THE RURAIi NEW-YORKER 
11-43 
1912. 
AGRICULTURAL CREDITS IN EUROPE. 
No. 2. 
With its unenviable record of oppres¬ 
sive landlordism and discouraged ten¬ 
antry, Ireland to-day offers its proprie¬ 
tary farmers the best terms for financ¬ 
ing farm purchases to be found in any 
country that I have studied. When the 
Irish tenant succeeds in making fair 
terms with the landlord for the pur¬ 
chase of^a farm the government steps 
in and loans the full purchase price on 
a 67-year payment basis. The new 
owner pays less than four per cent, an¬ 
nually on the purchase price of his farm 
and in 67 years the debt is liquidated 
through these payments. The difficulty 
in Ireland is that the tenant is not 
often able to make satisfactory terms 
for the purchase. The large land own¬ 
ers are usually appointed land commis¬ 
sioners, and these commissioners natu¬ 
rally favor themselves, so that as long 
as the tenant can be forced to pay in 
rent a larger return than the owner 
could hope to realize from the use of 
the money, he refuses to sell. Besides, 
the land is often mortgaged up to nearly 
its actual value, and it is only through 
excessive rents that the landlord is able 
to squeeze out any net income at all. 
If the landlords would sell -the farms 
every tenant in Ireland would become a 
proprietor under the favorable system 
of government loans and easy payments 
covering the period of an average life¬ 
time. 
The Landschaften system of Germany 
has been repeatedly described. In it a 
number of farmers pool their credits, 
borrow on their combined resources and 
loan the money to the individuals of 
their association. It is used by the 
peasant farmers with small acreages and 
small means. These farmers are all of 
one class financially, socially and intel¬ 
lectually. The system would not be 
adapted to American conditions, where 
large and small farmers in various de¬ 
grees of progress and wealth are found 
in the same community. A large farmer 
with large means would not be expected 
to pool his property to secure a loan for 
the small farms of his neighborhood. 
The small farms would be of little ad¬ 
vantage to him if he required a loan. 
The system is adapted only to farmers 
of a given class. It is used in Germany 
for the peasant class, and while the ag¬ 
gregate amounts to large sums, the in¬ 
dividual loans are insignificant. The 
large German farmer looks to other 
sources for his loans. 
The Germans, however, have banks 
specially organized for the purpose of 
loaning money on farm mortgages. The 
mortgages become assets of the banks, 
and against these the banks are author¬ 
ized by law to sell debentures to the 
amount of mortgages held. The interest 
they are allowed to charge on the mort¬ 
gages is slightly in excess of the rate 
realized on the debentures. The banks 
operate under a very definite and most 
exacting law, with government inspec¬ 
tion. This gives the debentures a stable 
value, and they are regarded as the very 
best form of security by both large and 
small investors. This stability floats 
them at a low rate of interest, usually as 
low as government bonds; and under 
the arrangement the interest rate on 
farm mortgages is low. These private 
banks, operating under general laws, 
and subject to the most stringent super¬ 
vision and detailed inspection, have out¬ 
stripped the Landschaften associations 
five to one in volume of business. Their 
debentures carry a rate of 3(4 to 4 per 
cent, and their mortgages are written at 
4(4 to 4(4 per cent Yet on this small 
margin the volume of business is so 
great, and the securities so stable, the 
banks pay from 6 to 14 per cent, annual 
profits on their capital stock. 
There is something significant in the 
fact that these independent banks with¬ 
out special privilege or subsidy from the 
government, but subject to the most ex¬ 
acting supervision, have in a few years 
actually written about five times the 
amount of business done by the older 
Landschaften associations with their 
years of accumulated business and spe¬ 
cial privileges from the government. 
JOHN J. DILLON. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Five bankers well known 
in Memphis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City 
and other cities, who have been on trial 
at Memphis, Tenn., charged with conspir¬ 
acy to defraud, were found guilty October 
23 by a Federal jury. \V. C. White, ex¬ 
director of the All Night and Day Bank 
of Memphis and the Union Trust Company 
of Hot Springs, Ark., also named in the 
indictment, was acquitted. Those con¬ 
victed are: E. L. Ilendrey, ex-president of 
the Memphis All Night and Day Bank; H. 
C. Wynne, ex-president of the Little Rock, 
Ark., All Night and Day Bank; Abner 
Davis, ex-president of the All Night and 
Day Bank of Oklahoma City ; C. A. Bonds, 
ex-president of the Kansas City All Night 
and Day Bank, and J. H. Brooks, ex-direc¬ 
tor of the Memphis Bank and head of a 
local lumber company. 
