THE) RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
223 
1613. 
THE PRODUCE COMMISSION BILL. 
If the bill fathered in the State Legis¬ 
lature by Senator Franklin D. Roosevelt 
and Assemblyman Cole of Orleans County, 
is not killed dead, the produce commis¬ 
sion business of New York State might as 
well make Hs arrangements with the under¬ 
taker and prepare for its obsequies as 
cheaply and promptly as possible.—Fruit- 
man’s Guide. 
The produce papers of this State seem 
to be in hysterics over the Commission 
Regulation bill referred to above. This 
is pretty good evidence that the bill has 
some features that are fair for the regu¬ 
lation of the heretofore unbridled com¬ 
mission merchant. The bill does noth¬ 
ing but provide some machinery to en¬ 
force honest returns for farm produce 
consigned to commission merchants as 
agents of the shipper, and any commis¬ 
sion merchant or any interest opposing 
the bill puts himself or itself in the posi¬ 
tion of opposing the enforcement of 
honesty in the commission trade. 
If the commission merchants wish to 
oppose the bill, why did they refuse to 
face the producers before the Agricul¬ 
tural Committees at Albany last week? 
Evidently they did not care to listen to 
the facts that the producers were pre¬ 
pared to give them before the commit¬ 
tees. They remained away and are now 
seeking a special hearing before the 
committees at a time when they know 
the producers are not likely to repeat 
the loss of time and expense that they 
incurred in attending the first hearing. 
If this were the first time that the com¬ 
mission merchants’ interests had fol¬ 
lowed these tactics we might give some 
credence to their plea for want of time, 
but the same tactics have been repeated 
from year to year for the last five or 
six years, and the only conclusion that 
a reasonable mind can reach is that 
commission merchants would rather 
meet the members of the committees 
alone than to meet them face to face 
with the indignant producers of the 
State. 
The interests that want producers to 
continue to ship their products to com¬ 
mission merchants and accept what the 
commission man’s charity or avarice 
permits, without any means of securing 
an honest accounting, will oppose this 
bill with might and main. These inter¬ 
ests are organized and have money and 
influence at their command. They will 
fight with the desperation that men al¬ 
ways fight with for an unjust privilege. 
In this case the fight is for the privi¬ 
lege of receiving produce and paying 
just what they please for it, or paying 
nothing at all for it, as will best suit 
the convenience and purposes of the 
moment. If any commission man dis¬ 
putes this assertion we have abundant 
proof extending over 25 years right here 
in The R. N.-Y. office to confirm the 
justice of the assertion. While we can¬ 
not understand the motive of an honest 
commission house in opposing the pro¬ 
visions of this bill, we are not disputing 
that there may be some honest commis¬ 
sion merchants ready to oppose it out 
of mistaken sentiment in the business 
and fraternity with other men who op¬ 
pose it, but the provisions of the bill are 
really as much a protection to the honest 
commission merchant as to the pro¬ 
ducer. A large percentage of the prac¬ 
tices in the produce commission mer¬ 
chant trade have been for many years a 
scandal to the produce business in this 
State, and it would seem that the honest 
men in the trade would welcome any 
provision that would purge their busi¬ 
ness of the reputation that it has sus¬ 
tained through the abuses of the past 
and of the present. Men fight hard to 
retain wrongful privileges, but the pro¬ 
duce trade of the State of New York 
may just as well make up its mind that 
the old methods must go. Consumers 
will insist on this as well as producers, 
because the consumers at last begin to 
realize that their high cost of living is 
due to the wasteful and extravagant and 
dishonest practices of distribution, and 
with producer and consumer united 
against them, the produce trade will 
either submit to reforms or the present 
regime will find itself out of business. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Admission of Cipriano Cas¬ 
tro, ex-I’cesident of Venezuela, to the United 
States as a visitor was denied January 30 
by Secretary Charles Nagel of the Depart¬ 
ment of Commerce and Labor. The Ven¬ 
ezuelan’s refusal to answer the question 
whether, while President of his country, he 
was a party to the killing of General Par¬ 
edes was the cause of Secretary Nagel’s 
order for his deportation. The Secretary 
sustained the report of the immigration au¬ 
thorities against Castro, on the ground 
that his declination to answer “may in it¬ 
self constitute an admission by conduct’’ of 
the Commission of a felony. The immigra¬ 
tion law bars from entry any person con¬ 
victed of or admitting the commission of 
a crime involving moral turpitude, provid¬ 
ing it is not purely a political offence. The 
Secretary held that the killing of Paredes 
was not a purely political crime. The 
information against Castro was furnished 
to the Department of Commerce and Labor 
by the State Department, and Secretary 
Nagel in his decision frankly admits that, 
but for the State Department’s action, Cas¬ 
tro probably would have been admitted 
without question. 
