THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
87? 
loot. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—N. Lee Travers, who was for a time con¬ 
nected with E. G. Lewis, Mayor of University City, in the 
latter's real estate enterprises at St. Louis, was found dead 
in his home at Kirkwood November 13. The coroner's jury 
returned a verdict of death from carbolic acid poisoning, hut 
made no mention of suicidal intent. Mr. Travers had been 
a sufferer from extreme nervousness. The trial of Lewis, 
who is charged with having used the mails to defraud, was 
resumed November 13. Lewis contended that the People's 
National Bank, of which he was president at the time it was 
closed by a government fraud order, was absolutely solvent. 
. . , Imprisoned for 87 hours several hundred feet 
beneath the surface of the earth, almost directly under his 
own home, where his wife and children mourned for him as 
dead, Michael McCabe, of Kilberton, Pa., was taken from 
his tomb in the Draper mine November 13 barely alive, after 
one of the most marvelous rescues in the history of anthra¬ 
cite mining. . . . The Hercules nitroglycerine factory, a 
mile and a half east of Bradner, O., blew up with terrific 
force November 13. Only three employees were in the neigh¬ 
borhood when the explosion occurred. W. C. Cisco was 
burned to death, John Washburn was blown to fragments 
and Henry Easton, superintendent of the factory, was prob¬ 
ably fatally Injured. The shock of the explosion was felt 
at Upper Sandusky and at other towns 40 miles away. 
. . . Six men were killed at South Milwaukee, Wis., 
November 13, and as many injured when a fast Chicago & 
Northwestern train ran into a crowd on a grade crossing 
near the station. A dozen persons stood on the southbound 
track waiting for a train on the northbound track to pull 
out. The southbound train came along and took them un¬ 
awares. All of the killed and injured were factory work¬ 
men. , . . One hundred and twenty-three persons per¬ 
ished in the fishing fleet from St. Pierre, Miquelon, during 
the season just ended, according to statistics just com¬ 
piled. Seven vessels were lost. . . . Allegations of 
serious importance were made in a complaint filed November 
13 with tlie Interstate Commerce Commission. They involve 
charges of unfair discrimination, illegal concert of action 
as to rates and suppression of competition, against prac¬ 
tically all the important Northwestern railroad companies. 
The complaint was filed by the Oregon and Washington 
Lumber Manufacturers’ Association and several other North 
Pacific lumber organizations, against the Union Pacific Rail¬ 
road Company and other Western and Northwestern lines. 
It is asserted that the defendants act in concert as to 
rates through the Transcontinental Freight Bureau; that 
they have made an advance of from five to ten cents per 
hundred pounds, November 1, on all forest products; that 
the rates are excessive, extortionate, prohibitive, and dis¬ 
criminatory; and that if exacted from the complainants the 
lumber industry in the Northwest will be seriously injured, 
If not absolutely destroyed. The complainants aver that 
they have $60,000,000 capital invested in their industries; 
that they employ 40,000 people; that their annual payroll 
aggregates $20,000,000, and that they pay in freight $12,- 
000.000 annually for 30,000 carloads of forest products. 
It further is asserted by the complainants that the capital 
stock of each of the defendant companies grossly exceeds, 
as a basis of rates, the actual value of the construction 
and equipment of the lines, and that the value of all their 
property devoted to public use and the bonded indebtedness 
of each of the defendants grossly exceed a fair value of the 
property of the defendants, and that it is therefore unjust 
and unreasonable to impose the proposed increase in rates 
as an additional burden on shippers to pav dividends on 
excessive stock and bond issues. . . . Bay St. Louis, 
Miss., was practically wiped out of existence in a fire which 
swept through the town November 16. No lives were 
lost, but there were scores of narrow escapes from death. 
The loss is more than $1,000,000. Bay St. Ixuiis is the 
capital of Hancock County and is on the Gulf of Mexico, 52 
miles northeast of New Orleans. . . . Presley M. Rixey, 
Surgeon General of the Navy, in his annual report for the 
fiscal years ended .Tune 30 last recommends that an order be 
issued by the Navy Department forbidding the use of cigar¬ 
ettes by all persons in the navy under 21 years of age. 
