80 
January 20, 1017. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
Tin: iirmsKHS farmer's paper 
A Nntloiial WfcUly .loiiriiul for t'oiiiitry and Suburban llomcH 
Eslahlinhcd 
Pnbtbhrd wrrkly by llir Rnr»l Piihlinlilni; ('otnpany, S33 Wftl 30lli Stn-»(,Xrw Vork 
IlEKBERT W. COLblN'owooi), I’rcHidBnt and Kditor. 
■loii.v J. Viuvos, Tre.'Burer and General Manager. 
Wm. K. Dillon, Seel-etary. Mas. E. T. Rovlk, ABBoci atc Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To for.di;!! eminf ries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.01, c<]nal to 8s. Cd., or 
814 marks, or lOJj francs. Hemit in money order, exiiress 
order, personal clieck or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office, aa Second Clas-s Matter. 
Advertislnir rates, 7.5 eenta per atrate line—7 words. References required for 
uilvei-tisers unknown to u.s ; and ca.'li must aecoiniiany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAR” 
We lielievc that every arlvertisement in tiiis jiaper is backed l).y a respon- 
silile peiaon. We use every possible pnicaution and miinit I be advertising of 
reliable houses only. Rut to make doubly sure, wo will make (food any loss 
to (Slid subsorlbei-s sustained by trustin(f any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or mislcadintf adverti.sements in onr columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. Wo are also often called ujion 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible bouses, whether advertisers or not. We willinffly use our (food 
offices to this end, but such cases should not he confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers attainst ropfues, but we will not I)o 
responsible for the debts of honest bankruids sanctioned by the courls. 
Notice of the complaint must he sent to us within one month of the time of 
the Iransaetion, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural Nbw- 
Yorker when writiiiff the advertiser. 
Getting Them Together 
No. I. 
HE great farm proliloin now is to get farmei’S 
togetlier. There are itleiit.v of educators and 
titlkeus—we need organizers and liinders. 
I have spent the entire day retiding your paper. My 
son takes it, and allows his father, 83, to read it. I 
Wits brought uji on the old (Utnntnj Gentleman tind 
tlie American Af/rieiiltiirist, edited b.v Orange .Tudd. I 
writ(‘ to say in iny .judgnient .y<»nr ittijier is the best I 
ever rettd. Wh.v every word in TiiR R. N.-Y. has got 
SOUK* pith and nieitniiig to it. I etin’t resjiect the man 
wlio uses gulT, sand and froth and says nothing. . S. ii. M. 
'I'lius age is with us—and so is childhood. This 
is from the prond father of a tive-duys’-old baby: 
Young Hiivid is going to be brought up on The R. 
N.-Y. gospel, and his lir.st le.sson will be “Why only 
.'!.")-f<‘nt,s of the dolltirV” 
As ii milk consniiK'r .vonng David tackles a big 
projtosilion. Still, another David, far hack in his¬ 
tory, won his fight. 
* 
W E wisli the bonds of the new Federal Land 
Hanks could he bought and held very large- 
l.\* h.v farmers—niostl.v men of modertite means. As 
it is the hanks will jirobahly get them, but it would 
l)(* far better, in many ways, if there could be a 
pi’jicticiil faruK'r at etich end of the loan. This 
would hel]) create a lietter feeling between the East 
!ind the West, for there is too much bitterness 
growing over the money Question. Therefore we 
want to call attention to the great value of these 
bonds as an investment on the jiart of Eastern 
farmers. 
* 
((TT'EEDINr; the liired Man,” on page 90, will 
JT* he nuid with kindly recollection by thousands 
of old-timers who 25 years and more ago. “worked 
out,” Sometimes the family was too lar.ge for- the 
small home farm, and the family itockethook was 
like the farm—generous but pinched. The hoys 
thought it no shame to work out for some iieigh- 
hor, and the girls did housework and taught s<'hool. 
The farm labor of those days came from this tine, 
solid class of Americans, and the hired man was 
a sort of ambitions coinjianion for the farmer, it 
was a wondei’Hil school for developin.g character 
and skill. How faithful those hired men and hired 
girls were! They had a iiersonal interest in the 
farm and its business and in return they got a 
jiractical training wliich made them .svijierior far¬ 
mers and farmers’ wives. Science has done great 
things for agriculture, but it never has and never 
will duplicate the faithful old-time “hired man.” 
AVe think he will come back more and more as the 
hOrcent dollar gets a little larger. 
* 
HE V. S. Sniirmne Tourt has now rendered a 
decision on jirohihition which Ls, in its import¬ 
ance. little short of the jias.-^a.ge of a complete na¬ 
tional Jirohihition amendment. What is known as 
the AVehh-Kenyon act forbids the shijiment of liquor 
from one State to another. 'Phis law was violated 
under the plea that it was unconstitutional, and 
peojile living in “dry” States received liquor by ex¬ 
press, or in other ways, from outside their own 
States. This became a nuisance to tomiierance peo- 
jile, as it practically minifies State prohiliition Dws. 
The Supreme Court has now settled it forever. 
