1907. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
449 
PLAIN FACTS ABOUT THAT CATTLE CASE. 
It is now over a year since Isaac C. Rogers made for¬ 
mal complaint to the A. J. C. C. regarding his purchase 
of cattle from Frank E. Dawley. The history of this 
year of dawdling and evasion on the part of the ex¬ 
ecutive committee is well known to our readers. Be¬ 
ginning with a sharp piece of work, which most people 
would call deception, and ending with an excuse of a 
lost express package, the year has been a most inglori¬ 
ous one for the executive committee of the club. Now 
that the famous express package has been found, the 
public ought to know about the papers and the cows. 
Our experience with that executive committee shows 
that they are like the mills of the gods in the fact that 
they grind exceeding slow, but unlike them in the fact 
that they can also be exceeding small. There will 
doubtless be various meetings and a number of “reso¬ 
lutions” before their conclusions are known. All 
through this controversy we have avoided the personal 
and business sides of the matter, because our object was 
to induce the Cattle Club, if possible, to do its plain 
duty. We have not made any attack upon Mr. Daw- 
ley or any defence of Mr. Rogers. Further remarks 
will be in order later. As to Mr. Rogers, we have no 
interest in his case, except as it discloses what we con¬ 
sider a fatal weakness in the business of breeding and 
registering purebred cattle. We wish now, however, to 
make plain one side of this case in order that the pub¬ 
lic may realize the shame of this executive committee. 
From the first Mr. Rogers has been handicapped and 
placed at a disadvantage. He knew nothing about Jer¬ 
sey cattle, and he trusted fully in what M'r. Dawley 
wrote him about the high quality of the animals he 
offered. After being led to expect high-class animals, 
he actually received what Mr. Dawley aptly terms “a 
job lot,” including a worthless bull and several cows 
now foul with disease. A poor man with limited capital 
and a hard struggle at best, without influence or influen¬ 
tial friends, Mr. Rogers seems to be just the sort of 
man that the “high and mighty” think they can bluff and 
trample over with impunity. It is perfectly safe to say 
that Mr. Rogers would be far better off to-day if, when 
he learned just what the cattle were, he had pocketed 
the loss, shot and buried the poor, miserable creatures 
in dispute and kept quiet about it. True, he would have 
lost his money, but he would not have had arrayed 
against him some of the most powerful influences in the 
State. Very likely he might have been called “a sucker” 
for buying such stock, but he would at least have had a 
chance to go on with his business undisturbed. These 
animals were foul with disease. One of them has al¬ 
ready died, and.others, which good judges say do not 
agree with their registry papers, are dying. While the 
executive committee of the A. J. C. C. has been dawd¬ 
ling and standing upon its dignity all through the year 
the cows in dispute have been slowly dying, and 
will, with their death, remove the evidence which 
the A. J. C. C. seems to have dreaded to face. The 
public might as well understand this right now: While 
waiting for death to remove the evidence that would 
show the shame and sin of this inaction, efforts have 
been made to ruin Mr. Rogers by destroying his credit 
and driving customers away from him by insinuations 
and evil talk. We make no attempt to defend Mr. 
Rogers or to make a martyr of him, but we use his case 
as an illustration of the way the powerful and mighty 
can, if they will, crush out those without influence when 
they might give them justice. Any man of moderate 
means who handles Jersey cattle and is not in the ring 
can see what all this may mean to him. The assistant 
secretary of the A. J. C. C., M'r. R. M. Gow, when asked 
why they led Mr. Rogers to believe they would investi¬ 
gate the case when they evidently did not intend to do 
so, said: 
“You could not expect us to put a club into your 
hands to hit one of our own members!” 
We ask in all fairness if the record of the past year 
does not indicate that the first object of this executive 
committee is to protect members of the A. J. C. C. ? 
Is it any wonder that plain people write us letters like 
the following: 
We have been breeding Jerseys from purebred sires for 
15 years, and have a tine herd of high grades; over 40 in 
number. We are about to embark in the registered ones, but 
hesitate a little, for if the A. J. C. C. is officered by a 
set of men whom Mr. Dawley can control, as he intimated 
when he said that he didn't fear an investigation, may we 
not expect that there are others who can do the same thing? 
Please push the case to a Amish. 
