THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
LJQ7 
THE STORY OF A CO-OPERATIVE SUCCESS. 
Part II. 
ONE WEAKNESS.—In this connection let me go 
back to Art. VII of our by-laws. The last sentence 
reads “The members reserve the right to negotiate 
private sales on which no commission shall be due 
to the Exchange.” Members received the service 
of the Exchange in market reports and daily prices, 
and being fully posted would sell to outsiders at 
those prices to save the three per cent, which they 
would have paid if selling through the Exchange. 
They refused to consider that it was the Exchange 
which made those sales possible, stating that they 
were only in it for what they could get out of it. 
You can see how much fairer to all it would be if 
all sales f. o. b. paid the small commission to the 
Exchange, and how much stronger the union 
would he. 
BUYING SUPPLIES.—In 1912 our Fall fruits 
were practically failures, and we took up the buy¬ 
ing end. Oats were then selling locally at GO cents 
per bushel. Mr. Hilderbrand landed the first carload 
at Milton direct from Minnesota at 38 cents. More 
applications for membership! Cheered by that suc¬ 
cess, he began on bran, middlings, scratch feed, 
flour, etc., and that first Winter sold 20 carloads at 
a saving of some $2,500 to our members. We now 
buy our flour at about $5.25 per barrel landed at 
our stations, of a grade that we cannot duplicate 
there for $7.50. We then turn to spray materials 
and fertilizers. Average prices for commercial lime- 
sulphur had been $9 to $10 per barrel. We cut 
it to $5. We also furnish sulphur and lime to those 
who cook their own stuff at about the same saving. 
T’ -first year we bought some 250 tons of chemical 
fertilizer of all sorts at an average saving of $5 
per ton. This included a goodly amount of ground 
rock (acid phosphate), which, as you know, sells 
around $12 to $14, and pulls down the saving aver¬ 
age. On all these purchases the members paid 
• three per cent, to the Exchange. 
GROWTH OF BUSINESS.—This first season our 
actual paid-in cash capital was about $500, and on 
that we did a business of over $110,000. We ended 
our first year showing a small margin over and 
above all outlay in the treasury of the Exchange, 
but with savings profits to the members on purchases 
and sales of several thousand dollars. Our second 
year started with about $1,200 capital, with which 
we did a business of over $232,000. Of this some 
$30,000 was f. o. b. sales by the Exchange. Straw¬ 
berry and pear buyers came to us, and stayed 
through the season. The ordinary commission house 
considers 500 crates of strawberries a day as large 
business. There were many days last season when 
the Exchange sold 800 to 900 crates a day for its 
members. About 3,000 barrels of pears were sold 
to England and a beginning made with apples. Sales 
covered a wide territory, as our fruits were shipped 
as far west as Wisconsin, and south into Florida. 
FUTURE PROSPECTS.—We have bought to date 
some 25 carloads of feed, and 21 carloads of manure 
at a saving of about 25 per cent. The purchases 
have amounted to $11,000, which does not include 
this year’s fertilizer, upon which we have even 
lower quotations than last year. We now have 84 
members, and the executive committee has decided 
to recommend that our capital stock he increased, 
in order that there may be room for those who 
seem to want to join, also with a view to providing 
capital for greater work. It seems certain from the 
experience of this year that next Fall we shall hire 
cold storage in New York city, and keep our own 
man there to bill out our apples as wanted for our 
widening markets. 
ROME DIFFICULTIES.—Now T don’t want you 
to leave here with the impression that everything 
is rosy and plain sailing with such a proposition as 
I have been talking about. We began small, and 
we are still creeping along, for it takes time and 
patience and much work to raise a successful co¬ 
operative plan among people who are not used to 
the idea of working together. In our section I think 
we are, on the whole, slowly learning the lesson. 
We have taken up the easiest and most obvious 
needs. We have not yet reached the point where 
we can have an absolutely fixed grade and pack for 
each of our fruits, because we have been going it 
alone so long that we haven’t yet been able to merge. 
But we are improving, and intend to keep on, though 
some do not take kindly to proper grading, with 
the inevitable exposure of their slack methods. This 
was particularly the case last year, when we had 
to turn down a hundred barrels of pears which our 
customer justly refused to accept. In fact, he be¬ 
haved much more liberally in the. matter than was 
to the best interests of the Exchange, for a very 
sharp object lesson would have been of great value. 
THE NEW CURRENCY LAW. 
Part II. 
