o 50 
THE RUR-A.lv NEW-YORKER 
April 4, 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
I spent $3 last Fall to go to the State 
Fair to shake hands with Collingwood, 
but he kept hidden. I commenced with 
the first issue. There are not many of 
us left. w. B. 
New York. 
This good friend began to read The 
R. N.-Y. before Mr. Collingwood or my¬ 
self were born; but we always feel a 
filial sentiment for the men who began 
at the beginning and stayed with the 
paper through all these years. We would 
consider shaking hands with a number 
of them sufficient return for a trip to 
the fair. By the way, it would be in¬ 
teresting to know ho\v many of these old 
friends are yet with us and able to at¬ 
tend the fair. We would like to have 
them as our guests at a luncheon on the 
Fair Grounds next September. How 
many can come? It would be the pride 
of our lives to have a big number, and 
the good wives that are left with them. 
Do you think the Empire Realty & 
reliable source to borrow money from? 
Ohio. j. B. F. 
Mortgage Company, Richmond, Va., a 
This company advertises to loan money 
at five per cent. But if we understand 
their literature, you must first make 
contracts with them in $500 amounts or 
multiples of $500 and send them $4 a 
month on each $500 certificate until the 
loan is made. In no event can the loan 
be made short of six months, and there 
is no promise in the literature that we 
can find that it w r ill be made in six years. 
The application simply becomes eligible 
for a loan in six months. The inference 
is that they may not have the money to 
make the loan at that time and you will 
have to wait until they have it or until 
they get good and ready to make it, if 
such a time should ever come. They 
make it appear as a desirable feature to 
make the mortgage payable in 10 years 
by paying monthly semi-annual or an¬ 
nual payments. The amortization prin¬ 
ciple is a good one, but we would not en¬ 
courage farmers to bind themselves to 
pay one-tenth of the mortgage each year. 
A payment of one per cent with the 
privilege of paying more would be all 
right. This looks to us like the Birming¬ 
ham, Alabama, scheme previously re¬ 
ferred to. The purpose there seemed to 
be more to get money in on the certifi¬ 
cates than to loan it out on farm mort¬ 
gages. 
A good friend sends us a certificate for 
$25 issued by the Seminole Land & In¬ 
vestment Company and says we may use 
the proceeds to fight fakers. The fakers 
would be safe themselves in making such 
a donation. The certificate is a good 
specimen of a fake itself. The $25 are to 
be allowed on the purchase price of any 
lot bought at St. Cloud, Fla. In other 
words, you buy a lot and pay more than 
it is worth, probably several times over, 
and you will be allowed $25 as a sop 
to your injuries. The certificate is in¬ 
tended to make you feel you are getting 
something for nothing, and if you take 
the bait, you will feel the barb on the 
hook later on. 
Enclosed find an acknowledgment from 
W. W. Wittman & Co., 16 W. Pratt St., 
Baltimore, Md., for two bushels of Vir¬ 
ginia natural peach seed. We have writ¬ 
ten to them three times and can get no 
answer since the enclosed letter. We 
sent an order last year and received the 
seed right away, but this year we waited 
on them over a month and heard nothing. 
Will you see what you can do with them 
for us? D. s. A. 
Pennsylvania. 
This order was sent early in Septem¬ 
ber, and November 24 the subscriber 
writes us he received them. If a firm 
could realize the advantage they would 
gain by acknowledging an order prompt¬ 
ly or advising a customer that there was 
some necessary delay, a report of this 
kind would not come to us. With an un¬ 
explained delay of this kind a farmer 
does not feel inclined to send this house 
an order another year. We were as un¬ 
successful in getting replies to our in¬ 
quiries as to the cause of the delay, but 
the goods were shipped. Farm opera¬ 
tions are sadly upset by delays of this 
kind, but it is more the anxiety as to 
whether the goods will come in time for 
the season’s use that causes annoyance 
and dissatisfaction to the farmer. 
We have some inquiry and some criti¬ 
cism of the farm mortgage written by the 
Woodruff Trust Company, Joliet, Ill. 
