1912. 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
875 
LARGE PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 
[Editor’s Note. —Under this heading we intend to 
have discussed questions which particularly interest 
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 to 
say what they think about certain things which interest 
country people]. 
MR. ROOSEVELT ON “ THE FARMER.” 
From “ Confessions of Faith.” 
There is no body of our people whose 
interests are more inextricably iutenvovuen 
with the interests of all the people than is 
the ease with the farmers. The Country 
Life Commission should be revived with 
greatly increased powers; its abandonment 
was a severe blow to the interests of our 
people. The welfare of the farmer is a basic 
need of this nation. It is the men from the 
farm who in the past have taken the lead 
in every great movement within fnis nation, 
whether in time of war or in time of peace, 
It is well to have our cities prosper, but it 
is not well if they prosper at the expense 
of the country. I am glad to say that in 
many sections of our country there has been 
an extraordinary revival of recent years in 
intelligent interest in and work for those 
who live in the open country. In this 
movement the lead must be taken by the 
farmers themselves; but our people as a 
whole, through their governmental agen¬ 
cies, should back the farmers. Everything 
possible should be done to better the econ¬ 
omic condition of the farmer and also to 
increase the social value of the life of the 
farmer, the farmer’s wife, and their chil¬ 
dren. The burdens of labor and loneliness 
bear heavily on the women in the country ; 
their welfare should be the especial concern 
of all of us. Everything possible should 
be done to make life in the country profit¬ 
able so as to be attractive from the econ¬ 
omic standpoint and also to give an outlet 
among farming people for those forms of 
activity which now tend to make life in the 
cities especially desirable for ambitious men 
and women. There should be just the same 
chance to live as full, as well rounded and 
as highly useful lives in the country as in 
the city. 
The Government must cooperate with the 
farmer to make the farm more productive. 
There must be no skinning of the soil. 
The farm should be left to the farmer's 
son in better, and not worse, condition be¬ 
cause of its cultivation. Moreover, every 
invention and improvement, every discov¬ 
ery and economy, should be at the service 
of the farmer in the work of production; 
and. in addition, he should be helped to co¬ 
operate in business fashion with his fellows, 
so that the money paid by the consumer for 
the product of the soil shall to as large a 
degree as possible go into the pockets of 
the man who raised that product from the 
soil. So long as the farmer leaves coopera¬ 
tive activities with their profit sharing to 
the city man of business, so long will the 
foundations of wealth be undermined and 
the comforts of enlightenment be impos¬ 
sible in the country communities. In every 
respect this nation has to learn the les¬ 
sons of efficiency in production and distri¬ 
bution and of avoidance of waste and de¬ 
struction ; we must develop and improve in¬ 
stead of exhausting our resources. It is 
entirely possible by improvement in pro¬ 
duction in the avoidance of waste and in 
business methods on the part of the farm¬ 
er to give him an increased income from 
his farm while at the same time reducing 
to the consumer the price of the articles 
raised on the farm. Important although 
education is everywhere, it has a special 
importance in the country. The country 
school must fit the country life; in the 
country, as elsewhere, education must be 
hitched up with life. The country church 
and the country Young Men’s and Young 
Women’s Christian Associations have great 
parts to play. The farmers must own and 
work their own land : steps must be taken 
at once to put a stop to the tendency 
toward absentee landlordism and tenant 
farming; this is one of the most impera¬ 
tive duties confronting the nation. The 
question of rural banking and rural credits 
is also of immediate importance. 
THE SLAVERY OF DEBT. 
Last week we printed some figures show¬ 
ing how the small cotton growers in the 
South are held up for their working capital. 