DIRECTORS OF FEDERAL BANKS.—Each Fed¬ 
eral Reserve bank must nave nine directors in three 
classes. Class A of three is selected by the member 
banks of the district to represent the banks. The 
banks of the district are to lie divided into three 
groups according to size (capitalization), large, 
medium and small banks, and each group selects one 
director by ballot by mail, using the preferential 
ballot. Class B has three directors elected by the 
banks in the same manner as class A except that 
class B directors shall be engaged in commerce, 
agriculture or some other industrial pursuit. The 
three directors of class C are appointed by the 
Federal Reserve board. All directors hold office for 
three years, and one of class C is appointed the 
chairman of the board of directors. (The first board 
of directors elected or appointed for one, two and 
three years until the system is organized.) The 
hoard of directors performs the duties usually ap¬ 
pertaining to the duties of the office of bank director 
and conducts the affairs of the Federal bank with¬ 
out discrimination between the member banks. 
EARNINGS OF THE FEDERAL BANKS.—After 
all necessary expenses have been provided for, the 
stockholders are entitled to six per cent per year 
dividend on the paid-in capital stock. After the 
expenses and dividends are provided for the net 
earnings shall be paid to the United States as a 
franchise tax, except that one-half of the net earn- 
ings up to 40% of the capital stock of the bank 
shall be paid into a surplus fund. The profits de¬ 
rived by the government from the operation of the 
new system shall, in the discretion of the Secretary 
of the Treasury, be used to supplement the gold re¬ 
serve against outstanding United States notes, or 
to the reduction of the National debt. The earnings 
of the Federal Reserve banks are derived from its 
transactions with the government and its member 
banks. “Any Federal Reserve bank may receive 
from any of its member banks, and from the United 
States, deposits of current funds, national bank 
notes, Federal reserve notes, or checks and drafts 
upon solvent member or other Federal reserve banks, 
payable upon presentation. Upon the indorsement 
of any of its member bayks, with a waiver of de¬ 
mand, notice and protest, any Federal reserve bank 
may discount notes, drafts and bills of exchange 
arising out of actual commercial transactions; that 
is, notes, drafts and bills of exchange issued or 
drawn for agricultural, industrial, or commercial 
purposes, or the proceeds of which have been used, 
or are to be used, for such purposes, the Federal re¬ 
serve board to have the right to determine or de¬ 
fine the character of the paper thus eligible for dis¬ 
count, within the meaning of this Act. Nothing in 
this Act contained shall be construed to prohibit 
such notes, drafts, and bills of exchange secured by 
staple agricultural products, or other goods, wares, 
or merchandise from being eligible for such dis¬ 
count; hut such definition shall not include notes, 
drafts, or bills covering merely Investments or is¬ 
sued or drawn for the purpose of carrying or trad¬ 
ing in stocks, bonds, or other investment securities, 
except bonds and notes of the United States Govern¬ 
ment. Notes, drafts, and bills admitted to discount 
must have a maturity at time of discount of not 
more than ninety days: Provided, that notes, drafts, 
and bills drawn or issued for agricultural purposes 
or based on live stock and having a maturity not 
exceeding six months may be discounted in an 
amount to be limited * * * by the Federal Re¬ 
serve board.” Federal banks also discount drafts 
and bills of exchange on imports and exports to a 
limited extent. Federal banks also may deal in 
gold coin and bullion and make loans thereon; may 
buy and sell, at hqme and abroad, bonds and notes 
of the United Rtates, and bills, notes, revenue bonds, 
and warrants issued by State, county, districts, and 
cities in the United States, and may receive govern¬ 
ment deposits. 
FEDERAL CURRENCY.—The new currency, 
Federal reserve notes, will gradually replace our 
present national bank notes. The new notes will be 
issued “at the discretion of the Federal Reserve 
board for the purpose of making advances to Fed¬ 
eral banks” in exchange for collateral of the 
Federal banks. These Federal notes “shall 
he obligations of the United States and shall 
be receivable by all national and member banks 
and Federal reserve banks, and for all taxes, 
customs, and other public dues. They shall be re¬ 
deemed in gold on demand at the Treasury of the 
United States, or in gold or lawful money at any 
Federal bank. The Federal banks make applica¬ 
tion for these notes in any amount that they require. 
They tender to the government an eqnal amount of 
commercial paper. "The collateral security offered 
shall be notes and bills,” to which rererence has been 
made. In other words a farmer may go to his local 
bank and secure a six months loan on his wheat. 
His local bank sends this to its district Federal re¬ 
serve bank and the Federal bank tenders the note to 
the Government and gets the face value of the note 
in Federal notes. The Federal bank must hold a 
reserve of 40% in gold against the Federal notes, 5% 
of this reserve in the U. S. Treasury. It must also 
keep 35% in reserve in gold or lawful money to pro¬ 
tect the deposits of member banks. f. n. c; 
NEW YORK STATE GRANGE. 
Part I. 
