-486 
THE HURAt NEW-YOKKER 
March 29, 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
Farmers in the States of Illinois and 
Iowa are now appointing a committee 
to look after their investments in the 
Independent Harvester Company, of 
Plano, Ill. We do not know the extent 
of the investments by the farmers who 
are looking after the affairs of the com¬ 
pany at this time. It would seem from 
the report that there is about $5,411,500 
capital stock outstanding and that prac¬ 
tically $4,441,900 of stock had been issued 
in what they call Preferred Machinery 
Discount Series. As farmers alone 
would be interested in this stock, and 
as it seems to have been devised particu¬ 
larly to attract them, it may be assumed 
that the farmers have put these millions 
into the stock of the company. In the 
assets we find liberal allowances for 
good will, for equity in land already 
mortgaged, for factory buildings, raw 
material, unfinished products, etc. No 
dividends have ever been declared or 
paid, and it is reported on good author¬ 
ity that the chief promoter had a liberal 
share of the stock issued in considera¬ 
tion of his promotion services. 
The Banking Department of the State 
of Kansas, under the authority of the 
so-called Blue-Skv Law of that State, 
made a thorough investigation of the af¬ 
fairs of the company last year and made 
certain requirements of them which the 
company refused to comply with. They 
are not authorized to sell their securi¬ 
ties in the State of Kansas. All of this 
confirms our previous conviction that 
the stock of the Independent Harvester 
Company of Plano, Ill., would be a good 
thing for farmers to leave alone. We 
first advised our readers to this effect 
in 1909 and repeated it on several occa¬ 
sions since. Those who refused or failed 
to take our advice then will hardly profit 
by it now, but we want to say to such 
investors that their danger is not yet 
over. There is usually an attempt made 
to reorganize such concerns and appeal 
for more money to keep them going 
and to save the whole thing from loss. 
In a sort of forlorn hope the investors 
in many such cases are apt to make an¬ 
other venture in order to save what is 
already lost. We see no prospects for 
any return from this enterprise. To our 
mind it never had the mark of sincerity. 
It had all the earmarks of a promotion 
scheme from the first. It has them now, 
and probably the only thing that keeps 
it going is the continued sale of the 
stock, which in its present condition for 
a State to permit is little less than a 
crime. The farmer who has put his 
money into this stock and now charges 
it up to profit and loss and forgets about 
it will be infinitely better advised than 
the man who yet vainly hopes to save 
it or any portion of it. 
It is almost a scandal in the agricul¬ 
tural press that such schemes succeed. 
We doubt if a single subscriber of The 
R. N.-Y. got caught in this stock since 
his subscription began. Some of them 
may have invested before becoming sub¬ 
scribers. Some of the farm papers gave 
a sort of half-hearted warning and then 
accepted the concern’s advertising, vir¬ 
tually indorsing it, after everybody knew 
that it was a promotion scheme. If the 
whole farm press of the country did its 
duty the four or five million dollars sunk 
in the stock by farmers would h^ve been 
saved to the producers. 
Some time back when we found that 
the Ware-Progress Company, of Day- 
ton, Ohio, and Chicago, Ill., and Ameri- 
cus, Ga., were selling stock in their com¬ 
pany in March and promising dividends 
on a crop of peaches to be harvested 
the following August, we advised our 
people to keep their money, and were 
threatened with a libel suit for our ad¬ 
vice. When the dividends failed to ma¬ 
terialize excuses were made, and new 
promises and assurances were offered. 
Now the unfortunate investors in the 
stock are told that none of the old 
promoters are any longer connected with 
it, and that the Georgia bonanza farm 
is to be sold and the company closed 
out. It is the old story told for its 
moral in anticipation of the next new 
scheme of the kind that is sure to follow. 
