t 1912 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1006 
LARGE PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 
[Editor's Notk.—U nder 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 tilings which interest 
country people]. 
Why Farmers Should Vote for Woodrow 
Wilson. 
Having been in the same class with 
Woodrow Wilson at school, and having 
known him personally for thirty-odd years, 
I am in an unusually good position to tell 
farmers why they should vote for him for 
the Presidency of the United States. 
First, then, on account of his great hon¬ 
esty and sincerity. In all the years I 
have known him 1 have never known him 
to tell a lie or to deceive anyone. After 
he was elected Governor of New Jersey he 
did not compromise with anyone. He did 
exactly as he said he was going to do. He 
has been very slow in making promises to 
anyone, but when he has said that he was 
going to do a thing he has done it. 
Secondly, farmers should vote for Wood- 
row \\ ilson because he has not lined up 
with any of the evil powers of the Demo¬ 
cratic party. I have been in close touch 
with Wilson through all this campaign, 
and I know that he is under no promises 
whatsoever to Tammany or any of the evil 
influences in the Democratic party. Had 
he been willing to compromise with these 
evil influences, we. his friends, would not 
have had such a hard battle to nominate 
him at Baltimore. He would have gone 
through on the lirst ballot. But we are 
proud that the struggle was a bitter one. 
and that our candidate is governed by no 
influence less than God and his own con¬ 
science. When Woodrow Wilson is elected 
President of the United States, as I feel 
sure he will be, he will be the real Presi¬ 
dent of this country, and not led in any 
way by Hearst, Tammany or the like. Ills 
ears will be open to any old farmer who 
wishes to talk. 
Thirdly, farmers should vote for Wood- 
row Wilson on account of his superb com¬ 
posure. Composure is the first element of 
greatness, and Wilson has more of it than 
any man I ever saw, with the exception 
of William Gladstone. I was in England 
in the Spring of 1880, and heard Gladstone 
make his celebrated Marylebone Court 
House speech, and 1 will say that Woodrow 
Wilson is more like William Gladstone than 
any living American. Lack of composure 
is 'where Toddy Uooscvelt falls down. He 
does not know what composure is. No 
man can be truly great till he has studied 
composure. It is one of the greatest of 
all virtues. Woodrow Wilson possesses it 
to a greater degree than any other Ameri¬ 
can. 
Fourthly, farmers should vote for Wood- 
row Wilson because he has been a poor man 
all his life, and because he knows what it 
is to be poor, aud knows bow to feel for 
those who are poor. He was the son of a 
Presbyterian preacher, and never had any¬ 
thing in this world but what he worked 
for. He honestly and truly wishes to light 
the battles of the poor. He wishes them 
to have their rights just as the rich have 
had theirs. He has gone along the whole 
road himself, and knows all about it. 
Fifthly, farmers should vote for Wood- 
row Wilson because he is in favor of par¬ 
cels post aud other things that farmers are 
vitally interested in. He has said so in 
words that admit of no doubt. Aud when 
Woodrow Wilson says one thing before 
election, he stands on exactly the same 
ground after election. 
Sixthly, farmers should vote for him be¬ 
cause he is on the side of the poor man. 
He honestly and truthfully intends to do 
all In his power to make the rich behave 
themselves, and let the poor man have his 
show. For a great many years this country 
has been run almost entirely in favor of 
the rich. If Woodrow Wilson is elected 
President, all men, both poor aud rich, will 
have their rights respected. It will no 
longer be a one-sided affair. And lastly 
farmers should vote for Woodrow Wilson 
because he has always led a pure, upright. 
Christian life, without flaw or blemish. lie 
has never been narrow or puritanical, yet 
he has been a model husband and father 
aud a worthy citizen of his native land. 
Louisiana. sam h. james. 
Why Vote for Chafin? 
Because he stands on a platform which 
not only contains all that makes for the 
best interests of the farmers contained in 
the platforms of all the other parties, but 
also very much which is of vital importance 
to the tillers of the soil which the other 
parties dare not touch in theirs. No party 
can, in tliis twentieth century, be a pro¬ 
gressive party and leave out of its platform 
the greatest of all questions before the 
American farmer, namely, the liquor traffic. 
