THE RUK.A.L, NEW-YORKER 
607 
1912. 
LARGE PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 
[Editor's Note.—U nder this heading we intend to 
have discussed questions which particularly interets 
country people. We do not agree with all that our 
correspondents say, but we shall give men and women 
who possess the courage of conviction an opportunity ot 
say what they think about certain tilings which interest 
country people]. 
THE NEXT PRESIDENT. 
l'ou have asked your readers who they 
want for President for the next four years. 
If it be a fair question who is The 
K. N.-Y.’s choice? c. w. layfield. 
Maryland. 
That is a fair question certainly. We at 
once organized a secret ballot among the 
men of voting age who help make The 
r. N.-Y. This includes the editors, pub¬ 
lishers, business men, subscription and mail¬ 
ing departments and printers. Each took 
a slip and marked the name of the Presi¬ 
dential candidate he favored, perfectly free 
in his choice. Here is the result: 
Taft . 12 
Clark . 11 
Roosevelt . 7 
Socialist . 5 
Wilson . 1 
Harmon . 1 
Hughes . 1 
Prohibition . 1 
Total . 39 
We then took another ballot of the women 
employees—including all departments as be¬ 
fore—each free to express her choice in her 
own way. This gave the following. These 
women are all wage earners and bread win¬ 
ners, and each, without question, represents 
some actual voter. 
Taft . 11 
Roosevelt . 10 
Wilson . 3 
Clark . 2 
Gaynor . 1 
Socialist . 1 
Total . 28 
These people live in the city or in nearby 
towns and will be ranked as consumers. 
The outcome of these ballots, is, we be¬ 
lieve fairly typical of what would be found 
in most city business or manufacturing 
houses. In the country Mr. Roosevelt is a 
two to one favorite among the Republicans. 
In the city it appears that Mr. Taft leads. 
Farmers, or most of them, oppose Mr. Taft 
because of his record on cansdtsn reci¬ 
procity. On the other hand, many city 
voters support him for the same reason, 
since they believe that free trade with 
Canada would give them cheaper food. This 
is an element of strength for Mr. Taft 
which many of our farmers have not con¬ 
sidered. In the country, at least at the 
East. Mr. Bryan or Mr. Wilson are favor¬ 
ites for the Democratic nomination. Some 
of our people wonder why Mr. Clark is 
so popular with city Democrats. It is 
largely because an influential paper which 
workmen read is advocating Mr. Clark’s 
nomination. There can be no use denying 
the fact that Socialism has become a serious 
factor iu American politics. Should both 
the old party candidates be unpopular 
there will be an enormous Socialist vote. 
A Discussion of Candidates. 
You ask us to express briefly our views 
of the presidential candidates. I hold Mr. 
Taft to be an honest man, and that is the 
mischief of it. Six months after pledging 
himself to a platform for a lowered tariff 
he honestly vetoed a bill to that effect, 
signing the Aldrich bill, which positively 
raised tariff rates. He signed one Statehood 
bill, but vetoed another, not because it 
failed to be republican in form and so failed 
to accord with the Constitution of the 
United States, but because it did not ac¬ 
cord with his own personal views of the 
judiciary. Should he carry this principle 
through all of his four years he would 
make the whole of our legislation accord 
with his personal opinion, without other 
test. 
As for Mr. Roosevelt, he is noisy in his 
methods, but an honest study of his career 
will prove him to have been progressive 
in his mental processes. Ilis views of the 
judiciary are identical with those of Jeffer¬ 
son. Our history shows that from the 
packing of juries by Federal judges down 
to the Dred Scott Decision and the de¬ 
struction of the income tax, all by the 
Supreme Court, the danger to popular gov¬ 
ernment lias been from our courts rather 
than from our legislative or executive de¬ 
partments. As for a third term, we can 
hardly claim that it was Mr. Roosevelt’s 
first term while acting as substitute for 
Mr. McKinley. 