Katmai Volcano, which caused great dam¬ 
age on the Alaskan Peninsula and adjacent 
islands last June, Is said to be in violent 
eruption again. The mail steamer Dora 
reported by wireless October 25 that she 
was anchored off Whale Island, unable to 
proceed further westward on her voyage 
to Dutch Harbor on account of the dark¬ 
ness caused by falling volcanic ash. 
Otto J. Peterson, general manager of the 
Spreckels Sugar Refining Company at 
Philadelphia, was fined $50 and costs by 
Magistrate Carey, October 25, on charges 
of allowing girls under 18 years to work all 
night in the sugar refinery. The convic¬ 
tion is the direct result of the work of 
women who have formed the Consumers 
League. These women picketed the plant 
aud questioned the girls as they left their 
work. The women learned that the chil¬ 
dren went to work at 8 o’clock at night 
and worked until 6 o’clock in the morning, 
with 45 minutes for lunch. After gather¬ 
ing the evidence the women turned it over 
to the State factory inspector, by whom 
the charges were made. Several employes 
testified against the manager. 
After considering the Becker case in New 
York for seven hours and 53 minutes, the 
jury returned a verdict October 24 of mur¬ 
der in the first degree. The trial has been 
a costly one. The cost of taking the tes¬ 
timony amounted to about $1,100. Each 
one hundred words was termed a “folio” 
and priced at 20 cents. The District Attor¬ 
ney was charged with the bill, and the 
agreement made that if Becker was found 
guilty $500 each would be charged for the 
two copies to go to Mr. McIntyre and the 
Governor. This, however, was only a small 
part of the cost of the trial, for it was 
estimated that it cost $700 a day to run 
the court. For one thing, each juror re¬ 
ceived $3 a day for sitting in the case, and 
was boarded at the Murray Hill Hotel at 
$10 a day. The six attendants who watched 
over the jury received the same service at 
the same cost. That trip to England As¬ 
sistant District Attorney De Ford took 
to bring back Coupe cost the State $2,000. 
There were sixteen policemen, a lieutenant 
and a captain stationed outsido the court¬ 
room. Their combined salaries amounted 
to about $1,000 a day. William. Shapiro, 
driver of the car which took Herman Ros¬ 
enthal's murderers to the Mctropole, signed 
an affidavit October 29 in the District At¬ 
torney’s office saying that the men in his 
car on the night of the killing were Dago 
Frank, Gyp the Blood, Whitey Lewis and 
Lefty Louie. Becker was sentenced Octo¬ 
ber 30 to die in December. 
Alarm clocks, gumshoes, nitroglycerine 
cans, tags from dynamite packages and 
wires were produced before the jury at the 
“dynamite conspiracy” trial at Indianapolis 
October 26, and identified by Martin J. 
Hyland, chief of police of Indianapolis, as 
having been taken from the vaults of the 
International Association of Bridge and 
Structural Iron Workers on the night that 
J. .T. McNamara was arrested. Photo¬ 
graphs of packages of dynamite also were 
identified by Chief Hyland. All the ex¬ 
hibits which were introduced bv the gov¬ 
ernment to sustain its contention that the 
45 defendants now on trial are equally 
guilty with the McNamara brothers and 
Ortie E. McManigal in causing explosions 
were piled in heaps on the floor before the 
jury. 
Three train robbers stopped an M. K. & 
T. train near Eufaula, Okla., October 28. 
They detached the passenger coaches, 
forced the engineer and fireman to run the 
engine, mail and baggage cars across the 
burning trestle and again bring the en¬ 
gine to a stop, while they dynamited and 
looted the express safe. The loss amounts 
to several thousand dollars. 
With the departure of the steamship 
Patris, of the Greek National line, carrying 
1,300 Greek reservists back home, and the 
Sant’ Anna, of the Italian line, taking 
1,400, officials of the Pan-Hellenic Union 
said October 26 that about 11,000 Greeks 
have left New York for home. Of these 
6,800, it was said, have been sent with 
funds provided by the Pan-Hellenic Union, 
while about 3,000 men have borne the cost 
of the journey themselves. Mr. M. Litsas, 
who has had charge of the steamship trans j 
portation, said that about $210,000 has 
been provided by the union, while the cost 
to the men who paid their own transpor¬ 
tation has been about $120,000. More 
Montenegrins and Servians left October 26 
than on any day since the war started, ac¬ 
cording to the estimate of the Servian Con¬ 
sul General. The Touraine, of the French 
line, carried 500; the America, of the 
Italian line, 300; the Philadelphia, of the 
American line, 200, and the Majestic, of 
the White Star line, 100. Altogether, it 
was said, between 2,300 and 2.400 have left 
up to date, most of them Montenegrins. 