If an order of this sort were issued, Dr. Rixey believes, the 
sick records would be smaller and the general efficiency of 
the service would be improved. To give an idea of the 
amount of cigarette tobacco consumed in the navy Dr. Rixey 
includes in his report a statement submitted to the De¬ 
partment by Surgeon Norton of the battleship Missouri, 
which shows that in three months the crew of that vessel 
(700 men) used 1,500 books of cigarette papers, 1,200 
pounds of smoking tobacco and 37.000 cigarettes. 
Many letters from United States points were burned in the 
Moore Lake wreck on the Canadian Pacific by which seven 
lives were lost November 15. Hie postal authorities 
announced' that 15,000 letters, 150 registered packages 
and 40 sacks of papers were destroyed. Everything in the 
mail car disappeared through a gasoline explosion and fire. 
The Post Office Department is sending out circulars to 
every postmaster west of North Bay to ascertain the 
consignments. Those from the United States cannot be 
reached from Ottawa. . . . When 12 o’clock came No¬ 
vember 16 560 saloons in Oklahoma closed their doors as the 
result of the State-wide prohibition provision in the State 
constitution. The greatest number of saloons fa one town 
was 65 at Oklahoma City, where the fixtures, etc., of each 
saloon had an average value of about $1,500. The only 
breweries in the States, two in number, were fa Oklahoma 
City. . . . President J. W. Cabiniss and Cashier C. M. 
Orr were at Macon, Ga., November 10, indicted on the 
charge of embezzling $200,000 of the funds of the Exchange 
Bank. The Exchange Bank, the oldest in Macon, closed 
about six weeks ago after an examination that followed 
rumors of wrongdoing on the part of the officers. Receivers 
found that the capital and surplus of over $600,000 had 
been dissipated. . . . The New York State Department 
of Health is moving to prevent the spreading of a mild 
type of smallpox now prevailing in Jefferson, Lewis and 
Oneida counties. Dr. F. C. Curtis and John T. Wheeler, 
representing the State Health Department, went to Water- 
town November 19 to confer with the health officers from 
the three counties regarding a strict quarantine. It is 
reported that there are a hundred cases in the three 
counties. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The annual meeting and corn 
show of the Maryland Seed Corn Breeders’ Association will 
be held in the Fifth Regiment Armory, Baltimore, December 
3-4. The Chamber of Commerce, of Baltimore, has appro¬ 
priated $300 which will be offered as numerous prizes for the 
best peck samples of wheat and both 10-ear and individual 
ear samples of white and yellow corn. A special sweep- 
stakes prize of a handsome silver-chased loving cup has been 
offered by J. Bolgiano & Son for the best sample of corn in 
the show. Other special prizes will be offered by Griffith & 
Turner and other firms. Premium list may be had upon 
application to V. M. Shoesmith, College Park, Md. ' This 
is the first show of this nature ever held in Maryland. 
The second semi-annual meeting of the Missouri State Board 
of Horticulture will be held at Columbia, Mo., December 
3-5. There is a good premium list and a fine exhibit is 
expected. George T. Tippin, Springfield, Mo., is secretary. 
OBITUARY.—Dexter Mason Ferry, head of the well- 
known Detroit seed firm, died suddenly from heart failure 
November 11. Mr. Ferry was 74 years old, having been born 
August 8, 1833. He began life a poor .boy, the son of a 
wagonmaker in Lowville, Lewis county. N. Y., lost his father 
in 1836 and then his family removed to Penfleld, eight miles 
from Rochester, N. Y. Here he attended the country school 
until he was 16 years of age, when he engaged to work for 
a neighboring farmer for $10 per month. Afterward he 
found employment in Rochester, which gave him the means 
to attend the high school there. Going to Detroit in 1852, 
he obtained a position with the book and stationery house 
of S. Dow Ehvood & Company, first as an errand boy, then 
as a salesman and later as a bookkeeper. His farm train¬ 
ing, however, combined with his acquired knowledge of 
business, suggested to him the possibilities in the sale of 
seeds, and in 1856 he started the career that brought him 
fame and fortune. With M. T. Gardner he began business 
as the firm of M. T. Gardner & Co., the association of their, 
faterests lasting for thirteen years, when Mr. Ferry bought 
out his partner and assumed the management of the con¬ 
cern, changing the name to D. M. Ferry & Co. II. K. White, 
C. C. Bowen and A. E. F. White were his partners, and 
under their combined efforts the business grew rapidly until, 
in 1879, it had assumed such proportions that a corporation 
was organized with a paid-up capital of $750,000. The 
business has been uniformly prosperous, and even the great 
fire of January 1, 1886, by which the compamy suffered a 
loss of $1,000,000, failed to check its growth, largely be¬ 
cause of Mr. Ferry’s executive ability. Mr. Ferry’s interests 
were numerous. Banking, manufacture and transportation, 
besides art, charity and religion occupied his attention. He 
was one of the organizers of the art loan exhibit which 
grew into the Detroit Museum of Art, and was a trustee 
of Harper Hospital, Olivet College and many other public 
institutions. In his mercantile relations, he was president 
of the First National Bank of Detroit and of the Union 
Trust Company, vice-president of the Wayne County Savings 
Bank, president of the Standard Life and Accident Company 
of Detroit, vice-president of the Michigan Fire and Marine 
Insurance Company, a director of the Detroit City Gas Com¬ 
pany, the Michigan Mutual Insurance Company, the Detroit 
Copper & Brass Rolling Mills and the American Harrow 
Company, being also president of the last named company. 