The farmers of the United States are be¬ 
ginning to realize that the same dollar 
which is spent for liquor cannot be paid 
for their wheat, butter, etc., aud therefore, 
just iu proportion as the liquor traffic gets 
these dollars, the market for the farmer’s 
products is decreased. How many dollars 
go for liquor? Here is the fact based on 
governmental reports: Cost of liquors to 
consumers for the year ending June 30, 
1911. $2,792,037,256, and because of the 
harmful results of its expenditure, all this 
money was worse than wasted. These 
figures are almost beyond comprehension. 
Compared with this drink waste, all the 
wheat produced in our country in 1910 
would only pay this drink hill for less 
than 80 days. And if applied to the tariff, 
which has been used to befog the farmers 
for years, the custom revenues for 1910. 
covering the entire receipts for the opera¬ 
tion of all tariff laws, would pay our liquor 
bill for less than 42 days. Many such 
comparisons might he given, but for the 
thinking farmer this is not necessary. What 
could not that money mean in the better¬ 
ment of the condition of us farmers? 
In a republic, government can only ob¬ 
tain through parties, and as all of the other 
parties stand for this great waste, except 
the one for whom Chafin and Watkins 
are the standard bearers, if we. as farm¬ 
ers. vote for any other we shall endorse 
the continuation of the existing state of 
affairs. The liquor traffic has its source 
in our National Government through a tax 
and license system, espoused and perpetu¬ 
ated by the dominant party at the behest 
of this traffic. Thus the relation of the 
liquor traffic to other reforms makes its 
settlement necessary to make it possible to 
settle the other reforms. As oi'iginally 
and in effect almost all the graft, corrup¬ 
tion. defiance of public will and malfeasance 
in office by public officials, against which 
all of us farmers arc contending, sprung 
from the degrading influence upon morals, 
society and politics by the liquor traffic, 
it is therefore imperatively necessary that 
this traffic must be destroyed before any 
truly progressive advance in reform can 
be achieved. Therefore, the first, and fun¬ 
damental aim aud duty of the farmer 
should be the annihilation of this traffic. 
We farmers are born for better rights 
than we are having now. It is not merely 
that we get onlv 35 cents of the consumer's 
dollar, that we are robbed through trusts 
and combines of quite a share of that re¬ 
maining, or that we till more acres at a 
more profitable rate, that we must guard 
against, hut that by the fruit of our daily 
toil, by what of reward that toil brings 
us. bv* what the product of that toil car¬ 
ries to others, by our rearing of the little 
children that are ours, by the lights of 
love we may kindle and keep alive in our 
homes, by the well-ordered lives that we 
mav live, by the high thoughts we may 
think, and by the righteous ballots we may 
cast, we may hasten on that better to¬ 
morrow, so that the "coming millions" may 
see a better day than ever the most hopeful 
of us have ever dreamed. 
New York. g. M. doolittle. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Gov. Dix approved, Sep¬ 
tember 10, the selection of a site in Dutch¬ 
ess County for the State industrial farm 
colonv authorized by the Legislature of 
1911. The land is about 20 miles east of 
1‘oughkeepsie and not far from the Wing- 
dale State Prison site. The legislature 
authorized the expenditure of $100,000, of 
which $60,000 is to be paid for the site. 
The site contains 821 acres, of which 90 
per cent may be cultivated. The institu¬ 
tion is to be established for the education 
and reformation of tramps and vagrants, 
and is the first of its kind in this country. 
The city of Fargo. N. D., has declared a 
dividend of 6% per cent, which will be paid 
in cash on March 1, 1913. Mayor Sweet, 
iu announcing the dividend, said : "Ten 
thousand dollars has been saved the city 
in the last year, and we have decided to 
refund this surplus to taxpayers in pro¬ 
portion to their last assessment." 
