1908. 
THE R. UR.-A.L, NEW-YORKER 
879 
RURAL MAIL BOXES AND CARRIERS. 
Robinson-Corbin Boxes Condemned. 
The movement to “uplift the farmer,” or “hoist the 
hayseed,” has struck this “neck o’ woods,” as witness the 
enclosed letter from the Post Office Department. The letter 
boxes of a few years ago are to he superseded by some¬ 
thing more artistic at $1.50 per; will the next “lift” be 
an order from Dr. Wiley to replace the old bathtub with 
one of later design? Our old tub is of heavily tinned cop¬ 
per, but must admit the tin has worn oft in spots, and 
doesn’t look as pretty as a new one; but it still holds 
water, and with the tank and windmill to back it, is a 
serviceable piece of furniture, and would surely dislike to 
tear it out. 
Seriously, isn’t this mail-box business a clear, unadulter¬ 
ated case of “fat-frying” ? Along with other patrons, I 
purchased my box when this rural route was established, 
in 1900, from the carrier for $1.25, and without doubt it 
was an approved box at that time. If I remember rightly, 
it is a “Corbin” box, a much more convenient box for 
patron and carrier than the one being forced on us now— 
has spring lock in the door, while the new box fastens with 
padlock, that it is safe to say is missing from 50 per cent 
of the boxes that have been up for any length of time, 
ftfy box has been kept painted, and is practically in as 
good condition as when first erected. Now, why should I 
be compelled to invest $1.50 when the old box is safer and 
more convenient? Is this order only a local blessing, or 
is it spread over the country generally? The Department 
letter says, list of boxes which have been officially ap¬ 
proved, and addresses of manufacturers and prices, can be 
seen at Post Office. Inquiry there disclosed but one ou 
the list, the “Beaver” box, also that a hardware firm in 
same building handled them. What good does it do to 
“kick” ? No good—I’ll have a new box to buy or go two 
miles for my mail, but would like to know whether this 
is a local or general scheme of loot. a. a. binghasi. 
New Jersey. 
R. N.-F.—In former cases we have found that it 
is little use to fight the Department. We understand 
that there is no specific law covering this point. It 
is governed by a rule of the Department, and we 
do not understand that the right to enforce a change 
of boxes has ever been tested in the courts. In one 
or two cases where we have appealed to the Depart¬ 
ment a new inspection was made and as a result the 
boxes were not changed. In this case we presented 
the facts to Washington and received the following 
reply: 
You are informed that Mr. Bingham’s box is what 
is known as the Robinson-Corbin box, being a double 
compartment box, one part made of sheet iron or 
steel and the other part of wood, and was erected 
on the route, probably in 1901. There are a number 
of similar boxes in use on the route, the owners of 
which have all been called upon to replace them 
with approved boxes. At the time rural delivery was 
established in 1901, no particular kind or design of 
box was required, and the Robinson-Corbin box is not 
and never has been recognized as an approved box, 
although its use was permitted prior to October 1, 
1902, on which date the order of the Postmaster 
General requiring all patrons of rural delivery to 
provide themselves with approved boxes became ef¬ 
fective. Whenever reported to the Department by 
post office inspectors, or by postmasters, all Robinson- 
Corbin boxes have been condemned, as they do not 
conform to the requirements of the Department, and 
are not considered suitable receptacles for mail on 
rural routes. P. v. de graw. 
Fourth Assistant Postmaster General. 
Duties of the Carrier. 
Would you find out for me whether our rural mail car¬ 
rier is obliged to unlock our mail box and take outgoing 
mail when signal is up? Our box is one of the regular 
boxes approved by the Government, with two signals, and 
is self-locking. When closed it is locked, and it cannot be 
closed without locking. Our mail carrier will not take the 
mail when it is locked. J. A. w. 
Sanborn, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—In this case the following letter seems 
to settle it: 
You are informed that rural carriers are required 
to examine all mail boxes for mail dispatch when the 
signals thereon are displayed, indicating mail in the 
box for dispatch, and to examine the box whether 
signals are or are not displayed when opening the 
box to deliver mail therein. Patrons of rural deliv¬ 
ery are not required to lock their boxes, but are 
urged to do so as a protective measure, and if they 
furnish rural carriers with duplicate keys to their 
boxes, the carriers must accept and use the keys 
when it is necessary to open the box. It is desired 
that you suggest to your correspondent that he com¬ 
municate the facts to the Department upon which his 
inquiry is based, giving the name of the office from 
which the rural route starts and the number of the 
rou te. __ P- v. DE GRAW. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—How the du Pont Powder Company cut 
prices in the South to put the Chattanooga Powder Com¬ 
pany out of business was brought out at New York Oct. 
