1913 . 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
437 
SEND THESE LETTERS TO ALBANY, N. Y. 
Postoffice -, March —, 1913. 
Hon. Wm. Sulzer, Governor, 
Executive Chamber, 
Albany, N. Y. 
The production of farm food products in the country is discouraged, and 
the cost of food in the city is increased by the following conditions: 
1. Irresponsible commission merchants receive consignments and make no 
return for them. 
2. Some commission merchants receive consignments and sell them and 
return less than the market price, and less than they encourage the shipper to 
expect. 
3. Other commission merchants receive goods on consignment and buy 
them for themselves as food speculators, of themselves as agents of the ship¬ 
per. It is not conceivable that returns in such instances would be fair to the 
shipper. 
4. Still other commission merchants go into producing sections and buy food 
products for speculation and bring them into the market in competition with 
goods shipped to them on consignment. Again the distant shipper is at a dis¬ 
advantage in this situation. 
5. When a shipper complains that the returns are too low, he is told that 
the goods were poor, or ungraded, or damaged, and the shipper, having no 
means of proving the quality of goods, has no redress. 
The Roosevelt-Cole Bill now before the Legislature is intended to correct 
some of these abuses. In the interest of producer and consumer as well as in 
the interest of honesty and a square deal, I respectfully request you to use your 
good influences to secure the passage of this bill. 
Respectfully, 
Name. 
Address. 
Hon. Robert E. Wagner, 
The Capitol, 
Albany, N. Y. 
Thousands of dollars worth of the finest food in the world annually rots 
on the farms of New York State because the producer cannot get enough for it 
in the New York City market to pay for shipping after it is grown. The State 
spends over a million dollars annually to teach farmers to produce more Why 
not do something to help them sell at a profit what they know how to grow? 
Railroads advocate these educational appropriations in the hope of increasing 
tonnage and profits. Manufacturers advocate them in the hope of getting cheap 
food for their operators and escape a demand for higher wages. Food speculators 
advocate the appropriations because they know big crops means low wholesale 
prices. They can control the retail price, and put the difference in their pockets. 
The more you spend for education, the less food will be produced and shipped 
unless the producer can get enough out of it to make a living. The producer 
has a right to know that his goods are handled by honest men, and what they 
sell for in the market. The Roosevelt-Cole bill will help some. I appeal to you 
to help make it a law. 
Name. 
Address 
Hon. A. E. Smith, 
The Capitol, 
Albany, N. Y. 
One of the most frequent complaints of farmers is that irresponsible and 
dishonest men in the commission trade get their goods and return less than their 
market value, or make no returns at all. One of the principal arguments urged 
against the Roosevelt-Cole bill by commission interests is that it would prevent 
bookkeepers and salesmen without capital from going into the commission busi¬ 
ness. The more irresponsible bookkeepers and salesmen, to say nothing about 
crooks, you have in the commission trade the more cause there will be for com¬ 
plaint from both producer and consumer. It costs 65 cents now to take a dollar’s 
worth of goods from the farmer and deliver it to the consumer. We ask you to 
help reduce this extravagance and waste and dishonesty. As a means to that 
end we ask your help to pass the Roosevelt-Cole bill. a 
Name. 
Address 
A COMMISSION MAN’S CASE. 
Travis and an Apple Deal. 
The orator of the commission men in 
their fight against the bill now before the 
Albany Legislature is ex-Senator E. M. 
Travis. From Montauk Point to Buffalo 
Mr. Travis is on the job. He does most 
of the talking, and then obtains the 
services of Uncle Sam, for printed 
copies of his speech are being mailed 
by the thousand to farmers. This speech 
has been characterized by one man who 
heard it as an “organized bellyache.” It 
contains no admission that any regula¬ 
tion is needed, no suggestion for any 
improvement in the system—just 5,000 
words of hot air woven around the 
gray-haired old Bourbon stand-patter of 
“All we ask is—let us alone!” Mr. 
Travis says he is not in the commission 
business, therefore you might expect him 
to come with clean hands when he 
throws so many stones. Like most of 
the stone-throwers, he breaks his own 
windows. 
The records show that between Octo¬ 
ber 7 and 12, 1905, Harry D. Lane, of 
Greene Co., New York,, sold to Travis & 
Co. through their representative, Mr. 
Kurau, 264 barrels of apples at an agreed 
price of $2.15 per barrel. Mr. Lane 
.states that he never could get any state¬ 
ment from Travis & Co. They claimed 
to have docked him for 12 barrels, but 
never told him how much they took off. 