By order of the Acting Commissioner of 
the General Land Office, the Register and 
Recorder of the Juneau, Alaska, Land Of¬ 
fice has placed on record the cancellation 
for fraud ol the 32 so-called Cunningham 
coal claims in the Bering Sea River coun¬ 
try. The lauds now are a part of the 
public domain, and the $52,800 paid into 
the United States Treasury by the claim¬ 
ants is forfeited. The money paid by the 
claimants cannot be refunded to them ex¬ 
cept by an act of Congress. The Cunning¬ 
ham claims had an aggregate area of 5.250 
acres, and their value ran high into the 
millions. It had been alleged that a Mor- 
gau-Guggenheim syndicate owned the blan¬ 
ket claims of the Cunninghams aud their 
associates. With the controversy over the 
claims came the dismissal from public ser¬ 
vice of the former chief forester, Gifford 
Pinchot, Louis R. Glavis, a chief of the 
field division of the Land Office, aud sev¬ 
eral minor officials. 
Shooting and other violence, growing out 
of the street car strike at Duluth, Minn., 
was resumed September 13 when a strike¬ 
breaking motorman bumped off the track 
an ice wagon which contained strike sym¬ 
pathizers. Immediately a mob formed, the 
glass was knocked from the street ear, aud 
the crew of the car was routed. Another 
crew boarded the car, turned on all power, 
aud dashed through the crowd. Three 
cars were wrecked, several passengers were 
assaulted and a conductor and motorman 
escaped the fury of the mob only by flight. 
Four persons were killed, 40 injured. 90 
huildiugs were wrecked and damage 
amounting to half a million dollars was 
done by a tornado which swept over the 
northern part of Onondaga County, N. Y.. 
September 15. With no warning, hundreds 
of persons were entrapped in their homes 
and barely escaped with their lives. At 
North Syracuse a farmhouse occupied by 
Mrs. II. U. Wendell and her three children 
was overturned. The gables of the roof 
were buried iu the mud. The oldest son, 
a boy of 12, carried his mother through an 
attic window. Ilis shoulder was broken. 
The furniture was piled on the ceiling. 
At Long Branch, on Onondaga Lake, where 
one man was killed, three cars on the 
Syracuse, Lake Shore and Northern trol¬ 
ley line were lifted from the tracks and 
two of them overturned. At the same re¬ 
sort a huge dance hall aud bowling alley 
were demolished and the boathouse and 
shells of the Syracuse University crews 
were lifted from the bank of the Onon¬ 
daga Lake outlet aud planted in the stream. 
Howard W. Gill, the Baltimore aviator, 
was fatally injured on the Cicero aviation 
field near Chicago, September 14, when his 
biplane was iu collision with a French 
monoplane during a race. Both machines 
fell to the earth a distance of 75 feet and 
were wrecked. Gill soon died without re¬ 
gaining consciousness. George Hestach of 
France, who was in the monoplane, was 
also injured in the fall, hut not seriously. 
Gill's death is the 182d fatality since 1908 
due to falls from heavier-than-air machines. 
Snow fell in central Colorado and parts 
of Wyoming September 14. More than 
three inches fell iu Denver. The ther¬ 
mometer stood at 34 degrees. A cold rain 
fell over both States, changing to snow 
about daybreak. This is the earliest date 
snow has fallen in Colorado since 1903. In 
Cheyenne, W.vo., a temperature of 30 de¬ 
grees was registered. 
Eleven hoy recruits at the United States 
naval training school in North Chicago, 
III., were' drowned September 15. as a re¬ 
sult of their bolt being tossed by a storm 
in Lake Michigan. With a complement of 
29 persons under command of Chief Gun¬ 
ner's Mate William Negus the boat a ipat¬ 
ently hit a sandbar within 30 feet ol the 
shore, and although all but one of the 
29 on board could swim, none got ashore 
without assistance, and four of them were 
only revived by the use. of the pulmotor. 
Four others are missing. 
Several ships destroyed, others blown 
ashore or badly battered, four known 
deaths and immense damage to property, 
truck farms, oyster beds and municipali¬ 
ties tell part of the story of the great Gulf 
storm that swept inland September 14 after 
whipping the coast from Pensacola to the 
passes of the Mississippi River. At Pensa¬ 
cola and along the west shore of Florida 
the blow was the worst since the great 
storm of 1909, the official gauge being 
blown away after registering above 74 
miles an hour. 