Three men and one woman were burned 
to death, and many others were injured 
in a fire which destroyed the Iowa Hotel, 
a four-story brick structure at Nos. 330 
and 332 North Clark street, Chicago, Jan¬ 
uary 30. 
David S. Mills, former president of the 
Audubon National Bank, was convicted in 
New York February 1 of misapplication of 
the bank's funds and sentenced to seven 
years’ imprisonment in Atlanta by Judge 
Hunt, in the United States District Court. 
The conviction was considered remarkable 
for the reason that the depositors of the 
Audubon National Bank did not lose any¬ 
thing through the Mills transaction, though 
this was largely due to the timely interfer¬ 
ence of the national bank examiners. Mills 
schooner City of Georgetown is at the bot¬ 
tom of the sea as a result of a collision 
early February 2 near Five Fathom Bank 
Light, beyond the Delaware Breakwater. 
The schooner, laden with a cargo of salt 
from New York to Savannah, sank within 
eight minutes. The big light from Five 
Fathom Bank Lightship is said to have 
been responsible for the accident. The City 
of Georgetown was heading toward Cape 
Ilatteras, in the southeast, while the steam¬ 
er's course was toward the northeast, to 
reach the transatlantic steamship route. 
The light shone between the two approach¬ 
ing vessels and when the lookouts gave 
warning it was too late to avoid the colli¬ 
sion. 
The Supreme Court of the United States, 
in the government’s suit against Sidney 
W Winslow and others for criminal viola¬ 
tion of the anti trust law, held February 3 
that the organization of the United Shoo 
Machinery Company was not in restraint 
of trade. The court declared for the first 
time that the Sherman anti-trust law does 
not forbid the mere combining of non-com¬ 
petitors in an industry. Solicitor General 
Bullitt for the government, had contended 
that if the combination brought into one 
hand an “undue proportion’’ of the trade 
it was forbidden by the anti-trust statute. 
Desnite this decision, officials of the De¬ 
partment of Justice declared that the United 
Shoe Machinery Comnany would be pros¬ 
ecuted for the alleged criminal violation 
of the Sherman law under the one remain¬ 
ing count of the indictments, the validity 
of which was sustained by the lower court. 
That count, which was not before the Su¬ 
preme Court, charged in effect that the 
company was monopolizing the industry by 
combination, by “tying” the various shoe 
machines together, by the destruction of 
competition, and by the acquisition of com¬ 
petitors’ business. 
NEW YORK STATE GRANGE.—The for¬ 
tieth annual convention of the New York 
State Grange opened at Buffalo, ‘February 
$25 $15 $10 
PRIZES FOR PHOTOGRAPHS 
The Rural New-Yorker will give $50— divided as above for the 
Three Best Original Photographs illustrating scenes in our new book 
“THE CHILD” 
This book is full of pathetic or dramatic situations which afford opportunity 
for effective grouping of characters to form illustrations. Here are a few: 
* ‘Childless and alone” 
The Elder and The Child 
Shep and hit new friend 
‘ ‘Sunday comet in the middle of the week 
First lesson in milking 
Hiram Bently’s anger 
Hen Bingham’s atonement 
Ike Barber’s cider mill 
“Berryin’ a boy” 
Advertising with cider applet 
Bill King’t heme run 
Joe Burgess and his song 
Mr. Cabot of the Austin Cabots 
“Mother” and the Child 
These and other scenes will form effective groupings for pictures, and the 
characters may be found right in your home neighborhood. You are to 
arrange the groups to suit yourself. The prizes will be awarded to the 
pictures which most nearly carry out the idea of the book. Each contest¬ 
ant may send 6 pictures but no individual can win more than one prize. 
Suitable pictures not winning prizes will be paid for. Others will be 
promptly returned on receipt of postage. 
The Pictures Must he in Our Hands April 1, 1913 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER NEW YORK 
was brought to trial on the charge that he 
had discounted notes aggregating $50,000, 
knowing that the signatures on them were 
fictitious and that they were absolutely 
worthless. The proceeds from these notes 
were used to buy out the stock holdings 
of some of the directors of the bank who 
had objected to notes previously discounted 
by Mills. 
Two women were crushed to death and 
32 persons were injured, five of them fatal¬ 
ly, in a panic in a moving picture theatre 
at Nos. 141 and 143 East Houston street, 
New York, February 2. A boy in the bal¬ 
cony raised the cry of “Fire !” when a sn.all 
section of a film caught fire, and in an 
instant a mad, headlong rush for the exits 
began. Scenes similar to those that at¬ 
tended the great Iroquois Theatre fire in 
Chicago some years ago were enacted. The 
500 persons in the theatre all tried to leave 
oy the narrow exits at the same time. Fire 
Commissioner Johnson, who made an ex¬ 
amination of the premises soon after the 
dead and injured had been carried away, 
said the theatre had complied with all the 
building laws and that the fire did prac¬ 
tically no damage. He places the entire 
blame for the fatalities and injuries on the 
panic which was started by the audience. 
