1912. 
1029 
LARGE PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 
[Editor’s Note.—U nder this heading m 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 o£ conviction an opportunity to 
say what they think about certain things which interest 
country people J. 
THE CASE OF MR. TAFT. 
Part I. 
If “Progressivism” means continuity of 
national existence ; if it makes for growth 
in social, political and business morals; 
if it means looking forward with intelli¬ 
gence based on experience; if it means 
wise planning with reasonable assurance 
of success; if it means open and thorough 
discussions of the wisdom and justice of 
proposed reforms; if it means faithful ser¬ 
vice, vigorous execution of the laws, de¬ 
liberation before action, then we can safely 
claim as a Progressive, and support for re- 
election, our excellent President, William 
H. Taft, a man with sound views of per¬ 
sonal conduct and national administration. 
Mr. Taft negotiated and pressed for ap¬ 
proval the arbitration treaties, which mark 
the greatest advance in civilization since 
the Emancipation Proclamation. The joint 
efforts of “ mpd iaiivial” Progressives and 
Democrats (?) have temporarily delayed 
the confirmation of this great work, for 
which the President labored manfully aud 
unceasingly. About one year ago 1 heard 
him make a “Peace” speech at Los An¬ 
geles, which was the finest and most con¬ 
vincing moral discourse that 1 have heard 
in 10 years. These treaties and the Ca¬ 
nadian Reciprocity pact are conclusive evi¬ 
dence of his thoroughly modern (.not me¬ 
diaeval) view of life and national honor; 
they show that he is abreast of the finest 
thought of our time and is using properly 
his great powers to express his thought in 
appropriate measures. He holds out a 
neighborly hand, inviting discussion and 
peaceful settlement of our international 
disputes in open court, with all the dignity 
and majesty of the Jaw of nations. War 
is the greatest curse of our race, farmers 
suffering most, and from this point of view 
Mr. Taft is to-day the Progressive, the 
Modernist, the Futurist, the leading ex¬ 
emplar of the moral law in action. 
Coming now to the question of the tariff 
and the farm, many people fail to realize 
that about 50 per cent of our imports come 
under tbe free list, and that on the whole 
the Payne-Aldrich bill, for signing which 
Mr. Taft has been severely criticised, is 
really a step toward lower duties. The 
writer is no high protectionist, but I have 
always believed that the greatest benefici¬ 
aries of a protective tariff are the farmers, 
truckers, dairymen, fruit growers near the 
large industrial centers, who completely 
bridge the difference between the 35-cent 
and the 90-cent dollar. The prosperity of 
the banks in these neighborhoods tells this 
story. 
Much wild talk about “predatory inter¬ 
ests,” "special interests,” “money trusts,” 
etc., is fired at farmers, and Mr. Taft is 
represented as a personification or con¬ 
solidation of all these horrors, but if farm¬ 
ers suffer from such combinations they 
must feel it iu increased expense or re¬ 
duced receipts. Let us examine. The farm¬ 
er’s chief item of expense is for labor, 
the increase being about 100 per cent in 
30 or 40 years. Do we blame it on any 
illegal combination of "malefactors of great 
wealth” ? Are we forming organizations 
to combat the “hired man’s trust”? 
Horses are purchased by Eastern farmers, 
who raise few colts. They have increased 
in value in 20 years perhaps 200 per cent. 
In November, 1894, 1 overheard in a hotel 
at Owego, N Y., one man advise a horse- 
owner to knock his colts in the head, as it 
would not pay to keep them over Winter. 
What “special interest” has been favored 
by Mr. Taft to enable it to keep up the 
price of farm horses? When we sell hay 
at $28 per ton to our neighbor dairymen, 
and corn at $1 per bushel, aud potatoes 
at $2 per bushel, is it due to a miscarriage 
of justice iu a Federal court? Does the 
price movement of these products depend 
on the dissolution of a “hay trust,” or a 
“corn trust,” or a “potato trust” ? Rail¬ 
road freight rates and passenger fares are 
no higher than 30 years ago ; in fact gen¬ 
erally are lower, yet the companies’ operat¬ 
ing expenses, wages, have increased. Our 
taxes and fire insurance are approximately 
the same; road taxes increasing. Repairs 
cost more, but who demands the breaking 
up of un illegal eombiuatiou of carpenters, 
masons, painters and plumbers? 
