1B05. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
637 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—The total death list in the department 
store collapse at Albany, N. Y., August 8, was 13; the 
property loss is put at $500,000. . . . The yellow fever 
situation in New Orleans is improving slightly. Up to 
August 15 the total number of eases was 1,0^9, with 173 
deaths. The mortality percentage is said to be lessening. 
. .. . Illinois will in future allow no messengers to ac¬ 
company banana trains passing through that State. The 
trains can go through without stopping, but they must not 
be accompanied by messengers. The cause of the new 
order is said to be the discovery of mosquitoes in the cars. 
Bananas have been declared contraband of quarantine at 
New Orleans. The fruit cars, being open, cannot be fumi¬ 
gated satisfactorily and mosquitoes may be found in them. 
On order from Washington no bananas will be allowed to 
be shipped from New Orleans to any point north or south 
during the rest of the season. Many complaints have been 
raised against the order of Surgeon-General Wyman pro¬ 
hibiting the shipment of bananas from New Orleans as be¬ 
ing in excess of the powers enjoined by the United States 
Marine Hospital Service. The fruit company proposed to 
unload at I’orl Chalmette, just below New Orleans, and ship 
them thence directly to northern cities. This was agreed 
to by Dr. White, but the health officers in St. Bernard, in 
which parish Chalmette is situated, objected and the plan 
cannot be carried out in consequence. Florida is suspicious 
of Atlanta and requires passengers from that city to pre¬ 
sent health certificates. The quarantine trouble between 
Illinois and Kentucky has been finally settled. The Ken¬ 
tucky State authorities complained that Illinois health 
officers boarded trains in Kentucky and put off in that 
Slate passengers not supplied with health certificates and 
refused to honor the Kentucky certificates. Illinois replied 
that some of the Kentucky towns were selling the certi¬ 
ficates without any investigation of the purchasers. Under 
the compromise reached, tiie Kentucky authorities will re¬ 
scind the issue of certificates, while the Illinois inspectors 
will not put off any passengers in Kentucky. In a manner 
intended not to arouse the combativeness of inhabitants 
of cities in the yellow fever districts where local quar¬ 
antines have been established the l’ostofflce Department 
is instructing railroads having mail carrying contracts 
that it expects the government pouches to be moved with 
as much dispatch as possible. In some portions of Louis¬ 
iana, Mississippi and Texas passenger trains are not per¬ 
mitted to stop, and in some few instances the service has 
been discontinued by the railroads. Officials of the Post- 
office Department do not consider the interference with 
tills service a sufficient excuse by the railroads for failure 
to carry the mails. The railroads have been informed that 
th(> department expects the mails to be moved in some 
manner—if not on passenger trains, then on freights, or, if 
not on freights, on handcars, or by any other means that 
can be adopted. The instructions are not meant to en¬ 
courage the railroads to enter into conflict with authorities 
of towns that have established quarantines. It is believed 
that no objection will be found to the transfer of malls 
In the quarantined districts if no attempt is made by the 
railroads to discharge passengers at the quarantined sta¬ 
tions. 'I'he department has ordered the closing of the post- 
office at Vinton, La., on account of the local quarantine. 
No mail trains now run into Vinton, and until they do the 
department will not reopen the office. . . . August 8 a 
peculiar accident tied up the Pine Bush branch of the Erie 
Railroad, near Middletown, N. Y.. when a locomotive sud¬ 
denly began to sink, the roadbed dropping 10 feet. The 
engine turned on one side, the engineer jumping and escap¬ 
ing injury. Another engine, sent to drag the first one out. 
also sank, with another section of the track. The spot 
where the engines sank is known as the bottomless pit. 
It has caused the road a great deal of trouble, and its 
mysteries have been the talk of railroad men for many 
years. When the road was built, about 35 years ago, the 
bones of a mastodon were found at this spot, and when the 
attempt to make a roadbed was made thousands of car¬ 
loads of trees, rocks and dirt were dumped in, only to bo 
swallowed up in a short time. This gave the spot its name. 
