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The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country ami Suburban Homes 
Established tsso 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl St., New York 
Herbert tv. Oolltkowood, President and Editor. 
■Ions J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
tVM. F. Dillon. Secretary. Mbs. E. t. Koyi.k, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04. equal to 8s. 0d., or 
8 'A marks, or 10J^ francs. Remit in monev order, express 
order, personal check or bank' draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates fifl cents per agate line—7 words. Discount for time orders. 
References required for advertisers unknown to us ; and 
cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advert isement in this paper is hacked by a respon. 
Bible pci-son. But to make doubly sure we will make good any loss to paid 
subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising in onr 
columns, and any such swindler will bo publicly exposed. We protect sub¬ 
scribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee to adjust tri fling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will we bo 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and you must have i lentioued The Rural New-Yorker 
when writing the advertiser. 
TEN WEEKS FOR 10 CENTS. 
In order to introduce The R. N.-Y. to progressive, 
intelligent farmers who do not now take it, we send it 
30 weeks for 30 cents for strictly introductory pur¬ 
poses. We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
* 
We now have a record of a woman who raised 
over 68 tons of silage corn on one acre! We shall 
do our best to get to the bottom of this story and 
stir it up. If true, it should be analyzed and made 
clear, so that all may know how this tremendous 
yield was obtained. 
* 
Why not ask the merchants to keep a counter stocked 
with free knicknacks as well as the farmer to grow free 
nuts? T H T 
Why not indeed? Go into the grocery store where 
THE RURAL* NEW-YORKER 
in the United States.” But his arraignment of the 
middleman, not for the increased cost, but for the 
deterioration of quality, which has demoralized our 
national palate, is a point not previously emphasized. 
With the worker blaming the middleman for his 
rapacity in seizing excessive profit, and the epicure 
excoriating him for lowering quality, we seem to be 
a little closer to that economic millenium wherein the 
ultimate consumer shall join hands with the producer. 
* 
The Trouble in the Grange. 
What position does The R. N.-Y. take regarding 
the trouble in the National Grange? 
1 hat question has been asked by a good number of 
readers. We have felt that members of the Grange 
ought to settle such matters quietly without airing 
their troubles in public. It is an injury to the cause 
which the Grange stands for when the organization 
cannot settle its own personal affairs through its own 
methods and powers. As time has gone on, however, 
it seems to us that the Grange has not risen to the 
occasion, and through its peculiar system of State 
representation is in danger of making a fatal mistake. 
\\ c desire to avoid all personal criticism and confine 
ourselves to the broad principle which seems to us at 
issue. For years the Grange was the most hopeful 
organization ever started among farmers in the world. 
We still believe that the plain members of the Sub¬ 
ordinate Granges represent the highest type of our 
farmers and country people. If their true influence 
and what they really stand for could be brought to 
bear directly upon public men there would be a 
prompt improvement in our political system. 
The truth is, however, that the rank and file of the 
Grange membership is no longer fairly represented. 
The machinery of the National Grange and also in 
many of the States lias fallen into the hands of a 
November 11, 
The potato crop of the whole country is about 10 
per cent under last year's, which was approximately 
340.000,000 bushels. A much greater shortage was 
expected, as the middle and mid-southern States were 
seriously cut by drought. But because of the late 
rains and long Fall, the crop in several of the North¬ 
ern States improved surprisingly. Wisconsin, Min¬ 
nesota and the Dakotas have from 20 to 40 per cent 
more than last year. In New York the crop was 
too far advanced to be much benefited by the rains, 
and the State will not exceed four-fifths of last 
year’s yield. For the past month the New York mar¬ 
ket has averaged decidedly weak, except for Long 
Island stock, which usually brings 50 cents or more 
per barrel above other grades. There have been 
you trade and help yourself to a good handful of 
peanuts. Then have a look at the grocer’s face. Sup¬ 
pose the same grocer comes into your peach orchard 
or woods. He would consider it a matter of course 
to help himself to peaches or nuts. If he had a bag 
with him it would be considered the fair thing to 
fill it. We have heard a man explain this by saying 
that the grocer’s goods represented cash, while the 
farmer’s cost nothing but labor! “Nothing but 
labor!' That’s good! Did anyone ever see any real 
value which was not created by labor? 