A FARMER ON LIFE INSURANCE. 
I have been watching the articles on life insurance, and 
when the Hope Farm main had his say I was with him ; now, 
while he is being pounded, some of the rest of us may as well 
take a hand. F. E. II., on page 705, evidently could spare 
the money, and a man has a right to do as he chooses with 
his spare cash: but the case is different with the farmer 
who has interest to pay, farm to improve, children to care 
for, and a deep snow must not find him without coal. 
The Hope Farm man spoke lately of the responsibility of the 
responsible party; that does not mean that he shall use 
the capital he needs so badly at planting time, to keep 
some town chap in coat and collar and, as Mary Sidney says, 
in the Farm Journal, “to ride in a rubber-tire buggy and 
keep his money for him until he is dead and don't need 
It.” This does not refer to the man who works for a cer¬ 
tain wage, and spends it all every month, be it much or 
little, but the farmer whose bank is his farm and stock, 
and he can make more by keeping his money spent on the 
farm and using his brains (if he has any), than any life 
Insurance agent in the world will pay him for the use of 
that same capital. The one thousand, or five thousand 
bait, looks pretty in the distance and very many poor 
people are helping to keep this horde of officers fat. While 
my children were small I needed all T could make to keep 
them comfortable. They have had an easier life than I 
had up to their age, and they are not likely ever to work 
any harder than I do now. a. e. r. 
State Road, Del. 
THE NATIONAL ORANGE MEETS. 
Hartford, Conn., was the center of attraction for Grangers 
of the Eastern States during this meeting. Probably 4,000 
were in the city November 15 and 2,500 of them took the 
seventh degree, the highest which the Order can confer. 
This exceeds by 700 the number ever before initiated and it 
required three sessions to perform the degree woi|k. So much 
time was necessarily given to degree work this year that it 
interfered materially with the regular business sessions, and 
yet degree work is important. Reports from the various 
States were as a rule encouraging, yet a great many people 
do not seem awake to the advantages which the Order 
of Patrons of Husbandry has to confer. New York is the 
banner Grange State. State Master Godfrey said in his 
report there were 75.000 members of the order in New York, 
and all the Subordinates were in a highly prosperous finan¬ 
cial condition. They had several juvenile Granges. The 
co-operative insurance companies had $370,000,000 in risks, 
and the rates were much lower than those of the old line 
companies. New halls were going up and old ones repaired. 
The press was very favorable to the Order he said. The 
good roads movement in New York had been materially aided 
by the Grange. Agricultural courses were being introduced 
into many schools. Another interesting report was that 
of O. II. Hadley, of New Hampshire State Grange. He 
reported a substantial gain in membership for the year. 
There are 263 Subordinate Granges and 19 Pomona Granges 
in the State, a total membership of over 29,000. 
State Master Gardner of Maine said in his report that 
they had added 2,500 new members the past year and the 
total membership is now 56,447. Ten new Grange halls 
have been dedicated the past year, and 366 Granges own 
their own halls, representing a value of $909,000. The 
Grange has caused the valuation of property not being taxed 
to be increased from $9,000,000 to $37,000,000 in the past 
few years, and upon this property a tax of $55,000 for 
schools and $18,500 for State roads has he'en levied. One 
school law enacted by the Legislature last Winter through 
Grange influence increased the school fund $200,000, and 
the State treasury will receive about $450,000 from taxes 
on large property interests through the efforts of the 
Grange. 