Heavy timbers were placed under the engines to pre¬ 
vent them from sinking out of sight, and a track lyas built 
around the dangerous spot. . . . The Appellate Division, 
Second Judical District of New York, lias handed down a 
decision written by Presiding Judge Ilirschberg in the ac¬ 
tion brought by Albert It. Galloway of Monroe, Orange 
county, against the Erie railroad. lie shipped a carload of 
live stock from Buffalo to Monroe, and It was on the road 
35 hours. One animal was dead and several were dam¬ 
aged bv the long confinement without food and water. 
Judge Maddox in June, 1004, dismissed the complaint, hold¬ 
ing that the railroad was exempted by the uniform live 
stock contract signed by Mr. Galloway. The Appellate Di¬ 
vision holds that the railroad is liable because of negli¬ 
gence and under the State law which prohibits the confin¬ 
ing of live stock for longer than ‘24 hours without food and 
water. . . . William Henry Myers, a chauffeur, was con¬ 
victed at Philadelphia, Pa.. August 11. of involuntary man¬ 
slaughter and sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for 
running down and killing five-year-old Eldon Sarver on 
June 26. At the trial it was in evidence that Myers was 
driving the machine in a rapid and negligent manner. . . . 
In tiie action brought bv James Guffev. president of the 
Gulf Refining Company, against the Illinois Central and 
Louisville and Nashville Company and others, for alleged 
violation of the interstate commerce law through discrim¬ 
inating rates in favor of the Standard Oil Company, the 
railroad companies capitulated without a show of fight. 
The attorneys for the Louisville and Nashville and the 
Illinois Central filial their briefs reciting a new tariff cor¬ 
recting the discriminations complained of by President 
Guffey. It was shown in the argument that the rate per 
lot) pounds on Texas oil northward from New Orleans to 
Chicago was 41 cents, and the rate southward was but 23. 
The rate from New Orleans to Cincinnati was 39 cents and 
southward 22. From New Orleans to St. Louis and Louis¬ 
ville northward the rate was 35 cents and southward 18. 
The answer of the railroad companies August 11 puts the 
northward tariff at precisely the same rates as for Standard 
Oil going south. . . . Fire in the John Simmons pipe¬ 
bending works at Newark. N. .1., August 13. caused a loss 
iTf 8100,000. . . . Suits have been brought in the Pulaski 
Countv. Ark., circuit court against the Hammonds, Cudahy 
and Swift packing companies. Each corporation is sued 
for $00,000 penalties and forfeiture of authority to do busi¬ 
ness in the State. There are two counts in each complaint, 
as follows: First—That the company violated the law by 
doing business in the State while a member of a combina¬ 
tion to control the selling price of meats and by being a 
member of such combination while doing business in the 
State. Second—That flu* company violated the law by be¬ 
ing a member of a combination to control the price to be 
paid for cattle. . . . The Pennsylvania State Dairy and 
Food Commission has begun war on the beef trust in Pitts¬ 
burg through H. L. Banzhoflf. special agent in Pittsburg. 
Swift & Co., of Chicago were charged with criminal viola¬ 
tion of the pure food laws. The information was preferred 
against .T. I>. Taylor, the local manager for the Chicago 
firm. The specific charge is selling frankfurter sausages and 
Ashland hams containing boracic acid. Samples of these 
products were obtained and an analysis was made. The 
State commission has tired of prosecuting retail dealers 
who are backed bv the trust and in the future will strike 
at the heads. Heretofore only local dealers were sued for 
violations of the law. In almost every instance they as¬ 
serted that the meat was In the same condition as it was 
when received from the packers. The fines, however, were 
Imposed upon the dealers, and it is said that the beef houses 
made good the amounts with the dealers. When the pure 
food agents were specially active in Pittsburg and vicinity 
the trust concern paid out large amounts to reimburse 
dealers for heavy fines Imposed. The move against the 
trust will extend throughout the State. Following up the 
move made in Pittsburg, the agents will begin criminal 
prosecutions against meat dealers in various parts of the 
Commonwealth. The real defendants will be the companies 
constituting the trust. . . .Twelve lives were sacrificed 
by a trainman’s blunder in a head-on crash of a Nickel 
Plate passenger train and a freight at Kish man’s switch on 
the shore of Lake Erie, near Vermillion. Ohio, August 13. 