The principal feature of the mortgage 
may be found in the following paragraph 
from the company’s literature: 
The interest charged to the farmer is 
at the rate of 6% per annum, and for 
each $1,000 borrowed the amount of the 
semi-annual payments, including both 
principal and interest, will be $43.62; 
so that by paying $43.62 semi-annually 
for 20 years the farmer is entirely out 
of debt. In paying the principal and 
interest covering a period of 20 years he 
has only paid out $1,730.40. If under 
the ordinary plan of borrowing money 
the farmer were to borrow $1,000 at even 
so low a rate as five per cent, per annum 
for 20 years, he would have paid out 
$2,000 at the end of this time, and of 
course in addition to this he would have 
paid out a considerable amount of money 
in renewal commissions and legal ex¬ 
penses. 
One intelligent criticism from an Illi¬ 
nois farmer is the following: 
The company loans the farmer $1,000 
for 20 years; but the farmer pays six 
per cent, semi-annual interest on every 
dollar owed, and also pays the principal 
to the last cent within the 20 years. The 
comparison of their 6% loans with a 5% 
loan making out a saving to the farmer 
of $269.60 is not all that it seems on the 
surface. The farmer does not use their 
$1,000 for the full 20 years, but they 
estimate as if he did. This company 
charge the farmer 6% for every dollar 
of their money for every day he keeps it. 
In addition he is compelled to pay a 
part of the principal each year, whether 
he wants to or not. 
The Woodruff Trust Company simply 
enforces thrift by insisting on a pay¬ 
ment of part of the principal every six 
months. The only other advantage is the 
long term and consequent saving of legal 
expenses and commissioners for renewals 
of short term mortgages. As an offset to 
this, the company charges six per cent, 
interest, while in some cases at least the 
borrower may be able to get the use of 
money for five per cent. The apparent 
saving of $269.60 on a 20-year mortgage 
does not allow the farmer any credit in 
the calculation, for interest on the pay¬ 
ments made every six months. The bor¬ 
rower pays six per cent, interest on the 
balance remaining due from payment to 
payment. The portion of the fixed semi¬ 
annual payment credited to principal in¬ 
creases every six months; and the 
amount credited to interest decreases in 
an equal proportion. The interest on 
$1,000 for 20 years at 6% is $1,200. By 
paying part of the principal from year 
to year, the borrower stops interest. 
The interest on these payments would 
amount to $469.50 at 6%. The prin¬ 
cipal of the contract is good; but the rate 
of interest is high. It is assumed that 
much of the money used by the trust 
company is the deposits of farmers and 
others in the neighborhood. They prob¬ 
ably draw from three to four per cent, 
interest. The trust company of course, 
profits by the difference. In the co¬ 
operative associations of Europe the 
money goes direct to the associations at 
the low rate, and the borrower gets the 
benefit. Banks and trust companies 
must look out for their profits. Cooper¬ 
ation seeks only the benefit of its mem¬ 
bers, and we hope yet to see the mort¬ 
gages of American farms financed on the 
cooperative plan. 
I have noticed the complaint from 
Hammonton, New Jersey, and your re¬ 
ply. You cannot expect anything but 
the curses of the dishonest, but you will 
have, or should have, the support of all 
decent men. m. p. b. 
Virginia. 
That is about right. The R. N.-Y. 
cannot expect the approval of crooks, and 
there is no record that it ever received 
such approved or that it merited such 
approval. Let the rogues curse. J. J. D. 
Little John was full of mischief and 
during his first year at school hardly a 
day passed that he was not sent to stand 
in the corner. When the sehoolhouse 
burned down and a new one was imme¬ 
diately begun, the little boy went to his 
father, wdio was County Superintendent. 
“Don’t you think we could get the carpen¬ 
ter to build a round sehoolhouse this 
time, father?” he said. “Why, son?” his 
father asked in astonishment. “Because,” 
the little fellow answered, “I’m getting 
very tired of corners.”—N. Y. Evening 
Post. 
Your Footwear Problem Solved 
Leather is growing dearer every day. Leather shoes cost more 
than ever before. Yet howto get satisfactory work shoes—at a low yearly 
cost—is no longer a puzzle. The Hub-Mark Bootees are the 
answer to that footwear problem. 
Hub-Mark Bootees are made of the best grade of New Rub¬ 
ber and A1 Duck with leather insoles. They are reinforced at every 
point where the wear and the strain comes. 
