1909. 
THE RURAb NEW-YORKER 
63© 
THE DIRECT NOMINATIONS BILL. 
I have been very much interested in reading your 
analysis of Gov. Hughes’s direct primary bill, as given 
on page 457, and wish to commend the position you 
have taken. It has been remarked that when the 
people came to understand this bill they would feel 
more favorable towards its passage. This can never 
be, from the fact that the more it is studied the more 
confusing it becomes, and the less thought of as a 
means to abolish the evil aimed at. The way the Gov¬ 
ernor side-stepped the Jersey matter was in a fair 
way to deprive him of hundreds of farmers’ votes, 
but the need felt by farmers and others of a plain, 
practical, direct primary bill enacted into law over-* 
shadowed that one weak point in his administration, 
and believing the Governor would recommend such 
a bill, many of the rural voters of all parties gave him 
their support at the last election, only to find later a 
bill presented leaving the power to suggest candidates 
in the hands of committees, who would only be re¬ 
sponsible to the bosses, as the system is now worked. 
This was entirely different from what was expected. 
The voters have no confidence in the bill as it now is, 
nor will they be interested to the extent of having 
candidates pledged to its support. I do not believe 
the work done has been lost by any means, as the 
agitation of any question only creates more study, 
more thought and more interest, and I believe the 
people see the need of such a law and will fight for it 
as never before. All the Governor will have to do is 
to face towards the people, draft a plain, practical, 
workable bill, giving the voters a right to nominate by 
petition all elective officers, town, county, State, Con¬ 
gressional, as well as United States Senators. Have 
this bill before the people before the next coming 
election; then the voters will be eager to take up the 
work, seeing to it that all nominees for State Legisla¬ 
ture be pronounced for or against its enactment. 
Should this be done no one need fear the result. We 
cannot believe this Hinman bill was opposed on the 
ground it would take from the few any of the powers 
they now possess, namely, to take over committees 
and manipulate conventions, or give the people any 
new way of escape. You must look further for the 
motive. The people are beginning to believe that 
the only way to correct many of the evils that exist 
in both State and nation is to make their representa¬ 
tives accountable to the ones who elect them, and 
not to any political machine. “Joe” Cannon will soon 
pass off the stage, but Cannonism will live until such 
time as the people have a voice in selecting their rep¬ 
resentatives. A. L. L. 
Allegany Co., N. Y. 
We believe this expresses the conviction of a ma¬ 
jority of New York farmers. The bill which tne 
Legislature rejected provided that members of politi¬ 
cal committees be elected by the party voters. These 
‘■-ommittees suggest candidates. They are responsible 
to the people, but farmers know what will happen in 
any imitation of the present system. This political 
committee plan is regarded as an imitation of a con¬ 
vention. _ 
THE ENGLISH FARMERS AND WHEAT. 
It is said that the British Government is drawing 
closer to socialism than any other government on 
earth. The new proposed tax law increases rates 
on income and death taxes, and in other ways at¬ 
tempts to distribute wealth. The following from “The 
Mark Lane Express” indicates a growing feeling 
among English farmers in regard to wheat: 
The present high prices are the direct consequences of 
the low prices accepted for English wheat from Septem¬ 
ber to February, but the profits attaching to the high 
prices will go to importers of foreign wheat, and not to 
English growers, who have simply manured the soil for 
other people's crops. The lesson is a stern one, but in 
the absence of any state or bank aid to holding in the 
Autumn and Winter few farmers, we fear, will be able 
to benefit by it. The farmer, it must be remembered, 
has been paying out weekly wages for the best part of 
a year before he gets his wheat reaped, and to ask him 
to wait for another six months for his own money is 
to demand of him a loss of interest and a control of 
capital none too reasonable. 
But for the inability to hold wheat, or rather the want 
of financial assistance in holding it, farmers could be 
advised to increase by at least a million acres the na¬ 
tional wheat area, and that increase would suffice to 
give us stable markets. The foreign speculator only gets 
his chance, when the English wheat reserves are low, 
and it is at least a question whether the state is not 
directly concerned in such an augmented home produc¬ 
tion as would prevent our present utter and anxious de¬ 
pendence on foreign wheat. 