The Southern man who furnished these 
figures now gives the following additional 
statement: 
“I doubt that much will be accomplished 
iu the overhauling of the financial system 
we at present are handicapped with; the 
most that can be hoped for is to give 
publicity to its abuses, and show where 
the keeping of the small farmer in a state of 
poverty is bad for the community. If he 
could, he would improve his place, make 
it more productive, put in better stock, in 
fact every cent he saved would be spent 
on improvements or comforts. lie would buy 
paints, lumber, fencing wire, good stock, 
clothing, books, pictures, send his children 
off to school. The money would be divided 
out iu all directions to the benefit of the 
whole community and all business; the 
amount to be distributed each season in¬ 
creasing. Our financial system will disap¬ 
pear through causes other than legislation, 
and one agency will be the pressure of ex¬ 
cessive interest will be so great that the 
small man cannot stand it: one will aban¬ 
don cotton one season in desperation and 
despair, try to live at home and try some¬ 
thing else, and have a full pantry and 
crib, a little money and no debts, a most 
unusual condition. He will have the line 
blazed for him. and several years will show 
his neighbors where he has bettered his 
condition. This very thing is happening 
right now from what little I can learn. It 
will of course take time to become a large 
factor, however the effects are being felt, 
and less cotton is 'being factored here each 
year. Undoubtedly conditions will event¬ 
ually be corrected: the pendulum will 
swing back again, but whether it will work 
out slowly of itself, whether the Govern¬ 
ment can and will offer a reasonable 
method, or whether the pressure will grow 
too great and the oppressed will compel 
correction, can only be conjectured. Laws 
will not do the work, for we have plenty 
of good ones which correct the evil and 
send offenders to the penitentiary as fel¬ 
ons. They are not enforced by the 
State, and the poor men have not the 
fee to give a lawyer or the courts. A court 
.without fees but with power, where the 
poor could appeal, would, I believe, go a 
long way toward correction. Laws, like 
blue-rocks, are usually made to be broken 
for amusement or profit.” 
THE “ JOKER” IN LEGISLATION. 
I am just reading your editorial on page 
834 replying to challenge: “What Republi- 
can legislation do you want repealed?” Y'ou 
rang the bull’s-eye. “Jokers” are the curse 
of legislation. A legislator with all the 
appearance of sincerity and honesty can 
and does outrageously deceive the people 
by clever and adroit juggling. Here is one 
case iu point. As you know, Connecticut is 
corrupt and contented. Vast sums of 
money are spent in State campaigns. The 
people became angry a few years ago, and 
demanded laws to limit expenditures. The 
last Legislature gave them one. It may be 
found on pages 186-188 of the Public Acts. 
It is entitled “An act concerning Corrupt 
Practices at Elections. Caucuses and Primar¬ 
ies.” It is a fine thing to read. Corpora¬ 
tions are prohibited from contributing to 
campaign funds. Candidates are restricted 
in use of money to most economical propor¬ 
tions. A number of things are declared il¬ 
legal that the people wanted outlawed. It 
is a refreshing thing to read. But— there 
is no penalty of any sort provided for ignor¬ 
ing it. There is where the politician got 
in his fine work. The law as it stands is 
a ghastly farce. Yet the politician who 
thinks you are innocent will tell you Con¬ 
necticut has an admirable Corrupt Practice 
act. One told me just that a day or two 
ago, and laughed when I asked him why it 
was born without teeth. 
Such hypocrisy as that is not accidental. 
Such exasperating experiences as this can be 
multiplied by thousands. Do you suppose 
that I love the political gold-brick artists 
who do these things? I am with The II. 
N.-l'. We want, and will got. honest legis¬ 
lation and the kind that will benefit the 
people as a whole, farmers and workers 
and all the rest, except a handful of selfish 
swindlers, political and commercial. But 
we can never get what we need through 
blind, unreasoning fealty, amounting to 
superstition, to “our party.” My advice is: 
“Support and vote for those men only whom 
you know to be absolutely devoted to the 
public interests for tin* good of all the 
people, and throw party labels into the 
sewer, compelling the party practical poli¬ 
ticians to swim after them.” w. h. m. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—George, John A. and 
Thomas Nevins, real estate dealers, were 
arrested July 30 at New York on the charge 
of swindling James Cunningham. Cunning¬ 
ham alleged that he had read an advertise¬ 
ment of the Nevins brothers offering a 
house and lot in Bcrgenfield, N. .1.. for $895. 