28 in the suit of the Government againstthe so-called Pow¬ 
der Trust. F. J. Waddell, district sales agent for the 
Sinnamahoning Powder Company, of Huntingdon, W. Va„ 
testified that he had instructions from Eugene du Pont to 
“cut out” the Chattanooga company. “I located the trade 
supplied by the Chattanooga company,” said the witness, 
“the aid of the railroads and then took it away from 
them.” The lowest price at which he sold wag 79 cents a 
keg, or 80 cents below cost. The Southern Powder Company 
mills were sold to the same persons who purchased theChat- 
tanooga property, he said. The witness said he also was in¬ 
structed to get the trade of the Egyptian Powder Company, 
underselling it 10 cents a keg. . . . Three men were 
killed Oct. 29 as the result of a small fire in a celluloid 
factory at 1G4 Duane street. New York, an ancient build¬ 
ing in which John Ericsson designed the Monitor. The fire 
was a minor one, so far as damage goes, but it was also one 
of the worst the district has known. There was no stair¬ 
way from the basement, a violation of the fire laws, and 
this prevented the men’s escape. The building at 104 Du¬ 
ane street is a ramshackle old affair of four stories Erics¬ 
son lived for years at 30 Beach street, and had his shop 
in the burned building. It was in the basement where tlie 
fire started that he designed and built part of the Monitor. 
In the rear still stands an old power wheel used by the 
inventor. ... In Philadelphia the police authorities 
are conducting a crusade against cocaine peddlers, who are 
selling this debasing drug to school boys. One of the first 
persons arrested was a foreigner, Morris Stein, who was 
held in $2,000 bail Oct. 29. He seemed glad to get to 
jail. being threatened with violence by the mothers of 
boys who had become victims of the drug. . . The first 
snowstorm, accompanied by drift-piling winds that has 
whitened the northern counties of New York this Fall, and 
the first of the season to reach the Mohawk Valley, ar- 
rived Oct. 30 with a drop in temperature that reduced 
the mercury at many points below zero. Reports from the 
northern part of the State tell of a heavy fall of snow. 
. The tapping of a stratum of sulphur 825 feet deep 
in Liberty County, in east Texts, has brought to light 
what experts declare to be one of the richest sulphur de¬ 
posits in the world. It is claimed ten million dollars’ worth 
of sulphur is in reach, and the exact area of the mine is 
not known. Dr. A. L. Lyons, of St. Louis, conducted the 
experiments, and a syndicate of capitalists offered the 
owner of the land, James B. Patterson, one million dol¬ 
lars for seventy-five acres, which he refused. Three years 
ago, while boring for oil on this land, sulphur was found, 
but not considered, for then the country was oil mad. 
. . . Fire destroyed a two-story frame building at the 
plant of the American Linseed Oil Company in Richmond 
Rorough, New York, Nov. 1. The building was used for 
storing flaxseed and contained several tons of it. The 
loss is about $25,000. ... A fire at the lumber yards 
of the It. A. & J. J. Williams Company, 22d and York 
streets. Philadelphia, Nov. 2, destroyed millions of feet 
of costly hardwoods, worth $250,000: tied up the New 
York division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, whose tracks 
cross one end of the yard, and necessitated a wide detour 
of the special train of President Roosevelt, on his way to 
Oyster Bay to vote ; destroyed much of the hardwood fin¬ 
ishings for Oscar Ilammerstein's new opei’a house, and in¬ 
jured three firemen, who drove a chemical engine into 
the yards, and were hemmed in by flames before they could 
l'otreat. The fire is believed to be incendiary. ... A 
gigantic contract was awarded in Philadelphia Nov. 2 to 
the Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing Company by the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company for the electrification of 
the Manhattan and Queens terminals, the initial amount of 
the materials required amounting to $5,000,000 . The work 
of electrifying this zone, which also contemplates the ap¬ 
proaching lines in New Jersey, is one of the concluding 
steps in the greatest and most wonderful enterprise in the 
history of American railroading. It is believed now from 
the progress of the work that the terminals proper will be 
completed in New York by early Autumn next year. . . 