Mr. Lane also claims that the repre¬ 
sentative, Mr. Kurau, never gave him 
any shipping receipt. Travis & Co. paid 
various sums and then refused to pay 
more, claiming that Mr. Lane owed 
them. If you have had any experience 
with a certain class of produce buyers 
you know the programme of bluff, delay 
and fooling. The matter hung fire until 
March 18, 1908. Then Mr. Lane sent his 
account to a relative in New York—a 
bright young lawyer—very much of a 
bulldog. Travis & Co. corresponded 
with him until August 5,-1908, when he 
brought suit in Mr. Lane’s name. 
The record shows Mr. Travis to be a 
past master in the art of “jollying” for 
a delay. He will “look it up,” “go over 
the books,” “examine statements,” etc. 
No sensible man could read the record 
of this case without saying that Travis, 
the commission man, has proved Travis, 
the orator, a character with a wide 
range in his practice and his preaching. 
On August 4, 1908, Mr. Travis had the 
plain, unleavened nerve to write the fol¬ 
lowing to Mr. Lane’s lawyer: 
There were 252 barrels of apples shipped, 
Although we did not receive them all. Then 
there were 12 barrels shipped without Mr. 
Kurau’s inspection. They were rotten and 
leaking, and we refused to receive them 
until Air. Kurau advised us to have them 
sold, which we did, and render him ac¬ 
count of sales. In addition he had mer¬ 
chandise from us amounting to .$18.02. 
According to our books the man has been 
overpaid, and before you commence suit 
would it not be well to ascertain? If 
our figures are correct, and I believe they 
are, kindly send us your check for $39.50. 
This is shown by the collection of papers 
which had been kept in file, and which we 
found after much research. 
I await your reply with very much Inter¬ 
est, and wonder if Mr. Iiane will be as 
anxious to pay me as he was to collect. 
The stub of the check book shows that 
he endorsed these checks and that they 
were paid by our bank, and I think he 
will hesitate some time before going into 
court. 
He sent the following “statement”: 
252 barrels of apples . 567.00 
18 barrels refused. 11.43 
Paid. ?57843 
Previous . $350.00 
Nov. 29, check . 100.00 
Dec. 29, check. 100.00 
Peb. 15, check. 50.00 
Merchandise . 18 02 
-— $618.02 
Due E. M. Ti'avls & Co... $39.50 
We have been wondering how any 
human being could develop the nerve 
required to send the speech of Senator 
Travis to farmers! This record ex¬ 
plains, for that nerve fades away before 
the supreme gall of asking this lawyer 
to “Kindly send us your check” for 
$39.50! The record is just a plain his¬ 
tory of bluff and bluster such as thou¬ 
sands of men are forced to endure every 
year from these produce buyers when 
they think they have some easy or help¬ 
less mark on the string. 
Travis & Co. had no easy mark in 
this lawyer. They did not bluff him one 
minute. He made it clear to them that 
Mr. Lane had the case and they had 
some of Mr. Lane’s money, and he 
brought suit. On October 21, 1908, or 
three years after the apples were bought, 
Travis & Co. came over with checks for 
$45.71—balance of what they owed Mr. 
Lane and the “costs of action.” Not so 
bad for an orator who claimed that Mr. 
Lane owed him $39.50! 
Now Mr. Lane was fortunate in hav¬ 
ing a relative here who took personal 
interest in his case. The average shipper 
would never have secured a dollar of 
this balance. It would have cost practi¬ 
cally the entire amount to collect it, and 
that is what a slick article can bank 
on. Year after year money by the hun¬ 
dred thousand is lost through plain rob¬ 
bery of shippers. 
“LETTERS TO PROMINENT MEN.” 
The discussion of this commission man’s 
bill at Albany is bringing out some lively 
letters from farmers. Those who think our 
New York farmers cannot express them¬ 
selves clearly ought to read what some of 
them put on paper. The commission men 
have a “Publicity Committee” which is 
flooding the mails with documents. They 
send a speech ex-Senator Travis, a state¬ 
ment of their own and printed cards, which 
they ask the farmer to send to Albany. 
Mr. Travis declares that this bill was drawn 
by college professors and men who do not 
know what they are talking about. Here 
is the letter this “Publicity Committee” 
got back from one Niagara County farmer: 
A Lemon for a Good Shipment. 
Gentlemen: I received your circulars 
arguing against the Roosevelt-Cole bill, and 
asking that I write you my views if I 
have time. I cheerfully take the time, 
because I judge that you'misunderstand the 
situation ; this movement does not emanate 
from college professors, but from farmers 
who are sick of getting a lemon for a quite 
good shipment of peaches. Even if the 
bill is drawn up by college professors that 
does not impress me as a fatal defect. I 
like some college professors. I>ast Fall T 
voted for a college professor who has just 
taken his seat as President of the United 
States, while the retiring president, for 
whom I voted four years ago, goes to New 
Ilaven to become a college professor. Both 
men seem to be well thought of as law 
makers. 