He said he had paid them $65 iu cash in 
payments on the property, and was shown 
a house and lot in Bergenfield said to be a 
“sample” of what he would get. He later 
said that he discovered that the house 
pump was only a pipe driven a few feet 
into the ground, that the gas fixtures were 
not connected with the mains and that 
there were no sewage connections. When 
lie examined the contract, he said, all men¬ 
tion of a house was left out, although if 
had been in the original paper. lie asked 
for the return of his money and this was 
refused. Then he sought the service of the 
District Attorney. 
William A. Hutson, president of the So¬ 
ciety of Aeronautic Engineers, which con¬ 
ducted a school in Philadelphia that pro¬ 
fessed to teach aviation, was held in bail 
for trial July 31, by a United States Com¬ 
missioner on a charge of using the mail's 
to defraud in connection with securing pu¬ 
pils for his school. Lieutenant Holden C. 
Richardson, United States Navy, who is fa¬ 
miliar with air craft, was one of the wit¬ 
nesses. Ho testified that apparently Hutson 
“knew nothing of designing airships.” The 
school in its circulars sent through the 
mails is said to have claimed to be able 
to teach aviation as well as the art of 
building air machines. Several “students” 
of the school, which was formerly located 
in New York, also testified against the de¬ 
fendant. 
Following out plans for a country-wide 
campaign against the bubonic plague, Sur¬ 
geon General Blue, August 1, assigned five 
additional experts to various ports where 
the disease has been indicated. Since the 
discovery of the first case of plague in the 
West Indies, the surgeon general's office has 
received reports of 46 suspicious cases and 
23 deaths. 
Fire which started late at night August 
1 destroyed the plant of the Federal Coop¬ 
erage Company and a warehouse of the 
Waring Hat Manufacturing Company, in 
Yonkers. The damage is placed at $150,000. 
Traffic on the New York Central Railroad 
was blocked by hose stretched across the 
tracks. One of the trains was the Empire 
State Express, southbound. Passengers on 
this train continued their journey to New 
York in automobiles, cabs and by trolley 
and subway. 
The report of the National Highway Pro¬ 
tective Society of persons killed and in¬ 
jured by vehicular traffic in the streets of 
New York for the month of July. 1912, 
shows that 52 were killed and 259 seriously 
injured, the numbers tallying closely with 
the number killed and injured by similar 
vehicles for the corresponding month last 
year. During the month of July, 1012. 
automobiles killed 21 and seriously injured 
IPS; trolleys killed 12 and injured 60; 
wagons. 19 killed and 31 injured. During 
July, 1912. in the streets and highways of 
New York State, exclusive of New York 
City. 31 persons were killed and 227 in¬ 
jured seriously, automobiles being responsi¬ 
ble for the death of 24 and the injury of 
157. For the corresponding period last 
year automobiles killed 17 and injured 155. 
An indictment charging manslaughter in 
the second degree against George Noback, 
chauffeur for Bussell W. Stuart, was handed 
up to Judge Mulqueen, in General Sessions. 
New York. August 2. Noback was driving 
Mr. Stuart’s car on June 23 when it struck 
the automobile of Alfred L. Seligman, caus¬ 
ing Seligman’s death. He is under $2,500 
bail fixed by Coroner Feinberg. This was 
the first indictment for homicide fol¬ 
lowing an automobile accident since Ed¬ 
ward T. Rosenheimer was acquitted of 
a charge of murder in November. 1910. 
Since that time there have been sohie 
arrests and many more summonses served 
on drivers whose cars had killed peo¬ 
ple. In every case where the police held 
any one responsible the Coroner has held the 
man for the grand jury. The grand juries, 
however, have failed to find indictments. 