In the path of the approaching flier the engine crew of the 
freight carelessly delayed their train. The engine of the 
passenger train, running 50 miles an hour, plowed through 
the boiler of the monster freight engine before it, and the 
crash broke coaches into splinters and snapped and twisted 
heavy steel. . . . October 2 has been set as the first trial 
day for the twenty-four packers and lawyers and live cor¬ 
porations indicted on charges of combining in restraint of 
trade, accepting rebates and interfering with Government 
witnesses. Hundreds of witnesses will appear at the new 
Federal building, Chicago, to testify for the Government. 
The United States District Attorney, C. B. Morrison, had 20 
subpoenas issued and secretly served August 12. The 
papers are returnable October 2 in the United States Dis¬ 
trict Court. Issuance of these papers came as a surprise 
to most of the packers, as they had been entirely igno¬ 
rant of the movement of the Government officials. 
ADMINISTRATION.—The State Department was informed 
August 9 that the New-York and Bermudez Asphalt Com¬ 
pany had lodged with the Venezuelan Government a pro¬ 
test against the recent decision of the Federal court 
against that company. The protest will be made a part 
of the records in the case, which is now under investiga¬ 
tion. ... In view of the prospect of disastrous results 
to American manufacturers through the decision of the 
German Government to end the tariff arrangement under 
which the United States and’ Germany now operate. Presi¬ 
dent Roosevelt has decided to propose a treaty of amity 
and commerce to Germany. The exact lines upon which 
the treaty will be drawn have not been announced. Berlin 
does not desire to renew the present arrangement, which 
is no more than an agreement under which the two Gov¬ 
ernments have operated since 1870, the German Govern¬ 
ment taking over the treaty signed between tiiis Govern¬ 
ment and the King of Prussia in 1829. That treaty con¬ 
tained the most favored nation clause and since 1870 this 
Government has enjoyed tariff privileges equal to those of 
any other country. Next March the most favored nation 
clause as it operates between the United States and Ger¬ 
many will be a dead letter, the German Government hav¬ 
ing so informed the United States. On February 22 last 
the Reichstag by adopting a treaty of commerce with 
Russia concluded the negotiations for seven similar trea¬ 
ties with European countries, including Russia, Italy, Rou- 
mania, Switzerland, Servia and Austria-Hungary. The 
treaties grant the products of those countries very low 
rates, which give them great advantage over American 
producers. ... A shakeup in the Pension Office may fol¬ 
low the disclosure August 15 that as a result of carelessness 
on the part of four officials a pension for 11 vears was 
allowed to a woman In Canada when she was entitled to 
back pay for only a year. While the transaction involves 
an excess allowance of only $1,600. Commissioner Vespa¬ 
sian Warner wants to know just how far such carelessness 
extends in the bureau. Some time ago 10 pension review¬ 
ers were dismissed for having allowed the claims of sol¬ 
diers in a Pennsylvania regiment that had never been 
mustered into the service. This and the blunder made in 
connection with the claim of the Canadian woman may 
prompt Commissioner Warner thoroughly to overhaul the 
pension bureau. 
TIIE PEACE CONFERENCE.—The first session of the 
peace conference between the Russian and Japanese nleni- 
potentiaries was held at the navy yard’ at Portsmouth. N. 
II.. August 9. Extreme cordiality characterized the ses¬ 
sion. Baron Komura spoke Japanese, his secretajy, Mr. 
Honda, translating it into French, while Mr. Witte spoke 
entirely in French. It is understood that the 12 peace con¬ 
ditions proposed by the Japanese are: Recognition of 
Japan’s preponderance of influence in Corea. Cession of 
the Russian-Chinese Railway from Port Arthur to Harbin. 
Transfer of authority over Port Arthur and the Liaotung 
Peninsula. Cession of Sakhalin Island. Grant of fishing 
privileges at the mouth of the Amur. Recognition of the 
independence of China. The evacuation of Manchuria. The 
granting of commercial privileges at Vladivostok. Transfer 
of the interned ships. Limitation of Russia’s naval strength 
in the Far East. Remuneration for the cost of the war. 
