926 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
HR. W. W. LEISTER. 
Mr. Leister made a sale early in Sep¬ 
tember where the gross commission was 
$2,500; selling price, $6,000; owner’s net 
price, $3,500. 
The above is an item which appeared 
in the “Buggy-Seat Confidences” issued by 
the E. A. Strout Company, October, 190S. 
It seems that a prize had been offered 
by the Strout Company for the agent 
who would make the largest percentage 
of profit on the sale of a farm above the 
owner’s price during the month of Sep¬ 
tember. The winner was to have his 
expenses paid by the company to the 
banquet of the Strout agents in New 
York City. How many agents entered 
the contest and the percentage of their 
profits are not given ; but it is clear that 
for every dollar the owner received for 
that farm Mr. Leister got 71 cents. His 
commission amounted to 71 per cent, of 
the owner’s price. 
It will be remembered that Mr. Leister 
was the Strout agent at Milford Square, 
I’a., when one of his customers com¬ 
plained that Mr. Leister had induced 
him to pay $3,000 for a $2,000 farm, the 
extra $1,000 going as commission on the 
sale. Mr. Leister justified himself to 
us by saying he had merely followed the 
Strout instructions. This was the Elli¬ 
son case, which started the present dis¬ 
cussion ; but this case was subsequently 
settled. We referred to Mr. Leister as 
a competent Strout agent; we thought 
we used mild and considerate language 
in referring to his part of the transac¬ 
tions; but the Strout attorney filed an 
alleged libel suit against us based on our 
discussion of the matter. The complaint 
demands $25,000 as a balm to Mr. Leis¬ 
ter’s injured feelings on account of the 
implication that he received 50 per cent, 
profit on the sale of a farm. But here 
is the testimony of Strouts themselves 
that in another case, Leister actually 
made 71 per cent. But this is not all. 
Keep an eye on this column and you 
will get more from equally convincing 
sources. 
Herbert Myriek and James M. Cun¬ 
ningham, president and subscription man¬ 
ager, respectively, of the Orange Judd 
Northwest Farmstead, a publication 
printed in Springfield, are denied a new 
trial in an opinion handed down by 
Judge Morton in the U. S. District Court. 
The defendants were convicted by a jury 
in the Federal Court on two counts 
charging conspiracy to defraud the U. S. 
Postoffice Department by submitting al¬ 
leged false statements relative to sub¬ 
scriptions to their publication. United 
States District-Attorney Asa P. French 
will probably move for immediate sen¬ 
tence, as the Postoffice Department in 
Washington is deeply interested in the 
prosecution of this case, which is the first 
under the new law. 
It seems that Mr. Cunningham went 
on the stand at the trial and testified to 
certain things concerning the case, but 
did not attempt to testify as to the whole 
case. His attorneys contended that he 
should be cross-examined only as to the 
questions raised by his direct testimony. 
The court ruled differently and the Dis¬ 
trict Attorney questioned him in reference 
to other matters. This is a technical 
question of law that will probably be 
referred to a higher court on appeal, but 
it does not seem to affect the merits of 
the case. 
We learn that the U. S. Grand Jury 
at the June term sitting at Binghamton, 
N. Y., returned indictment against E. 
F. McAvoy, of Cambridge, for alleged 
fraudulent use of the mails, and that Mr. 
McAvoy is released on $5,000 bail pend¬ 
ing trial. Mr. McAvoy’s operations have 
been frequently aired in this department 
for the protection of subscribers. Every 
victim of McAvoy’s methods should come 
forward and aid the prosecution with 
their testimony. The trial is set for Sep¬ 
tember at Syracuse, N. Y. 
Do you know anything about W. R. 
Selleck, Huntington, Long Island, N. Y.? 
He came to me through my advertise¬ 
ment in your paper some two or three 
years ago. About a year ago he bought 
fowls from me amounting to $7 and sent 
check on a local bank at Huntington 
which came back marked “no funds.” I 
wrote him several letters and got no re¬ 
ply, and crossed his name off my books 
and mailing list. Now comes the en¬ 
closed letter wanting to purchase. I 
wrote politely reminding of the last trans¬ 
action, and saying if he would remit 
for that I would be pleased to sell to 
him again. As I wrote him three weeks 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 9, 
ago and he has not replied, he evidently 
does not intend to. If he is all that his 
letter head claims, I can’t understand 
his action on so small an amount. Con 
you do anything or suggest anything? 