Caleb Winters was killed, R. II. Lyle and 
Jacob Dooly were stunned and 20 other em¬ 
ployees were prostrated when lightning 
struck the new plant of the New York 
Phosphate Mining Company at Savannah, 
Ga., August 2. The bolt entered the build¬ 
ing through the roof, split a heavy truss 
supporting the roofwork and followed a zig¬ 
zag course through the building. 
Stefan Dabrowsky, who appealed to Vic¬ 
tor Berger, the Socialist Representative, to 
rescue him from Siberia, cannot be helped 
by the United States. Representative Ber¬ 
ger interested President Taft in the case, 
but it was found that as Dabrowsky had 
lived iu Russia more than two years since 
he became a naturalized American he had 
no claim to protection by this government. 
Secretary Knox could find no parallel with 
the case of Kate Malecka, an English 
woman, whose release from Russia the Brit¬ 
ish government obtained on the grounds of 
“dual nationality.” 
Rain turned to snow at New Castle, Pa., 
August 3, the flakes melting as fast as they 
touched the ground. Many persons wore 
overcoats. At Vrooman, Crawford countv, 
snow fell in sufficient quantity to whiten 
the roofs of buildings. The spectacle of 
an August snowstorm is without recorded 
precedent in that part of-the State. Nearly 
half an inch of snow fell at Lapeer. Mich., 
August 3. Some of the townspeople en¬ 
joyed the unusual sport of a snowball bat¬ 
tle in August. 
A specific denial of all charges of re¬ 
straint of trade, monopoly and unfair deal¬ 
ing is made in the answer of the Interna¬ 
tional Harvester Company to the suit be¬ 
gun in the federal court by the United 
States under the Sherman anti-trust law. 
The reply of the Harvester trust, filed Au¬ 
gust 5, alleges that prior to the forma¬ 
tion of the company, in 1902. the Har¬ 
vester business had been conducted in a 
wasteful manner, detrimental alike to manu¬ 
facturers, retail dealers and consumers, and 
that only the two largest manufacturers 
were operating at a profit. The Interna¬ 
tional Harvester Company, it is stated, was 
not an unlawful combination, but a new 
company with ample capital formed to se¬ 
cure large economies in the agricultural 
implement business by producing more 
cheaply the raw materials, by enlarging fa¬ 
cilities and correcting wasteful methods of 
distribution, by expanding the foreign trade 
and by better organized experimental and 
inspection departments. The company’s 
commercial power has been used not only 
for the benefit of its stockholders, but for 
the benefit of farmers and dealers and of 
its employees, and for the taking on of 
new lines of manufacture, with the result 
that trade has been fostered, not restrained, 
it is asserted. Any monopoly through pat¬ 
ents is denied on the ground that the basic 
patents on binders and mowers expired 
prior to 1902. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—What is said to 
be the first agricultural proclamation to 
be issued in the United States has been 
issued by the State of Virginia. The proc¬ 
lamation was issued by Governor W. H. 
Mann and calls on farmers to assemble at 
the various courthouses of the State on 
August 14 for the purpose of interchanging 
views upon the production of grass. 
The force of cattle inspectors at the 
Chicago packing plants has been doubled 
within the last few days, following the An¬ 
nouncement of the packers that the supply 
of cattle was shorter now than at any other 
date within the last decade. Carloads of 
cattle getting into Chicago from the ranges 
are carefully scrutinized for defective or 
tubercular animals. The recent exposure of 
conditions in one of the largest plants has 
resulted in the federal inspectors at that 
plant especially being on the alert, and the 
tenseness has spread to the entire packing 
district. Within two days at the beginning 
of August 1.500 animals have been turned 
back to shippers. 
August 6 grain-fed steers sold at Chicago 
for $10.10 per 100 pounds, and at Kansas 
City for $10. Reports of these high prices 
renewed the demand in Congress that an in¬ 
vestigation of the beef trust be held this 
season. Members of the Cooperative League 
in New York, an association formed for 
the purpose of selling goods to the poor at 
cost, is up in arms over what it terms 
the high-handed methods which the nifttt 
trust is using to close up its butcher shop 
at 1444 Boston road, the Bronx. Represen¬ 
tatives of the League said August 6 that 
not only had the trust refused to sell them 
meat at wholesale but it had gone so far 
as to threaten its agents who were trying 
to purchase stock for the store. 
