770 
rock is encountered the digger may be lifted by mak¬ 
ing shifts of the gears and run ahead in less than a 
minute. In such cases, the stone may be broken by a 
large stone-breaking hammer, or as 1 usually do with 
dynamite. Of course, the more obstacles a man has 
to contend with the slower and more expensive the 
work, which of course is true when ditching by hand 
as well as machine. In case a man had much stony 
ground to ditch, I think I would ad’, ise the purchase 
of an all-steel machine, but in my land, where we 
very seldom encounter large stones, I find that the 
11x4)4 machine answers the purpose. This machine 
will, as stated above, dig a ditch 4*4 feet deep, and 
will take a tile up to 10-inch without collars, or will 
take an eight-inch sewer pipe with collars. On land 
free from stone, digging three feet deep, in sand or in 
reasonably dry clay, the machine will run from three 
to four feet per minute. In our case we have about 
100 acres of tillable land, which we are developing 
for intensive fruit and truck farming and I think any 
person having 100 acres of land, which requires drain¬ 
ing, if he has or can get the capital, would better buy 
a machine than to depend upon hand labor if the con¬ 
ditions under which he has to drain are reasonably 
favorable. 
In this field, as shown in Fig. 320, my son and my¬ 
self did the ditching, laid the tile and blinding at the 
rate of about 65 rods per day, three feet deep, making 
the connections to the main, which we always do with 
concrete, he running the machine part of the time, I 
laying the tile, and part of the time I ran the machine 
and he laid the tile. Before planting corn, we ditched 
seven acres completely, 30 feet apart and three feet 
deep, in land having tenacious clay subsoil. The 
only way I could have completed this without the 
machine would have been to have had a gang of Ital¬ 
ians, with all the difficulties arising with them. The 
machine only burns' about 400 pounds of engine coal 
per day. This with the expense of oil, 10 or 15 cents, 
and some slight breakage, constitutes the expense. 
We are enabled, by having the machine, to put in a 
ditch at any time desired, without waiting for help or 
keeping a ditch open for any length of time. There¬ 
fore, if there comes a day that we are able to work at 
the ditch we can complete 75 to 100 rods, and by do¬ 
ing so we accomplish quite an amount during the 
year. If two run the machine, one firing, keeping 
water in the boiler, etc., about 100 rods can be dug 
• . • * 
per day m good digging. 
As to the tile, I use Ohio tile which costs me (at 
Rochester rate points) by the carload one the basis of 
$15.10 delivered for three-inch one foot long, other 
sizes at proportionate prices. In laying the tile we use 
a hook working from the surface, then placing the 
blinding, about one foot deep of fine dirt, above the 
tile. The remainder we fill by scraping in with a road 
machine. I would say in conclusion that I do not 
believe any man can afford to farm land which is not 
thoroughly under-drained, either naturally or arti¬ 
ficially, if the line of farming is anything but pasture 
and grass lands, and in many cases it would pay to do 
a good thorough job even then. We have applications 
for work enough to keep several machines running if 
we had time to do the work. We do a little for our 
neighbors when convenient. In conversation with 
T. E. Martin, a short time ago, he said to me: “White, 
there ought to be one of those machines operating in 
every three miles square all over western New York.” 
I paid full price for my machine and all extras, and 
therefore my statements are absolutely unbiased. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. c. e. white. 
HUNTING A FARM; CREAM ROBBERS. 
On page 091 J. S. writes on “The Fee for Selling 
Farms,” and you ask for the “customary rate” on 
farm property. The customary rate charged here by 
the middlemen and jobbers of the farm real estate 
business is five per cent on the first $2,000 and 2)4 per 
cent on all over that. Some charge more and a few 
charge less, but that I believe is the prevailing rate 
for this section. You see I class them as middlemen 
and jobbers. I may be wrong, but it is the only place 
that I have found to put them that they will fit all 
around. Real estate dealers at times and in their 
proper place are undoubtedly a necessity, but I think 
the bulk of them could well be classified as a neces¬ 
sary evil. Take the money that a real estate dealer 
would demand for supplying you with the place he 
makes you think you want, and take a trip into the 
section you wish to locate in—be sure to take the fam¬ 
ily along, too, because you’ll have plenty of money; 
look the country over thoroughly, ask questions, and 
then if you find a place that suits you, ask the owner 
if he wants to sell. If he does you will usually find 
that his price is reasonable, and not padded with deal¬ 
ers’ commissions which are usually added to the actual 
value of the land. After you have made your pur¬ 
chase figure up the expenses of the trip; see how it 
compares with what the real estate dealer would have 
got, and then just lay down your paper and pencil 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
and see if you can put any price on your vacation and 
trip, and the satisfaction you will get out of the fact 
that you have a place picked out by yourself and fam¬ 
ily and bought from the man who worked it before 
you. 