As for Mr. Wilson, I can see no objection 
excepting a possible pedantry, owing to his 
life among scholars and books. Ho has, 
however, been notable for his study of 
constitutional government, and his admin¬ 
istrative work at Princeton has been favor¬ 
able. He is a sanely progressive man, and 
the fact that Mr. Bryan endorses him re¬ 
calls the fact that apart from his silver 
platform Mr. Bryan has himself proved to 
be a very conservative leader. 
As for Mr. Underwood, no American 
statesman of recent date has displayed a 
more careful and at the same time forward- 
looking temperament, nor has anyone else 
been tested so satisfactorily as to his execu¬ 
tive ability as this Southerner. In this 
last word is the only possible objection to 
his nomination and election. He would 
make a President unsurpassed in his ad¬ 
hesion to the right, and his determination 
to keep the country in pace with essential 
progress. We owe to him the recent action 
to reinstate the income tax, and we know 
him to be reliable on postal reform and 
pension legislation. He would not turn the 
government into a machine to secure re- 
election. 
As to Mr. Harmon, it is claimed that lie 
is an old line Democrat; so was Mr. 
Buchanan. Mr. Clark could hardly be sur¬ 
passed in the position which he now holds; 
I see no reason why he should not continue 
to hold it. 
There are two tickets that seem to me 
would have, remarkable strength, and either 
one of which might rally the votes of 
honest Americans. The first of these would 
be Theodore Roosevelt and Robert La Fol- 
lette. The second would bo Woodrow Wil¬ 
son and Oscar Underwood. What we need 
is a people’s platform, propounded to each 
candidate, and by which our votes shall be 
cast. Among the planks of this platform 
should be parcels post, income tax, reduc¬ 
tion of tariff, army and navy on a peace 
basis, election of Senators by the people, 
control of trusts, recall of infamous judges, 
and whatever else the people in their ex¬ 
ercise of common sense and sovereignty, 
shall demand. After the parties, as parties 
have acted, why shall not the people as 
American citizens hold a convention? 
New York. e. p. p. 
First Note from a Woman Voter. 
Though I should have been upholding 
good government with my vote for, lo, 
these many years, yet owing to the tyranny 
of the majority and the powers of vice, 
always allied therewith, my first vote will 
be cast at the Presidential primary in 
California next month. However, I am 
indeed rejoiced to have so safe, sane and 
altogether ideal a candidate as William 
Howard Taft for whom.to cast that first 
vote. As to Roosevelt, even in the days 
long past, when we admired him for his 
strong Americanism, wo could not help 
seeing that his every move was a pose for 
popularity. Since then his ambition has 
Indeed waxed strong on what It has fed 
and dominated the fine traits of his char¬ 
acter until he has thrown friendship, 
veracity and the honorable traditions of his 
country ‘'into the ring" along with his hat, 
that he may keep in the eye of the public 
and hear its handclappings. Although a 
life-long Republican in principles, should 
Roosevelt be nominated by the Republicans 
at Chicago. I shall feel that the time has 
come to vote the Democratic ticket. 
California, was. mary kusseel james. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—The bursting of the Mine- 
ville dam of the Witherbee-Sherman Com¬ 
pany in Essex County, N. Y., April 23, 
emptied a lake two miles long and half a 
mile wide upon the villages of Moriah 
Centre and Witherbee, which were devas¬ 
tated. Fifty-six families were made home¬ 
less, and property damage of more than 
$100,000 was caused. 
Twenty-nine persons were injured, one 
of them, James Davis, perhaps fatally, when 
a wind storm struck a Union Pacific pas¬ 
senger train a mile west of North Loup, 
Neb., April 25. The entire train, the en¬ 
gine excepted, was blown from the track, 
and all the cars were overturned. A mile 
of telegraph line was blown down, cutting 
off direct communication with large cities 
for several hours. 
April 20 the town of Locke, N. l r „ was 
visited by a disastrous fire, which caused 
$75,000 damage; the same day fire at 
Brunswick, Me., destroyed 50 residences, 
two churches and the coal sheds, carpen¬ 
ter shop and other buildings of the Maine 
Central Railroad and caused loss esti¬ 
mated at $250,000. Former homes of the 
poet Longfellow and of Harriet Beecher 
Stowe were saved with difficulty. 