* 
One of our readers asks why we are continually 
printing letters or articles from small producers who 
get only a small part of what the consumer pays. 
The charge is that we print such letters but do not 
print the long arguments and figures from the rail¬ 
roads and trusts and middlemen to show the cost of 
handling goods. Why not ask us a hard one? We 
print letters from the farmers and producers because 
many of them could not get before the public in any 
other way. The daily papers are practically owned 
by the big interests. Such papers have little use for 
a farmer except to exploit him. The articles from 
the “big men” that we see are of the old hidebound, 
stand-pat variety, giving figures to prove that the 
railroads and trusts are the most wonderful friends 
the farmers have. It is hard to believe they are dull 
enough not to realize that farmers know they have 
grown fat on special privilege. We rejoice in our 
ability to let these farmers give the true facts. These 
will lead to education, and that alone will shut off 
the flow of privilege into the trough. All we ask is 
that the reports be fair and true. 
* 
The matter of direct purchase from the farmer, 
without the intervention of the middleman, has even 
invaded the magazine field. In the current issue of 
the “Century” Henry T. Finck discourses with feeling 
as well as knowledge on “Ungastronomic America.” 
He refers to the abominable cold storage poultry with 
which we are afflicted, as compared with the delicious 
poulet de Bresse, which one has to travel to Europe 
for. He remarks that packers and dealers do not 
want poultry fresh; they want it in their refrigera¬ 
tors, so they can regulate and raise prices, and adds: 
The simplest way for the consumer to thwart them 
is either to buy of kosher butchers, who are not allowed 
by their racial tenets to handle cold-storage fowls; or 
direct of the farmer, with whom an arrangement can be 
made to send the freshly killed and promptly cleaned 
poultry by express to one’s home. 
The writer goes on to tell of the delight of farm- 
cured hams and bacon, and of unsalted butter made 
from sweet cream, and refers rather sadly to the 
“denatured food” the unscrupulous middlemen sup¬ 
ply us. He is not very flattering to our cooks, hold¬ 
ing with Dr. Wiley, that “there is no country in the 
world where food is so plentiful, and no country in 
the world where it is so badly cooked, as right here 
rather cheap but shrewd class of politicians. We 
have no personal feeling or prejudice in this matter, 
and no one can accuse us of seeking place or power. 
In order to learn just how the National Grange is 
regarded we have gone to public men, Congressmen 
and others, and asked them just what they think of 
the organization as represented by the men they 
have met. We regret to say that a large proportion 
of these politicians say in private that they have 
come to regard the Grange leaders as bluffers and 
small “grafters.” It is an unhappy thing for anyone 
who knows of the noble possibilities of the Grange 
organization to state the facts. It is true, however, 
that the politicians now at the head of the Grange 
are rapidly destroying its small' remaining power to 
influence public affairs in any broad and helpful way. 
To put it in an understandable way the Grange, 
on a smaller scale, lias come to the condition of the 
old political parties. The rank and file or large ma¬ 
jority of the order want to grow and develop. They 
are true “progressives” and can plainly see that a 
newer generation has come demanding broader and 
more liberal policies. Opposed to them* *is a small 
hand of office-holders, narrow, bigoted or with some 
graft or special privilege, who walk round and 
around some worn-out issue as if it were to be 
guarded like the sacred ark. The foolish and unfair 
system of State representation to the National 
Grange has enabled a small group of politicians to 
control the situation and keep themselves in power. 
There is the sore spot which is slowly eating the 
vitals out of this great organization. It should have 
become a powerful giant, ready to fight for the 
farmer and his rights. It is more like a decrepit 
politician feebly pulling small wires. 
Knowing these things, we take the position that the 
Grange members must rise and scrape off the bar¬ 
nacles if they expect to save the order. The battle 
will come at the National Grange meeting at Co¬ 
lumbus, when the present officers will endeavor to 
strengthen their grip upon the machinery. They have 
their partisans and there are other delegates who 
bitterly oppose them. The decision will finally rest 
with a third body of delegates who can take a more 
or less independent attitude. The final appeal should 
be made to them. They have the chance to save the 
Grange quietly and without that form of publicity 
which always destroys more than it upbuilds. If the 
old “stand pat” element succeed in riding over all 
opposition in spite of fair warning, they must be 
prepared for a fight which will shake them to their 
hoots. They will get the searchlight and the knife, 
and they know better than anyone else how poorly 
prepared they are to stand up and fight real publicity. 