A half mile of the most valuable portion 
of Savannah’s waterfront was raked by a 
lire February 2. The flames caused about 
$1,500,000 loss and for several hours threat¬ 
ened the city with the most serious conflag¬ 
ration it had experienced in many years. 
The great wharves of the Merchants and 
iuuiers Transportation Company’s ware¬ 
houses, filled with freight just brought into 
port by steamers from Baltimore and Phila¬ 
delphia, were quickly turned into a ruined 
mass by the flames. Large storage ware¬ 
houses filled with articles of value were 
wiped out by the fire in a short time. 
In one of the most spectacular fires 
Aiken, S. C., has ever seen and in which 
more than $250,000 in property, jewelry 
and personal effects were destroyed, the 
Park-in-the-Pines Hotel was burned to the 
ground February 2. There were many nar¬ 
row escapes, and for a time, several "guests 
were in danger of being cut off in the 
upper rooms of the three-story building. 
All of tin* 44 guests however, got out safely. 
The Hamburg-American liner Prinz Os¬ 
kar. which sailed from Philadelphia. Feb¬ 
ruary 1, for Hamburg, had a large hole 
stove la her port bow, and the four-masted 
4, with the largest attendance in the his¬ 
tory of the order. W. H. Vary, State 
Master, in his opening address said it was 
essential to avoid any entanglements of the 
order with any political party, and “an offi¬ 
cer of the State Grange could not serve 
the order and his party at the same time.” 
The Grange, he said, looked with favor on 
the bill of Senator Roosevelt providing 
for the licensing and bonding of commis¬ 
sion merchants, on the ground that it would 
protect the shipper of farm produce from 
unscrupulous dealers. The Canadian reci¬ 
procity act should be repealed, as "a men¬ 
ace to the farm interest.” The Grange is 
opposed to the present system of building 
good roads, according to Master Vary, who 
said: 
“We believe that good and substantial 
highways may be constructed at a much 
less cost than the contract prices of many 
of the so-called State roads. It appears 
to us that too large a portion of the funds 
appropriated for highway purposes is ex¬ 
pended in unnecessary preliminaries and 
useless engineering. In most cases local 
engineers could do this work more cheap¬ 
ly and satisfactorily, having a better knowl¬ 
edge of climatic and soil conditions. In 
many parts of the State substantial roads 
can be built for as many hundred dollars 
as thousands are required for the more 
expensive boulevards. Such a policy would 
give thousands of people good roads at 
less cost. A large part of the fiftv-million- 
dollar bond issue was diverted from the 
purpose for which it was intended by spe¬ 
cial legislative enactments, apparently in 
the interests of individuals. The proceeds 
of these bonds have been practically all used 
up. It is gone, and we have no remedy or 
redress, but possibly a lesson has been 
learned that will be beneficial in the future.” 
The report of the State secretary. W. N. 
Giles, showed S15 Suboi'diuate Granges 
in the State, a net increase for the year 
of 31. The total membership is 104,683. 
The largest Grange counties are Jefferson, 
with 7,715 members; Chautauqua. 7 . 486 : 
Monroe, 5.292; St. Lawrence, 5,206. and 
Wayne. 5,192. The State treasurer, W. L. 
Bean, renorted a balance on hand on Janu¬ 
ary 1, 1912. of $26,509.39; receipts during 
the year, $30,203.97 : interest. $646.38. mak¬ 
ing a total of $57,359.74. The vear’s dis¬ 
bursements were $29,439.22, leaving a bal¬ 
ance on hand on January 1, 1913, of $27,- 
920.52. ’ 
FARMERS AND HIGH PRICES. 
In a recent report of the Committee on 
Markets, Brices and Costs of the New York 
State Food Investigating Commission, it 
was stated that whereas producer should 
receive 70% in. profit on the gross receipt 
from the sale of his produce, it was usual 
for only 30% to 40% to go to him—an 
entirely inadequate sum it was added. The 
grower who has developed his resources 
enough to sell in large quantities has ad¬ 
vantages which may enable him to get 
larger returns, but that the small pro¬ 
ducer would find it exceedingly difficult to 
rescue from incidental costs, and a some¬ 
what unwilling public a maximum of even 
40% was shown by my experiences in mar¬ 
keting a 46-barrel crop of first-class York 
Imperial apples during the past season. 
Our orchard, situated in the hills of 
western Maryland, is newly planted with 
the exception of a few bearing trees planted 
by the previous owner, poorly pruned and 
in generally poor shape. From these our 
crop was secured. As the immediate coun¬ 
tryside and nearby small towns are all 
amply supplied by their own trees, the 
nearest place in which so small a crop 
coukl be sold to advantage appeared to 
be the city in which I live, a hundred 
miles away. Here they were sold without 
difficulty by myself and hence without 
charge for commission. Private individuals 
and restaurants paid an average of $2.60 
for each three-bushel barrel, delivered—a 
fair price in this year of bumper apple 
crops. 