The recent session of the New York State Grange 
at Poughkeepsie measured up well with any previous 
sessions with which the writer has been familiar- A 
large number of measures were brought before the 
convention for the delegates to consider and their action 
was sane and commendable. And notning escaped their 
careful attention. If a committee’s report on reso¬ 
lutions submitted to it were not to the liking of the 
delegates they did not hesitate to reverse the report, 
and this occurred in several instances. The report of 
the committee on assessment and taxation is worthy 
of notice here. Its declarations were as follows: “We 
favor uniform State tax laws throughout the Union. 
We favor a system of scientific assessment by assessors 
free from political influence. We favor an income tax 
collected at its source so far as possible. We favor 
an annual mortgage tax. We believe that the amount 
of a mortgage against a property should be deducted 
from its assessed valuation. We urge our legislative 
committee to use their utmost endeavor to defeat all 
legislation in the interest of the single tax system.” 
The recommendations of the committee were adopted. 
The committee on public schools favored the intro¬ 
duction of the study of agriculture in the public schools, 
but they believe that these studies should be adapted 
to the various sections where the schools are located. 
In other words, that the school divisions of the State 
should be given local option on the courses of study 
to be pursued in their respective localities so that it 
may be adapted to local conditions and requirements. 
This committee also recommended that a committee be 
appointed to represent the Grange to work with com¬ 
mittees from other organizations in devising a better 
course of study and management for our common, 
union and high schools. The committee on parcel post 
had but little before it for consideration, possibly be¬ 
cause everything is working so well along the postal 
routes. It was the expression of the Grange that the 
delivery of mail to all rural homes be accomplished 
as soon as practicable- In regard to postal savings 
the committee favored the distribution of treasury funds 
among rural banks rather than metropolitan, and the 
establishment of a system of farm credits to benefit the 
farmer. With these recommendations the Grange 
agreed. 
The public health committee, as it will hereafter be 
known, informed the Grange that in its opinion a new 
day was dawning in health work. The new public 
health law, the new vital statistics law, the medical 
school and inspections law, have all been written on 
the statute books within a year. In the enactment 
of these laws the State Grange and Subordinate 
Granges as well, exerted a great influence, working 
through the tuberculosis committee of the State Grange. 
The Granges sold Red Cross Christmas seals to the 
amount of $1,950 this year, as against $1,271 last year. 
A large part of this money goes *o the work which 
the standing public health committee is doing to ad¬ 
vance the tuberculosis campaign in (he rural districts. 
Much needs to be done. While the death rate in New 
York city last year was 13.7 per 1,000 of population, 
in the rural districts it was 15.4. More attention should 
be paid to rural health conditions- The Grange favored 
the recommendation of the committee that a division 
of rural hygiene should be established in the State 
Department of Health. 
The following amendment to the commission mer¬ 
chants’ law was suggested by the resolution offered by 
Senator Godfrey: That commission merchants be re¬ 
quired to make, and keep for the period of one year, 
a record containing the name and address of the pur¬ 
chaser of produce shipped to them for sale on commis¬ 
sion, the date of such sale, quantity of each lot of 
produce sold and the price paid therefor, and a copy 
be forwarded to the shipper when returns for such 
sales are made. The resolution was approved by the 
Grange. J. w. D. 
World Crops. 
The Department of Agriculture reports that the 
world’s wheat crop passed the four billion bushel point 
last year for the first time, reaching a total of 4.125,- 
(>58,000. This is 298.571,000 bushels more than the 
previous year. Since 1902 the world’s supply of wheat 
has run between three and four billions. 
In value of farm crops Texas surpassed all other 
States producing more than $400,000,000. Then in 
order came Iowa. Illinois. Georgia, Ohio, Minnesota, 
Indiana, Missouri. Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Alabama, 
Wisconsin, North Carolina. New York, South Carolina, 
Mississippi, Kansas and Michigan. 
Potatoes in First Hand. 
The Department of Agriculture estimates that 42.1 
per cent of the 1913 potato crop remained in farmers’ 
hands January 1. compared with 39.S per cent the pre¬ 
vious year. This would indicate a total available sup¬ 
ply of 123.000.000 bushels in the chief producing States, 
against 150.000,000 the year previous. The estimated 
supply in grower’s hands by States is as follows: New 
York, 14,030,000 bushels: New England States, 17.874,- 
000; Pennsylvania, S.854,000; Ohio. 2,652,000: In¬ 
diana, 1,200,000; Illinois, 1,218.000; Michigan, 16.964.- 
000: Wisconsin, 17.066,000; Minnesota, 11,174.000; 
Iowa, 1,440,000; Nebraska, 1.539.000; Colorado, 5,- 
060.000. 