Among the resolutions adopted were the following: By Mr. 
Horton, of Michigan, which expressed gratification at the 
information that “the establishment of a system of parcels 
posts and of postal savings bank had been favorably con¬ 
sidered by the National Government, and that Postmaster 
General Meyer will recommend to the next Congress their 
installation as part of the Post Office Denartment service.” 
Another resolution introduced by F. A. Derthick, of Ohio, 
re'ative to a public accounting law was adopted, and was 1o 
the effect that all State and the Federal Government should 
enact a uniform public accounting law, reouirlng all public 
accounts of every kind to be kept bv a uniform system pre¬ 
scribed and audited by State or Federal authority, and sec¬ 
ond, that all accounts of every person, firm or corporation 
who are beneficiaries of any special privileges in whatever 
form granted, whether by State or bv the Federal Govern¬ 
ment, shall be required to keep all the books, accounts, 
papers and records in the manner aind form prepared by the 
State or Federal Government by which such special privilege 
is granted, and all such books, accounts, papers, and records 
shall be subject to inspection and audit at the pleasure of 
the authorities prescribing the same. Another resolution for 
the improvement of the waterways between the Great Lakes 
and the Gulf aind expressing approval of the appointment of 
the inland waterways commission by President Roosevelt 
was adopted. 
National Master Nahum ,T. Bachelder, former Governor of 
"New Hampshire, and most of the other officers were re¬ 
elected for the coming year, and a resolution dealing with 
the W. J. Bryan principle of the initiative and referendum 
was considered. The complete list of officers elected follows: 
National Master, Nahum J. Bachelder, Concord, N. II. ; over¬ 
seer. T. C. Atkeson, Morgantown, W. Va.; lecturer, George 
W. F. Gaunt, Mullica Hill, N. J.; steward, ,T. A. Newcomb, 
Golden. Col. : assistant steward. C. D. Richardson, North 
Brookfield, Mass. ; chaplain, Orson S. Wood, Ellington, Conn.; 
treasurer, Mrs. Eva S. McDowell, Rome, N. Y.; secretary, 
Charles M. Freeman. Tippecanoe City, Ohio; gatekeeper, A. C. 
Powers, Beloit, Wis.. Three Graces, Ceres, Mrs. Elizabeth 
II. Patterson, College Park, Md.; Flora, Mrs. Ida J. .Tud- 
son. Balfour, Iowa; Pomona, Mrs. Sarah G. Baird, Edfaa 
Mills, Minn.; lady assistant, steward, Mrs. Joanna M. Wal¬ 
ker, Marshalltown, Del. State Master F. N. Godfrey, of 
Olean, N. Y., was elected a member of the executive commit¬ 
tee for three years, succeedimg E. B. Norris, of Sodus, N. Y., 
whose term 1ms expired. State Master Obadiah Gardner, of 
Maine, presented his initiative and referendum resolution, and 
it was referred to the committee on resolutions. 
A resolution concerning the high price of butter and the 
tax on oleo, tending to illegal sales, was referred to the 
committee on agriculture. After referring to the rumor that 
the oleo combination was endeavoring to remove the tax on 
its products, the resolution declared that the National 
Grange affirm its positive position in support of this law, 
and that the legislative committee be instructed to defend 
it with all the resources at its command, to the end that the 
dairy interests and the consuming public shall be adequately 
protected from fraud and imposition. 
CLARK'S ALFALFA CROP. 
Below find report of my 314 mere Alfalfa field sown June 
3, 1905 : First year, two crops, 1014 tons, second year, four 
crops, 21 tons; third year, five crops, 25 tons; total in three 
years, 5614 tons. Throwing out for all cuts I call it 50 
tons, worth $18 per ton; net cash, $900. It has cost me 
cash for fertilizer, $237; I call it $250. To secure the 
crop $55, I call it. $60; harrowing in all. $40, I call it $50; 
Alfalfa seed, $30, I call it $40; total cost, $400; total 
profit of over $47 per acre. I have called It. $40, net cash. 
In other words, I have called it a profit of $450 in three 
years after throwing out everything that should be allowed, 
as shrinkage, prices or otherwise. The writer considers 
$40 per acre, or net cash profit of $450 for three years from 
314 acres on an abandoned New England farm a valuable re¬ 
sult. OF.OROE M. CLARK. 