Here we have a bold proposition for the govern¬ 
ment to advance money to farmers so that they may 
be able to hold their wheat until the world’s sup¬ 
ply and the world’s price has been decided. As it 
is now the English farmers are obliged to sell their 
grain early, for they need the money which the 
wheat brings to pay their bills. By holding back 
this wheat the farmers could keep the market steady 
and make a profit on the rise for themselves instead 
of turning it over to the speculators. Were they 
able to do this there is no doubt but that grain 
growing would be a better proposition, and very 
likely the million acres mentioned above would be 
turned into wheat. When there is danger of a 
money panic the nation comes to the rescue of the 
banks with cash or credit. This is justified, be¬ 
cause money is the life of trade. The theory is 
that it should not be “tornered” or held away from 
business. Now bread is even more necessary to the 
world than money. When grain gamblers are per¬ 
mitted to raise the price of grain and with it bread 
for the people the damage to society may be just 
as great as when those who manipulate a money- 
panic get in their work. Why should not govern¬ 
ment steady the bread market as well as the money 
market? That is the question these English farm¬ 
ers are asking. _ 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Fire May 4 wiped out the town of 
Wesley, twenty-five miles west of Nelson, Manitoba, near 
(lie United States boundary. The Yale-Columbia Lumber 
Company's mill, employees’ bouse, and other buildings, and 
$250,000 wortli of lumber were destroyed. 
Seven large, buildings along the water front at Halifax, 
N. S., were burned down May G. The fire threatened to 
sweep away a large section of the wholesale district. The 
total loss is estimated at about $100,000.John 
II. Reniger, who disappeared from Boston last March 
when he was indicted with Thomas II. Winsor by the Fed¬ 
eral Grand Jury for using the mails to defraud, was ar¬ 
rested in New York, May 8. Uenigor did business under 
the name of “J. II. Ileniger & Co., bankers,” and had an 
office at $0 Wall street. Ilis specialty was the American 
Mines Company, Ltd., of which he sold 8 per cent gold 
bonds and threw in stock free. The company was repre¬ 
sented to be opera!ing mines in New Mexico. 
May 8 fire in the “Golden City,” an amusement park 
at Canarsie, L. I., caused about $150,000 damage. 
Alleged by her accuser*to be a witch, Mrs. Laupaule Orber 
was tried at Butler, Pa., May 7, on a technical charge of 
disorderly conduct and sentenced to pay a fine of $5 and 
serve ten days in jail. The charge was preferred by Mrs. 
Julia Kroner, who alleged that Mrs. Orber went into Mrs. 
Kroner’s barn and by the use of witchcraft cast a spell over 
a cow which has prevented it from giving milk. That 
something had been done to the animal was indicated by 
the testimony. . . . The appeal of the Republic Oil 
Company and the Standard Oil Company from the deci¬ 
sion of the Supreme Court of Missouri ousting them 
from doing business in that State and imposing a fine 
of $50,000 each on the charge of entering into a com¬ 
bination to control the oil business contrary to the Mis¬ 
souri anti-trust laws, was received May 7 by the clerk 
of the Supreme Court of the United States. The appeal 
was based on the contention that the proceeding of* the 
Missouri courts was contrary to the Constitution of the 
United States. The Waters-Pierce* Oil Company, against 
which a fine of $50,000 also was imposed, settled its 
case by paying the fine and agreeing to comply with the 
law. It will not, therefore, be represented in the pro¬ 
ceedings in the Supreme Court. . . . The United 
States government has given permission to Horace G. 
llerold, a timber cruiser, residing in Tacoma, Wash., to 
remove from the Washington National Forest a huge me¬ 
teorite weighing nearly twelve tons. The meteorite was 
found by llerold in December, 190*. Because he feared 
the Government would not permit him to remove the 
prize, which is wanted by the Smithsonian Institution, 
he has persistently refused to tell its location. It is sup¬ 
posed to be the largest meteorite in the world. llerold 
says that it is four feet thick, six feet wide, and ten 
feet long. . . . Hundreds of people are on the verge 
of starvation in the mountains of Zitacuaro, Mexico. A 
forest fire, which has already done damage to the amount 
of a half-million dollars, killing much live stock and 
sweeping over many farms, was still raging May 10. 