April 26. at Broken Bow. Neb.. 12 child¬ 
ren, a teacher and a little country school 
house were picked up bodily by a tornado, 
carried, half a mile and gently deposited 
in the center of a big wheat field. April 
27 Southwestern Oklahoma and a part of 
the Texas Panhandle was swept by cyclones, 
which caused the death of 41 persons, in¬ 
juries to about 100 more and a heavy 
property loss. 
The Commercial steamer Maeka.v-Bennett 
arrived at Halifax April 30 with 190 bodies 
of victims of the Titanic disaster. Of 
these 130 had been identified, including 
those of John Jacob Astor and Isidor 
Straus. The steamship’s crew had picked 
up 116 other bodies, almost all those of 
members of the Titanic’s crew, which, how¬ 
ever, had been buried at sea. Of these 57 
had been identified before burial. The 
cable ship Minia reported that she had 
recovered 14 bodies, adding that there was 
little hope of any additional bodies being 
found, owing to the drift of the Gulf 
Stream carrying wreckage and bodies far 
to the eastward. It is believed that a 
large proportion of the bodies went down 
in the ship. There were few women’s bod¬ 
ies recovered. All seen, except one baby, 
had on life preservers. The total number 
lost was 1,494; total bodies not recovered 
1,174. More lifeboats on transatlantic 
liners, an equipment of rafts that auto¬ 
matically would float clear of a sinking 
ship and the construction of great pas¬ 
senger steamers with double hulls and ex¬ 
tended water-tight compartments were re¬ 
forms, it was indicated before the Senate 
committee investigating the Titanic dis¬ 
aster, that would follow in the immediate 
future. The American fund for Titanic 
sufferers amounted April 30 to $111,580; 
the Lord Mayor’s fund in London to $935,- 
000 . 
FARM AND GARDEN—The annual 
meeting of the American Guernsey Cattle 
(Tub will be held at the Hotel imperial, 
Broadway and 31st street, New York City. 
Tuesday, May 14, 4 p. m., special business 
meeting of the N. Y. State Guernsey Breed¬ 
ers’ Association. 6.30 p. m. Tables will 
be reserved for dinner for all who notify 
the secretary prior to May 11, thus securing 
a social time. Rooms will also be reserved 
at the hotel by notifying the secretary or 
the hotel direct. 8 p. m. In co-operation 
with the N. Y. Guernsey Breeders’ Asso¬ 
ciation there will be a general meeting of 
Guernsey breeders for a conference and dis¬ 
cussion of matters relating to the Guernsey. 
At the same time Prof. F. W. Woll of Wis¬ 
consin will give an address on Advanced 
Registry Work. .The evening will afford 
an opportunity for breeders to meet, and 
exchange experience and discuss matters of 
interest. Wednesday, May 15. 10.30 a. m., 
annual meeting of the American Guernsey 
Cattle Club. 
The Connecticut Agricultural College will 
hold the eleventh annual session of its Sum¬ 
mer School July 2-.Tuly 27. 1912. Courses 
are offered in bird and insect study, bot¬ 
any, fruit culture, vegetable gardening, 
horticulture, landscape gardening, soils, 
farm crops, practical cooking, rural econo¬ 
mics, special four-weeks’ courses in prac¬ 
tical poultry husbandry and sanitary milk 
testing, and courses in methods of teach¬ 
ing. and in elementary agriculture, with 
a model country school showing how agri¬ 
culture may be actually taught in the 
schools. Those desiring illustrated cata¬ 
logue or more detailed information may 
address the President of the Connecticut 
Agricultural College, Storrs, Conn. 
THE PARCELS-POST “ LEMON.” 
