1 238 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established iSSO 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 409 Pearl St., New York 
Herbert W. Collixgwood, President and Editor. 
.Toir>. J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mbs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
* SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8>£ marks, or 10J4 francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check -or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates 60 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 advertisement in this paper is hacked by a respon¬ 
sible person. But to make doubly sure wo will make good any loss to paid 
subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising in our 
columns, and any such swindler will be publicly exposed. We protect sub¬ 
scribers against rogues-, hut we do not guarantee to adjust trifling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. N either w-ill we be 
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 yon must have mentioned 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 
10 weeks for 10 cents for strictly introductory pur¬ 
poses. We depend on our old friends to make this 
known to neighbors and friends. 
* 
All the American meat packers now under Gov¬ 
ernment indictment are excluded from making ten¬ 
ders to supply meat to the British army and navy. 
Some of them have secured large contracts in the 
past, but it is a rule with the British Government to 
refrain from giving contracts to any firm involved in 
serious litigation so long as the litigation continues. 
It is expected that Argentine packers will secure 
these contracts. We shall probably hear how these 
packers are being “ruined.” Most likely the prices 
on live stock will be cut, but the consumer will still 
be held up. 
* 
During the past 25 years we have read many 
articles giving advice about selecting the better half 
of the dairy herd. It is a matter of great importance 
to the man who must live, raise a family, pay for a 
farm and provide for old age by making milk that 
his cows grow better and more productive year by 
year. All will admit that such a man cannot hope to 
get ahead very fast unless his bull is of the best. 
Therefore millions of words have been poured out 
over this subject. Our conviction is that the series 
of articles beginning this week will prove the most 
useful contribution to tne subject that has been 
printed in years. It is a study —long enough to cover 
the ground fully and short enough to be readable 
by all. 
It is announced by the tariff and legislative commit¬ 
tee of the Society of American Florists: 
In the controversy with the United States Express Co., 
which has been going on during the past six months, over 
the inefficient delivery of cut flowers, the company has 
acceded to the representations of the committee, and has 
established a satisfactory and efficient delivery, without 
an appeal to the Interstate Commerce Commission. 
When an individual complains of an abuse, we 
know how unsympathetic the express companies are, 
in most cases. In this case a great national trade 
organization is concerned. In one district where the 
express companies refused proper service a few years 
ago, the florists established daily express service of 
their own, causing a heavy loss of business to the 
haughty corporations, and it seems possible that the 
medicine was salutary. 
* 
“The Grange insults tts!’ 1 
Oh, dear! That is what the “Connecticut delega¬ 
tion” in Congress is reported as saying when they re¬ 
ceived the following hot one right off the bat of the 
New Haven County Pomona Grange: 
Resolved, That in view of the excessive express rates 
and for the better service of the general public, we are 
heartily in favor of the government parcels post, and that 
this resolution be fowarded to our Congressmen and Sen¬ 
ators, urging them to DO ALL IN THEIR POWER for 
the early enactment of such provision as shall lead to its 
establishment. If they do not do this, we, the members 
of New Haven County Pomona Grange numbering 508, 
do not wish to see them re-elected. 
Thank the good Lord these Grangers have the 
nerve and the public enterprise to make such state¬ 
ments. May they have the courage to stand by what 
they say and cut out every Congressman who -will 
not fight on their side. “Insulted!” What childish 
nonsense that is! What are these men sent to Wash¬ 
ington for, and who sends them? Do they elect them¬ 
selves and pay their own expenses, or are they sup¬ 
posed to represent the people? Connecticut does not 
want a lot of human wooden nutmegs in Congress—• 
but rather men who will put some real spice into pub¬ 
lic life. Stay right by them—you are not their ser¬ 
vants; the obligation runs the other way. 