'Phe allrcaching power of government over liquor is 
settled. There was no intention of Congress to forbid 
individual use of liipior. The jniriiose of this act was 
to cut out by the roots the practice of permitting vio¬ 
lation of State liquor laws. We can have no doubt 
that Congress has coinjiletc antbority to prevent par¬ 
alyzing of State authority. Congre.ss exerted a power 
to' coordinate the National with the State authority. 
The court also ujiholds the We.st Virginia law 
which jirohihits the jnirchase of liquor for “per¬ 
sonal” use. The R. N.-Y. is ojijinsed to the saloon 
Imsinoss frankly and ojienly, and has been so for 
years. We do not believe that the busine.ss has any 
B56c RURAL NEW-YORKER 
social or moral right <o exist under jiresent condi- 
tion.s. As things are going now there is no need 
even to argue against it for the American j^eople 
have stamjied it as “undesirable.” 
* 
No paper comes into our home that is more eagerly 
read than The Rural New-Yorker, but we do wish 
you could induce farmers and market gardeners to 
plant and raise more eatables. While we do not_ con¬ 
sume a wagon-load of cabbage a year in our family it 
makes us “sit uj) and take notice” when we have to 
pay at the rate of .$140 a ton for the article which we 
did yesterday. In this section it is no longer sold by 
the “head” as formerly, but by the pound, and that 
is 7c. Potatoes $2.40 per bu.; carrots, ordinary size, 
three for 10c; eating apples $1.25 per half-bu-shel peach 
basket. The only thing that seems to be cheap is 
hay, and there are no “Nebuchadnezzars” in my family. 
New Jersey. edward e. ball. 
OW .suppose some of the cabbage growers tell 
us how much of this consumer’s dollar they 
have received? You may plant words in a farmer’s 
field until the end of time, but he is not going to 
increase crops materially until he is assured of a 
permanent living price, or until all manufacturers 
or transportation agencies agree to produce two 
pairs of mbher lioots or to run two freight cars 
where one pair of hoots and one fi'eight car may 
now be found. 
♦ 
HE New York State politicians are not yet out 
of the “fecliug” stage of their program! 
Every few days a new “feeler” ajipears in the daily 
jiapers in the shape of an article .suggesting what 
may be done about market legislation. The idea of 
all this is to sound the farmers or confuse them 
with a great number of suggestions. This “feeling” 
jdaii has failed. We can fill issue after issue of 
The R. N.-Y. with letters like this—and the politi¬ 
cians know it: 
For years I have read with a great deal of satis¬ 
faction your bristling editorials on the “35-cent dollar.” 
The fanners all know you are right, hence we are 
ready to fight with you. Tlie middlemen al.so know 
you 'ai-e right, hence they are fighting against yon. The 
farmers are all agrec'd, practically, that we have the 
fight of oiir lives on onr hands this Winter. Hut we 
are ready. “Ix't the dance begin.” The_ big commis¬ 
sion merchants and middlemen and their tools, the 
politicians, showed their hand shortly after election. 
The fir.st “feeler” put out by Hov. Whitman was 
enough. He is very anxious to reduce the cost of liv¬ 
ing. To do so it will be necessary to “reorganize” the 
Foods and IMarkcts Dejiartment, etc. The same old trick. 
If you want to get control of a dejiartment and put in 
soine jiliant tool who will take orders from the powers 
that be, why just reorganize in the name of economy. 
Hut it won’t work this time. We are onto them. Our 
eyes are ojicn. Some of the city daily papers are pro¬ 
testing against this change, which simply means add¬ 
ed exjiense to the taxpayers in the form of high-salar¬ 
ied officials, assistants, clerk.s, etc., and lessened effi¬ 
ciency. I do not beliiwe, I cannot believe, the Legis¬ 
lature dare do the bidding of these interests hostile to 
the i>resent Foods and Markets Department. Tlie far¬ 
mers in this North Country would like to know who 
mesmerized the Wicks committee after it began its 
work in New York City? M’liy the change of heart? 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. oeo. g. royce. 
Wo think the man chiefly responsible for this 
“chaiig(‘ of heart” is Senator Elou R. Hrown of 
Watertown. Senator Hrown is a jiroduct of your 
North Country, and he evidently Avaiits to be Gov- 
('i-iior. The first job for the North Country is 
therefore evident! The situation is elear. It is up 
to the jioliticians! At least 100,000 farmers are 
waiting club and pitchfork in hand to see what 
comes from these committees into the lA'gislature. 
If it is a rat those clubs will rattle the capitol— 
for there are rats enough there now. If it is a fer¬ 
ret those farmers will stand outside and knock the 
rats as they are driven out! Every day of delay 
and “feeling” adds to this solid army of faimier.s. 
Where are Senator Wicks and Judge Ward? It is 
their move—in the laws which they will propose. 
They have been fairly warned, and if they see fit 
to start the fire which burned the old iioliticians at 
the stake in North Dakota they will be responsible 
for it. 