Julian Hawthorne, son of the famous 
novelist; Dr. Wm. J. Morton, son of the 
man who discovered ether to be used as 
an anesthetic, and Albert Freeman, a 
promoter, were found guilty of fraudu¬ 
lent use of the mails in the sale of stock 
of mining schemes in the United States 
District Court last week. Hawthorne 
and Morton were sentenced to one year 
and three days in the Federal Peniten¬ 
tiary, and Freeman, being the chief pro¬ 
moter, was sentenced to five years and 
three days. It was shown in the testi¬ 
mony that they collected in all $600,000 
on the stock and used only about $170,- 
000 for developing one of the mines, the 
balance being divided among themselves 
and dissipated in other ways. Investors 
in the securities, of course, all lost all 
of their money. We feel encouraged to 
hope that no reader of The R. N.-Y. has 
lost a dollar in these schemes. We 
warned our people over four years ago 
when the scheme was first launched, and 
took occasion at various times since to 
advise the people to keep their money. 
The circulars and letters and advertis¬ 
ing were most extravagant in the prom¬ 
ises made for the mining proposition and 
for the profits to be derived from them. 
To our mind they were fraudulent on 
their face, and the evidence of the trial 
showed that there was practically no 
silver in the mines that had been so ex¬ 
travagantly praised for their rich pro¬ 
ductions. 
In the dope that ex-Senator Travis is 
sending out to the farmers of this State 
we find the following: 
There are but few young men entering the 
trade with large cash capital. The young 
men entering the trade (meaning the com¬ 
mission business), are those who have 
learned the trade as bookkeepers or sales¬ 
men. They must necessarily start in a 
small way, slowly gaining the confidence 
of the farmers. The bonding feature of 
the proposed bill will preclude new blood 
and we feel that these smaller firms arc 
essential to consumer, farmer and the trade! 
So Mr. Travis thinks the ex-book¬ 
keeper or salesman without capital or 
business experience should be encour¬ 
aged to solicit farm produce to sell on 
commission without regulation or con¬ 
trol. They are free to receive farm 
produce without limit, to sell it when 
they please, to whom they please 
and for what they please. They 
may sell it to themselves or their 
associates, at prices to suit themselves, 
and resell it again at good profits. They 
may pay for it in full, or in part, or 
not at all, as suits their fancy or pur¬ 
pose at the tipie. They may, and they 
frequently do, buy the name of an old 
concern with a good reputation and so¬ 
licit consignments as if no change in 
the management has occurred. They 
often assume names so like an estab¬ 
lished and responsible house that the 
shipper is misled in making shipments. 
No man knows these tricks better than 
ex-Senator Travis, but they afford him 
opportunity to buy good goods at bar¬ 
gain prices, and he wants the conditions 
continued. But what consummate nerve 
to put such stuff up to a shipper! Travis 
must think he is talking to babies or 
lunatics. The ex-bookkeeper may be 
and probably is essential to the Travis 
trade, but consumers and farmers can 
get along very nicely without him. He 
is a bill of expense to the consumer and 
a source of great loss to the farmer in 
the proportion that he is a benefit to 
Mr. Travis and his kind. 
September 25, 1912, I shipped a coop 
of 25 chickens weighing 125 pounds to a 
New York commission house. Returns were 
made for 01 pounds and only 12 chickens. 
I am out $4.SO. Can you help me? 
New York. c. t. s. 
We finally traced the responsibility to 
the United States Express Company. 
They had adjusted for a similar short¬ 
age a month or so previous and were 
inclined to insist that this was the one 
they had. settled. However, this was 
straightened out and check for $4.80 
sent us, this being the second case of 
the kind within a few months. 
A subscriber sent the Zenith Butter 
and Egg Company a case of strictly 
new-laid white eggs for which he re¬ 
ceived returns at the rate of 20 cents 
per dozen. The Zenith people state the 
eggs were small and could not command 
a higher price, but the shipper sends us 
list of shipments about the same date 
to other houses on which the returns 
were made at the regular market price 
and no complaint as to the size of the 
eggs. At home the subscriber could 
have received 33 to 36 cents for the 
eggs. Ex-Senator Travis and the com¬ 
mission trade generally fight against the 
provision of a law that would compel 
the company to disclose the name and 
address of the buyer. If the eggs were 
actually sold for 20 cents we see no 
reason why the identity of the buyer 
should not be revealed. If sold for 
more than the price returned to the 
shipper he would, of course, be un¬ 
willing to furnish information to prove 
himself a crook. j. j. d. 
n : 
The Acme Rotary Planter Drops Accurately 
Absolute action is given in this rotary planter 
by two strong springs. With a thumb-screw 
you can regulate the number of seeds 
dropped. The center-hung, 2 -qt. seed hopper 
gives balance in either hand. The planter 
is light, strong and well finished. 