Fire started September 16 in a poultry 
stall in West Washington Market, New 
York, destroying a whole block. Owing to 
the ammonia used in refrigeration it was 
a difficult fire to fight. The loss is esti¬ 
mated at $250,000 and included 5,000 live 
chickens. 
Resolutions were drafted at a special 
meeting. September 16, of President Ven¬ 
able and the trustees of the University of 
North Carolina at Iialeigh, asking legisla¬ 
tion to make college hazing a criminal of¬ 
fence. This action was taken in view of 
the killing of the student, William Rand, 
September 13, by four hazers. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—Fredonia, N. Y„ 
Grange No. 1 has unanimously passed a 
resolution offered by Louis McKinsley, pro¬ 
prietor of Fredonia Consort, that the 
woman suffrage question be submitted to 
the vote of the people. This Grange takes 
the stand that woman suffrage ques¬ 
tion lx- submitted fairs, including those of 
the State and Nation, and that the ques¬ 
tion should be submitted to popular vote 
and that representatives in the Senate and 
Assembly he called on for support. 
Ninth" annual meeting of the American 
Breeders' Association *"111 be held at Co¬ 
lumbia. 8. C., January 24, 25 and 27. 1913, 
just preceding the opening of the Ameri¬ 
can Corn Exposition. Students of heredity 
and eugenics, improvers and breeders of 
live stock, poultry, field, garden and horti¬ 
cultural corps are invited to attend. 
The first solid train load of Washington 
grown apples for South America left We¬ 
natchee September 13. The fruit is going 
to Buenos Ayres by way of New Y’ork and 
Liverpool. The shipment consists of 15.000 
boxes, filling 25 refrigerator cars. Large 
apple shipments are going to Australia and 
the Orient at good prices. Exporters ex¬ 
pect to ship 75,000 boxes of apples across 
the Pacific. Fruit has become a factor in 
Northwest railroad traffic third only to 
forest products aud grain. Washington's 
fruit and berry crop this year is 50 per 
cent larger than that of last year. Rail 
shipments will reach 20,000 cars. 
At the annual meeting of the Vegetable 
Growe*Association of America at Ro¬ 
chester, N. Y\, September 4-6. the follow¬ 
ing officers were re-elected: President. H. 
F. Hall, Moorestown, N. J.; vice-president. 
C. West, Irondequoit, N. Y'.; treasurer. M. 
L. Ruetenik, Cleveland. S. W. Severance 
declined renomination as treasurer, and 
this office was filled by E. A. Dunbar, Ash¬ 
tabula, Ohio. 
The receut nursery stock quarantine law, 
which goes into effect October 1, provides 
punishment for violators by a fine not ex¬ 
ceeding $500 or by imprisonment not ex¬ 
ceeding one year, or both, in the discre¬ 
tion of the court. Nurserymen and others 
who desire a permit to impovt nursery 
stock under the new law should address 
the Federal Horticultural Board, Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, Washington. D. C. 
Six million dollars will not cover the loss 
caused by the horse plague in Kansas dur¬ 
ing the last mouth, according to estimates 
made by Dr. W. S. Schoenleber, head of 
the veterinary department, and Dr. E. H. 
Webster, director of the experiment station 
of the ■Kansas Agricultural College, who 
have been investigating the plague infested 
district. They say that in the western 
half of Kansas alone at least 20,000 horses 
have died of eerebro-spinal meningitis. 
This, they say, has meant a direct loss of 
$2,000,000 in horses. The indirect loss, 
particularly in farm work not done, on 
account of the scarcity of horses, they esti¬ 
mate at twice that amount. Drs. Webster 
and Schoenleber say the disease now ex¬ 
ists in 75 of the 105 counties of the State, 
aud is as virulent as ever. 
The Missouri State Board of Horticul¬ 
ture has authorized $100 to be set aside 
for scholarships iu the short course in 
agriculture at Columbia. Mo., for the term 
beginning November 4, 1912. The sum ap¬ 
propriated is to be awarded on the basis 
of a contest in selecting apples for exhibi¬ 
tion. and is divided as follows : First. $50 : 
second, $25: third, $15; fourth, $10. These 
amounts are to be paid to the winners who 
enroll in the short course and who take 
full work. One-half of the prize money to 
be paid at the middle of the term; the 
balance at the close of the term. 