Connecticut. _ 
t( THE COST OF REPAIRS ” 
There is a great deal said and done about trusts of late, 
and it is my opinion that labor organizations can and often 
do become as oppressive trusts as exist when they obtain 
sufficient strength. The Boilermen’s Union is a good ex¬ 
ample with which we have just had a little experience. 
Our boiler at the creamery sprung a leak and we had 
to sign a paper that we would comply with all the union's 
demands before we could get our repairing done. Tney 
charge by the hour from the time they start till they get 
home again, besides board and railroad fare. They put on a 
patch about a foot square and the bill they presented fol¬ 
lows : 
MATERIAL. PRICE. AMOUNT. 
1. boilermaker 5 hours on patch in shop... .$.50 $2.50 
1 assistant boilermaker, 514 hours on patch 
in shop .35 1.93 
1 boilermaker 78 hours, per time card.50 39.00 
1 assistant boilermaker 64 hours, per time 
card ..35 22.40 
1 assistant boilermaker 47 hours, per time 
card .35 16.45 
54 lbs. flange steel.05 2.70 
10 lbs. rivets .06 .60 
9-5 railroad fare, 1 man. 2.16 
9-6 railroad fare, 2 men. 4.32 
9-7-8 railroad fare, 3 men. 6.48 
Meals . 1.75 
Express on patch and tools to Stockton. 1.20 
Express on patch and tools from Stockton.81 
Cartage to and from depot, 2 trips, 75c. 1.50 
Total .$103.80 
They charge double time for nights and Sundays, and 
it appeared to us that they invented ways of causing delay 
so they might put in night and Sunday work, missing 
their trains two or three times, etc. It seems to be altogether 
too common a trait in human nature to take all the law 
allows them whether it is earned or not. w. s. smith. 
Illinois. _ 
BUSINESS CHANGES.—Farming here is meeting with 
many changes, and we got pinched in some of the corners 
that changes always bring. Times must be better for us 
when we once get in the swing. A milk car has started. 
That tips the profitable cow question bottom side up, but 
once on the new standard we will get at least a third 
more for our feed and work than before. The opening of a 
granite quarry almost in sight with big stone sheds within 
three miles makes the marketing of garden truck from the 
impossible to a real business proposition that none here¬ 
abouts understand. I feel that we need your paper as we 
never needed it before. c. e. m. 
Vermont. 
ADVERTISING FOR IIET.F.—In October I put this ad¬ 
vertisement in the Washington (I’a.) Observer: “‘For Rent. 
—A four-room house for a man who will work on farm in 
Summer. Farm is close to Washington. Call at -.” 
In response to this 25 men called at the blacksmith shop 
in Washington as per advertisement. Before putting the 
advertisement I had gained the impression from contact with 
labor that there were a number of men in Washington who 
had work in the mills in Winter but who were idle in 
Summer, and as much as anything else the advertisement 
was put in the paper to test this theory. I am writing you 
about it to call attention to the result, which I think 
is remarkable, and in my judgment offers a partial solution of 
the labor problem on farms near manufacturing towns. 
From this experience and previous contact with city labor 
I am firmly impressed with the thought that fa every city 
there are many married men who would gladly return to the 
farm. I am sure that in the city of New York alone there 
are thousands who are ekeing out a hare existence who 
would hail an opportunity to get back to the farm, with a 
wage of $30 to $35 per month, house rent, fuel and a garden, 
with milk and butter at the price now sold by the farmer. 
Washington has 25,000 people. d. f. m. 
R. N.-Y.—We think such men in a comparatively small 
city would be more likely to give satisfaction for farm 
work than those in a large city. The former are nearer the 
country in their habits of life and see more of it. 
Some farmers here are truck farmers, others are largely 
engaged in potato growing and general farming. Some of 
these men have raised this year from 3.000 to 6.000 barrels 
of potatoes One grew on 16 acres 2,000 barrels, 125 per 
acre. A neighbor in sight of where I write grew 5,000 on 
50 acres They grow for the most part Giants, which is a 
good shipping variety and fills a gap between the southern 
market and those from New York State. I grow mostly 
round stock, as my soil seems to suit them better and they 
usually sell better. We have a fine farming section here 
and with the improved tools and machine!v which we use no 
fault could be found with our business if the help problem 
could lie solved. I used to have some theories on the subject 
but have given them up. I am interested in your paper and 
am glad to see you give the frauds a rap whenever you 
can. c. a. j. 
Bradwell, N. J. 
