product are the counties of Kalamazoo, Wayne, Van Bureu, 
Allegan, and Cass, and peppermint is raised and stilled to 
a small extent in several other counties. At Three Rivers 
is the largest mint farm in the world. The number of acres 
of peppermint now raised in the State is about 11,000. The 
average yield per acre Is about eight pounds, making a total 
of 88,000 pounds. j. k. 
Niles, Mich. 
FARMERS WALK STRAIGHTER.—Mickleton, N. J., June 
0.—At the meeting of the Gloucester N County Board of 
Agriculture to-day, one of the most interesting topics for 
discussion was as to the greatest labor-saving utensil on 
the farm. The men thought the potato planter had them 
all discounted, as there were no more stiff backs among the 
farmers from this work, and it was noticed that several 
of the older men had straightened up. State Master Gaunt 
believed the next best was the rural telephone. On the 
woman’s side, Mary Haines believed the creamery had all 
the new inventions beaten. The robin came in for liberal 
discussion. Thomas Borton thought the bird ought to have 
a rest, since the Legislature had settled things in its favor. 
He believed it was a friend rather than an enemy, but 
Theodore Brown asked to be shown one good trait of the 
bird. Henry T. Ridgway thought that the absence of rain 
during the cherry time last year drove the birds into the 
trees for food, because the worms went into the ground. 
John Repp, of Glassboro, thought that the sentiment of tile 
robin’s music was pretty dear to him when the birds de¬ 
stroyed $1,000 worth of his fruit last year. On the subject 
of “Education of the American Farmer,” Mary Low advocated 
the centralization of schools, which, she said, ought to be 
just as good as city schools.—Philadelphia Record. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
A new fruit picker which bids fair to come into universal 
favor with apple growers is being introduced by the Safety 
Fruit Picker Co., of Rochester, N. Y. The illustration in 
their advertisement shows the picker in use. Write for full 
information about it. 
We do not doubt that many farmers lose more every year 
because of having no means of weighing live stock and farm 
products than the cost of a good wagon and stock scale. 
Years ago a set of scales meant quite a large investment, 
but now they are comparatively cheap. The Peerless Scale 
Co., Kansas City, Mo., are offering scales at what seems to 
us an unusually low figure. Look the matter up and send 
for catalogue. 
The flies are torturing cattle and other stock. The other 
day we noticed our own cows sore and bleeding from the 
attacks of the large flies that work at the top of the udder 
out of reach of the cow’s tail. We used “Shoo Fry” at once 
and relieved the cows. This substanee not only keeps the 
files away, but heals wounds and sores. We always keep a 
supply on hand. Those who are interested should write to 
the Shoo Fly Mfg. Co., Philadelphia, Pa. 
Experience has shown that it is much cheaper and more 
satisfactory - to buy a silo from a reputable concern, that 
makes a specialty of silo building, than to endeavor to con¬ 
struct one. A concern which builds such a silo as we speak 
of is the Stoddard Mfg. Co., of Rutland. Vt. The Stoddard 
Co. publish a booklet of interest to all silo people. It treats 
on silage, ils making, what a silo should be, and tells what 
the Green Mountain is. It Is a good book to send for, inter¬ 
esting and helpful. Write direct to them. 
The topic of the World's Fair at St. Louis seems to be 
one of general Interest at this time, and the agricultural 
machinery are of great value as well as interest to all 
our people. The exhioit of the Hydraulic Press Mfg. Co., 
Mt. Gilead, O., is an unusually practical one, for the rea¬ 
son that seven presses will be making cider from frylt 
which has been preserved in cold storage for the purpose; 
each press being operated by a gasoline engine made by the 
same company. The pure, sweet cider will he sold on the 
grounds at five cents a glass. A little folder containing 
important information for visitors and map of the grounds 
will be mailed free to any of our people interested in cider 
machinery or gasoline engines. Address the Hydraulic Press 
Mfg. Co., Mt. Gilead, <)., or 39-41 Cortlandt St., Nfew York 
city. 