Senator Thompson owns the farm across 
the road from me, and Assemblyman Brad¬ 
ley is one of the State’s notable fruit grow¬ 
ers. Neither is at all likely to support 
a measure calculated to hurt the produce 
business of the State. In forwarding to 
them the cards which you sent me I have 
therefore taken the liberty of striking out 
the enacting clause, so to speak, and have 
“urged their valued support” in favor of 
the proposed law, with such amendments 
ns may seem called for. It is easier to 
amend a defective law than to initiate a 
new practice. Let us make the best start 
we can and improve it afterward. Your 
various Societies for the Prevention of 
Cruety to the Public might better have 
gone to work some years ago for a less 
drastic law instead of fighting every at¬ 
tempt to abate the evils of “the system.” 
Your present platform is beyond criti¬ 
cism. You advocate (I) Prompt account 
sales, with checks. (2) Honest returns. (3) 
Market prices. That is about all we need. 
You may remember the real estate spell¬ 
binder who finished his description of an 
irrigation project with the remark that 
the locality lacked absolutely nothing but 
more water and better society; whereto 
the near-sucker pertinently responded, 
“That’s all that hades lacks." 
H. A. SMITH. 
A Consumer to Governor Sulzer. 
This is what a New York consumer 
wrote Gov. Sulzer: 
I was greatly impressed with what you 
had to say about farming in your message 
to the Legislature. You must understand 
the condition of the present-day farmer 
and how hard it is for him to get along 
under present conditions, and I believe 
you will do what you can to help him. I 
believe the above entitled bill is going to 
be of great benefit to them. 
On the best of authoritv and of mv 
own knowledge, I know that out of the 
average dollar paid by the consumer for 
produce there are 65 cents of it taken by the 
commission man, and carrier before it gets 
to the farmer. As a farmer and a shipper 
of apples to this city, I have had to rely 
absolutely upon the commission man’s word 
as to what price my apples brought with¬ 
out any further satisfaction. To my fre¬ 
quent inquiry as to why my best quality 
of fruit did not bring more. I have been in¬ 
formed that there was a glut in the market, 
that the warm weather had slowed down 
the sales and various other excuses, and in 
no way under the sun could I go behind 
these excuses. If the “back to the land” 
cry is to really mean anything and farm¬ 
ing again made profitable, the farmers must 
be given more of a chance to obtain a 
larger share of the consumer’s dollar and 
I believe the passage of this bill will be 
one good way. 
Admitting that all commission men are 
honest, I cannot see why they should object 
to this bill. They get 10 per cent of the 
sale price here, while in England the com¬ 
mission men get but five on the same com- 
moditi* Five cents a barrel on apples is 
allowed for cartage here, which some of 
the commission men get. This matter of 
regulating the commission men is but one 
step in the great scheme of reducing the 
cost between the producer and the con¬ 
sumer which is one of the great changes 
of our times, and I believe there is nothing 
can halt this for more than a season. If 
it is balked this year, I think the people 
will demand it more than ever next. There 
must be something done and it is only a 
question of now or later. I bespeak your 
favorable attention to this bill. m. d. 
Even if you have already written one 
or more letters urging favorable action 
on the Roosevelt-Cole bill, cut out thf 
above three letters and mail them at 
once. No matter where you live, if you 
ship farm produce, you are interested 
in this matter. The commission inter¬ 
ests are now on the run. The letters 
going into Albany have given them a 
new light. The insult of farm intelli¬ 
gence in attempting to influence pro¬ 
ducers to oppose this bill has been re¬ 
sented by farmers in a vigorous demand 
for the bill. Their only hope now is to 
delay vote on the bill until the protest 
dies down. Keep up the good work. 
Let us have another 100,000 letters this 
week. The committee opposing this bill, 
in the interest of corrupt commission 
men headed by ex-Senator Travis have 
spent money lavishly in efforts to defeat 
this bill. From every corner of the 
State come reports of the activity of 
their agents and the mails have been 
flooded with their hysterical literature. 
Not a single dollar has been raised by 
the producers. On their part it has been 
an individual investment in postage 
stamps. We will look for every reader 
of The R. N.-Y. to invest six cents’ 
worth of stamps this week in mailing 
the above letters to Albany. An extra 
letter to your own Senator would be a 
good investment of time and postage. » 