It is not the money I want so much, but 
to show up a man who acts as he has, 
when, by his letter head, he should be a 
responsible party. F. M. P. 
N ew J ersey. 
We have known Mr. Selleck for a 
number of years, and this is not the first 
time complaints against him have ap¬ 
peared in Publisher’s Desk. Mr. Selleck 
wrote us the latter part of May that he 
would settle this complaint in a “few 
days.” It is now nearly two months 
since the promise was made, but the 
subscriber has not received the money 
due him, and no attention has been paid 
to our recent letters. The amount is 
small, but the disposition shown in the 
transaction is not encouraging for others 
to ha*e mail transactions with Mr. Sel¬ 
leck. 
The Independent Harvester Company 
of Plano, Ill., is in new hands. The old 
officers of the company suddenly re¬ 
signed and new officers have been elected 
in their place. Among the new officers 
arc Grant Grinnell, Kankakee, Ill., and 
E. M. Thebiay, Eagle Grove, Iowa, who 
were members of the stockholders’ com¬ 
mittee which started an investigation, 
which we reported as under way some 
weeks back. This investigation seems to 
have been responsible for the resignation 
of the old officers. 
It will be remembered that this com¬ 
pany was launched under the assurance 
that it was going to be worked on co¬ 
operative lines, but it was found that 
stock had been issued for promotion pur¬ 
poses which, of course, took it out of 
the strictly co-operative principles. A 
large amount of stock of the company 
was sold to farmers under the co-opera¬ 
tive representations, but it does not seem 
that any profitable manufacturing has 
been conducted. It is now intimated that 
the selling of stock would be discon¬ 
tinued, and that an effort will be made 
to build up the business on sound busi¬ 
ness principles. The old management 
seems to have devoted practically its en¬ 
tire attentkm to the stock promoting 
feature of the business, and the new 
management will find itself badly handi¬ 
capped in the heavy capitalization, prob¬ 
ably out of proportion to the genuine 
assets that they find in the company. 
Under the circumstances it will be some¬ 
thing of a financial miracle if the new 
management is able to put the business 
on a sound workable basis, but in want 
of a statement of definite assets and 
liabilities it would be impossible to ven¬ 
ture any prediction as to its future. 
Can you give me through the columns 
of your paper names of a few different 
firms or individuals who send out gar¬ 
ments or designs to be embroidered in 
fancy work by hand? I have some leis¬ 
ure time and would like opportunity to 
earn something in this line. G. n. W. 
New York. 
We know of no legitimate concern 
such as you inquire about. The concerns 
advertising work to be done at home 
are pure fakes. They insist upon a de¬ 
posit in advance before they send 
the goods, and .this deposit covers 
more than the value of the goods 
and then they never take the goods 
back or refund the money. This class 
of houses resort to schemes of this kind 
to sell cheap material. Beware of all 
such propositions. 
I am enclosing letter and booklet of 
the Northwestern Business Agency of 
Minneapolis, Minn. This concern seems 
to be an Ostrander pupil. Please warn 
your readers. I saw the advertisement 
in the Sunday New York American. I 
had my experience with Ostrander twelve 
years ago. c. B. 
New York. 
The letter of the Northwestern Busi¬ 
ness Agency expresses confidence that 
they can sell this subscriber’s farm, as 
they have an excellent demand for good 
land. Like Ostrander’s scheme, they ask 
for $15, advance payment of a listing fee. 
We were never able to find where Os¬ 
trander ever made any serious effort to 
sell farm property, but his revenue came 
from this advance fee. It is not so 
much of a surprise that daily papers 
making no pretense of protecting their 
subscribers from fraudulent advertisers 
should carry advertising of this kind 
when schemes of this sort can be found 
in a number of farm papers making loud 
boasts of protecting their subscribers 
against swindlers. 
Your letter with Adams Express Com¬ 
pany check for $12 for the case of eggs 
lost October 4, is received and I thank 
you very much for getting it for me. I 
thought I might have been able to get 
this without troubling you, but it was 
impossible. H. r. 