It would seem as if the members of that executive 
committee are utterly incapable of realizing how their 
action is regarded by people outside of the ring. They 
had a chance to act promptly and wipe out even a sus¬ 
picion of favoritism or unfair dealings. Instead of do¬ 
ing so they have done more to injure the business of 
breeding purebred cattle than anything else that has hap¬ 
pened in the past 20 years. They seem unable to see 
either the shame of such conduct or the injury they are 
doing to the breed which they are supposed to safe¬ 
guard. There is some satisfaction in knowing that 
even though men tried skin grafting their conscience 
with rhinoceros hide for the graft, the lash of public 
opinion would still make itself felt. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Two firemen were • hurt, and property de¬ 
stroyed to the value of $500,000 in a spectacular fire May 
18, on the Morgan Line steamship pier, foot of Spring 
Street, North River, New York. The pier was packed with 
cotton bales, oil, coffee, vegetables, and miscellaneous 
freight.The entrance to the Cape May, N. J., 
ocean pier was destroyed by fire May 17, with a loss of 
about $20,000. The fire started from the boiling over of a 
paint pot.For a distance of half a mile the 
Illicilliwaet River Valley at Ross Peak on the main line 
of the Canadian Pacific Railway, in British Columbia, was 
entirely blocked May 17, by a gigantic snowslide which 
swept down the mountain on the opposite side of the val¬ 
ley from the railway. Thousands of tons of snow were 
precipitated, and the movement of the great mass was not 
stayed until it had jammed itself against the opposite side 
of the valley and buried the railway tracks twenty feet 
deep for a distance of 400 feet. The slide was respon¬ 
sible for the wreck of a Canadian Pacific Railway train. 
The locomotive left the rails, plunged over an embank¬ 
ment and went out of sight in the river. The trainmen 
jumped, and no one was hurt.A wireless mes¬ 
sage from the captain of the Government ice breaker Mont¬ 
calm, May 18, said that there was an immense body of 
closely packed ice off the Cape Breton coast. The field of 
ice was forty miles long and ten miles wide and dangerous 
to navigation. All the Cape Breton ports were blocked and 
shipping at a standstill. A serious embargo has been placed 
upon the commerce of Cape Breton. For weeks the Mont¬ 
calm has been laboring to rescue vessels caught in the ice. 
One large field blocked Cabot Strait, imprisoning four trans¬ 
atlantic liners bound for Montreal and causing considerable 
loss of time and money to the first steamers of the St. 
Lawrence Summer service. The Montcalm succeeded in 
rescuing some of these vessels, while a brief period of 
southerly winds loosened up the field for the other steamers 
to force their way through under their own power. . . . 
. A knowledge of telegraphy saved the life of George 
Stuart, a clerk in the Colorado Fuel Company’s office, at 
Pueblo, Col., who was accidentally locked up in a steel 
vault May 19. A wire from the company’s telegraph room 
passes through the vault. With his teeth and a silver coin 
Stuart managed to tick out a message for help and to tell 
where he was. When the vault was opened Stuart was 
found unconscious and gasping, but soon revived. 
. . . . The Department of Justice has decided to 
prosecute in the several States In which they are 
doing business the fertilizer companies alleged to be in a 
combination in restraint of trade. Some time ago the De¬ 
partment secured the indictment of several persons resid¬ 
ing in several different States on a charge of violating the 
Sherman anti-trust law in that they had formed a combina¬ 
tion to control the manufacture and sale of a fertilizer. De¬ 
fendants in Virginia contended that before they could be 
removed from the State they should have a preliminary hear¬ 
ing to determine the sufficiency of the evidence on which 
their removal was asked. The Government fought this con¬ 
tention, but was overruled by the Supreme Court. It Is In 
accordance with this court decision that the Department has 
decided to prosecute the defendants in their States of resi¬ 
dence. The Government claims that thirty-one fertilizer 
companies have formed a combination in violation of the 
Sherman law.Fines aggregating $28,000, rang¬ 
ing from $5,000 down to $500, were Imposed by Judge 
Ijandis, May 20, in the Federal court, Chicago, against Fred¬ 
erick A. Holbrook and thirteen school and church furniture 
concerns. Judge Landis preceded the pronouncing of penal¬ 
ties with a denunciation of the methods of the school 
furniture trust and the declaration that the punishment 
provided by the law is inadequate. Holbrook, the Ameri¬ 
can Seating Company and the A. H. Andrews Company of 
Chicago, were fined $5,000 each. The poverty of the 
smaller members of the combination brought lenlt/ for them. 
