663 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
I am forwarding' you a circular just re¬ 
ceived from Gardner Nursery Co., Osage, 
la. I can read nothing but fake ("between 
the lines”) and hope it will be of service 
to The R. N.-Y., to file for future refer¬ 
ence. DB. C. 
Kentucky. 
If more people would practice the art 
of “reading between the lines” of the 
class of literature sent out by houses 
of this kind they would save themselves 
a great deal of annoyance and loss. 
Very often the “joker” is between the 
lines and not in them. This concern is 
writing our subscribers that they are 
looking for information to use in a suit 
against The R. N.-Y., and that is the 
answer they make to the charge that 
they represented a premium watch as 
worth $12 to $ 20 , when it actually cost 
only $1.35. It is also their answer to 
the charge that their “Gift of a free ad¬ 
vertising orchard” is a fake in that it is 
not made with the object of getting any 
value in advertising, but that the value 
of this “gift” stuff is included in the 
cost of the order. If anyone wants to 
buy a lot of their stock for $10 all 
right, but let no one be deceived in the 
promise of a “gift.” You pay for the 
whole bunch. This has been repeat¬ 
edly charged, and Mr. Gardner has not 
yet denied it. 
The Standard Home Company, of 
Birmingham, Ala., is laboring uselessly 
to impress us with the merit of their 
undertaking. We cannot be impressed 
with the merits of an institution that 
takes money from a poor woman and 
keeps it without giving any return what¬ 
ever for it, no matter what benefit it 
may claim to give others. One of our 
subscribers was induced through the 
circulars of the company, and the repre¬ 
sentations of its agent to sign one of 
their contracts and to send them in¬ 
stallments under the expectation that 
when she had paid in a certain amount 
in a given time, she would be able to 
get a mortgage on her home. When 
the time was up and the conditions 
complied with, she was not able to get 
the loan. Believing that she had been 
deceived, she refused to continue the 
payments on the contract, and lost all 
she paid in. The company refuses to 
return her deposits. Under the contract 
they may be within their legal privileges, 
but with one of our subscribers suffering 
such a .vrong, the Standard Home Com¬ 
pany need not waste anj' time trying 
to impress The R. N.-Y. with its vir¬ 
tues. 
What can you tell me about the Detroit 
Motor Car Supply Company? Are they a 
reliable concern to deal with? Are tbeir 
kerosene and gasoline engines what they 
recommend them to be? F. J. m. 
New York. 
We have had more complaints from 
farmers about this engine than about 
all the other gasoline engines manufac¬ 
tured and sold in this country com¬ 
bined. We have had no personal ex¬ 
perience with it ourselves, but we have 
refused the advertising of it because 
of the complaints that come to us in 
reference to it. The Detroit Engine 
Works is operated by the same people, 
and apparently sells the same engine. As 
far as we can learn they are one and 
the same. 
Enclosed please find copies of my letters 
to the Deroy Taylor Co.. Lyons, N. Y., and 
tbeir letters to me. 1 wish you would 
look these letters over and let me know 
whether you think 1 am entitled to my 
money or not, and if so that you try to 
see that I get same. They did not deliver 
their goods till nine days after they agreed 
to do so, without any notice to me of delay, 
and after I had cancelled my order, be¬ 
cause of the delay, so I see no reason why 
they should not return me my money, as 
I was obliged to buy eggs from another 
party and had no use for theirs. 
New York, H. L. r. 
The Deroy Taylor Co. admit that the 
cancellation was received before the 
eggs were shipped, and admit the de¬ 
lay claimed by the purchaser in the 
shipment of the eggs, but they refuse 
to refund the money on the grounds 
that the eggs were reserved and packed 
by the time the cancellation was re¬ 
ceived and had left the poultry yards. 
THE RURAL 
It seems t-o us that the purchaser of these 
eggs had good and sufficient grounds 
for cancelling the order, because oi 
the delay in shipment, and Deroy Tay¬ 
lor should have accepted the cancella¬ 
tion and refunded the money, since the 
eggs had not been shipped at the time 
the cancellation order was received. 
We have therefore cancelled their ad¬ 
vertising. 
A verdict of guilty was rendered in the 
United States District Court of Philadel¬ 
phia against the promoters and officers of 
the International Lumber and Development 
Company, who were charged with conspiracy 
to defraud stockholders of the company 
through the United States mails, by John 
R. Markley, promoter of the company; A. 
G. Stewart, Director and Commissioner, who 
made their headquarters in Chicago; C. 
M. McMahon, formerly secretary and treas¬ 
urer of the company, and W. H. Armstrong, 
formerly general manager. The Govern¬ 
ment charged that the company sold stock 
to the amount of $<6,000.000 by circulating 
false and misleading literature through 
the mails regarding the value and profits 
of a plantation of 288,000 acres in Cam¬ 
peche, Mexico. It was further charged that 
$1,500,000 disbursed in dividends was paid 
out of the stock subscriptions rather than 
from profits. Tending an appeal for a 
now trial the defendants were admitted to 
$15,000 bail. II. A. Merrill, of Maple City, 
Kansas, who was indicted with the others, 
will be tried in June.—N. Y. Tribune, April 
20, 1913. 
We had several inquiries about this 
concern when it was being promoted, 
and gave several warnings against the 
scheme. The land scheme had some 
features resembling the Lewis promo¬ 
tions at St. Louis, and the investors 
fared about the same. The investors 
always have the same experience in 
such promotions and always experience 
losses where they are led to expect 
riches. 