Seventy-five head of cattle, all infected 
with tuberculosis, will be destroyed under 
government inspection by Dr. William Her¬ 
bert Lowe, inspector of' the First District 
of New Jersey, near Paterson. This is the 
largest single condemnation yet made in 
the State. It was made necessary by the 
discovery several months ago of the pres¬ 
ence of tuberculosis among cattle in the 
Preakness Valley. Under the State laws 
the owners will he reimbursed to the ex¬ 
tent of three-fourths of the appraised value 
of the cattle condemned. These cows are 
believed to have become afflicted through 
contact with a herd of tubercular cows 
brought secretly into New Jersey from New 
York. 
FRUIT AT THE N. Y. STATE FAIR. 
Part I. 
To those who have regularly attended 
the State fair a feeling of strangeness 
and newness, followed by surprise aud 
pleasure, crept over them as they stepped 
into the old fruit building, for several 
years past badly crowded and still crowded 
and overflowing into the unfilled portions 
of Floral Hall, despite the fact that about 
one-third more space was turned over to 
the fruit department this year. The cen¬ 
tral tables and superintendent’s office were 
removed, and uniform booths were built 
along each side for county aud Grange 
exhibits. The wing, extending south to 
Floral Hall, was fitted with double-deck 
tables for individual exhibits and boxed 
fruit, and similar tables in the west half 
of the vegetable building held the peaches 
and pears. The hare rough walls were 
covered with a restful shade of green bur¬ 
lap draped at the eaves with a waving 
band of white. The upper cross timbers 
were draped with white and green bunting 
and American flags and in the center hung 
the sigu. "Fruit Department,” in large 
letters made of apples. The tables were 
covered with green paper, and green bur¬ 
lap hung from these to the floor, meeting 
the soft dark brown of the tan hark floor 
covering with very pleasing effect. This 
floor covering was used iu the fruit depart¬ 
ment only, and was a great improvement 
over the bare floors, as it was much 
cleaner, did away with the sweeping that 
always drives the dust over fruit and 
tables, and was very quiet. It was 
sprinkled every day aud there was no dust 
worth mentioning. 
The fruit exhibit of the Geneva Experi¬ 
ment Station was placed centrally on the 
north side of the hall, aud was very at¬ 
tractive. Apples, pears, plums, peaches and 
grapes were all set up in flats of staudurd 
box size and the flats set four high on an 
incline made a great bank of varied color. 
The effect was very pleasing, but it seemed 
the educational value was less than when 
more varieties were shown and shown on 
plates. This display was flanked on both 
sides by three county exhibits, and each 
county was allotted exactly the same space. 
Several of the county exhibits were very 
much crowded, and could have used double 
the room to advantage. 
Orleans County cap tv -ed the first prize 
of $250 with a fine display of both package 
and plate fruit, aud the quality throughout 
was very high. Ontario got away with 
$200 for second place with a very large 
display of plate fruit aud a large number 
of packages, though many of the latter 
could not be classed as recognized commer¬ 
cial packages. Oswego took tlie third prize 
of $150 with an exhibit quite similar to 
Orleans, but a trifle under in quality and 
somewhat less in quantity. The Genesee 
exhibit was strong in commercial packages, 
but the fruit lacked in size and color as 
compared with other exhibits. Monroe was 
short on commercial packs, but spent much 
time aud labor on a map of Monroe County 
in fruits; the county and township lines 
being formed with erabapples and the 
townships filled in with different colored 
grapes. Rochester was given prominence 
by the name iu electrically illuminated let¬ 
ters. Columbia County was represented by 
the Kiuderhook Bornological Society, which 
made an exhibit of boxed fruit and a 
small plate exhibit. The quality was very 
good, but they had too few varieties to gain 
a winning position. A guarantee of $100 
was offered to all oo."uties making a credit¬ 
able exhibit to cover expense of collecting 
and staging exhibit. Six counties were 
represented this year, aud with the above 
guarantee more counties should enter the 
race another year. 