* 
FEW weeks ago we told of a Michigan reader, 
Mr. W. A. Olds, who is driving through the 
South. He found long sections of good land where 
he had to buy Michigan hay for his hor.'^e. We have 
had numerous comments about this, some from 
travellers who noticed the same thing. Here is one 
from Dr. Chas. E. Thorne of the Ohio Experiment 
Station: 
Ajiropos fif Mr. 01d’.s purchase of Michigan baled 
bay in North Carolina, my friend A. 11. Judy writes me 
friim bis big Alfalfa farm “somewhere in Virginia’ that 
be has sold 75 carloads of Alfalfa bay this .season and 
will .sell 40 carloads more. iMr. Judy abandoned a rich 
Western Ohio farm some years ago, and migrated to 
Southeastern Virginia. 
We have letters from a number of farmers who 
are growing Alfalfa with great success at the 
South. Several are doing well with Timothy in 
Virginia. That adds to the wonder that so many 
“natives” buy baled hay, for the farming of a sec¬ 
tion will ever be judged, not by what the few more 
jirosperons do. but by the practice of the great ma- 
joi-ity. And here is another thought. Why should 
not Mr. Judy find Alfalfa growing on the higher 
priced Ohio land more profitable than Alfalfa in 
Virginia ? 
* 
A W. McCANN, the so-called food expert, has 
• broken his chain once more, and is at large, 
attacking as u.snal the butter and other food made 
by farmers or their agents. Whjf do you not shoir 
this man np and smash himf That is the question 
from many readers. What would be the use? Men 
like McCann are not in the pure food business for 
the purity there is in it. Praise them and they run 
out into the sunshine to show their joy. Kick or 
punch them and they run to show the bruise as evi¬ 
dence of what they suffer for the “people.” Hoard's 
Dairyman has McCann about right: 
At the bottom of many of hi.s charges are a number 
or jier.sonal grievances which have distorted his reason¬ 
ing powers, if be ever bad any. He has made .sueli an 
abject ass of himself and falsified so much concerning 
conditions under which butter is manufactured, the 
kind of product from which butter is made, and the 
attitude of those who are constantly striving to im¬ 
prove dairy practices, that we have felt it was a waste 
of space even to notice his charges and countercharges. 
We pity him as we do all per.sons with a distorted 
vi.sion. 
He and his kind will be the meanest and hardest 
enemies we have when the fight comes to put milk 
and other food prepared by farmers on the market. 
The “silent treatment” is the best way to shut him 
off! 
* 
T he following letter is a type of numerous com¬ 
munications which we receive during the year. 
We do not print the name in this ca.se, because we 
are convinced that the writer did not understand 
jiLst what his proposition meant! 
In a quite recent issue of a certain well known 
agricultural publication i.s an article about “Winter 
Garden in the (’ellar.” Could you have an article 
covering the growing of asparagus and rhubarb in tlie 
cellar during the Winter, similar to the one men¬ 
tioned, in your issue of Nov. 25th? If so, I would 
place an adverti.sement in your jiaper on that date of¬ 
fering for sale large rhubarb and asparagus roots for 
forcing in cellar. If the advertisement proved profit¬ 
able, I should continue it as long as it paid me to do 
so. Many of your readers would probably he interest¬ 
ed in growing these vegetables during the Winter. If 
necessary I would write the article for you, largely 
h-om the information given in the other farm paper 
article, omitting that part about chicory and other 
things that I do not sell. Could you have the article 
on the same page that my advertisement would be on? 
Of course this is a small matter hut, in its way, 
5t is the boldest, mo.st bare-faced attempt to obtain 
special privilege and cross-eyed advertising we have 
seen in 35 years experience. There are hundreds 
(.f people who would like to obtain such business 
advantage, but they do not dare ask for it in that 
open way. It is just an attempt at -petty bribery, 
yet we are convinced that this man had no idea 
of what his proposition means. He says that other 
farm juipers willingly do this very thing. In fact 
they have written him offering him a chance to 
boom his own goods if he will give them advertis¬ 
ing! The whole thing is dishonest and unfaii*. It 
gives one adverti.ser a special privilege, and it de¬ 
ceives readers avIio think statements made in the 
paper are unprejudiced and fair to all. If readers 
of The R. N.-Y. once felt that we were willing to 
permit such practice they would have no confidence 
in any statement we might make. If a man will 
sell the integrity of his paper for a mere pittance 
of this sort, what would he not do at the offer of a 
bribe from some politician or corporation? The 
only hope for the business integrity of a paper is 
to keep the advertising and editorial departments 
absolutely distinct. No man can huy a line of edi¬ 
torial comment in The R. N.-Y. for one million dol¬ 
lars, nor can he jirint a line of dishonest or fraudu¬ 
lent advertising. The belief which the public have 
in that statement is what gives character and value 
to both editorial and advertising departments. 
Brevities 
Has the price of lime advanced in your country? 
There will be a rush to make a garden this year. 
A GOOD, sure way to lose the colt is to try to winter 
the mare as cheaply as possible by making her “rough 
it” on poor, coarse fodder. 
Snow packing of meat is often used in place of cans. 
The meat is cut up for the table and frozen. Then 
a layer of dry snow is put at the bottom of a box and 
a layer of the frozen pieces on top. Then more snow, 
more meat, more snow and so on to the toji—packing 
all down firmly. Then put in a cold jilace and leave 
until wanted. 