New York. 
A shipment of eggs sent to a New York 
dairy was not delivered promptly. In 
the meantime another case of eggs had 
been sent to the same dealer, and he re¬ 
ported delivery of one, but it seemed im¬ 
possible to get the Adams Express Com¬ 
pany to put through tracer and see which 
case had miscarried and which had been 
delivered. It finally developed that the 
last case shipped had been lost. 
As I do not wish to take a course in 
the mail order business, I will pass 
these papers on to you. I do not know 
if the mail course really exists or not, 
but just a glance over his paper impresses 
me that the only ready money in the 
whole thing is for C. C. Cunningham. 
The Postoffice Department should have 
a “Blue Sky” law. E. l. b. 
Ohio. 
This Ohio subscriber sizes up the “con¬ 
fidence dope” sent out by Mr. Cun¬ 
ningham very accurately in our esti¬ 
mation. Mr. Cunningham gets the cash 
for his literature telling others how to 
get rich in the mail order business. If 
he knows so much about the business 
that he can tell others how to make 
money in it, the wonder is that he does 
not take up that line of business him¬ 
self, instead of giving his information to 
others at $15 per person. The amount 
of money lost through these so-called 
mail order courses is comparatively small 
in individual cases, but the mails are 
flooded with such propositions all the 
time, and we doubt not that the aggre¬ 
gate amount of money taken from the 
credulous who can least afford to lose 
it would equal the amount lost through 
the mining and other get-rich-quick 
swindles. J. J. D. 
BOOKS WORTH BUYING 
Cotton. Burkett . t .. . . 2.00 
Ginseng. Kains .50 
Melon Culture, Troop.50 
Mushrooms, Falconer . 1.00 
New Onion Culture, Greiner.50 
Onion liaising, Gregory .30 
New Rhubarb Culture, Morse.50 
A B C of Potato Culture, Root.50 
The Potato, Fraser.75 
Squashes, Gregory .30 
Tobacco Leaf, Killebrew . 2.00 
Horse’s Foot and Its Diseases, Zundel 2.00 
Swine, Dietrich . 1.50 
Swine In America, Coburn. 2.50 
Horse Book, Johnstone. 1.50 
The Horse. Roberts. 1.25 
Tomato Culture, Tracy .50 
Milk Testing. Van Slyke.75 
Diseases of Animals, Mayo. 1.50 
Prevention and Treatment of Animal 
Diseases. Winslow . 3.50 
Farmers’ Veterinary Adviser, Law.... 3.00 
Veterinary Materia Medica, Winslow. 6.00 
Veterinary Ophthalmology, Van Mater. 3.00 
Veterinary, Anatomy, Strangeway.... 5.00 
Veterinary Obstetrics, Fleming . 4.50 
Feeds and Feeding, Henry. 2.25 
Feeding Farm Animals, Shaw. 2.00 
Feeding of Animals, Jordan. 1.50 
Forage Crops, Voorhees. 1.50 
Management and Feeding of Cattle, 
Shaw . 2.00 
Hog Book, Dawson. 1.50 
Sheep in America, Wing. 1.00 
Shorthorn Cattle, Sanders. 2.00 
Handbook of Meat Inspection, Osterag 7.50 
Diseases of Poultry, Salmon.50 
Duck Culture, Rankin.50 
Farm Poultry, Watson.... 1.25 
Hens for Profit, Valentine. 1.50 
Poultry Architecture, Fiske.50 
Squabs for Profit, Rice.50 
A B C of Bee Culture. Root. 1.50 
How to Keep Bees, Comstock. 1.00 
American Apple Orchard, Waugh.... 1.00 
American Fruit Culturist, Thomas... 2.50 
Bush Fruits, Card. 1.50 
Beginners’ Guide to Fruit, Waugh.50 
Citrus Fruits, Hume. 2.50 
Cranberry Culture, White. 1.00 
Dwarf Fruit Trees, Waugh.50 
Evolution of Our Native Fruits, Bailey 2.00 
Fruit Harvesting, Storing and Market¬ 
ing, Waugh . 1.00 
Nursery Book, Bailey. 1.50 
Plant Breeding, Bailey. 1.50 
Propagation of Plants, Fuller. 1.50 
Principles of Fruit Growiug, Bailey.. 1.50 
Peach Culture, Fulton. 1.00 
Pear Culture, Quinn. 1.00 
Plum Culture, Waugh. 1.50 
Popular Fruit Growing, Green. 1.00 
Quince Culture, Meech. 1.00 
Pruning Book, Bailey. 1.50 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30th St., New York 
WORTH $6,000.00 
Careful investigation of farming in New York shows that a high-school education 
is worth $6,000 00 in 5 per cent bonds to the farmer. Add to this a course in the study 
of agriculture and one is independent. This is just one reason why young people should 
investigate the work of 
THE NEW; YORK STATE SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE 
At MORRISVILLE, N. Y., which Offers 
TO YOUNG MEN: Two year and short winter courses in AGRICULTURE; 
including general agriculture, dairying, fruit growing, poultry husband- 
dry, etc. 