Return to China of Russian mining privileges in Man¬ 
churia. The Russian reply was given August 12. To the 
demands for an indemnity and the cession of Sakhalin the 
reply is an absolute non possumus. Other points are ac¬ 
cepted as bases for discussion, while still others are ac¬ 
cepted conditionally. The envoys and their suites suffered 
much from weather conditions at Portsmouth; intense heat 
and incredible swarms of mosquitoes made everyone 
wretched. _ 
NOTES FROM FLORIDA. 
Hot Facts About Southern Railroads. 
I have just read the Hope Farm Notes of .Tune 24. and 
think they are about the best I ever read. We wish to thank 
you for your unusually fair and candid notes concerning 
Florida—the part you have seen. Conditions of course are 
quite different in the southern part of the State, and we 
hope some time you can come and see them and report. We 
are very glad to have you on our side, and against the rail¬ 
roads and their extortions. The Florida East Coast Rail¬ 
road is a terror to the people in the south part of the State 
depending upon it as an outlet for their produce. This road 
is owned by Henry M. Flagler, and runs through the east 
coast trucking and pineapple region. A bureau of infor¬ 
mation and immigration is maintained in Chicago by this 
road, from which are sent out quantities of misleading state¬ 
ments to induce people to settle on their lands. If asked 
about Cuban competition in pineapples they say Cuban pines 
have to pay a duty and can never compete with Florida 
pines. This season the road seems determined to crush 
the pineapple industry in this part of the State. The rate 
from Miami to Chicago is $1.04 per crate, and a few cents 
less from places farther up. The road controls a steamship 
line from Havana to Miami, and made a special rate on pines 
from Havana to Chicago of 34 cents a crate; to Cincinnati 
28 cents and other northern cities near those figures. I (To 
not know whether these rates include the duty or not, but 
the duty is but a small fraction of the exorbitant rate 
charged us. Appealing to the State Railroad Commission or 
Inter-State Commerce Commission does no good, as they say 
these shipments originated at a foreign port, and we have 
no jurisdiction in the matter. So that simmers it down to 
a case of “what are you going to do about it?" For my 
part, I think it is time we did something besides everlast¬ 
ingly protesting. What do the railroad magnates care for 
our weak protests? They will not even obey the laws made 
to curb their greed if it pleases them not to do so. Our 
great grandfathers fought the Revolutionary War because 
protests seemed to have no effect on England. Our grand¬ 
fathers fought the War of 1812 for the same reason. Our 
fathers fought the Civil War for human rights and liberty, 
and some of us fought in the Spanish War for the same 
reason. Are we going to fold our hands and let the rail¬ 
roads plunder us and our children and our children's chil¬ 
dren forever? 
I was pleased to see you get after that Philadelphia real 
estate fraud, he with the countenance so “childlike and 
bland.” Two years ago I wanted to sell a farm in Mich¬ 
igan. and had some correspondence with this man about sell¬ 
ing it. Before sending him the fee demanded in advance I 
asked him about what the percentage of his sales were com¬ 
pared with the total amount of properties placed in his 
hands for sale, and he promptly told me that was none of 
my business, and I promptly decided to keep my business 
and my money in my own hands. f. h. c. 
Dade Co., Fla. 
Winter Work in Florida. 
I note your inquiry in regard to where people can find 
employment In Florida, and also note that you visited Put¬ 
nam County last Winter, and that you did not think that 
county afforded very much of an opportunity for laborers. 