A party of 75 Macedonian Bulgarians ar¬ 
rived in New York from Torcr*'' on their 
way home. They said that 20 more are 
to follow. 
Tarantulas, hundreds of them, drove 40 
workmen, October 28, from a steamship 
they were breaking up at Philadelphia and 
caused a call for the fumigating ship Brat¬ 
ton. the Government vessel which has been 
sent to Philadelphia to rid incoming steam¬ 
ships of rats. The vessel, the steamship 
Venice, had been used to carry fruit from 
Jamaica. The tarantula frequently has 
been found in fruit cargoes and iii this 
case bred with rapidity in the abandoned 
vessel. 
Fire in the plant of the Harmer Rubber 
Reclaiming Company at New Brunswick, 
N. J., October 28, destroyed that plant and 
the hotel owned by the New Brunswick 
Brewing Company, as well as a store 
owned by George N. Gerhart. The loss 
will exceed $100,000. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The General 
Education Board, which handles the John 
D. Rockefeller funds, announced October 
25 that it is about to begin fre.e agricul¬ 
tural demonstrations for the farmers of the 
North. Having perfected an organization 
in the South, where $695,700 has already 
been spent, they will now do the same 
for New England and the Middle States. 
Two appropriations were made, one of 
$1,500 for St Lawrence County, New York, 
and another of $8,000 for four counties of 
Maine—Washington, Kennebec, Oxford and 
Cumberland. The fund for St. Lawrence 
County will be dispensed under the dircct- 
tion of the State Agricultural School at 
Canton, N. Y., and that of Maine by the 
State College of Agriculture. The plan as 
outlined is for a practical demonstration 
of scientific agriculture upon the farms of 
a district. A man owns a farm which is 
not paying. An expert goes to him free 
of charge, studies his farm and his meth¬ 
ods, tells him what crops to raise for his 
soil and how to raise them. Ilis object is 
to remain there until he can show the 
farmer how to make his farm pay. This 
also is preliminary to the farm community 
schools, the plans for which are not yet 
perfected. When this is done it is hoped 
that the board will be able te work out 
in practical life what the Farm Life Com¬ 
mission talked about. 
Pittsburg’s fight to reduce the high cost 
of living got another setback, October 29, 
when Henry Phipps and his sons, John S. 
and Howard Phipps, began an action in the 
United States District Court to prevent 
the erection of a farmers’ market house 
on the Allegheny River wharf beOween 
Federal and Sandusky streets. The city 
appropriated money to erect this building 
after the Federated Women’s Clubs, seek¬ 
ing to eliminate the middleman, had agi¬ 
tated the matter for months. Mr. Phipps 
and his sons assert that the proposed build¬ 
ing would obstruct the light and air that 
are offered as inducements to tenants in 
the Fulton office building, one of the Phipps 
properties. 
The New York State Dairymen’s Associa¬ 
tion will hold its thirty-sixth annual con¬ 
vention at Syracuse, December 10-13, in 
the State Armory. The convention will 
embrace every phase of dairying from the 
production of milk to its manufacture in 
the form of butter, cheese, ice cream, 
buttermilk, etc., and machinerv for per¬ 
forming the manufacture of the different 
products will be on exhibition. E. H. 
Dollard of Ileuvelton is the president of 
the association and W. E. Griffith of 
Madrid is secretary and treasurer. Com¬ 
missioner Calvin J. Huson has promised 
the active cooperation of the Department 
of Agriculture to make the convention a 
success and will participate actively both 
in his official capacity as Commissioner 
and as director of the association. 
OBITUARY.—John Walton Spencer, edu¬ 
cator, died at Ithaca, October 24. He was 
69 years old. Mr. Spencer practically 
founded the extension courses in the State 
College of Agriculture, including the farm¬ 
ers’ reading course. His courses in nature 
study for children attracted wide attention. 
He was born on a farm in Westfield, N. Y., 
and early became interested in scientific 
agriculture. He joined the staff or the 
State Agricultural College in 1S97, retir¬ 
ing under the age limit several years ago, 
but continuing to give occasional lectures. 