TO YOUNG WOMEN: Two year and short winter courses in HOME ECON¬ 
OMICS ; including cookery, sewing, millinery, home nursing, household 
management, etc. 
School has large well-equipped laboratories, modern 200-acre farm,' pure-bred 
stock, well-trained staff. 
TUITION is free to residents of New York State. 
ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS are 10 years of age, good 
character and completion of 8th grade school 
work- 
For Catalogue and information address 
F. G. HELYAR, Director 
MORRISVILLE, - - NEW YORK 
My Famous s l^ Offer 
My special "ONE DOLLAR OFFER” has pleased so many farm¬ 
ers that I have decided to keep it up for another month and thus let 
everybody tnke advantage of it. Here it is: 
You t end mo one dollar and I will ship you, ALL FREIGIIT. 
PAID BY MYSELF, this, my new 1914 Chatham Grain Grader 
and Cleaner. Bsc the machine a month. If satisfied at end of 30 
days, pay me my low eash price or give mo your note, without lu¬ 
ll crest, payable January 1, 1914. 11' not satisfied, return the uiu- 
j chine at my freight expense and I’ll return your dollar. 
As a matter of fact, $1.00 won’t half pay me for the freight. I only want 
i the dollar to hold us evidence of good faith. 
Chatham Grain Grader and Cleaner 
After 41 years’ experience, I know every grain and noxious weed grown in 
I America. I know the section wliero each one grows. I know every grain and 
| weed that grows on your form. Experience has shown that a Grain Grader and 
Cleaner should huvo tho special equipment for the particular farming section 
i H to which it goes. For example. I send an entirely different, equipment of 
Manson Campbell screens, riddles and gangs to Maine from what I send to California. There are 
f scarcely two states In the United States to which I send the same equipment, lhus you 
get the exact outfit to handle tho grains and wood seed 
on your farm. If you want more or different screens, 
I will send them free. Not a penny would I ask for 
extra soreens and riddles. 
The Chatham now handles over 70 seed mix¬ 
tures—wheat, oats, peas, beans, corn, barley, 
flax, clover, timothy, etc. Takes cockle, wild 
oats, tame oats and smut from seed wheat; 
any mixture from flax; buckhorn from 
clover; sorts corn for drop planter. Re¬ 
moves foul weed seed and all shrunken, 
cracked or sickly grains. Takes out all 
dust, dirt and chaff. It Is also a bully 
chaffer. Handles CO bushels grain per 
hour. Gas power or hand power. 
Easiest running mill on earth, 
lif pita Send postal today and receive 
k li IlIO FREE by next, mail my latest 
copyrighted book, “The Chatham 
System of Breeding Big Crops.” 
Address Dept. 43 
The Manson Campbell Co. 
Detroit, Mich. 
Kansas City, Mo. 
Minneapolis, Minn. ,u> 
Brings It— 
Freight Paid 
My 
Free 
8 ervice 
Depart¬ 
ment will 
separate.clean 
and grade FREE 
any mixture you 
eend in. If you’ve 
got some impurity in your 
grain that you cannot get 
rid of, don’t get discouraged. 
Write me. Bend postal for Big Free Book. 
1914 Model 