1 was born on the place here where I still live, and 
never bought or sold a place in my life, but if we ever 
did decide to sell I am sure that we would make the 
person who bought a better price than he could get if 
we should put it in a real estate dealer’s hands. 
Right here I am tempted to stop for fear you will 
think I am trying to attract attention this State or 
section, of which you must know I am proud. But I 
am going to make a new start because I want to say a 
few words about M. C. Hall’s article entitled “Cream¬ 
ery a Secret Society.” I read that article twice, and 
then looked at the top of the nage to be sure I had 
The R. N.-Y. before I would believe it. It is on page 
700. Yes, I agree with Mr. Hall that the farmers of 
his section will have to “wake up” before they can 
“ride in automobiles.” What I am trying to figure 
out is how he got money enough out of his milk, over 
feed bills, to buy a wagon to haul his milk on. Our 
worst trouble out here is to get rid of the men who 
come around every so often and try to show us how 
much it is to our advantage to ship to the creamery 
they represent. The creamery we ship to pays twice 
a month, on the twentieth and fifth, and will give 
weights, prices or tests at any time. Here are a few 
things that creameries out here will do to get your 
cream: Send check for every can if it isn't more 
than a gallon, furnish cans, pay transportation charges, 
buy cows and take it out in cream, furnish separator 
and other necessary things in same way, come and 
get the cream, weigh and test before your eyes, keep 
you posted daily as to the market, buy and sell herd 
bulls for their patrons, and I have even heard of them 
buying the farm for a patron to start in with. That 
sounds like about everything, doesn't it? But it isn’t. 
They won’t do the milking. The above may sound 
STACKING HAY BY GASOLINE POWER. Fig. 328. 
great at first reading, but read it again and you will 
see that what the creamery man will do is not more 
than what he should do. Accommodation and just 
treatment add a great deal to the cream check. We 
are now getting 30 cents for cream, not getting rich, 
but we are on good terms with the creamery men. 
Just tell Mr. Hall that the man who owns and milks 
the cows should at least teach the creamery man his 
attitude toward the dairyman if he doesn’t set the 
price. I don’t want to advise anyone to strike, but if 
I was in Mr. Hall’s place and couldn’t find a remedy, 
I believe I would be tempted to look for a way out if it 
had to be feeding whole milk to the hogs to get the 
“carload” of fat ones. chas. h. hays. 
Oregon. _____________ 
THE POWER OF SPEAKER CANNON, 
Will you give the powers of “Uncle Joe” Cannon, as 
Speaker of the House? Few people of the rural districts 
have any idea, and no class of people are more in need 
ot such information. P. G. F. 
New York. 
Joseph G. Cannon has been a member of Congress 
from the Eighteenth Illinois District for 18 terms. He 
has had two periods of nine consecutive terms. He 
failed of re-election for the Fifty-second Congress. 
He has thus been almost 40 years in the House, and is 
now serving his fourth term as Speaker of the House. 
The power of “Uncle Joe” comes from the rules of 
the House, which are almost the same as first adopted 
under the Speakership of Thomas B. Reed. Each Con¬ 
gress adopts its rules, but no important changes have 
been made until recently, and the Reed rules have 
been in force under both Republican and Democratic 
regimes. Under these rules the Speaker appoints all 
committees, designating the chairman and ranking 
members of these committees. In the House there 
are 50 standing committees. They number variously 
from three members as on the Printing Committee to 
18 on the Committee on Ways and Means. The 
dominant party has the chairmanships and a majority 
of the members of each committee. Some members 
are only placed on one committee when much work 
August 0, 
is required of that committee. For example, Mr. 