In the elections Nov. 3 Taft and Sherman received 327 
votes in the Electoral College, Bryan and Kern 156. Gov¬ 
ernor Hughes of New York, received a plurality of 130.021 
above the Bronx. Chanler’s plurality in New York City, 
Erie and Schoharie counties was 04,867, giving the Gov¬ 
ernor a plurality in the State of 69,633. The next House 
of Representatives will have a Republican majority of at 
least seventy-five. The Senate after March 4, 1909, will 
be two-thirds Republican. The United States Senate con¬ 
tains at present 60 Republicans and 31 Democrats, with 
one vacanev from Iowa, caused by the death of William 
B. Allison, Republican. The terms of 31 Senators expire 
on March 3, 1909. that of Mr. Allison being included in 
that number. Of the retiring members, including Mr. Alli¬ 
son’s temporary successor, yet to be elected, 18 are Re¬ 
publicans and 13 Democrats. Four vacancies have already 
been filled. Kentucky has elected William O. Bradley, Re¬ 
publican, to succeed James B. McCreary, Democrat. Mary¬ 
land has elected John Walter Smith, Democrat, to succeed 
himself. Alabama has re-elected Joseph F. Johnston, Demo¬ 
crat. Louisiana, has re-elected Samuel D. MeEnery, 
Democrat, and Vermont has re-elected William P. Dilling¬ 
ham, Republican. The strength of the two parties to date 
is therefore as follows : Republicans, 45 ; Democrats, 2.1 ; 
vacancies to be filled, 26. . . . The village of Savannah, 
Wayne County. N. Y., was almost wiped off the map by 
a fire that broke out there Nov. 3, and swept north and 
south through the business section of the city until 22 
buildings had been consumed and $150,000 worth of prop¬ 
erty destroyed by the flames. 
EARNING POWER OF A DOLLAR. 
I am very glad that Mr. Norton wrote that letter, and 
glad too that President Roosevelt tacitly endorsed it by 
giving it out for publication, as it emphasizes the fact 
that we who do the hard work of the world must save 
ourselves, and not look to those living on “Easy Street” 
to save us. If I were to make the statement in a farm 
paper that my dairy was a failure financially, I should 
fie advised by my farmer friends to weigh the grain and 
weigh the milk and cut out the boarders, yet I have looked 
in vain for any such sensible suggestion as this as applied 
to our social problem. In a modern factory the workman 
is obliged to ring in his time morning and night, so that 
the management may know that he puts in a full day’s 
effort before drawing a full day’s pay, and yet Mr. Astor, 
when he entertain King Edward at luncheon, doesn’t have 
to punch a button to let us know that he is in the country 
even. Now, as he is reported to draw several millions an¬ 
nually from this country, it seems to me here is a boarder 
to cut out. I would say to the investigators of our dinner 
pails and bathtubs, all we ask of you gentlemen is to get 
off our backs. Since the good things of life do not gro\y 
spontaneously, but are the result of labor acting on nature, 
it follows that if one man gets something for nothing some 
other man gets nothing for something. The farmer needs 
no Mary Sidney remedy, but what he wants and should 
have is double the return he now gets for half the effort. 
He can only get this by cutting out the boarders. That is, 
by cutting out all unearned gain. 
A striking example of unearned gain was shown in Hope 
Farm Notes about a year ago, running something like this 
(I quote from memory): ‘I‘ recently received from a 
Massachusetts savings bank notice that they hold an account 
in my name amounting to the sum of eleven dollars. This 
represented the accumulation of one dollar deposited for 
me by my father during the Civil War, and was nearly or 
quite forgotten.” Truly this matter of a good or bad dol¬ 
lar is enough to make one lie awake nights and think. 
Acting on this suggestion and letting my fancy run, this 
is how I came out : The eider Mr. C. put in one-half day’s 
energy, represented by one dollar, and ids son may now 
gather to himself the energy of 11 men for the same time. 
Or again, this dollar was one of a thousand loaned by the 
bank to a young farmer on a mortgage. This farmer and 
his son (the eldqr man died of a broken back! have car¬ 
ried or turned over to the bank 20,000 bushels of potatoes 
reckoned at 50 cents per bushel. I have perhaps set the 
price low, but remember that this is net to the bank, as 
the borrower has paid the running expenses of the bank and 
in addition has paid the taxes on the real estate covered 
by the mortgage. The thought now occurs that as the 
banks usually require the interest annually, or oftener. 
the farmer wasn’t mulcted to any such extent as here in¬ 
dicated. but it is clear to me that productive labor has 
put in the energy represented by 20.000 bushels of potatoes. 