Of course, carload freight rates could 
not be secured, hence the cost for freight 
and delivery averaged 42 cents per barrel, 
varying somewhat as whe" a single bar¬ 
rel was sent the cost was much greater. 
The delivery charges also varied from 10 
to 35 cents per barrel according to the num¬ 
ber delivered at one time. As we were 
forced to buy the barrels from a local 
dealer at retail rates, their price added 
40 cents to cost of each barrel instead of 
30 cents, as would have been the case if 
purchased in larger quantities. These two 
items—delivery and barrel—total $39.93, 
or nearly 33% of the gross receipts of 
$119.60. As the trees from which the 
crop was picked were not the only ones 
sprayed, it was difficult to get at the exact 
cost of spraying the four times necessary 
to produce sound apples, it was carefully 
estimated that spraying, thinning, picking, 
packing and hauling to the station a mile 
away was not less than $35. This made 
the total cost, exclusive of interest on the 
investment, selling commissions and super¬ 
intendence $74.93, leaving a profit of $44.67 
on 46 barrels or about 97 cents a barrel. 
Had it been possible to dipose of the entire 
crop at the farm, we would have made 
much more, as 10 bushels sold to neighbors 
brought 40 cents a bushel. However, the 
outlet at the farm was restricted, and it 
would have been difficult, if not impossible, 
to have sold the 46 barrels at the same rate 
as the 10 bushels. Our experience showed 
that a mistake was made in not bolding at 
the farm until all apples were picked and 
sold and then all delivered at once. This 
was not done because deterioration was 
feared on account of the unseasonably 
warm weather. Better management in these 
particulars would have saved from 10 to 
15 cents a barrel. 
It appears from this experiment that 
the advisability of any attempt to market 
a small crop is doubtful as the ordinary 
farmer would not so easily get in touch 
with bis market. It also appears that the 
small producer can hardly be expected to 
reduce the cost of living "to any extent by 
selling cheaper. ax. e. b. 
The Small Producer’s Profit. 
So many people seem to have the idea 
that the only way to keep the cost of liv¬ 
ing from soaring is for the farmers to raise 
more and better crops. They appear to 
have the idea that all a farmer has to do 
is to haul his stuff to town and cash 
checks; they lose sight entirely of the fact 
that it costs the farmer real nloney to 
raise a crop. Everything that is fed to 
his family or to his stock, that is, his work 
stock, lessens his income by just that much, 
for it is obvious that one cannot feed corn 
to anything and sell it too. If a farmer 
butchers a hog. his meat costs him the 
exact sum that that hog would bring on the 
market, the same with garden stuff and 
everything else. A lady once said to me, 
“How nice it must be to live on a farm; 
you can have all the fresh meat and vege¬ 
tables you want for nothing.” She could 
not see the hard work it was necessary to 
do and the feed that it took to make that 
fresh meat, nor the long weary hours spent 
pushing the garden plow before I could 
eat so much as a radish. Personally, I am 
of the opinion that if the farmer could be 
assured of a fair profit, he would be abund¬ 
antly able to take care of the production 
of Dig crops without the unasked advice of 
bank presidents and others who would be 
quick enough to resent it if a farmer under¬ 
took to show them how to run their busi¬ 
ness. 
It is very easy to tell how a thing ought 
to bo done, but saying and doing are two 
widely different things, as some may have 
noticed. For instance, we all know "that if 
it rains the first week in July, the proper 
thing to do is to plow the corn as soon as 
the ground is dry enough, but the wheat 
is ripe and must be cut. It is impossible 
to get help enough at any price to cut 
wheat and plow corn at the same time, so 
just what is one to do about it? Merely 
tills, cut tlie wheat and let the corn go until 
after harvest is over, then just as likely 
as not some one wants to thrash and must 
have help. One will need help himself 
soon, so he goes and helps his neighbor 
thrash, and thus it goes. The corn ought 
to be plowed, but it isn’t, and bankers say 
the farmer does not make the most of his 
opportunities. Much of their advice is 
good, but if one cannot take it, he cannot, 
and it does no one any good. 
One of my neighbors runs a dairy, keeps 
purebred Jerseys and sells the cream. A 
patron of a restaurant in Hastings asked 
for a half-pint bottle of cream, and thought 
the price rather high, 35 cents. Does seem 
a little high when one learns that the cream 
is sold to the restaurant by my neighbor 
for 20 cents a quart! Decidedly the farmer 
is not altogether to blame for the high 
cost of living, if at all. Robert rixker. 
Nebraska. 