Payne is chairman of the Ways and Means, which 
brought in the tariff bill, and he has no other committee 
assignment. Some members are placed in two or three 
committees. Some committees are considered very 
important ones, as for example the Ways and Means, 
the Judiciary, and several others. A member when 
coming to Congress for the first term is placed well 
down or at the foot of the list on minor committees, 
and is “advanced” by the Speaker in each succeeding 
Congress. Some are called minor committees, for 
example that on acoustics, where members are 
“buried” when they rebel. It is this power of the 
Speaker to control the committees that gives the 
Speaker almost absolute control of legislation. Mem¬ 
bers naturally desire important and increasingly im¬ 
portant committee assignments, for it is in committee 
where the real work of Congress is done. K a mem¬ 
ber fails to get good committee assignments he has 
little to do in legislation, and he cannot make his mark 
in the matter of getting “things” for his constituents, 
such as government buildings for his district. 
The Speaker appointed himself chairman of the most 
important committee, that on Rules. He appointed his 
two most trusted lieutenants, Dalzell and Smith, Re¬ 
publicans, and the minority leader, Clark, and a Demo¬ 
crat, Fitzgerald, to make up the Rules Committee. 
As chairman he was in absolute control of legislation, 
as the Rules Committee has control of the calendar, 
and no bill could come before Congress except by con¬ 
sent of the Speaker, and the members were compelled 
to “see” the Speaker in person to get his “consent.” 
He thus dictated absolutely, and was as effective in 
his control as any Czar of Russia, thus earning the 
title of Czar, as did Speaker Tom Reed. 
Speaker Cannon was removed from the Committee 
on Rules in a remarkable three-day continuous session 
last Spring, in which a combination of “Insurgents” 
and Democrats passed a resolution that the Rules 
Committee should be elected in caucus, the Republi¬ 
cans choosing six and the Democrats four members, 
making 10 in all. The Insurgents were not allowed 
representation on the committee, and they intend to 
take away from the Speaker the appointment of the 
standing committees. Fie has lost but little of his 
power, but the proposed action will finish the work be¬ 
gun. There is no question that the House has not 
been a representative body for many years, and will 
not be till the Speaker is simply the presiding officer 
of the House. It is possible for special interests to 
secure legislation when one man controls. It is not so 
easy a matter when every member is free and inde¬ 
pendent to do as he feels his duty in matters of legis¬ 
lation. There is no question about the way Speaker 
Cannon has used his power. Members have been re¬ 
moved from important committees when they have 
opposed the Speaker, as instanced the treatment ac¬ 
corded Representative Fowler of New Jersey. The 
“faithful” have been rewarded as well as the “unfaith¬ 
ful” punished. There is no necessity for a Speaker to 
rule with an iron hand. Our House of Representatives 
was modeled after the House of Commons of England. 
Their Speaker is not a party man, being elected with¬ 
out opposition. He presides over the sessions of the 
Commons and has no vote. He is the “speaker” or 
“mouthpiece” of the Commons. Here the Speaker has 
come, to be a dictator in everything pertaining to the 
Flouse. It is well that a movement has begun to put 
an end to a despotic power that ought never to have 
been exercised. When the present reforms are ac¬ 
complished the House of Representatives will take its 
intended place as the most representative body of the 
representative bodies of the world. Then will mea¬ 
sures for the welfare of the common people stand a 
show of being enacted, instead of measures for the 
benefit of special interests who have been in control 
for long weary years, to our disgrace as a supposedly 
free and independent people. c. n. f. 
USES FOR SMALL GASOLINE ENGINES. 
The Denver Republican prints the picture shown at 
Fig. 328. This device is at work on the Washburn 
Jersey Farm, and the Republican says: 
“The gasoline tank is half buried in the ground at 
some distance from the engine on account of the dan¬ 
ger of an explosion. The little engine, a six-horse 
power one, works faster and better than a dozen men 
with pitchforks, and those who study agricultural con¬ 
ditions declare that the new machine will prove of 
great value in putting up hay quickly in the face of an 
impending rain. The engine was made especially for 
the hay stacker, with a view to much moving from 
field to field and considerable hard usage. As seen in 
operation at the dairy -farm yesterday the machine was 
tossing the hay into great stacks as fast as the hay 
could be hauled from other parts of the field by four 
teams with sleds.” 
It is said that this engine will do twice the work that 
is possible when horses are used. 