Our farm implements are lower in cost, 
harvesters especially. Fertilizers are in¬ 
creasing in price, largely because the in¬ 
crease in the price of cotton stimulated 
the demand for nitrogenous materials. Sul¬ 
phate of ammonia rose at Liverpool about 
$15 per ton within four years. Nitrate of 
soda likewise rose in the same market. No 
secret or illegal combination nor "invisible 
government” was beneath this "uplift.” Did 
any "invisible government” put up the 
price of grass seeds last year? The edu¬ 
cation of a farmer’s children costs no more 
than 30 years ago. His family clothing 
costs but little more. His canned goods 
cost more, but he need not use them if 
he keeps a good garden and truck patch. 
I remember when both sugar aud oil were 
much higher than at present. The tele¬ 
phone is cheap; many of us have the mail 
delivered at our doors at some one’s else 
expense. Automobiles, acetylene lights, 
steam heat, electric power equipments cost 
some money if we must have them. 
The farmer is suffering from unrest, but 
it is uot a class unrest; others have the 
symptoms, even more violently. Farmers 
and townsmen alike, all of us, feel that we 
are good material for legislators, congress¬ 
men, governors, judges, etc., aud we are 
burning to take a direct part in legisla¬ 
tion, administration and interpretation of 
laws. This is the real genesis of “referen¬ 
dum,” “initiative,” “recall of judges” and 
of "decisions,” and other nostrums. We 
forget that after a few trials, only from 
10 to 20 per cent of the voters will take 
any interest in this continuous perform¬ 
ance, and it will be very easy for “inter¬ 
ests” with means to control this expression 
of the wishes of only a small part of the 
people. Buying up eight per cent of the 
vote will be sufficient. 
Mr. Taft said lately, “A change is not 
necessarily a reform,” a truism so common 
that it is a platitude, yet a noisy minority 
are moving heaven and earth to trv all 
unproven reforms (?) at once, and insist 
THE KURAb 
on putting their ideas on trial in unskilful 
and incompetent hands. Mr. Roosevelt and 
his most conspicuous supporters are not 
by any means distinguished for competence 
and efficiency, for logical thought, nor well 
ordered action. Has he ever been associ¬ 
ated with any well-considered, definite 
plan of finance, or banking, or taxation? 
He has been on all sides of the tariff. 
He would keep it up to maintain profits 
and wages, and put it down to lower the 
selling prices of products, is this economic 
and commercial genius? He wants to take 
hold of all large business and financial cor¬ 
porations and regulate them, even to the 
fixing of prices. How soon, then, will the 
attempt be made to fix prices for beef, 
pork, wheat, hay, etc.? Shall wheat be 
put to $1.50 or down to 75 cents? Are we 
to vote on it? Is it possible that such 
absurd propositions are attracting people? 
Pennsylvania. m. k. 
Roosevelt and the “Four-sided Platform.” 
The following, from a speech delivered 
at Hartford, Conn., September 2, is Mr. 
Roosevelt’s answer to The It. N.-Y.’s ques¬ 
tions : 
“Here at this agricultural fair, I wish to 
say a word not only to the farmers of 
Connecticut but to the farmers of this 
country generally. I want to call your at¬ 
tention to our platform as it affects agri¬ 
culture. We, in our platform, in that re¬ 
spect also face the facts. We propose a 
perfectly definite course of action, up to 
which we intend to live. 
“I was struck two and one-half years 
ago, when I was in Europe, and unpleas¬ 
antly struck, with the fact that we were 
behind the old monarchies of Europe in 
so many particulars in dealing with the 
farming people, and for the matter of that 
with the wage-workers. It was rather a 
shock to me when I went to Germany and 
Denmark and found that their farmers 
•Were organized and facilities for them 
provided by the government as our farmers 
have not been organized and have not been 
cared for by the government. Our pur¬ 
pose is to adopt from Germany, Canada, 
Denmark aud every other country where 
there has been wise legislation on behalf 
of the farmers—legislation such as that 
in Germany for providing cooperative credit 
for the farmers, such as iu Canada in the 
way that the farmers are assisted to de¬ 
velop their farms, every kind of legislation 
of that kind it is our purpose to introduce 
into this country, not copying it slavishly, 
facing the fact that there are wide differ¬ 
ences of conditions abroad and at home, 
hut adapting it to the needs of our farmers. 