It is within the last few years that vege¬ 
table producers have been able to avail 
themselves of the advantages of conven¬ 
tions such as have done so much for prog¬ 
ress in almost every line of business. Five 
years ago the Vegetable Growers’ Associa¬ 
tion of America held its first meeting in 
Ashtabula, Ohio. The next two meetings 
were held in Cleveland. Ohio, and Grand 
Rapids. Michigan, while the fourth was 
brought to Boston. These meetings have 
been all steadily increasing in interest and 
value. The attendance has been more and 
more representative of the different districts 
as well as the different branches of vege¬ 
table production. The meeting of 1912 
comes to Rochester, bringing within easy 
reach of New York growers an opportunity 
that has not before been theirs. The pro¬ 
gramme is to deal with such subjects as 
irrigation, plant breeding, greenhouse prob¬ 
lems, transportation, marketing and the cul¬ 
ture of the various vegetable crops. The 
meeting is to be held on September 4, 5 and 
6. the dates having been so arranged as to 
give an opportunity to see the gardens 
and greenhouses of Rochester when Fall 
marketing is at its height. The Monroe 
County Market Gardeners’ Association has 
taken charge of the exhibition to be held in 
connection with the convention and a splen¬ 
did show is being planned. Local growers 
will make the essential display, while or¬ 
ganizations from other New York producing 
centers are also to be represented. The New 
York State Vegetable Growers’ Association is 
planning an exhibit of vegetables as packed 
for market in different sections of this and 
neighboring States. The sessions of the as¬ 
sociation will lie held in Convention Hall, 
and headquarters are to lie at Powers Hotel 
where the annual banquet will be held on 
one of the evenings of the meeting. Per¬ 
haps the best feature of such a meeting is 
the personal contact of growers with one 
another. Many an advanced idea that has 
been thrashed out in conservation is taken 
back home to be put into practice for the 
improvement of methods and the increasing 
of profits. Further information, and pro¬ 
gramme, when issued,, may be secured from 
the secretary of the Vegetable Growers’ As¬ 
sociation of America, Mr. 8. W. Severance, 
508 Walker Building, Louisville Kentucky. 
WASHINGTON.—The extension of the 
Monroe Doctrine to cover foreign corpora¬ 
tions, as well as foreign governments, try¬ 
ing to secure on the American continents 
and of strategic importance for naval or 
military bases is recommended in a resolu¬ 
tion reported to the Senate July 31 from 
the Committee on Foreign Relations by Sen¬ 
ator Lodge. The resolution, which will 
probably be adopted by the Senate, recites 
that the United States could not see with¬ 
out grave concern the possession of a har¬ 
bor or any other place of strategic value 
pass into the hands of a foreign corpora¬ 
tion or association controlled by a foreign 
government. This recent further declar¬ 
ation of policy by the United States is the 
result of the Magdelena Bay incident. Sena¬ 
tor Lodge, in reporting the resolution, said 
that although it had been shown that Japan 
had nothing to do with the Japanese corpor¬ 
ation which was negotiating with Americans 
holding the Magdelena Bay concession, the 
incident had shown the possibility of such a 
situation arising in the future. The com¬ 
mittee. lie said, regarded the situation as 
an appropriate one for stating the policy 
of this government in order that foriegn 
corporations or associations might be for- 
warned. 
GOVERNMENT COTTON REPORT. 
The Crop Reporting Board gives the condi- 
tion of cotton on July 25 as 70.5 per cent of 
normal, as compared with 89.1 at the same 
date last year, and 75.5 in 1910. the 10- 
year average being 80.6. Comparisons by 
States follow : 
States. 
Julv 25, 
1912 
July 25, 
1911 Ten-yr. av. 
Virginia . 
. 85 
102 
83 
North Carolina... 
. 80 
87 
80 
South Carolina... 