TRADE MARK 
[Acme! 
REGISTERED 
ACME 
CORN & 
POTATO 
PLANTERS 
An Acme Potato 
Planter reduces 
labor of planting 
two-thirds. You 
can plant at even 
depth, without 
stooping, with¬ 
out the labor of 
furrowing out 
and covering. 
Any dealer can sell you an Acme 
Planter. For the whole line, write us 
for our free booklet “ The Acme of Potato 
Profit.” Then you’ll see why 300,000 
farmers have insisted on this planter with 
this trade mark. 
Potato (mplenient Co.. 301 Front St., Traverse City, Mich. 
ACME- 
Potato 
Planter 
$ 1.00 
MAKE BIG PAY DRILLING 
WATER WELLS 
Our Free Drillers’ Book with 
catalog of Keystone Drills 
tells how. Many sizes; trac¬ 
tion and portable. Easy 
terms. These machines 
make good anywhere. 
KEYSTONE WATER DRILL CO 
Beaver Falls, Pa. 
Yirpi f DRILLING 
TT Lt IsIs MACHINES 
Over 70 sizes and styles, for drilling either deep or 
ehallow wells in any kind of soil or rock. Mounted on 
wheels or on sills. With engines orlioree powers. Strong, 
simple and durable. Any mechanic can operate them 
easily. Send for catalog. 
WILLIAMS BROS.. Ithaca. N. Y. 
j 
MORE POTATOES PER ACRE 
Think of finding one to>leven $5 bills 
in the furrow, on every acre you . 
plant. It’s been done many 0 -it \ 
times. Plant the spaces you 
skip, sell the potatoes, ^ 
and you've got the mon- -AwP T , . 
ey. No extra land, dl I'Vt XW’ ihlS 
no extra work. m Ald|i , . m a - 
it costs no -.'Ll' laH” chine soon 
more to f w Pays for it- 
prepare 4 111 ■*’ Self and yet puts 
ground, ' RHlfA real money into 
fertilize • your pocket. One seed 
cultivate, jy piece in every space and 
spray and ___ ff one only. Uniform spacing, 
digaper- 'Jfday '/ No injury to seed. Ask 
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stand r ; jg$>U 53 and write us for free 
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make full line Potato 
machines, Garden tools, 
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\ W BATEMAN M’F’G CO. 
Bor 1026 Grenloch, N. J. 
Concrete Fence Posts 
Are Permanent Posts 
Wooden posts rot, may burn and must be 
frequently replaced. 
Concrete Lasts Forever 
Build your fence with concrete posts. They hold wire 
securely—will not heave from frost—will not pull up 
easily — need not be painted — will not be destroyed by 
worms, insects or other pests. Time and weather can¬ 
not affect them. Even a forest fire leaves a line of con¬ 
crete posts undamaged. Farmers may make their own 
posts at odd times at a cost not exceeding the cost of 
good wooden posts. 
Write to us for information about making concrete 
fence posts. Send for Farm Cement News Nos. 7 and 
8, vol. 1, which tell how to make concrete posts. Use 
UNIVERSAL 
PO RTLAN D 
CEMENT 
For good concrete work. It is always uniform, has good color 
and its quality is the highest. UNIVERSAL is for sale by repre¬ 
sentative dealers everywhere. 
Universal Portland Cement Co. 
CHICAGO PITTSBURGH MINNEAPOLIS 
72 West Adams Street Frick Building Security Bank Building 
Plants at Chicago and Pittsburgh. Annual Output 12,000,000 Barrels 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick 
reply and a “ square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