“Again, we have declared definitely for 
a parcels post. Understand, when we de¬ 
clare for a parcels post, it means we are 
going to have it, if we have the power. If 
I were President and Congress was under 
the control of the Progressives and did not 
pass the parcels post, I would get it together 
again until it did. I would proceed upon 
the presumption that we have made certain 
definite promises and that our promises 
bind us just as much as an honorable busi¬ 
ness man is in private and business life 
bound by his promises. Our platform is a 
covenant with the people aud we propose 
to keep it in letter and in spirit. 
"Then, again, our platform has taken 
definite stand in favor of rigid control by 
the National Government over the issu¬ 
ance of securities. The Post Office Depart¬ 
ment reports that last year the people were 
robbed of about oue hundred and seventy 
million dollars by fake financial promot¬ 
ers. We intend to stop that by having 
the National Government do substantially 
what Kansas has done in its “Blue Sky” 
law, by having the National Government 
see to it that the issuance of securities is 
done iu such fashion that we shall know 
that the securities are genuine, so that 
there shall be an absolute control over the 
issuance of any security to which the gen¬ 
eral public is invited to subscribe, any se¬ 
curity of any concern engaged in inter¬ 
state commerce, as almost every large busi¬ 
ness nowadays is. 
“Again, iu the fourth place, one of the 
chief difficulties iu our farm life at present, 
and oue of the chief causes for the high 
cost of living, in so far as it regards ar¬ 
ticles raised on the farm, is that now the 
farmer’s product has to pay three or four 
profits, because it goes through the hands 
of so many middlemen before it gets to 
the consumer. Iu Denmark, and to a large 
extent in Germany, they have met it, and 
they are now trying to meet it in Ireland, 
by improved methods of cooperative busi¬ 
ness among farmers, aiding the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, and helped out, when 
necessary, by law. Our purpose is to en¬ 
able the farmer to put his product well- 
nigh directly into the hands of the con¬ 
sumer so that the price paid by the con¬ 
sumer shall go into the farmers’ pockets 
and not stay somewhere in between ; and 
through that we will be able to get a better 
price for the farmer’s products to the 
farmer and yet let the consumer pay less 
than he now does for what is raised on the 
farm. More than one type of legislation 
will be needed in order to meet that dif¬ 
ficulty, including, if necessary, strict gov¬ 
ernmental supervision over what the mid¬ 
dlemen do. But the government can do it, 
and the government will do it. if the Pro¬ 
gressive party is given the power to act 
in the premises. 
(Question from man in crowd: Give us 
an idea of how it can be done.) 
“In this way: Our proposal is to do 
what has already been done in certain 
sections of this country and what has 
already been brought to a high pitch of 
perfection in Denmark, to organize the 
farmers themselves for purposes of coop¬ 
erative business, and at the same time to 
have the government take such control 
over market places and the terminals of 
railroads as to enable them to be made the 
meeting places for the man who is to pur¬ 
chase the products and for the products 
brought in by the farmers themselves, so 
that the farmers may treat with the con¬ 
sumer direct, right at that point.” 
