1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
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THE NEW YORK CORPORATION COW. 
The R. N.-Y. of September 4 spoke of a proposed 
combination of milk dealers to control the milk trade 
of this city and Brooklyn. There have been spas¬ 
modic reports since then of the progress of the under¬ 
taking ; some papers have reported its collapse, 
others that the organization was going forward 
quietly but steadily. The moving spirit of the enter¬ 
prise, Mr. J. D. Qilmor, now says that the organiza¬ 
tion is so nearly perfected that it is an assured thing, 
and that articles of incorporation will be filed in a 
few days. The details of organization and plans for 
work are not yet perfected, and are outlined only in 
a general way. Negotiations have been in progress for 
a long time with the milk dealers; the latter have been 
asked to give options on their business, the price to be 
paid in cash or stock of the new corporation, or both. 
Many of the dealers will then work as agents of the 
new organization. Perhaps some of the dealers will 
be forced to give up business, as a smaller force of 
men will be needed under the new order. Mr. Qilmor 
is emphatic in his assertion that the new organization 
is not a trust, but a corporation. The promoters of 
the enterprise are not made public, but it is asserted 
that $10,000,000 to $12,000,000 capital are available if 
needed. 
X X X 
Mr. Gilmor told me that, while, of course, the pro¬ 
moters expect to make considerable money, they will 
not do so at the expense of the public. As the milk 
trade of the city is now conducted, about 4,000 wagons 
are employed. Many of them travel over the same 
routes, entailing an unnecessary expense in distribu¬ 
tion. With the business under one management, the 
city could be divided into districts, and the work so 
systematized that 1,000 or 1,200 wagons will do the 
same work. This will effect an immense saving in 
distribution, and at the same time, the public be bet¬ 
ter served. It is easy to see how this economy is pos¬ 
sible, as a large part of the expense is in the distribu¬ 
tion. Then the milk stations, distributing depots, 
etc., will be under close inspection, and everything 
will be kept perfectly clean. It is possible, also, 
that the retail price will be greatly reduced ; Mr. 
Gilmor claims that a large reduction could be made 
from present prices, and still a good profit assured. 
He says that a reduction is intended, and that opera¬ 
tions will be begun before January 1. 
t X t 
So far as the farmers are concerned, it is stated that 
those now supplying the dealers who sell out to the 
syndicate will be the ones who will furnish the milk 
to the new organization. To the question as to 
whether the milk producers would be benefited, Mr. 
Gilmor said that they would. Ia the first place, 
under present conditions, producers are often made 
the victims of dealers who secure their milk and, after 
a time, default in their payments. He estimates that 
the farmers of Orange County alone lose $75,000 a 
year in this way ; under the new system, they will be 
selling to a responsible corporation, whose bills will 
be paid promptly. Then the expectation is that some¬ 
what higher prices will be paid for milk than dealers 
have paid in the past. On the other hand, a better 
quality of milk will be required than some producers 
have been furnishing. 
t X X 
I asked Mr. Gilmor whether this would mean a 
regular system of inspection of the dairies, but he 
said that he couldn’t yet say as to what would be done 
in this direction. Many similar details would neces¬ 
sarily be arranged later as reorganization of the 
methods went on. The outcome of this stupendous 
organization will be watched with intense interest. 
It means the controlling and handling of the supply 
for nearly 3,000,000 people, of the most perishable 
food commodity known, and one that has become a 
leading article of food in almost every family. It 
would seem to be the most difficult business to con¬ 
trol, but, from present appearances, it looks as though 
the control of the trade of this, the second greatest 
city in the world, were assured. We give this from 
the organizer’s standpoint; it is one side of the sub¬ 
ject. Later, we shall give the views of others in¬ 
terested, and shall keep readers posted as to the prog¬ 
ress of the business here. Whatever may be the out¬ 
come, it is to be hoped that the milk producers will 
receive more for their product. Any system that 
doesn’t accomplish this end deserves to fail. These 
people have been doing a very unremunerative busi¬ 
ness, and it’s time the tables were turned in their favor. 
New York City uses about 25,000 40 quart cans of 
milk daily. The transportation and distribution of 
this immense quantity gives employment to many 
men and horses, and puts into circulation great sums 
of money. Great precautions are necessary, and much 
legislation has been enacted to insure the delivery of 
a pure and healthful product to the people. The 
milk producer has been about the most poorly paid of 
any one engaged in the traffic, and at the same time 
is always blamed if the milk does not come up to 
standard requirements, no matter how many hands 
it has passed through. There is need of many re¬ 
forms in the handling, and of more even justice to 
the producers. f. h. v. 
CUT AND SHREDDED. 