We often act as though we thought dollars were male and 
female and reproduced themselves, but this showing gives 
it a different appearance. I haven’t the figures at hand, 
but it is a fact that the interest charges on the public and 
private debts amount to vastly more than the increase of 
the national wealth. Chattel slavery isn’t in it with our 
modern business methods for getting the better of our fel¬ 
low man. The average workingman doesn’t, support his 
family and lay up $40 yearly, so that with one thousand 
dollars at interest you own a white slave. And this you 
have to pass up to the big fellows on top. Now we have 
all got to play the game to live, and while we play it we 
have to play it according to the rules, therefore 
have no fault to find with men. but when I am asked 
to “name a remedy short of revolution,” I give it up. 
Revolution means turning over, and that is what my rem¬ 
edy of one word would do. To anyone who would stop 
short of that 1 would say in the words of Carlyle : “Thou 
shalt descend into thy inner man, and see if there be any 
traces of a soul there; till then there can be nothing done.” 
Essex Co., Mass. f. e. hale. 
THE EAST END OF LONG ISLAND. 
Why are farmers dissatisfied with their lot, and why 
do not the boys stay on the farm? I can only form opin¬ 
ions from what I have seen in our own town, and some¬ 
what in adjoining villages, and I do not expect conditions 
are the same all over the country. Most of the farmers 
of my age had farms left them, or were given a share on 
their fathers’ farms, and not having anything else that 
they knew how to do they still farm it. They are not 
our best farmers. The men who went into farming from 
some other walk in life because they had a desire for it 
are the most successful. This accounts for what the late 
Geo. W. Ilalloek once said at a farmers’ institute meeting 
in answer to the question “How shall we keep the boys 
on the farm?” He said that if the boy didn’t want to 
stay on the farm, don’t try to keep him. Don’t spoil a 
good mechanic to . make a poor farmer. His own son 
wanted to learn a carpenter’s trade, and he put him with 
the best boss he could find, and after a while the son 
came back to the farm of himself, and his brain has been 
the moving power that has organized the best business 
farm on the east end of Long Island and piled up a piece 
of property worth $100,000. One of our best business 
farmers was an orphan. His mother bought a farm and 
went in debt for house and barn. He has just bought an 
automobile. Another is our farmer with one leg. He 
started with you might say less than nothing, and now 
he owns two farms, in spite of ail his trouble and bad 
luck. The poorest farmers we have are those who had 
their farms given them. 
Now about the boys who have left their father’s farm. 
They either learn a trade or go to college and enter a pro¬ 
fession. The reason is there is more money in it. A son 
of one of our money-making farmers learned an engineer's 
trade and he makes as much for his work as though he 
owned a farm. He earned more wages from the time, he 
threw his first shovelful of coal into the steamer’s boiler 
than he could earn on the farm, and in four years he had 
his engineer’s license. Why wait 20 years for a farm ? 
I have a nephew who went through Yale and then studied 
law. He says he would like to farm it if he could afford 
it. The trouble is the American boy wants to live like an 
American, and he cannot get enough money out of the 
farm to do it with, and so our farms are being bought up 
by the Poles. They can get enough to live finely Polish 
way, and all hands work. Now if the farmer didn’t have 
the farm to pay for, and could make $3 to $5 per day, no 
one would ask for a better job. The trouble is we have 
to feed too many families for nothing, or to put another 
way the merchant class is too large in proportion to the 
producing class. The farmer has to pay what the fer¬ 
tilizer man says and sell his produce for what the com¬ 
mission man says. lie does not have any say himself. 
Those people will say heaters in their own cellars and 
waterpipes in their own kitchens, but not in the farmers. 
If the farmer is to have such things in his house he will 
have to have his say. Keep your eye on the east end of 
I.ong Island from Riverhead down. The farmers com¬ 
menced buying at wholesale, fertilizers. Paris-green, 
seeds, etc., and now the Exchange has been started to 
sell products. The theory is all right, and in time we 
will get the practice to meet it. The board of directors 
can fix the salary or commission of the men who do the 
buying and selling, and the control or say is in the hands 
of‘the people themselves. I don’t see any reason why 
Suffolk County cannot have its own warehouse in the 
city, and sell and buy its own supplies for cash, and so 
cut down the number of men who take toll of the farmer. 