Calves. $7 to $8; heifers, $25; cows, 
$30 to $70, very few at $70; horses. $125 
to $250, scarce and very few sound ; milk 
18 cents a gallon ; butter, 20 cents a 
pound: broilers, 17 cents; fowls, 17; 
roosters, 12; hogs, seven to eight cents 
live; pigs, $5 per pair. No produce 
shipped ; local potatoes, 50 cents per 
bushel. No fruit raised. Everybody here 
raises tomatoes for the cannery, 30c. a bush 
Arlington. Md. t. w. h 
NEW-YORKER 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Mayor Blankenburg and 
Director Cooke of Philadelphia, September 
19, received from the experts on the anthra¬ 
cite coal freight rate case the preliminary 
plan which they will use in the case against 
the coal carrying roads to reduce the pres¬ 
ent rates and so ameliorate the high cost 
of living by an attempt to bring this neces¬ 
sity down to the price at which it is de¬ 
clared it should be sold. These papers 
show that coal which now sells for $7 a 
ton should not retail at more than $3.25 
a ton and the smaller sized coal at $3.05 
a ton. The plan was prepared by Pro¬ 
fessor W. Ward Pierson of the University 
of Pennsylvania and it shows that the 
constitution of the State contains a pro¬ 
vision which is most rigid in stipulating 
against any form or preference or dis¬ 
crimination by the railroads and against 
the charge of a greater rate for a shorter 
haul. This provision is further strength¬ 
ened by the acts of 1883 and 1907, which 
give effect to the long and short haul pro¬ 
visions of the constitution, which were 
placed on the statute books to regulate 
freight rates in that State. The statement 
which the Mayor has received and on which 
he is asked to bring suit and compel the 
anthracite companies to lower the rates 
on coal shows by reports from the Reading 
Company what has formerly been the price 
of transportation and also the cost of 
labor. In certain years the Reading Com¬ 
pany was compelled to go into the open 
market and purchase coal, and from its 
own figures it admits that all that was paid 
for this commodity at the mines from rival 
operators was $2.30, and the city declares 
that this price shows a profit, as one op¬ 
erator would hardly sell to a rival at actual 
cost. The experts iu their analysis and 
computation show that anthracite coal at 
the mines should oost only $1.30, as against 
the $4 which is now charged for it. The 
freight rate should be 95 cents, as agaiust 
the $1.70 which the railroads now charge, 
aud the retailer could then receive $1 for 
the handling of it instead of $1.30, which 
he now receives. 
Although a British firm has consider¬ 
ably underbid American contractors on 
proposals to supply 12-inch and 14-inch 
armor piercing shells, it is not believed 
at Washington that the foreign hid will 
be accepted. The present appropriation 
bill for the navy provides that only in 
emergency shall materials be purchased for 
the navy abroad* aud it is not believed 
that the Navy Department will choose to 
construe the present situation as in any 
way resembling an emergency. If duty 
were paid on the materials the cost of the 
British shells would more than equal the 
prices offered by American bidders. 
The Interstate Commerce Commission, 
September 20, suspended until January 18, 
1913, increases in freight rates on grain, 
proposed by the Chicago & Northwestern 
and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul rail¬ 
ways from points in Iowa to Chicago and 
the East. 
A campaign aimed at obtaining more 
liberal Federal contributions for river levee 
construction was inaugurated by delegates 
to the Interstate Levee Association, which 
began a three days’ session at Memphis, 
Tenu., September 24. Planters whose in¬ 
terests are affected by the overflow of the 
Mississippi River and its tributaries, mem¬ 
bers of Congress and of the Mississippi 
River Commission aud State and levee 
board officials took part. 
The Duke of Sutherland, who is one of 
the largest landlords in England, and has 
extensive holdings in Canada, is trying 
to interest American capitalists iii a 
scheme to colonize Western Canada with 
English and American setters. The Duke 
was instrumental in securing a charter 
which has lately been granted for the Brit¬ 
ish Canadian Land Settlement Corpora¬ 
tion, Limited, capitalized at $2,000,000. It 
is stated that the first operation of the 
corporation will be directed to the Western 
Provinces, where openings for British set¬ 
tlers are very favorable at the present 
time, and elsewhere throughout the Do¬ 
minion of Canada wherever conditions are 
most advantageous. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The second an¬ 
nual poultry short course of the New 
Jersey State Agricultural College at New 
Brunswick begins November 18, 1912. 
Twenty-two students were graduated last 
year as a result of the first year’s work. 
The poultry short course is outlined to 
cover a period of three months, during 
which time instruction is given by means 
of lectures, laboratory exercises, inspection 
trips and demonstrations. 