We sincerely hope that the thoughtful and progressive 
members of the Grange will find a way to meet this 
crisis quietly and avoid public scandal. There is too 
much good in the Grange, and the farmers are in 
too great need of real friends in public to permit this 
great organization to become a misfit. 
practically no imports from Europe yet. The pres¬ 
ent price is high enough to attract shipments or¬ 
dinarily, but the crop there is not excessive, and 
the outlook is that foreign speculators will not care 
to do much under a probable price of $1 per bushel 
on this side. 
* 
When, a few years ago, we began to talk about 
the farmer’s shara of the consumer’s dollar, we had 
no idea the thing could grow so fast. Now, all over 
the country, the useless middleman question has be¬ 
come a great issue. In Indianapolis the mayor 
brought in seven carloads of potatoes and sold them 
at cost, without injury to farmers. He now proposes 
to buy dressed pork from farmers and sell it direct. 
In Des Moines, Iowa, the mayor worked the same 
potato deal and will make his next campaign on the 
issue of fair prices for food. At many other places 
the same thing is being worked out. The useless 
middlemen (we do not refer to legitimate dealers) 
are responsible for the storm which will knock¬ 
down their house of bluff. They have done their 
best to make the public believe that the farmers are 
responsible for high prices. The consumers now 
begin to see the truth, and when they once become 
convinced nothing on the American continent can 
prevent a fair parcels post and fairer express charges. 
Therefore Mayor Shank, of Indianapolis, and the 
others have done far more than they expected in 
educating the consumers. More power to them. 
May they stand up against the storm of abuse and 
keep right on. 
* 
This statement is false. Farmers who have con¬ 
tracted for trees under these conditions should not 
accept the stock. Planters are urged not to buy from 
unknown parties, and especially agents.” 
No, gentlemen, these are not extracts from The 
R. N.-Y., but from a bulletin issued by the Ohio Ex¬ 
periment Station. Tree agents are working Ohio and 
nearby States selling seedlings of locust and Catalpa 
trees. One fellow even goes so far as to say that 
the State of Ohio pays eight cents for each tree sold. 
These fakes try to get $20 to $40 per 1,000 for trees 
which honest nurserymen sell at $4 to $11. To add 
injury to insult many of such trees are not true to 
name. We are glad to see the station exposing these 
fake agents. But how much worse are they than 
the frauds who go about selling cherry, apple and 
plum trees at 80 cents to one dollar each? The grower 
got about six cents for the cherry and 10 for. the 
apple, but these plausible liars work for the whole 
dollar. It has got so that whenever we say “tree 
agent” a number of men start up to say that we 
should discriminate and say that there are honorable 
tree agents and honorable nurseries that employ them 
We are very willing to do so. There arc such. They 
would no doubt treat our readers honorably, but we 
believe they would charge from 25 to 50 per cent 
more for the same grade of tree than our people 
would pay on direct purchase. Now we have begged 
these gentlemen, both personally and publicly, to come 
forward and prove that our readers can make any¬ 
thing by buying trees from an agent. That is the 
final test of the matter, for, regardless of any other 
consideration, we want our people to obtain the best 
possible bargain. One would think the honorable 
tree agents would hop at the chance to show what 
bargains they offer. 
BREVITIES. 
Over five per cent potash in banana skins. 
Stored apples love darkness rather than light. 
Tiie following names have been selected for that “Mil¬ 
lion Dollar” peach—J. II. Hale, Ilaleberta, Halberta and 
Halofellow. 
Sometimes a blowhard comes along and tells a wliop 
ping “whale.” We have to listen to his guff— but put 
salt on his tale. 
Eggs at 20 cents each are reported from Guayamas, 
Mexico, whore recent floods have drowned many hens, 
and upset transportation. 
Disease is attacking banana plantations in Jamaica, 
where the government is investigating conditions, it is 
said that the trouble first appeared in Panama. 