Edwin Beckman died October 26 at the 
old Beekman homestead, in Middletown, 
N. J. He was 69 years old, had been a 
large fruit grower for many years, and was 
considered an authority on scientific farm¬ 
ing. He was an occasional contributor to 
The R. N.-Y. 
THE BALKAN WAR.—The Bulgarians 
have won a great victory over the Turks. 
After three days’ fighting the important 
strategic town of Kirk Kiliseh, east of 
Adrianople, was captured October 25, and 
1,200 prisoners taken, besides some Krupp 
and other guns, with ammunition and 
stores. The Turks retreated toward Bunar- 
hissar and Viza, on the main road to Con¬ 
stantinople. They fought a rearguard ac¬ 
tion, but in this Bulgarians were again 
victorious. The battle lasted two days, 
during which the town was bombarded. 
Under cover of heavy artillery fire the Bul¬ 
garian infantry attacked the Turkish posi¬ 
tion on two sides, and finally carried it at 
the point of the bayonet. October 30 the 
Montenegrins were still shelling Scutari, 
and the capture of the place seemed near. 
Adrianople was also closely invested. The 
Ottoman government has sent a long list 
of articles which will be treated as contra¬ 
band of war to the State Department at 
Washington. 
PARCELS POST.—Postmaster Morgan 
has called the attention of the public to 
the following features of the domestic par¬ 
cels post regulations which go into effect 
on January 1: 
“That distinctive parcels post stamps 
must be used on all fourth class matter 
beginning January 1, 1913. and that such 
matter bearing ordinary postage stamps 
will be treated as ‘Held for postage.’ 
“That parcels will be mailable only at 
post offices, branch post offices, lettered 
and local named stations and such num-' 
bored stations as may be- designated by 
the postmaster. 
“That all parcels must bear the return 
card of the sender, otherwise they will not 
be accepted for mailing.” 
Unless these requirements are carried 
out Postmaster Morgan says there is dan¬ 
ger that packages may not be promptly 
handled and the public will be inconveni¬ 
enced. 
Cows sell from $60 to $125. Hogs. $8.50 
to $10 live. Eggs, 36 cents; cheese. 16 
cents; butter, 35 cents; hay, $12 to $15; 
potatoes, 40 to 50 cents bushel, and rot¬ 
ting. Frost held off until October 16 and 
there has not been any freeze yet. Crops 
are very good here. Cows are giving the 
usual amount of milk which sells for $1.40 
per 100 pounds and goes to Boston. 
South Dorset, Vt. a. l . b. 
Just finished digging 13 acres of pota¬ 
toes. One field of three acres yielded 
about 200 bushels to acre, one-half of 
which are decayed. The other field of 10 
acres (one-third the hills were missed) 
yielded about 125 bushels to acre, only 
small portion of which were rotted, pos¬ 
sibly 10 to 12(4 per cent. The smaller 
field blighted earlier than the others, re¬ 
sult many more bad tubers. The larger 
field did not show scarcely any blight until 
after October 1. Here was a case where 
spraying for blight would have been a big 
investment. It is hard work to make 
the average farmer see it, however. I feel 
sure the potato crop is over-estimated in 
this neck of the woods, also that decay is 
going to cut a big figure in the number 
of merchantable potatoes. Buyers at our 
station began at 40 cents, but soon dropped 
to 35, and do not want them at the latter 
figure. c. i. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
Dame nature seems to be putting her 
best side out for the past week and has 
given us some beautiful Fall weather, and 
no one knows better how to appreciate it 
than the farmer. There was so, much rainy 
weather during the Summer that you can 
find hardly a farmer “caught up” with his 
work. The work of corn cutting, potato 
digging and silo filling has progressed ra¬ 
pidly during the past week. Two silo fill¬ 
ers have blown to pieces in this vicinity 
during the past week, but, strange to say, 
no one was seriously hurt. A hole, large 
enough for a man to crawl through, was 
made in a barn by a piece of one of the 
machines. 
The condition of potatoes is rather va¬ 
ried, an occasional piece hardly worth 
the digging on account of rot, some fields 
about half rotten and others with hardly a 
rotten potato. We have dug over 900 bushels; 
plenty to eat, plenty of vegetables, apples 
and canned fruits in the cellar, and a little 
popcorn to fill up with now and then make 
us thankful, and we feel that we live in a 
land of peace and plenty. k. m. s. 