New York State Commissioner of Agri¬ 
culture Calvin J. Iluson figured September 
20 that the State would get a net profit 
of $50,000 from the receipts at the State 
Fair at Syracuse. He thinks that the in¬ 
troduction of slot machines at the admis¬ 
sion gates brought in many additional dol¬ 
lars. 
The horse plague which has caused great 
loss to Kansas farmers and retarded Fall 
plowing was reported as improving, Sep¬ 
tember 20. The Kansas University veteri¬ 
narians claim to have proved that the dis¬ 
ease is similar to spinal meningitis and 
that it is not contagious. The germ is be¬ 
lieved to come from a fungus growth in the 
grass, due either to the severe Winter or 
an exceptionally wet Spring. Twenty-six 
counties in the western part of the State 
were hit especially. In hundreds of cases 
farmers have been left without a single 
horse or cow. Traction engines probably 
will be sent into these counties to do the 
Fall plowing. Seed houses, banks and rail¬ 
roads do not wish to see the fields idle next 
season. The disease has appeared in Ok¬ 
lahoma. Nebraska and Missouri. Missouri 
authorities have called a meeting of the 
Board of Agriculture and State veterinari¬ 
ans to determine whether or not to bar all 
feed stuff from Kansas this Winter. This 
will apply to Alfalfa in particular. The 
number of horses lost by the disease will 
total about 10.000. The Santa F6, which 
has reports from each county, gives such 
an estimate. Mules, being more careful in 
feeding, have not been lost in such num¬ 
bers as horses. Dr. Charles Thom of the 
Bureau of Animal Industry is in Kansas 
and Nebraska investigating the forage 
fungus. While the plague is killing horses, 
an epidemic of blackleg iu the eastern part 
of the county has attacked the cat¬ 
tle. Much fear Is expressed through¬ 
out Western Kansas regarding the result 
of the ravages in the homestead districts. 
Few homesteaders are well supplied with 
stock and their battle to increase- Western 
Kansas crop acreages is precarious at best. 
The loss of one or more horses by a home¬ 
steader cripples his farm work. 
The fourth Ohio State Apple Show will 
be held at Zanesville, Muskingum County, 
Ohio, January 20-24, 1913. There is a 
premium list of $1,000. The secretary is 
F. II. Baliou, Newark, Ohio. 
The annual convention of the National 
Association of Gardeners will he held at 
Newark, N. J., Tuesday, November 19. The 
new auditorium has been secured for the 
meeting place, and an exhibition of novel¬ 
ties, both from among the commercial and 
private growers, will be invited. 
MEETING OF VEGETABLE GROWERS. 
The fifth annual convention of the Veg¬ 
etable Growers of America was held iu 
Rochester, September 4, 5 and 6. The as¬ 
sociation was organized in Cleveland, O., 
October 31, 1908. Its purpose, to secure 
better returns to growers of vegetables, to 
give useful and practical information in re- 
gard to vegetable growing and to get grow¬ 
ers from different sections of the couutry 
face to face, thus giving them an opportu¬ 
nity to learn new methods from each other. 
Ona thing to be very much regretted 
with this convention, as with many others 
°f fumilar nature, that so many should be 
willing to receive its advantages without 
enrolling themselves as members and help¬ 
ing to bear the burden, and President Ilail 
in his address strongly urged that here- 
attef none should be admitted or receive 
reports except those in good standing. He 
further spoke with emphasis as to the ne¬ 
cessity of better crop reporting, he favored 
more thorough work in co-operation and 
appointed a committee to collect informa¬ 
tion as to the success of co-operative fruit 
and vegetable associations and to find the 
Cause of their success and failure. The com¬ 
mittee consists of Prof. L. C. Corbett, Dept, 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.; C. R 
White, Pres. N. Y. S. Vegetable Growers’ 
Association, Ionia, N. Y., and Prof. T 0 
Johnson Director of Virginia Truck Experi¬ 
ment Station. 