. . . A small skiff, into which a pleasure party of 
nine persons were crowded, was upset near Tort Grif¬ 
fith, Pa., on the Susquehanna River, May 9, and all the 
occupants were drowned. The river was very high, and 
the current swift, while the crowded boat was controlled 
by only one rower. . . . John C. Davis and Martin 
T. Davis, his brother, were arrested at Washington, D. 
C., May 8, on complaint of persona who alleged the two 
men were obtaining money under false pretenses. They 
operated the “Potomac Loan and Building Association,” 
and the police assert their victims -may lose $500,000. 
. . . May 10 Judge A. J. Williams at Mercer, Fa., sen¬ 
tenced .Tames II. Boyle, convicted of kidnapping Willie 
Whitla, to life imprisonment. Mrs. Helen Boyle, the wife, 
convicted of complicity in the crime, was sentenced to 
twenty-five" years imprisonment and to pay a fine of $5,000. 
. . . Charles Arnold Whitney, secretary of the 
Chancery Fund Recovery Association at 225 Fifth ave¬ 
nue, New York, a concern which offers its services to those 
who-think they have money coming to them out of chan¬ 
cery funds in England, was arrested May 10, along with 
John Phillips, who, Whitney says, is the American repre¬ 
sentative of the association, of which the head offices are 
in London. Detectives McConville and Nelson locked them 
up at Headquarters charged with conducting a business 
without registering the title of their concern. properly 
with the County Clerk. Whitney explained that the asso¬ 
ciation was an organization of English barristers and that 
rhillips was its American representative. The British 
Consul-General, Courtney W. Bennett, has recommended 
an inquiry into this class of business, and the British 
Paymaster-General recently issued a circular, in which it 
is recommended that independent advice should be ob¬ 
tained before making a payment to any agency for in¬ 
formation, searches, copies of advertisements, etc., in 
respect of money alleged to be in court. Experience has 
shown that the information so supplied is often value¬ 
less to the persons concerned. The circular goes on. to 
say that that the dormant funds for which no rightful 
claimants are known amount to about £1.000,000 and are 
in 3,400 separate accounts. One-twentietli of the whole 
of the accounts Include sums of more than £1,000 each. 
while one-half of the whole do not exceed £100 each. 
“A written application to the assistant paymaster at the 
Royal Court of Justice will, if he thinks it advisable, 
secure information as to the amount of any particular 
fund and particulars of any orders of the Court made in 
relation thereto, but no search will be made by that offi¬ 
cial :”.... Fire in a furniture factory on West 
34th street, New York, May 11, caused $200,000 damage 
. . . . The gasoline launch Graham turned turtle in 
the Ohio River, near Pittsburg, May 11 ; 23 lost their 
lives. They were employees of the Pressed Steel Car 
Company’s plant in McKees Rocks and were returning to 
their' homes on the North Side. The Graham is a launch 
about twenty feet long and of six feet beam. She was 
used to ferry workmen from the North Side to McKees 
Rocks, across the Ohio River. The boat was overcrowded, 
and a sudden movement of the passengers to one side 
caused the accident.A verdict of guilty, with 
punishment fixed at imprisonment in jail for ten days 
and a fine of $500 each, was returned May 11 at Waverly, 
Tenn., in the case of 14 night riders charged with whip¬ 
ping Squire J. M. Reece on October 15 last. The penalty 
was a surprise to the public, being regarded as very mild 
punishment in view of the gravity of the offense. Squire 
Reece, a highly esteemed citizen and a member of the City 
Court, was taken from his home at night, was forced to 
walk into the woods, and there received twenty-five blows 
because the night riders said he had “talked too much 
about the night riders.” .... Leopoldo Siani, an 
Italian marble cutter, was arrested in New York May 11, 
after an inquest into the death of nine persons who lost 
their lives iu a fire at Spring street. New York, April 30. 