THE RURAL NR W-YORKER 
We close the year with the largest volume in the 
history of The R. N.-Y. There are 1248 pages—32 
more than the year before. We realize that mere 
bulk is of little consequence. It would be possible for 
a paper, like a man, to put on thick layers of fat so 
that more paper or cloth would be required for cloth¬ 
ing. That might not indicate any increase of char¬ 
acter or power. Such qualities depend not upon pages 
or pounds, but rather upon the living and vital things 
which cannot be weighed or measured. It is in no 
spirit of boasting or pride that we close another vol¬ 
ume of The R. N.-Y. We have tried our best to be 
really useful to our people. It is said that the farmer 
can plow under his mistakes; the doctor can bury his, 
while the lawyer can blame the judge. We do not 
claim any such privilege. Our year’s work lies before 
you in black and white. We stand for it, and our only 
promise is that in the future we will give all we have 
of intelligence and power in an effort to tell our peo¬ 
ple what they want to know and also what they ought 
to know. There is no end of the year for us. This 
is No. 4131; next week it will be No. 4132, and so on 
to the end. Happy New Year to all of you! It will 
be a good year if we all try to make it so. Of course 
you will be with us to help and be helped. 
* 
Under Publisher’s Desk this week is further refer¬ 
ence to that slick scheme of the “First Burbank Tim¬ 
ber Co.” This concern seems to have figured that the 
way to raid a farmer’s pocketbook is to parade the 
names of a few of his agricultural friends. And they 
will grab the reputation of these friends if they dannot 
get them otherwise. They quoted, among others, the 
name of Dr. G. F. Warren, of Cornell. When they ap¬ 
proached him, Dr. Warren replied as follows: 
First Burbank Timber Co., 309 Broadway, New York: 
Gentlemen : I would not care to serve on your Board 
of Experts, as I have never seen very successful results 
from stock companies of this kind. Most companies of 
this kind succeed in selling a good many shares, but' are 
usually not so successful in producing crops. Possibly 
your company is an exception, but I do not believe that 
it would be wise for me to allow the use of my name, 
which, of course, is essentially bringing in the College of 
Agriculture, to appear in connection with the enterprise. 
Very truly yours, 
G. F. WARREN. 
We wish to commend Dr. Warren in the most pub¬ 
lic manner for taking this position. This letter is a 
model. It might well be printed in letters two inches 
high, framed and hung up in every agricultural col¬ 
lege and experiment station. In spite of this clear re¬ 
fusal this concern printed Dr. Warren’s name on its 
“Board of Experts.” He has complained to the post 
office authorities about it. There is no surer way to 
kill off the helpful work of these public institutions 
than for the experts to lend their names to promote 
schemes or swindles. This letter of Dr. Warren’s is 
a good New Year’s present to the fraternity. 
* 
The present high prices of butter naturally attract 
attention. Some men are so devoid of stage patriot¬ 
ism that they have few heart throbs over the various 
current political booms, tariff recision scares, etc., but 
most men have throbs in their purse when butter 
gets above a wholesale of 35 cents, which means 40 to 
45 cents on the table. Those engineering the cam¬ 
paign for oleo practically free of tax need the help of 
public sentiment, and feel that a rise in butter prices 
just now would be timely. Cheaper oleo, cheaper 
butter, they say, and, as the same speculative interests 
control both products, they can make prices to suit 
their purposes. In mind they already hear the jingle 
of 75 to 100 per cent profits on sales of free oleo, and 
could well afford to shave a little slice from their 
profits on butter to keep both products moving at a 
good commercial trot. Considerable quantities of oleo 
are now handled in a wholesale way around New 
York and other large Eastern cities, but who ever 
saw any brisk business going on in the retail stores 
handling this product? There is but one conclusion 
possible—that the oleo is retailed as butter, and who 
believes that the dealers now working the fraud would 
be nearer honest were oleo tax free and the profit on 
its fraudulent sale increased nearly 10 cents per 
pound ? 
* 
Farmers and dairymen must prepare for a desper¬ 
ate fight over oleo. Formerly the oleo men have tried 
to match the dollar against the man. They have 
worked at Congress by spending millions right at 
Washington. This has not succeeded, for Congress 
felt the force of popular demand direct from farm¬ 
ers. So now the oleo men have started to try to 
match the fooled or deluded man against the farmer. 
It is a shrewd scheme. Swift & Co. start it by print¬ 
ing full page advertisements in the magazines and 
weekly papers. These advertisements are filled with 
half, quarter and 10 per cent truths, and a few state- 
December 30, 
ments which are twisted just a point away from 
falsehoods. The point of the advertisement is this: 
The tax on oleomargarine can be removed by public 
demand. This is a question of greatest importance to you, 
the consumer. Write your Congressman and tell him 
when the bill for removing the tax on oleomargarine is 
introduced that you will appreciate his support. 