Your observation in that respect is quite right. Putnam 
County is so far north that the orange industry is gradu¬ 
ally dropping out, and as the only business that is doing 
anything at all to speak of in that section is turpentining, 
there is not much opportunity for white labor. Farther 
south, however, there is a good demand for labor. T know 
of one man who would give employment to from 10 to 20 
reliable hands, men who would not have to have a foreman 
over them to keep them at work. Every Winter people in 
the Manatee River section have trouble in securing com¬ 
petent help. On the East Coast in the Winter there is 
always more or less demand for labor, and I am now paying 
$1.50 a day for common labor on my pineapple plantation 
at Boynton. During the Winter season, say from Novem¬ 
ber to April, there has always been a scarcity of help. I 
do not believe a man would have any trouble whatever in 
finding plenty of work by going to places on the East Coast 
lik Delray, Fort Lauderdale, Little River and Miami during 
the Winter months. I know a number of people who went, 
down there to spend a few months of the Winter and have 
become permanent citizens and have done well. Of course, 
there are failures in any section, and 1 would not recom¬ 
mend anyone to go down there and invest except they had 
spent one season there so they could tell just what the conn 
try is like, because, as you know, a place that would suit 
one person to a T would be a perfect bore to others. I do 
not believe that good labor would have any trouble whatever 
in finding all the employment it wanted, but we certainly 
have all we want of the shiftless sort who are looking for 
a soft snap and big pay. All of the best help that we get 
here soon become property owners and have homes of their 
own. I could give almost steady employment to 15 or 20 
good hands who were not afraid of work. e. o. p. 
Jacksonville, Fla. 
FARM CONDITIONS IN EAST TEXAS. 
Many reports have gone out as to the ravages of the boll- 
weevil in Texas, and of course some of these are greatly 
exagggerated. But the harm done is tremendous. Here in 
East Texas the only crops raised, until the last three years, 
were cotton and corn, with a little sugar cane on the bottom 
lands. Few people knew how to grow any other crop. The 
average cotton planter is both ignorant and exceedingly 
conservative. He cannot be persuaded to try any other crop. 
Probably three-fourths of the cultivated land was in cot¬ 
ton. It was the only money crop. Only enough corn was 
grown to grind for bread, and possibly a little for the work 
horse or mule. (The horse was only fed while being worked, 
two months or so). Few of the planters cultivated more 
than 20 acres, and much of that, was badly run down. All 
of it was full of stumps. Land “cleared" before the Civil 
War still had stumps in it. Many a planter’s entire set 
of tools could have been bought for $5. The set consisted 
of a “Georgia stock" (a small one-horse plow), with a set 
of sweeps for the same, an ax and two or three hoes for 
the women and children. Only a few of the small farmers 
owned a wagon. There were almost no two-horse tools. 
The plows, harrows, mowers, reapers, etc., of the northern 
farmer were unknown. The nearest approach to a barn was 
a small shed or two for storing cotton or corn. Of course 
the house was furnished in a like manner. I can give the 
northern person little idea of the poverty of the average 
small farmer, both white and black, and this in a country 
naturally fertile. Now take from this class of people three- 
fourths of their cotton crop, and you have the condition as 
at present. A few more careful "men “made" a half crop 
last year—many made nothing. Our ginner handled 240 
bales of cotton in 1903; rather a small crop. Last year he 
ginned about 60. The only consolation is the higher price 
cotton brings. A few people are leaving and going where 
they can raise cotton. 
In spite of this disaster to the southern king of crops, 
land is rising in value near here. This is caused by the 
truck and fruit growing interests, and they are backed by 
northern people. Three big fruit companies are at work 
near here, with many smaller firms clearing and planting 
thousands of acres of land. This gives work to many who 
might otherwise see pretty hard times. The boll-weevil is 
teaching the lessons of better farming, rotation of crops, 
slock raising, etc. The northern man is teaching the lessons 
of thrift, hard work, better tools and stock, and tiie plan 
of making every acre raise two crops every year. We raise 
cow peas, sweet potatoes, Mexican June corn, sorghum, sec¬ 
ond crop potatoes, etc., after truck crops. Every crop ex¬ 
cept cotton and sugar cane fit this plan nicely. There are 
some crops this country can grow to perfection. The soil 
and climate seem especially well suited to peaches. Japan 
plums and early apples, as well as truck crops. This was a 
heavily timbered country naturally, magnificent oak and pine 
growing together. Consequently there are few native grasses. 
But when started several species do well, notably Bermuda. 
I think Blue grass (Poa pratensis) will grow all Winter. 