On April 29 the post office bill passed 
in committee of the House. We are handed 
a lemon as I predicted. The general rate 
is reduced to 12 cents a pound which is of 
no account, and the weight limit is raised 
to 11 pounds. The rural parcels post is 
excellent, five cents for a pound and one 
cent for each additional pound up to 11 
pounds. That will be of much benefit to 
our farmers, but will not move much of the 
produce of the farm. The bill now pro¬ 
vides for a committee, not a commission, 
of three from the House and three from 
the Senate to study parcels post, parcels 
express, and to bring in a bill December 
1. All sorts of amendments were offered 
and voted down, some of them by very 
close margins. One of them was practically 
the new Bourne bill introduced April 29 
in the Senate. The vote on that was 72 
for and 73 against. The Sulzer amend¬ 
ment was very close also, it providing 
for an eight-cent rate all over the United 
States. I have been present during most 
of the debates and can say that this sub¬ 
ject has been most interesting. There is 
a majority in favor of taking over the 
whole express business if it could be se¬ 
cured at a fair price, but there is no telling 
what the courts would allow the express 
companies for their property, so the House 
balked at it. Again, there must be a big 
reduction in mail pay before any general 
low rate parcels post of any kind is work¬ 
able. The rural post can be workable at 
once, but the railway mail pay stands in 
the way of any satisfactory general par¬ 
cels post. It was admitted by many mem¬ 
bers on the floor that they had been bom¬ 
barded by letters from their constituents 
as never before, and were in favor of doing 
something, but) it was too big a proposition 
to settle at this time. So it is to be put 
over till the December session. The debates 
showed much study by the House, but not 
enough for a correct solution. The vote 
bv the whole House came May 2, and 
there was a vote on general parcels post 
and postal express, but it was quite certain 
that the vote would be the same as in 
committee. The Senate would not accept 
such a radical proposition as a postal 
express, so there is no likelihood of any¬ 
thing more than foreshadowed by April 
29 vote. It is the best we can get at 
present. Before December the Interstate 
Commerce Commission will clear the situa¬ 
tion somewhat by their decision on the ex¬ 
press case. The subject will not down and 
we may hope for a solution at the next 
session. The vote was not along party 
lines. F. N. C. 
FRUIT NOTES. 
Peaches not extensively grown here, but 
all buds killed on what there is. A good 
deal of damage to wood on old trees. 
Cherries seem to be budding full; plums, 
pears and quinces also. Too early for judg¬ 
ment on apples. Tender varieties of grapes 
were injured severely, but Concord, the 
main crop, seem to be all right. Red rasp¬ 
berries are looking fine. It is too early to 
tell percentage of grape crop as well as 
apples. c. c. IIOUTON. 
Chautauqua Co., N. l r . 
With a range of from 16 to 22 degrees 
below zero the past Winter, it hardly seems 
possible that any peach buds could be left 
capable of producing any part of a crop. 
However, close along Lake Michigan and iu 
some few other spots there appears to be 
quite a showing of Salways and other of 
the hardy kinds. But for all that. Michi¬ 
gan’s peach crop this year will not be suffi¬ 
cient to glut very many markets at any 
time this coming season.* Many of the 
young trees show considerable injury and 
much dead wood will have to be cut out. 
Apples show up very well just now, and 
in this banner apple section <of Michigan 
our growers are planning on a fine crop. 
Of course the strawberries were so covered 
with snow that they will be all right, but 
cane fruits were killed down to the snow 
line. Cherries look very promising in some 
sections. C. E. BASSETT. 
Sec. Mich. Hort. Society. 
From what I have observed in our neigh¬ 
borhood, including my own prospects, I 
predict a very light crop of both apples 
and peaches. Several varieties of apples 
have only a very few buds, while some 
few others have a fair sprinkling. I find 
some other varieties without buds that have 
never failed before. There is no doubt that 
peaches were severely injured by the ex¬ 
treme cold weather. I have some Miss 
Lolo and Fox’s Seedling. Other varieties 
have very few indeed. Iron Mountain and 
Elberta have none at all worth mention¬ 
ing. Some neighboring peach orchards 
have a fair set of buds, while others have 
only a very few indeed. Strange to say, 
what buds are alive are on the tops of the 
trees. I am not able to say positively 
whether the cold Winter Is the cause of my 
light set of apple buds or not. I have had 
two very large crops, and one could not 
expect another full one again this year. 
Middlesex Co., N. .1. j. ii. Barclay. 