The defendants were charged with a conspiracy in restraint 
of trade in school and church furniture in violation of the 
anti-trust law. . . . May 21 the Weather Bureau’s official 
temperature at New York was 41 degrees, making the day 
the coldest May 21 on record. Prior to this May 21, 1892, 
held the low temperature, 43 degrees. May 21, 1895, is 
third on the list, with a temperature of 45 degrees. . . 
. . The New York Board of Aldermen defeated, May 21, 
by a vote of 29 to 29, the ordinance providing for the 
pasteurization of milk by the city. Forty votes would have 
been, necessary to pass the ordinance.The 
Lake George Steamboat Company, owned by the Delaware 
and Hudson Railroad, has been indicted on 372 counts for 
violating the law in polluting Lake George with sewage from 
the lake steamers, and if found guilty the company Is liable 
to fines of $372,000.The National Association 
of Manufacturers continued. May 21, the business sessions 
of its convention in New York. The most important action 
taken, was the appointment by President Van Cleave of a 
committee of thirty-six to consider ways and means to 
raise $500,000 a year for three years, to be devoted to a 
campaign against the labor unions.A party of 
shovel and crane men working the steam shovels on the 
Panama Canal arrived at New Orleans, May 20. on the 
steamer Karen from Colon, having abandoned the Govern¬ 
ment service because of the recent answer of Secretary Taft 
to their claims. They say that 120 shovelmen in all left 
and only seven of the sixty-three steam shovels are now 
in operation. The men say that it is not a strike, but they 
left because the Government had not treated them fairly 
and had not kept its contract as to pay and vacation. A 
committee was appointed to go to Washington to lay the 
matter before the President, but Chief Engineer Stevens 
after agreeing to this, withdrew his permission. A cable¬ 
gram from Secretary Taft announced that he would take 
up the matter when he reached the Isthmus, but it. had 
been found almost impossible to see him there. Ilis decision 
granting the demands of the locomotive engineers but re¬ 
fusing those of the shovelmen finally decided them to leave. 
. . . . -The Spuyten Duyvil, N. Y., shops of the New 
York Central railroad were destroyed by flrjj May 21. Sev¬ 
eral thousand feet of lumber were burned too. The dam¬ 
age is estimated at between $100,000 and $150,000. The 
paint, bridge repair and carpenter shops were entirely de¬ 
stroyed. All trains were held up for two hours. 
ADMINISTRATION.—Representative Gardner, represent- 
ing^ the Gloucester District of Massachusetts, was in con¬ 
ference with the officials of the State Department, May 17, 
respecting the recent decision of the Newfoundland court 
that the fishermen of that colony cannot legally be shipped 
on American fishing smacks outside the three-mile limit to 
fish within territorial waters. He regards the decision as 
striking a blow at the treaty rights of American fishermen, 
and will ask the Department of State to endeavor to have 
the British Government enjoin the Newfoundlanders from 
attempting to enforce this colonial ordinance until the con¬ 
clusion of approaching negotiations.Herbert 
Knox Smith, Commissioner of Corporations, submitted to 
the President, May 19, the bureau's second report on the 
oil industry. The first report, issued in May, 1906, when 
James R. Garfield was head of the bureau, contained sen¬ 
sational charges against the Standard Oil Company in re¬ 
gard to rebates. This second report, which deals with 
“selected topics,” is fully as severe on the Standard Oil 
Company as the first. It attempts an analysis or tne mon¬ 
opoly which the Standard lias gained and declares that this 
has been maintained not through the control of natural re¬ 
sources but through the use of unfair practices. Tne Com¬ 
missioner accuses the Stajndard Oil Company of ignoring 
and evading the common carrier requirements m me rare 
law of 1906 and suggests that this shou'd receive the Presi¬ 
dent's careful attention. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The eighth annual exhibition of 
the Steuben County (N. Y.) Nature Study Workers in Public 
Schools (H. L. Drummer, manager), will be held at Bath, 
N. Y., under the auspices of the Agricultural Society, Sep¬ 
tember 24 to 27, 1907, inclusive. Children's Day being on 
September 25. Prizes are offered as follows: (Children's 
prizes, $1,000; individual work, $550; grade work, $450. 