Acting for my mother I came to Vine- 
land. N. J., last Fall, and as I had been 
reading the E. A. Strout Farm Agency lit¬ 
erature, I went to see their agent here, 
L. E. Kaler. He took me to see a farm, 
lie said the owner's price was $1,000, but 
he thought it might be bought for $900. 
We bought it for the $900. He represented 
that it was 2% miles from the railroad 
station, but we found afterwards it was 
three miles. I afterwards learned that the 
owner’s price was $600 and, therefore, we 
paid to the Strout Agency $300, or 50 per 
cent, above the owner’s price. There are 
many others here who have had a similar 
experience. Some have not yet found it 
out, and others simply say "What’s the 
use? What can we do?” Can you collect 
the overcharge for me? F. r. 
New Jersey. 
One day, shortly after our first pub¬ 
lished reference in this Department to 
the Strout transactions, on January 18, 
this year, we received a telegram from 
Philadelphia from this same Mr. Kaler 
asking an interview from three o’clock 
in the afternoon. When he came he 
represented to us that he was doing a 
legitimate real estate business as a 
Strout agent; that he had no com¬ 
plaints, and that he had very strenuous 
competition from other agents, and com¬ 
plained that the Strout criticism in The 
Rural New- Yorker had caused him 
great embarrassment. His trade, he said, 
had been destroyed. Acquaintances 
shunned him on the street. He ad¬ 
mitted that the Strout complaints fn 
Pennsylvania were justified, but insisted 
that he gave no such cause for complaint. 
He wanted us to give him a clean bill of 
health, When we received the above 
complaint on April 24 , we wrote Mr. 
Kaler for an explanation and an adjust¬ 
ment. We have had no reply, but F. R. 
writes us as follows: 
Mr. Kaler, of the Strout Farm Agency, 
called on me this morning as I expected. 
He tried to convince me that I got a bar¬ 
gain, and said it was none of my business 
how much the former owner got. Mr. 
Kaler stated that The It. N.-Y. published 
and pushed these complaints for the pur¬ 
pose of increasing the value of its adver¬ 
tising space. He also tried to make me 
believe that it was a case of blackmail, as 
the publication of these things would in¬ 
jure him. He was not sarcastic or abusive, 
but in his nicest and most convincing man¬ 
ner, he said if I wanted to sell he was 
confident he could make $200 or $300 on 
it for me. This may be all right, hut the 
party who bought might find out later the 
actual value and be even worse off than 
I am. Mr. Kaler said that he had strong 
competition here, and was obliged to make 
all that he could to stay in the business. 
I told Mr. Kaler I thought 5 per cent, a 
sufficient commission. That would be $30 
on the seller’s price, but I would be satis¬ 
fied to allow him $50. I told him I thought 
50 per cent, on the seller’s price too much 
to pay as a commission. 
This is the record to date in a New 
Jersey complaint. We have new com¬ 
plaints coming nearly every day. Prom¬ 
ising to sell these farms at an advance 
over the buying price seems to be a 
general plan to quiet the complainant. 
This is one of the schemes that we 
frankly tell the Strout people would not 
be accepted by The R. N.-Y. as an ad¬ 
justment of complaints. We have no 
interest in helping one victim out at 
the expense of another. j. j. p. 
NEW-YORKER 
May 10, 
lf§I0l 
JPS«oB 
!^ & ectiq ns imside of 1 
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almost too good to be true, doesn't it. , 
Just lay it with an ordinary hammer, and you’ve 
solid roof comfort ahead for many years to come. 
Costs less than similar roofings of same weight. 
The mineral surface is also fire-resisting. 
Sample showing the pitch waterproofing 
and real mineral surface free on request. 
Barrett Manufacturing Company 
New York 
St. Louis 
Kansas City 
Chicago 
Cleveland 
Minneapolis 
Philadelphia 
Pittsburgh 
Seattle 
Boston 
Cincinnati 
Corey, Ala. 
Factory Prices for the Asking- 
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rprr fTpHE genuine Witte—conceded the best farm engine In America—now of- 
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Our Gas Well Saves You Many Dollars More 
’ We do more than give you ordinary factory prices. We are the only manufacturers who 
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You get the benefits. But you couldn’t afford to own any other engine even if the Witte 
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Every part guarantied 5 years —full rated horse power on minimum gasoline guaranteed too. 
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WRITE FOR 60 DAYS FREE TRIAL OFFER 
I and complete, direct, factory price proposition with catalog and 
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needed or work to be done. Write at once. 
WITTE IRON WORKS CO. 
18920akland Ave 
Kansas 
City, 
Mo. 
I Every" Part 
Guaranteed 
5 Years 
maoc. m meuAVAO 
New England Feeders Say 
Pittsfield, N. H., March 17, 1913. 
“Itis a success and I feed it to my horses, cows and pigs.” 
Plymouth, N. H., March 17, 1913. 
“ I find it entirely satisfactory and hope to continue using it.” 
Dracut, Mass., Feb. 26, 1913. 
“I have received the 11 tons and am 
feeding it to my entire herd of 65 cows. ! 
99 
CC • 
Boston, Mass., Nov. 21, 1912. 
We are very pleased to say to you that we have fed it 
for several years. We have many times recommended its 
use. 
Write our Boston office for copies of these letters in full, price and 
particulars. 
•8n/, United States Distributors 
L. C* PRIME CO., 320 Board of Trade, Boston 
THE MOLASSINE CO.. Ltd., London, England 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick 
reply and a “ square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