Peaches are apparently all killed. I have 
only found one live bud this season. The 
wood is darkened badly. However, the 
same was true after the bad Winter of 
1903 and 1904, yet the trees seemed to re¬ 
cover fully during first season. Plums are 
not largely grown in this section; the trees 
of all kinds are showing an abundance of 
blossom buds, and promise well. There 
does not appear to be any injury to wood 
or bud. Apples and pears do not promise 
as heavy bloom as last year, yet some or¬ 
chards promise to bloom very full, and with 
the exception of a goodly amount of sun- 
scald on young trees, trees and buds are 
strong and starting fine. Bush fruits and 
cherries promise a very heavy bloom, and 
are in fine condition. Cane fruits are not 
so promising, as the canes, with few ex¬ 
ceptions, are badly scalded on the south 
side, in many cases so badly that no buds 
are alive on the south side of canes. Straw¬ 
berries, where covered, have wintered well. 
Grape wood is in good shape, but buds 
have not started vet. w. h. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. 
The peach crop In Illinois has gone glim¬ 
mering for this year, the buds being des¬ 
troyed by the cold Winter. In some in¬ 
stances trees also are damaged, but as a 
rule peach trees are in good condition. 
Cherries were slightly injured, but there 
will be a fair crop in southern and central 
Illinois. The pear buds were somewhat 
damaged in central Illinois, and more so in 
the northern part: of the State. There will 
be a good crop of pears in southern Illi¬ 
nois. Kieffer and Duchess are the principal 
varieties grown. The heavy crop of apples 
in northern and central Illinois will not be 
repeated this year; owing to the drought 
last Summer and the heavy crop, trees did 
not produce fruit buds. The latter are 
rather scarce on nearly all varieties. In 
southern Illinois, which is the fruit section 
of the State, the prospects are fine except 
on a few varieties upon which the fruit 
buds are rather scarce. Among these va¬ 
rieties are Jonathan. Ben Davis, Winesap 
and Rome Beauty have plenty of buds in 
most orchards. At the time of this writ¬ 
ing apples are just coming into bloom in 
that section of the State where the large 
orchards are, viz., Clay, Richland, Wayne 
and Marion Counties. This is the latest 
blooming within a period of 10 years. 
Spraying has been more extensively carried 
on this year than ever before; if the crop 
is good this year many more orchards will 
be sprayed in 1913, as many owners of 
orchards are just beginning to realize that 
spraying is essential to apple production. 
Illinois. h. ai. dunlap. 
BOSTON MARKETS. 
Potatoes are in good supply, especially 
foreign sorts, which sell little lower than 
native, but prices hold firm. Maine stock 
not plenty, and sells at about $3 per two 
bushel bag. Florida and Bermuda new 
stock goes at $7.50 to $8 per barrel, For¬ 
eign, $2.65 to $2.85 per barrel; sweets, 
$2 to $2.25 per basket. Turnips short 
and high; rutabagas $2 per barrel, white 
$2.75 per barrel; white egg turnips, $1.25 
per box, purple top, 75 cents to $1 per 
box. Beets, $1 to $1.25 per box. Hot¬ 
house, $1.50 per dozen bunches; carrots, 
$1.25 to $1.50 per box, new, 75 cents per 
dozen bunches. Parsnips, $2 to $2.50 
per box. Onions more plenty ,as Egyptian 
and Texas stock is coming iu, which with 
Cuban and Spanish make ample supply 
and prices are and will tend lower. Egyp¬ 
tian $3.50 per two-bushel bag ; Texas, $3.25 
per crate; Cuban and Spanish, $3 to $4 
per large crate. Squash, $20 to $30 per 
ton for Turban and Hubbard. Cabbage, 
native, $3 and $3.50 per barrel; southern, 
$3.75 to $4.50 per crate. Asparagus, N. 