Buy a pair 
out beside men 
split, and useless 
made of leather. 
Note this 
footwear for men, 
from dealers who 
of these comfortable work shoes. Work day in and day 
who wear leather shoes. When their shoes are cracked, 
yours will be solid. Bootees are cheaper than shoes 
because they always outwear them. 
-Look for the Hub-Mark on all kinds r and styles of rubber 
women, boys and girls. You can rely on anything you buy 
sell Hub-Mark Bootees—they are square dealers. 
BOSTON RUBBER SHOE COMPANY, Malden, Mass. 
RUN ON KEROSENE 
6c for lO Hours 
Ellis Engines develop more power on cheap lamp 
oil than other engines do on high-priced gasoline. 
Will also operate successfully on distillate, petrol, 
alcohol or gasoline. Only three working parts. 
NGINE 
have patent throttle pi vine; three en¬ 
gines in one; force-feed oiler; auto¬ 
mobile type mufiler; ball-bearing 
governor adjustable while run¬ 
ning and other exclusive features, 
MAKE US TKOVK IT— 
Every engine ponton 30days' ap¬ 
proval. 10-vear Guarantee. Special 
factory prfees on all sizes. Thou¬ 
sands of satisfied users. Write for 
big new 1914 catalog and special 
discount prices. 
ELLIS ENGINE CO.. 6 Kullett St.. Detroit, Mich 
Mower 
Write for 
free 
Catalog 
This machine has the one right cutting principle — 
center draft. Cutter bar is directly in front of wheels 
— mows back and forth on one side of field in 
any direction. No side draft. Cut crop is left in 
standing position and cures rapidly. One-third sav¬ 
ing in time and labor. The Eureka Mower abolishes 
tedding and trampling of cut crop. It’s the ideal 
mower for orchard and working between rows. Will 
cut weeds in pastures and brush that no other 
mower will handle. 5 sizes for one or two horses. 
48 years on the market. Machines bought SO 
years ago, and used every * 
year, still in use. Prompt 
shipments. Write to-day. 
EUREKA MOWER CO. 
Box 868, Utica, N. Y. 
You lose $1.00 on every, 
six sheep you shear in the old 
way. The Stewart gets a length i 
and quality of wool that brings the i 
highest price. Extra profits soon pay for 
it. The Stewart has ball bearings in 
every part where friction or wear occurs. , 
Has a ball bearing shearing head of the 
latest improved Stewart pattern. Its price , 
complete, including 4 combs and 4 cutters - 
of the celebrated Stewart quality is $11.50. 
S 
STEWART'S No 9 BEARING 
SHEARING MACHINE 
m 
gets all the wool and takes it off quickly and smoothly in, 
one unbroken blanket. To shear with the Stewart Ma- 
chine seems like play to those who have labored with hand , 
shears in the old. hard, sweaty way. You don’t have the 
same swollen aching wrists. You don’t scar and disfig¬ 
ure your sheep with uneven shearing and spoil the wool 
with second cuts like you used to do. 6et one from your 
dealer, or send us $2.00 and we will ship C. O. D. for 
balance. Money back if you are not well pleased. 
Stewart Ball Bearing 
Clipping Machine 
For Norses, Mules and Cows 
It pays to clip horses and 
mules in the spring 
—they look and feel 
better, do more 
work, rest better 
and get more good 
i from their feed. 
[Clipping the flanks 
\ and udders of cows 
l prevents the drop- 
Lping of filth into 
\ milk.The Stewart 
\can be used for 
clipping horses, 
[ mules and cows 
■ without change. It’s 
1 the easiest to turn. 
I does the fastest 
work, stays _ sharp 
1 longer and is the 
[ most durable. Get 
one from your 
dealer, or send 
' I $2.00 and we 
will ship C.O.D. 
I PRICE for the bal- 
FKfl ance. Money 
' back if not 
well pleased. 
Write for FREE catalogue showing most 
complete line of Sheep Shearing and Horse 
Clipping Machines in the world. 
CHICAGO FLEXIBLE SHAFT CO. 
143 La Salto five., CHICAGO, ILL. 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply 
and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