Alfalfa does well. Cow peas and peanuts are at home here, 
so this could be a fine stock country. We have but little 
Winter. No snow fell last year. Stock need but little shel¬ 
ter. There is a big demand for good horses and mules. 
We have an abundance of wild land. I am a mile and a 
half from a railroad, and from the back of my farm it is 
eight miles to the nearest settler, all open woods. Rough 
land can be had at from $7 to $12 per acre : partly cleared 
land with a few shacks of houses can be nought for from 
$10 to $15 per acre. Just near here we have settlers fro*n 
five northern States and Canada, and no one of them wants 
to sell out. We have good water, a fair soil, and the finest 
climate outdoors. A timber cruiser from Wisconsin recently 
told me the finest trees he ever saw grew here. The forest 
is much more open than a northern pinery. Lumber sells at 
the mill for from $5 to $12 per 1,000. This is certainly no 
place for a man to come without money ; labor is very eliean. 
But I think there is a good opening for a man with a small 
capital who could not invest in the higher-priced lands of 
the Middle States. I have no land to sell, and am not try¬ 
ing to boom Texas, but to give the facts for the young imi., 
who wants a home, and cannot get it on land of the hundred- 
dollar kind. I left such land in Illinois, and don’t care to 
return, “for the land's sake.” w. n. s. 
Corn is backward, oats a good crop, selling for a cent a 
pound. Grass heavy on rich ground, but very light on poor. 
Apples an entire failure. .r. l. h. 
Bainbridge, N. Y._ 
BUSINESS BITS. 
With manure spreaders, as with every other class of ma¬ 
chinery, each different make claims some special point of 
vantage. To instance, take the Standard spreader, manu¬ 
factured by the Standard Harrow Co., Utica. N. Y. This 
machine is possessed of many excellent features. There are 
several in which it differs from all other spreaders. The 
Standard is unquestionably one of the first spreaders that 
should be considered by any one about to buy. The cata¬ 
logue of the company, both in illustration and in detailed 
description, gives a very satisfactory idea of what the 
machine is and does. It will be mailed to any one writing 
for it. 
Every user of a disc harrow will be interested in the 
Detroit tongueless disc harrow, in the construction of which 
a new principle is embodied, namely, the use of a forward 
truck in place of a tongue. The truck does away with all 
the faults of the ordinary disc harrow, as there is no pole 
to “slam” the team around and worry them. It is made 
by the American Harrow Co.. 16 Hastings Street. Detroit. 
Mich., and includes in its construction all of the strong 
features that have always been found in American harrows. 
The company has just issued a catalogue devoted exclusively 
to the Detroit tongueless disc harrow, and our readers can 
get a free copy for the asking. 
The question of roofing is becoming a more serious one 
every year, as shingles become poorer and higher priced. 
Even when good shingles are obtainable, the ordinary wire 
nails used with them last but a few years, and a new roof 
often becomes necessary while the shingles are yet good. 
Paroid roofing, a durable felt roofing that Is used by many 
farmers, poultrymen and dairymen, is now used by the 
United States Department of Agriculture in its construc¬ 
tion work, and has also been adopted by the Panama Canal 
Commission for use on all Government buildings erected 
in the trying climate of the Isthmus. Every reader of this 
paper should send for the Paroid booklet and a free sam¬ 
ple. It will give vou valuable pointers of economical build¬ 
ing. Address F. W. Bird & Son. East Walpole, Mass. 
Facilities for manufacture and shipment should count for 
something with purchasers of machinery. It does count in 
the case of the American Saw Mill Machinery Company in 
price, in promptitude, in superior designs embodying latest 
improvements, in the grade of materials employed and In 
workmanship. Their general offices are in,New York Citv. 
but their great factoi ies are located at ITackettstown. N. J\. 
right in the center of the coal, iron, steel, lumber and labor 
markets of the country. The concern manufactures more 
than saw mills. The line includes practically all kinds 
of improved wood-workine machinery, such as shingle and 
lath machines, edgers, trimmers, saw mill appliances, etc. 
Readers of this paper who are buyers of anv of the above 
machinery cannot do better than get in touch with the 
American line. 