Considerable competition in the export cattle 
trade seems imminent. It is reported that the entire 
space on most of the regular cattle-carrying steamers 
has been contracted for at higher than usual rates, 
and that some of the older shippers have been left 
out in the cold. It is said that an English syndicate 
is back of this arrangement. Some of the older 
shippers say that they refused to pay the higher rate, 
but have no fear that they will be unable to secure 
all the room they desire, if not here, then at other 
ports. The effect is likely to be to stimulate the 
cattle trade here, possibly to depress it on the other 
side, so that the outlook is better for the producer 
than for the exporter. 
Is the sugar beet a profitable crop for New York 
State farmers ? That question is becoming a serious 
one. Propositions are already being made to farmers 
in various parts of New York State, and on Long 
Island the farmers themselves are talking of erect¬ 
ing a sugar factory. On page 757, Mr. L. A. Clinton 
gives a conservative statement of the business side of 
beet-sugar growing. Oar own opinion is that, sooner 
or later, American beet-sugar making will settle in 
the Far West, for much the same reasons that wheat 
production has largely settled there. Next week, we 
shall give an excellent account of the operations at 
the first beet-sugar factory erected in New York State. 
This will show just how the sugar is made, and we 
shall follow it with other articles giving all sides of 
the question—for there are, at least, two sides to it. 
In welcoming the officers of the National Grange 
at their meeting in Harrisburg, the other day, Gov. 
Hastings is reported to have said : 
The treasury would be overflowing if your agents would not let 
the money run out as fast as It flows in. The watering trough in 
the barnyard is hardly ever full when the waste plug is knocked 
out. If you do not want your share of the public burden of taxa¬ 
tion to be frittered away in useless expenditure, exorbitant ap¬ 
propriation, or aimless expense of investigating committees, 
whose purpose is to obscure or conceal the truth, it is your fault 
if you do not stop it. If your Capitol building should be destroyed 
by fire, and could be rebuilt with the expenditure of $500,000, you 
should not be taxed millions on millions to aid a subterfuge or a 
delusion which might only enrich some favorite architect or 
building contractor, and compel you to give a share of your wheat 
and corn, your oats and potatoes, to those who have no call upon 
your bounty, your sympathy, or your patriotism. You would 
better rise in your might and drive from place and power those 
who misrepresent you and your interests. 
The trouble about much of such talk is that it begins 
and ends in words. No one questions the fact that 
the average farmer is called upon to support one 
family besides his own in the crowd of workers and 
idlers who handle his products or pretend to govern 
him. Who will coin these words into deeds, and show 
how this evil may be remedied ? 
In the October Forum, C. Wood Davis conjures up 
the bogy of starvation. He insists that the wheat 
eaters are multiplying faster than the wheat fields 
are ; and he exhibits an array of figures that amount 
to a demonstration. Old-world prosperity shows it¬ 
self by an increase in wheat consumption. Even 
France has been eating more wheat recently than 
formerly, now showing a per capita consumption of 
eight bushels per annum. Other countries are drop¬ 
ping rye bread and potatoes from prominent places in 
their dietary to substitute wheat bread. Russia alone 
has backslid. She has been consuming less than she 
should, and thereby has managed to export since‘1880, 
1,360,000,000 bushels of various grains. This has given 
seeming plenty to the importing world, and worked 
our financial discomfiture. The starving Russian 
makes a bad competitor. Mr. Davis fails to comment 
on the meager per capita allowance of wheat in the 
United States. Figures obtained from a study of the 
last six harvests (prior to’97) lead us to believe that 
the average amount available for home consumption 
is not far from 240,000,000 bushels annually. Some is 
burned, some fed to stock. This may offset the con¬ 
servative estimate of the Government. This is ap¬ 
proximately a per capita allowance of 3.7 bushels. 
Lawes and Gilbert give figures for the United King¬ 
dom of 5.65 bushels. It is easy to note that were our 
people to eat bread as the English do, we would not 
export a bushel of wheat this year. Are we starving 
ourselves—Russian style—to put bread in Europe’s 
basket ? Not a bit. We are eating more fruit, more 
vegetables, more dairy products, and much more 
meat than our neighbors across seas. So what our 
wheat fetches in foreign markets is pay for farm and 
garden products we have enjoyed at home. 
We have heard about American Cattle Kings, Rail¬ 
road Kings and Wheat Kings, and now Secretary F. 