You see they now understand they cannot buy the 
removal of that tax directly. The dollar has not 
matched the cow man. They have got to have what 
they call “popular demand,” and they are going after 
it in cold-blooded, selfish fashion. There is no prin¬ 
ciple about it—only a plain, brutal, false appeal to 
the pocket-book. They know what would follow the 
removal of the tax on colored oleo. The country 
would be flooded with it until thousands of butter 
makers were driven out of business, and then the 
price of oleo would be put up so as to pay an ex¬ 
orbitant profit. That is the way such things have al¬ 
ways been worked. We do not believe this new trick 
will work; at the sam time every dairyman or cow 
owner in the country must get ready for a fight. 
* 
Shortly after the New York Legislature meets it 
is planned to introduce a bill regulating the business 
of commission men. Last year the Collin bill was 
killed in the Assembly, but its successor this session 
will have a better chance. We know at least three 
old members who had this thing put up to them 
straight by their people. They have seen the light and 
will support a good bill. The sentiment for such a 
bill is stronger and better organized than last year. 
As for the necessity of legislation to compel the 
commission men to open their books and assume re¬ 
sponsibility, every shipper who sees his goods pass 
out of his hands understands that. Members of the 
Legislature from the large cities will mostly oppose 
such a bill because they favor the dealers. In order 
to pass the bill, therefore, we must influence every 
member from a rural county and make him under¬ 
stand the situation. The time to begin this work is 
right now. 
* 
The following contribution to the “consumer’s 
dollar” discussion is reported from the Syracuse, 
N. Y., Journal: 
Nine cents a pound for the best cuts of beef, including 
porterhouse, isirloin or any other cut, was what patrons 
of the North Side Market obtained meat for this morning. 
F. B. Morley, who bought six carcasses of fine young beef 
here Thursday, says he found himself confronted with a 
combine among dealers, which makes it impossible for a 
farmer to sell his beef. lie says his men went about the 
city trying to sell the meat, but found it impossible on 
account of the prices offered, three cents a pound being 
the most they could get. He then determined to give the 
people the advantage of his stock. Bright and early this 
morning he appeared on the market with his meat, saws 
and knives ready. Upon announcing that any cut could 
be had from four to nine cents a pound, he nearly created 
a panic. People crowded around his wagon as thick as 
bees, and his helper and himself were unable to carve 
fast enough. Many poor people are patrons of the North 
Side Market, and there will undoubtedly be many happy 
homes to-night in the poorer sections, when a tired hus¬ 
band conies home to find a delicious steak on the table 
to appease his appetite whereas he expected only a potato 
and piece of cheap meat. 
Most Eastern farmers who try to sell that quan¬ 
tity of meat find that local butchers are shy when it 
comes to buying. The reason some of them give us 
in private is that they are obliged to depend on the 
meat trust for supplies, and they are held up strictly 
against making local purchases. If the average 
butcher were to patronize farmers to any great ex¬ 
tent he would be put to inconvenience and loss, for 
sooner or later he would be obliged to buy from the 
trust. In old days farmers could deal with local 
butchers to good adantage—'now the trust demands 
the privilege of both buying and selling at their own 
terms. Over 20 years ago The R. N.-Y. pointed out 
clearly the tendency to squeeze out the local meat 
business in New York. The experience in Syracuse 
shows one way of working wherever there is a pub¬ 
lic market. Farmers cannot wait for Congress to 
pass “laws” to shut off this extortion—they must 
make a few business laws of their own. 
BREVITIES. 
England imports each year about 10.000,000 eoeoanuts. 
A Georgia man sent President Taft a giant yam weigh- ■ 
ing 35 pounds ; it was three feet 10 inches in circumference. 
One effect of the Chinese rebellion is a total stoppage 
in the export of towels from Japan. Why men who start 
in to clean up a government should quit using towels is 
too much for us. 
A feature of The R. N.-Y. for next year will he a 
department on spraying. This operation has now become 
one of the four vital things in fruit growing. We shall 
discuss it in a practical way in all details. 
The “Thirty Cent Egg Club” has been started in Cleve¬ 
land by a group of heroes who say they will abstain 
from eggs until the price looks like 30 cents. It is said 
that 25,000 people have joined the movement. While this 
crusade may afflict the cold storage middlemen, we doubt 
its effect on the unterrifled business hen. 