J., $4.50 and $5 per dozen bunches, Cali¬ 
fornia, $3.50 and $4 per dozen. String 
beans, wax, $2 to $2.50 per crate; celery, 
from Florida, $1.25 per dozen. Cucumbers, 
$3 to $7 per 100; southern spinach and 
kale, $1.75 and $1 per barrel. Native 
dandelions, 85 cents and $1 per box; beet 
greens, $1.25 per box; lettuce, $1 and 
$1.50. Tomatoes, native hothouse, 40 to 
60 cents per pound; southern, $2.50 and 
$3.50 a crate. Native rhubarb, six and 
eight cents per pound. Apples not so 
plenty and prices good, best Baldwins going 
at $5.50 to $6 per barrel; No. 1 $5 and 
No. 2, $3.50 to $4. Russets, $3.50 to $5 
per barrel. Fancy Spy, $6 and $7 per 
barrel; box apples, $2 ; western up to $3.50. 
Cranberries, $12 per barrel. Best Florida 
strawberries, 28 and 30 cents per box; 
other southern berries 15 to 25 cents; a 
few Carolinas at 45 cents for fancy ones. 
Maple sugar and syrup coming in, the 
former sells at 10 to 15 cents per pound, 
the latter S5 cents to $1 per gallon. 
Eggs coming thick and going into stor¬ 
age, which keeps prices about same at 25 
and 26 cents per dozen for best, 24 and 
25 cents for good fresh, and 23 for western. 
Butter a little lower, more iu expectation 
than actual supplies. Best Vermont, 35 
cents and Western. 34 cents per pound; 
good, 32 cents, cooking, 28 cents. Cheese, 
short and prices well up; best sage, 21 
cents; cream, IS and 19 cents and skims, 
14 and 15 cents per pound. Live poultry 
in demand at 16 cents per pound for hens, 
11 for roosters. Dressed poultry easier, 
18 and 19 cents per pound, good grades 
and roasters, others 16 and 17 cents, 
broilers, 40 and 45 cents; turkeys, 21 and 
23 cents; ducks, 26 and 28 cents. Hogs 
higher at 9% cents per pound dressed, 
with about one cent per pound advance 
on all pork products. Live hogs about 
seven cents, with good supply coming in. 
Veal, best dressed, 13 cents, common 10. 
Lamb is high at 15 and 16 cents for 
Spring and 14 and 15 for Winter, per 
pound; yearling 12% cents. Beef firm at 
good prices; best, 12% cents per pound 
for sides, common, 10 to 11; hindquarters, 
14 and 15; fores, nine and 10; second 
grades, hinds, 12 and 13, fores, eight to 
nine cents per pound. Cow beef, 9% to 
10 cents for good. Live beef 7% for best, 
other grades, six, five and down to 2% 
cents per pound, according to condition and 
quality. 
Best horse hay, $28. $29 and $31 per 
ton; other grades, $27.50 down to $22. 
Corn and cornmeal, $1.70 per 100 pounds; 
oats, 64 to 67 cents per bushel. Bran, 
$29.50 to $31 per ton; mixed feed, $30.50 
to $32.50 per ton. Cotton-seed meal, 
$33.50 for best per ton; linseed, $39 per 
ton. Stock feed, $33.50 per ton ; gluten, 
$30 per ton. Wheat and corn are on the 
raise, and the latter will perhaps reach 
the $1 per bushel mark. Locally many 
had to buy hay at from $12 to $25 per 
ton for several months this Winter, and 
with retail grain prices at present level 
no possible profit could be made on milk for 
wholesale trade. The only possible reason 
for feeding grain at all in April was to 
keep the cows in good flow until grass 
time, as if they are allowed to •shrink 
at this time they will not come back 
until the next calving. a. e. p. 
Hopkinton, Mass. 
Good horses are valued from $200 to 
$300; good cows, $40 to $50; pigs, four 
weeks old. $3; calves, per 100, $7.50. 
Hay in the barn, $12 to $14; oats, per 
bushel. 60 cents; corn, per bushel, 75 to 
80 cents; eggs, fresh, per dozen, 20 to 
22 cents; butter, per pound, 28 to 30 cents; 
milk, per quart, six to seven cents. Hard¬ 
wood. dry, $5.50 to $5.75; hardwood, green, 
$6 to $6.50; timber iu logs, per 1,000. $10 
to $15. j. j. c. 
Dryden, Me. 