Chardon, O. 
We cannot make the reports that we re¬ 
ceive from the various sections of the 
country conform with the Government re¬ 
port, 401,000,000 bushels. We are in con¬ 
stant touch with points on the Maine Cen¬ 
tral, in Maine, and throughout Aroostook 
County, Maine. We know that there is 
rot in Aroostook County, Maine, especially 
on the low lands or in the low places in 
the fields, but the rot is not extensive. The 
general opinion regarding Aroostook County 
crop is that it is about 75 per cent of last 
year’s crop; Cobblers being the best 
yielder- Mountains are also a good crop, 
but being of medium size the yield is 
slightly less per acre than usual. Red 
Bliss yielded very light. We are informed 
that the Maine Central crop is also averag¬ 
ing medium size, the out-turn being about 
200 bushels to the acre, which is not a 
large yield for that section ; if anything 
it is less than the usual yield. We under¬ 
stand that there is a bumper crop in New 
York State. We have also been advised 
that around Buffalo they have plowed up 
fields. We know that the stuff arriving 
in this market all shows more or less rot; 
few if any cars are coming sound. Some 
cars have been almost half rotten. No 
doubt much of this rot develops in transit, 
but at the same time it shows that the 
potatoes are affected and not of good keep¬ 
ing quality. 
The largest handlers in Philadelphia of 
Pennsylvania-grown potatoes report these 
sections as well cleaned up, as usual at 
this season, and that there is no surplus. 
Chester County, Delaware County and 
Bucks County are well cleaned up, but 
Lehigh and Berks Counties both have large 
yields and the movement just fairly under 
way. New Jersey stock is also now prac¬ 
tically cleaned up, although it cleaned up 
about a month later than usual. Our let¬ 
ters from Michigan would indicate that 
they have a good crop. From all reports 
from Ohio the advices are that they have 
a small crop of inferior quality, and we 
have also heard that Wisconsin and Min¬ 
nesota are short about 15 per cent of last 
year. We have been trying to side the 
situation up ourselves, but reports are very 
conflicting. We feel, however, that the 
Agricultural Department in their pre¬ 
liminary estimate have over-estimated the 
crop. E. S. WOODWARD & CO. 
Philadelphia, Pa, 
FARMERS’ INSTITUTES IN NEW JERSEY. 
The following schedule of farmers’ insti¬ 
tutes in New Jersey has been arranged by 
the State Board of Agriculture: November 
7, Cologne; November 8, Hammonton; No¬ 
vember 9, Blue Anchor; November 11, Har- 
mersville; November 12 and 13, Mullica 
Hill; November 14, Sergeantsville; No¬ 
vember 15, ltingoes; November 18, New 
Market and Fair Lawn; November 19, 
Aequaekanonk ; November 20 and 21, Vine- 
land ; November 22 and 23, Burlington; 
November 25 and 26, Shiloh ; November 27, 
Williamstown ; November 29, Farmingdale; 
November 30, Toms River; December 2, 
Haddonfield ; December 3, Elmer; Decem¬ 
ber 4, Marlton ; December 5, Englishtown ; 
December 6 and 7, Moorestown ; December 
9, Layton; December 10, Branchville; De¬ 
cember 11, Newton; December 12, Blairs- 
town ; December 14, Stanton; December 
16, Woodbine; December 17, Cold Springs; 
December 18 and 19, Woodstown; Decem¬ 
ber 20, Freehold; December 21, Cranbury 
and Mount Ilolly ; December 23, Columbus ; 
December 24, Hopewell. 
Dr. Thomas J. Headlee, who has just 
assumed his new duties as State En¬ 
tomologist, will attend most of the insti¬ 
tutes and will lecture on “Combating In¬ 
sect Pests” and similar topics. Another 
new feature this year will be the appear¬ 
ance of Mrs. Edith Charlton Salisbury, the 
well-known lecturer on farm subjects, who 
will speak on “Three Meals a Day in the 
Farmer’s Family” and other interesting 
topics. Dr. J. G. Lipman and other mem¬ 
bers of the faculty of the State Agricul¬ 
tural College at New Brunswick, as well 
as widely known agriculturists from other 
States will speak on subjects of vital and 
practical interest to farmers. 
Butter. 25; eggs, 20; beef, four to five 
cents; potatoes. 25 to 30; rye, 60; chick¬ 
ens. nine to 10; apples. No. 1, 40 cents. 
Mayfield, Mich. w. F. j. 