One thing more. Educate the boys along practical lines 
and the girls also. Two of our boys are going to Cornell 
Agricultural College this Winter, and it may be that the 
tide is turning back to the farm, for if the same profit 
can be secured there is no better place on earth. 
CHAS. L. YO0NG. 
The drought has not been felt here to any great extent 
so far as I can learn. Pastures have been green right 
along, and Fall seeding has come up nicely. A letter from 
Madison Co., 111., dated October 25, reports it very dry, 
wells failing, wheat sown in the clods and unable to sprout- 
I have been surprised at the amount of fairly good land 
that is lying idle or nearly so, in this region, in spite of 
much good farming to be seen. 
Sterling, Va. G. w. b. 
Wheat is up nicely, and two or three light showers have 
put the young wheat plants in fair shape for Winter. 
Grass is also making a late growth, but most farmers 
are feeding fodder. There will be, when all gathered, 
more corn in the cribs than anticipated, and as compara¬ 
tively few hogs and cattle are being fed, it looks as if 
corn would be no higher in the Spring than now. It sells 
for 55 cents per bushel, and some is changing hands at this 
price. Very few farmers are arranging to feed cattle 
this Winter, and the way pigs and underfed hogs havp 
been rushed to market is something remarkable. Of course, 
under such conditions, the hog market cannot be satisfac¬ 
tory. and as a result the local sales of purebred hogs have 
been disappointig, and some breeders held no sales at all. 
There was a good crop of hay here, and it now being 
haled and shipped out at $9 per ton. w. E. d. 
Hillsboro. O. _ 
BIG CONNECTICUT CORN.—We hear much about the 
big corn crops out West on land that is worth in the neigh¬ 
borhood of $150 an acre. Some of those western farmers 
seem to have an idea that eastern soil is all worn out, 
and that Now England people cannot grow such corn 
as is produced in the Mississippi Valley. They would get 
a rude shock if they were to go into some of the cornfields 
in Connecticut or in southern New Jersey. Last week a 
number of prominent men witnessed a husking bee at Hocka- 
num. Conn., on the farm of N. II. Brewer. Forty-five 
buskers took the corn from a measured acre, and it was 
weighed in the presence of a committee headed by J. II. 
Hale. The acre was carefully measured by the town engi¬ 
neer, and as fast as husked was brought to the scales 
and the weight recorded. The net weight of the corn on 
the ear was 9,334 pounds. It is customary in New Eng¬ 
land to allow 70 pounds of ear corn for one bushel of 
shelled corn, so that the yield from this acre was 133 1-3 
bushels of shelled corn. There may be cases in the West 
where larger yields are obtained, but there are not many of 
them, and we give these figures, which are reliable, to 
show our western friends what can yet be done ou land 
which helped support the American people a century be¬ 
fore the western land was conquered from the Indians. 
THE CORN CROP.—Eastern farmers who buy grain are 
watching the reports of the western corn crop, for the size 
of it will largely determine the price of feed. The latest 
State report from Iowa says: 
“That the corn crop of Iowa for 1908 will be far in 
excess of the 243,000,000 bushels raised in 1907 is the 
prediction made by grain men and government experts. 
They base their opinions on the Government report which 
shows that over 90 per cent of the corn had fully matured 
when the killing frost struck a part of the State, and the 
balance of it was so nearly ripened that little or no effect 
was felt from it. The early rains, the normal tempera¬ 
ture during the Summer, the long drought and high tem¬ 
perature during September, have all been extremely favor¬ 
able to the great crop, which accounts for the big pro¬ 
duction more than anything else. And the crop, will not 
only be enormous but of excellent quality as reports re¬ 
ceived from every source show this. • Grain men say this 
will boost the price of the cereal to a high figure during 
the Winter months; as December corn is now hovering be¬ 
tween the 65 and 66-cent mark. This will be good news 
to the farmers,’ said a local broker, ‘as they all like to 
get good prices for their corn.’ About all that remains 
to be done with the corn now is to gather and husk it. 
Concerning other vegetation the Government bulletin says: 
‘The rain of the past two days will revive pastures and 
permit the resumption of Fall plowing. On the whole, 
the season has been a profitable one, notwithstanding the 
continued and excessive rains during the period of plant¬ 
ing, and the severe drought at the close of the season. 