The schedule of premiums has been issued by Mr. Drummer. 
It is both unique and interesting. In addition to an enum¬ 
eration of the prizes in the various classes there is given “A 
Talk about Weeds,” of an instructive character. A feature of 
the schedule is formed by the prizes offered for the best 
and second best essays on a number of topics, collections of 
drawings and of insects, all to be competed for by school 
children. 
The semi-annual meeting of the Missouri State Horticul¬ 
tural Society will be held at Carrollton, Mo., June 4-6: C. 
II. Dutcher, Warrensburg, Mo., president; L. A. Goodman, 
4000 Warwick Blvd., Kansas City, Mo., secretary.. 
Milo H. Olin, of Perry, N. Y., died May 20, at Summer¬ 
ville, S. C., where he had gone several months ago !n hopes 
of recovering his health. Mr. Olin was a Republican mem¬ 
ber of the Assembly in 1892 and 1893, was State Fair Com¬ 
missioner for six years and was director of the State Experi¬ 
ment Station at Geneva. He was president of the State 
Breeders’ Association, president of the Citizens’ Bank of 
Perry, and for many years was prominent in State and 
county affairs. 
The American Federation of Horticultural Societies will 
hold Its third biennial meeting on Exposition Ground at 
Jamestown, Va., September 26, 1907. All societies should 
send delegates; William H. Barnes, Topeka, Kan., president. 
CROP NOTES. 
Crop prospects very gloomy here on account of long con¬ 
tinued rains. Very much of the cotton will have to be re¬ 
planted the third time and seed is scarce. E. m. 
Starkvllle, Miss. 
We have had a very backward Spring. This morning,May 20, 
the ground was white with snow. We have had snow falls 
about as often during April and this far in May as during 
the Winter months. Cherries, plums and pears are in full 
bloom; apples just beginning. All fruit trees are going 
to blossom quite full. Grapes promise well, but it is too 
early to tell if they will set full or not. Seeding to oats 
only about half done. Cattle just turned out. w. g. p. 
Perrysburg, N. Y. 
A much-needed rain is falling. It has been too cold and 
dry. Mercury down to 23 degrees one morning last week. 
The fruit buds and bloom show no sign of Injury as yet. 
March was warmer than April. Mercury reached 82 degrees 
on two days of March. Oats look well and the corn crop 
is about one-third planted. Pastures are good on farms 
where not overstocked. Hay supply got so short that the 
majority were forced tc turn everything possible out to grass. 
Illinois. w. s. 
Here in Central Indiana, peach and Japan plum trees 
were just breaking Into bloom when the cold weather of 
April came on. At that time there was a good prospect for 
a heavy bloom on all kinds of fruits. At this time, May 
20, there is still a good chance for strawberries, raspberries, 
blackberries and grapes, and a fair show for apples. Cher¬ 
ry trees that gave five bushels of cherries last year will 
not have enough fruit this year to make a pie. All Japan, 
also all domestic plums were killed to the last bloom. 
Waugh was the only hybrid here that lived through April. 
Wild Goose are mostly killed, Poole’s Pride but little dam¬ 
aged. Peaches still give promise of a fair crop on older 
trees. Kieffer pears mostly killed, but Wilder and some 
others have some fruit left. f. m. 
Carmel, Ind. 
BALING HAY.—It is not as a rule safe to bale and ship 
hay unless it has been in a barn or a good stack not less 
than one month, unless the circumstances are very favor¬ 
able; that is, very bright, dry weather at time of haying, 
hay to stand until it is in second blow. Then provided you 
are reasonably sure that you can get quick shipment and 
delivery to destination, it is reasonably safe to press it 
from the field, but there must not be any water in it, not 
even dew unless it is thoroughly dried. We have shipped 
hay before this as early as July 24, that was cut from the 
1st to the 15th of July, and we never commenced later than 
September 1 on any crop. Last season our first car was 
shipped August 28, and we have shipped something like 
1200 cars since that date. We find the large bales are pre¬ 
ferred in most markets and are sure to bring from 50 
cents to $1.50 per ton more on grades running from good 
No. 2 to prime, while the lower grades are usually sold at 
about same price, both large, medium and small bales. 
Canastota, N. Y. 