The Subordinate Grange class brought 
out 14 entries. A $50 guarantee in this 
class helps.out those who .fail to win a 
prize. Here again the best exhibits lacked 
room to display their fruit to the best ad¬ 
vantage. Booths for these exhibits were 
located on the south side of the main hall, 
and each had the same shelf, wall and 
floor space. Forest City Grange won first 
with a large display of plate fruit and 
a well packed box and barrel with several 
flats showing box faces. Quality aud 
nomenclature were extra good, a little lack 
in size being responsible for most of the 
culs received. Brockport Grange won sec¬ 
ond with a very fine plate exhibit, which 
scored the highest of any Grange exhibit, 
but they had no packages, and dropped to 
second place for this reason.. Burma 
Grange captured third place iu a very 
close race with Somerset Grange, the latter 
failing only on the poor packing of their 
commercial boxes. Many of these Grange 
exhibits lost in score on faulty nomencla¬ 
ture, and a few ou fruit of poor quality, 
but it was the first attempt of many of 
them, aud the experience gained will help 
them greatly iu putting up their next ex¬ 
hibit. They find that varieties must be 
correctly named, must have perfect stems, 
must be free from worms and any blem¬ 
ishes, must be uniform in size/ shape, 
color, and have stems of uniform length 
and thickness. They find that commercial 
packages must be standard packages, and 
that soap boxes, orange boxes or cereal 
boxes will prove a hindrance rather than 
a help. They will find that poorly packed 
packages prove a millstone to their' chances. 
"This is new business for us; we will 
know better how to go at It another year,” 
was heard from every side, and if their 
good intentions survive until next fair time 
a very strong showing can be looked for 
from the subordinate Granges. G. it. s. 
COMING FARMERS’ MEETINGS. 
American Road Congress, Y'oung’s Million 
Dollar Bier, Atlantic City, N. J., Septem¬ 
ber 30. 
Fourth National Conservation Congress, 
Indianapolis. Ind., October 1-4. 
Illinois Fair, Springfield, October 4-12. 
Hagerstown, Md., Fair, October 15-18. 
International Dry Farming Congress, 
Lethbridge. Alberta. Canada. Congress of 
Farm Women, week beginning October 21. 
Eighteenth annual meeting of the New 
Hampshire Horticultural Society, Alton, 
N. H., October 23-25. 
Massachusetts Fruit Show, under aus¬ 
pices of State Board of Agriculture and 
Massachusetts Fruit Growers’ Association. 
Horticultural Hall, Boston, Mass., Novem¬ 
ber 7-10. 
Annual meeting of the American Associa¬ 
tion of Farmers' Institute Workers, At¬ 
lanta. (iu., November 11-13. 
Annual meeting of the Association of 
American Agricultural Colleges and Experi¬ 
ment Stations. Atlanta, Ga., November 
11-13. 
Annual meeting of the Maine State Bo¬ 
rnological Society, City Hall, Bortland, Me., 
November 12-14. 
Bacifie Northwest Land Products Show, 
Portland, Ore., November 18-23. 
National Dairy Show, Chicago, October 
24-November 2. 
Indiana Apple Show, Lafayette, Novem¬ 
ber 13-19; secretary, C. G. Woodbury, La¬ 
fayette, Ind. 
Twin City Poultry and Pigeon Associa¬ 
tion, annual pigeon and poultry show, 
Spring City, Pa., November 27-30. 
International Live Stock, Chicago, No¬ 
vember 30-December 7. 
New Jersey State Horticultural Society, 
New Brunswick, N. J., December 9, 10, 11. 
American Breeders’ Association Colum¬ 
bia., S. C., January 25-27, 1913. 
Wheat. 98 cents: corn, 70; barley, 45; 
oats. 2S; rye, 60; tomatoes. 50; no 
peaches. Fat cattle, six cents a pound. 
Butter fat, 26 cents; for whole milk farm¬ 
ers are getting 15 cents per gallon. Hogs, 
eight cents; sheep, three cents; lambs, five 
cents; veal calves, eight cents. Clover 
seed. $10 a bushel: Timothy seed, $1.75. 
ApDles, 00 cents; pears. $1. Choice Tiin- 
otiiv hay. 812 a ton; clover hay, $8. 
Elida.' O. J. M. s. 