B. Coburn, of the Kansas Board of Agriculture, talks 
about the Potato Kings of Kansas. It appears that 
Mann Brothers & Frisbie, who raise potatoes in the 
Kaw Valley, about 15 miles from Kansas City, shipped 
this year 125,000 bushels of potatoes. These potatoes 
went in every direction, from Duluth to the Gulf, 
and from New York to New Mexico. They plan to 
plant 500 acres next spring, and have just bought 
9,000 bushels of seed potatoes from Minnesota. They 
use northern seed because such seed, sprouting more 
slowly, can be planted early with less danger from 
spring frosts, and will, also, yield at least 50 bushels 
more per acre than home-grown seed. They grow 
mostly Early Ohio, for the reason that it matures 
fairly well before dry weather sets in, and will stand 
more handling during the hot weather than any 
other Early variety, without rotting. This variety, 
however, maturing so early and lying in the hot soil 
two or three months afterwards, is weakened in vital¬ 
ity for seed purposes. This year, however, they 
raised a second crop of volunteer potatoes. After 
gathering the regular crop in June and July, the 
ground was immediately plowed, and from the seed 
left in it, they have produced nearly 2,000 bushels of 
fine-sized potatoes. They think that this second crop 
of late mature potatoes of an early variety, will be 
equal in every respect, for seed and for keeping, to 
those brought from the North. This will, certainly, 
prove a very interesting experiment, and if, instead 
of remaining idle during the summer and fall, the 
land can be made to produce a second crop of seed 
potatoes, they will make a great gain. 
We have often spoken of the commercial uses of 
compressed air. In France, this safe and clean force 
is said to be actually taking the place of electricity 
for many purposes. It may be piped for long dis¬ 
tances, and used for any work that requires a turning 
wheel. It is now used for carrying mail. A pneu¬ 
matic tube 3,750 feet long runs between the New York 
Post-office and the Produce Exchange. These tubes, 
for there are two of them, are 8% inches in diameter. 
Carriers of sheet iron, 24 inches long, capable of hold¬ 
ing 600 letters, are forced by air pressure through 
these tubes. At the first public test, the carrier con¬ 
tained a Bible wrapped in the American flag, Presi¬ 
dent McKinley’s inaugural address and other docu¬ 
ments. It required 4 minutes and 40 seconds to send 
this message through the tube and receive, in return, 
an answer to the letter. When covered by a messenger 
boy, this round trip occupied 33 minutes, and the same 
time for a wagon. By telegram, 56 minutes were re¬ 
quired, and 3 hours and 10 minutes by the regular 
mail, one way. It is likely that these pneumatic 
tubes will be used on a large scale within the next few 
years. They will first be used in the larger cities, 
and we hope that, before long, the service will be ex¬ 
tended out into the country so that messages, or even 
small packages, can be delivered quickly and in good 
condition. It is expected that, within a short time, 
business men in New York may send a letter to Phila¬ 
delphia, and receive an answer to it within eight 
hours, or that one may communicate in like manner, 
between New York and Chicago, inside of one day! 
While these wonderful things are being brought out 
for the benefit of town and city people, let us hope 
that those living in the country will not be neglected. 
This pneumatic service has much to commend it, and 
it would prove, with the telephone and free rural de¬ 
livery, a great blessing to dealers in the country. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
We have received a handsome catalogue of the Reliable Incu 
bator and Brooder Co., Quincy, Ill,, containing information about 
poultry matters and incubation in general, and about the Reliable 
goods in particular. The catalogue will be sent free to any one 
interested in the subject. 
The wind will soon be whistling around the buildings. While 
the weather is mild, is the time to nail up the loose boards, and 
square up the sag in the door and window blinds. A little paint 
would not come amiss. But especially look to the cracks inside 
the stables, pighouse and hennery. A little Neponset building 
paper will keep out cold, and save fodder. It will, also, increase 
the supply of eggs. F. W. Bird & .Son, East Walpole, Mass., will 
send samples and price on it. 
The coal magnates have advanced the price of coal, and it 
stands one in hand to save all the heat. The Rochester Radiator 
will do this. It’s a good thing, as we can testify from per¬ 
sonal trial. One of these was sent to a missionary in Persia two 
years ago, the freight costing $8. So satisfactory was it that a 
number more have been ordered for use in mission schools. The 
company will send complete information for the asking. Address 
Rochester Radiator Co., Rochester, N. Y. 
The general-purpose cow and the “ Jack of all trades ” yet have 
their feeble advocates; but the best dairymen do not want that 
cow, and the “handy man” is not picked out as foreman by 
large contractors. The same principle is working into the manu 
facture of farm machinery. The mower is no longer combined 
with the reaper. If a tool is specially fitted for satisfactory work 
in one line, that very perfection unfits it, in most cases, for some 
other work. The St. Albans Foundry Co., of St. Albans, Vt., 
carry this principle into the manufacture of fodder cutters and 
corn shredders. They make a machine to shred corn. They have 
a little book on the subject that will be read with interest by 
every one who feeds corn stalks in any way. They will send it 
for the asking. 