Mr. H. F. Thompson, chairman of com¬ 
mittee on research work and experiment 
stations, made a report of his committee in 
which it was claimed that the vegetable 
growers of the country were uot receiving 
as much attention as they were entitled 
to, and that a committee be appointed to 
confer with the Association of Experiment 
Stations iu view of getting more research 
work done by the stations. The report of 
J. II. Rice of Ashtabula, O., chairman of 
transportation committee, showed some 
very unequal and unjust conditions exist¬ 
ing iu the transportation rates of the coun¬ 
try, aud while the new express schedules 
were some improvement, they came a long 
way of being as they should be. 
Very interesting papers were read by 
I rot. R. L. Watts on combination of crops 
in greenhouse and garden. Dr. J. H. Web¬ 
ber on the theory and practice of vegeta¬ 
ble breeding, illustrated with lantern slides, 
and by Mr. O. J. Bishop, of Pontiac, Mich., 
on results of developiug special varieties, 
finder the discussion of soil fertility Dr. 
t. E. Thorne, director of Ohio Experiment 
station, talked on maintaining fertility iu 
truck lauds, aud Prof. E. O. Fippin, of 
Cornell, on vegetable growing on muck with 
special relation to fertilizers and lime. At 
the greenhouse session Prof. W. J. Wright, 
director of New York School of Agriculture, 
Alfred, N. Y., spoke on greenhouse build¬ 
ing and equipment, and Mr. C. West, of 
Irondequoit, spoke on soil sterilization ; Mr. 
8 . A. Jamison, of Chicago, gave an illus¬ 
trated talk on concrete work in greenhouse 
construction. 
At the co-operation session C. R. White 
gave a talk on co-operation, its benefits, ob¬ 
stacles aud future, which resulted in a very 
lively discussion participated in by Prof 
Corbett, in which many points iu relation 
to organization of co-operative associations 
was brought out. Mr. E. W. Catchpoie 
gave some interesting information in re¬ 
gard to the marketing of farm products bv 
delivering in original package direct to the 
consumer. One of the most interesting anu 
instructive features of the convention was 
the auto trip through irondequoit, where 
the 200 delegates, together with perhaps 
as many more as guests, saw what had been 
accomplished by the successful gardeners of 
that section. The grounds and greenhouses 
of the most prominent members were in¬ 
spected, showing a high quality of work 
and results. The fields of tomatoes, celery, 
carrots, etc., that we saw showed the re¬ 
markable results which can be obtained on 
thin sandy lands by high fertilization, ro¬ 
tation and irrigation, there being some very 
fine Skinner irrigation systems in use here. 
One of the most wonderful sights was that 
of the Rudeman peach orchards, consisting 
of 150 acres, ranging from trees just set to 
20 years of age aud receiving the highest 
fertilization and cultivation; the bearing 
trees were breaking down under their heave 
loads of fruit aud as we passed through 
the orchard we were treated to the most 
luscious specimens. The new packing house 
where this fruit is being packed is well 
worth visiting. 
But I haven’t said a word about the ban¬ 
quet at the Powers and that is certainlv 
an important item. Willis K. Gillette act 
od as toastmaster and the following toasts 
were given, President H. F. Hall in re¬ 
sponse gave a brief outline of what tbe As 
sociafion had done in the past; Prof. R. I. 
Watts spoke of the future of the Associa 
tion, urging each member to secure at least 
one new member ; S. W. Severance, of Ken¬ 
tucky responded to the toast. “Our Ladies,” 
in a very able manner, while R. B. Wood¬ 
ward, secretary of Rochester Chamber of 
Commerce, spoke on what our city cousins 
can do for the association, bringing out the 
fact that farming as au occupation tends to 
make men independent, and that it is much 
harder to forn* au association of farmers 
than of any other class, also showing the 
necessity for farmers and city people to 
work together in order to reduce the high 
cost of living. Judge Lynn, in speaking 
of what our country cousins can do for the 
city, spoke of the high prices paid for fruit 
and vegetables and of finding the center 
or bottom of packages filled with poor ma¬ 
terial. From first to last the convention 
was a success, no one engaged in garden 
ing who was not in attendance can realize 
how much they missed, and it is hoped that 
the membership will greatly increase be¬ 
fore the next annual convention. 
m. m. w. 