Detective Dondcro testified that he had learned that 
Siani lived on the second floor of 37 Spring street 
and that two kerosene oil cans were found in the hall just 
outside his door where the fire originated. The man, the 
detective said, carried $500 worth of insurance on furni¬ 
ture worth $40, and had gone to his insurance broker on 
the day of the fire to learn how soon he could collect 
insurance. He -left his apartment by the fire escape 
before the alarm was given. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—With delegations from Arkan¬ 
sas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona. Kansas and Texas 
in attendance, the Southwest Interstate Commission on 
Country Life convened in Guthrie, Okla., May 5, for a 
three days’ session. The convention was called for the 
purpose of considering ways and means for betterment of 
country schools, country roads, and country life in gen¬ 
eral. Prominent speakers from all parts of the South¬ 
west delivered addresses. The interest of the people of 
Oklahoma in the meeting was intense. Delegations of 
from one to four persons from every county in the State 
were present. 
A suit is being prepared in Los Angeles, Cal., to de¬ 
termine the exact legal standing of a cold storage egg. 
It. is to bes a test case, and doubtless will go to the Su¬ 
preme Court. Dealers in produce say that the now pure 
food law requires that cold-storage poultry and eggs must be 
labelled as such before being offered for sale, but the law 
does not designate what a cold-storage egg is. Inspectors 
threaten to arrest dealers who place fresh ranch eggs in 
refrigerators over night, and then offer them for sale as 
fresh eggs. Dealers say that the law makes no distinc¬ 
tion between an egg that has been in storage one day and 
one that has been in storage a month, but declare that 
the consumer can distinguish the difference in a minute. 
Lightning May 6 struck and destroyed the Koou Bros, 
dairy barns at Auburn, N. Y., the largest in Cayuga Coun¬ 
ty. Thirty-six cattle and seven horses were destroyed, to¬ 
gether with the barns and contents of harness, wagons, 
dairy apparatus and hay. The loss is roughly estimated 
at $20,000, partly insured. Serious damage was done by 
the storm in other parts of the county. 
The twenty-fourth annual meeting of the IIolstein-Frie- 
sian Association of America will be held at the New Court 
House, Syracuse, N. Y., June 2, 1909. 
OBITUARY.—Foster Udell, who died at Brockport, N. 
Y., May 1, was widely known as the “Apple King of New 
York State.” He was born in Windham, Green County, 
N. Y., August 24, 1826, the son of Wheelock and Huldah 
Udell, and was of Revolutionary stock, his grandfather, 
William Udell, having been a soldier in that war. He 
went to Brockport with his parents in 1828. At the age 
of 16 he, together with his brother George, became as¬ 
sociated with a Mr. Boardman, of Brighton, in the nur¬ 
sery business, which they conducted for several years, 
during which time they planted several extensive apple 
orchards on their farm. After concluding this planting, 
he severed his connection with the nursery business in 
order that he might give better attention to the growing 
of apples, which proved to be his life work. He was 
widely known by fruit growers and dealers throughout 
the country. He was a life member of the American 
Pomological Society; the Western New York Horticul¬ 
tural Society, of which he was a member for 52 years; 
New York State Fruit Growers’ Association, and Brock¬ 
port Grange, which he took an active interest in up to 
the time of his final illness. He is survived by a widow 
and two sons. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
Potatoes are the main crop around here now, and this 
year the acreage is more than double that of former years. 
The cold weather this Spring has retarded the growth 
some, but the warm weather of the last few days has 
started them growing. m. o. e. 
Toano, Va. 
The freeze of May 1 has caused a money loss to the 
fruit growers of Sedgwick and Reno Counties on apples 
alone of one million dollars. The entire apple crop, in¬ 
cluding all other fruits except blackberries and raspberries, 
is a total loss. j. f. f. 
Haysville, Kan. 
A heavy rain fell May 10; streams high and much low 
land flooded. Farmers are much behind with work. Ap¬ 
ricot blossoms are just breaking into bloom. Much peach 
spraying was done too late to prove effective in control¬ 
ling curl-leaf, and if this weather should continue should 
expect a severe outbreak of the trouble. The prices on 
farm lands iu this county have been advancing for past 
seven years and some farms have doubled in sale value 
in that time. b. d. V. 
Niagara Co., N. Y. 