. 75 
86 
SO 
Georgia . 
. 68 
95 
S2 
Florida . 
. 75 
95 
84 
Alabama . . . 
. 7f> 
94 
SO 
Mississippi . 
. 68 
86 
79 
Louisiana . 
. 76 
84 
78 
Texas .? .. . . 
. 84 
80 
SO 
Arkansas . 
. 74 
94 
K2 
Tennessee . 
. 71 
1)2 
84 
Missouri . 
. 75 
96 
85 
Oklahoma . 
. 80 
88 
82 
California . 
. 99 
99 
United States.. 
. 76.5 
89.1 
80.0 
CROPS AND PRICES. 
Through Cattaraugus County potatoes 
are beginning to blight, and I am told this 
is caused by the cold, wet weather. Sev¬ 
eral fields in the town of Yorkshire were 
badly blighted and pointed to a small 
yield. Farmers through this section are 
making ready for one of the best oat crops 
harvested in years, while several told me 
the new seedings were the finest over seen 
in these parts. u. j. w . 
New York. 
V\ hile the East has been having drought 
the Wabash Valley has had an excess oT 
rain through the latter half of June and 
first half of July. Wheat very poor; oats, 
potatoes, garden stuff, fine. Hay. both 
clover and Timothy, a large crop. Clover 
was hurt by weather conditions, but Tim¬ 
othy has had ideal weather, and was put 
in in fine shape. Not much fruit; black¬ 
berries. raspberries and nearlv all bearing 
peach trees were killed by the severe Win¬ 
ter. Corn was late in planting, but will 
make a fine crop if rains continue; has 
rooted very shallow. xi. m. 
Palestine, Ill. 
There are no auction sales here except in 
a very few cases where some one wishing 
to change his residence sells. Cattle are a 
good price, sales ranging around five cents. 
Lambs 5% from 60 pounds up. No hay 
sold, fed on the place; in fact this is a 
grazing country. We are in the mountains 
of West Virginia in the Blue grass. No 
milk sold except to lumber camps. Butter 
in good demand and all sold in the county 
at good prices; 20 to 25 cents a pound. No 
silage sold. There are only a very few silos 
in this county, yet each year sees one or 
more built. Each farmer uses the manure 
from his animals and also uses some brand 
of corn fertilizer. c. m. w. 
Millpoint, W. Va. 
A wet Spring has been followed by a 
very dry Summer, though recent rains have 
much relieved the drought. Pastures are 
very short, and the milk flow much reduced. 
Milk at the cheese factories is paying about 
34 cents per pound of butter fat, or about 
$1.35 per 100 for four per cent milk. The 
hay crop was fair, but not as good as was 
promised in early June. Corn backward 
with much injury by white grubs. Oats 
have improved greatly since the rains, and 
will be about average crop. Much late 
plowing was done for potatoes, and on such 
ground the stand is extremely poor, due to 
the dry weather. Early planted potatoes 
are looking well. Wheat was generally be¬ 
low average. Apple prospect fair. 
Allegany Co., N. Y. c. r,. m. 
June and July have been noted for cold 
dry weather. We have not had a good 
warm rain, as we used to get. this season. 
We had a heavy rain on the 28th of July, 
which will do untold good to all crops. 
Wheat below the average on account of 
being winter-killed, and the work of the 
fly; the berry also is poor. Barley and 
oats will be very short in straw: hay was 
a good crop, arid fine in quality. Alfalfa 
is being cut the second time. Corn doing 
well where it had a good start, but many 
spotted fields, which is also true in regard 
to beans, which had a hard time in coming 
up, being so dry. Strawberries were about 
one-half a crop. Raspberries did somewhat 
better. Sweet cherries were short crop due 
to the rain at blossom time. Sour cherries 
were a very good crop. We are spraying 
apples now for the last time. Not a bumper 
crop; some orchards full while others are 
not. Early potatoes will be short crop 
from dry weather. e. t. b. 
Canandaigua, N. Y, 
