623 
“Uhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
mission. Asricultural Hall, AlhaTiy. N. Y. Commit¬ 
tees of the Commis.sion have hoen appointed to look 
after the different branches of the work. These in¬ 
clude farm employment, farm temporary loans, crop 
transportation, increased production, storage and 
markets. Letters addressed as above to the Com¬ 
mission will be referred to the proper committee. 
A Larger Farmer’s Dollar 
Dealers and speculators in food products must 
begin to see the trend of the times. The whole 
w( rid now begins to realize its dependence on the 
farm for its food supply, and slowly the conscious¬ 
ness of the people is focused on the conclusion that 
speculation and deception and trickery in the dis- 
ti'i'hntiou of food will not much longer be per¬ 
mitted. 
The Federal fJovernment is heginning to lead in 
this reform. Last week a bill was introduced ab¬ 
solutely to prohibit gambling in food products by 
making contracts for future deliveries illegal. 
Heavy penalties are provided in the bill for the 
violation of the law. 
Another lull was introduced to prohibit the ship¬ 
ment of adulterated and falsely branded food pro¬ 
ducts from one State to another. It is also pro¬ 
posed in the Federal legi.slatiou to secure a verified 
report of all food products held in either cold stor¬ 
age or common storage for future use. These ineas'- 
ures are not only helpful, but they are absolutely 
necessary for an economic and honest distribution 
of food. 
All the people in the country are concerned in 
the production and honest distribution of food. 
The number of distributors who are favored by 
want of regulation are few in compari.son with the 
masses of the people to be benefited by proper legLs- 
lation. While food was cheap and the farmer bore 
the brunt of the indifference it was hard to se¬ 
cure any recognition of the need of regulation, but 
now that food is scarce, employers are confronted 
with the necessity of food supply for their opera¬ 
tors, and city populations are beginning to feel hun¬ 
ger. The sentiment is growing for proper regula¬ 
tion and economic distribution. The 35-cent dollar 
is passing. We may not get to the C5-cent dollar 
for the producer, and possibly not to the 60-cent 
dollar. The cost of distribution of some products 
in large cities is necessiirily high, and attended 
with some waste. Just yet we do not know what 
the proper proportions are. We do know that in 
the past the cost of distribution was too high and 
the return ot the producer too low. If the present 
crisis results as it promises to do, in a fair ad¬ 
justment of the consumer’s dollar between the pro¬ 
ducer and the distributor, it will be worth all that 
it will cost in dollars and eent.s. 
The Patriotic Agricultural Service 
Commission 
THIS COMMISSION, appointed by Gov. Whit¬ 
man last week was confirmed in a special bill passed 
by the Legislature a few days later. The purpose of 
the Commission is to increase the production of food 
in the State, to conserve and economically distribute 
it. The bill carried an appropriation for the use of 
the Commission of .$500,000. The memPers of the 
Commission at Ithaca on April 10 and 17 organized 
the work. The Governor designated Commissioner 
Wilson chairman of the Commission, and Dean Mann 
of Cornell was selected as secretary of the Commis¬ 
sion. Headquarters will he at Albany, in the build¬ 
ing now occupied by the Agricultural Department. 
WOIHv AND ORGANIZATION.—The fir.st work 
of the Commission is to get a complete report of the 
conditions and needs of every farm in the State. 
This information will be secured through the Educa¬ 
tion Department. The superintendents of schools, 
principals of schools, teachers and pupils will be em- 
ploye<l. It is expected that the information will be 
entirely available by May 1st Each county will 
have a separate organization. In the 42 counties 
which have county agents and executive committees 
the organization already exists and will he utilized. 
In counties where no siich organization exists, the 
Extension Department of Cornell will develop tem¬ 
porary county organizations. The information gath¬ 
ered by the schools in each county will be filed with 
these county units. 
CROP STATISTICS.—The information gathered 
will show the number of acres in the important food 
crops grown on the farm in 1010. and in the next 
column will be given the proposed planting for 1017. 
The purpose is to increase the 1017 planting as much 
as possible. The information will show what faimr- 
ers have in excess of seed requirements, and which 
ones are short of seed requirements. It will also 
.show the tonnage of fertilizers required and of seed 
required. It will show in a genex’al way an inven- 
tcny (if live stock and where these are for sale, and 
whei’e more are needed. It will show how much 
farm help is available and just the pai’ticular farms 
j on whi<'h the extra help is required. 
' CENTERS OF INFORMATION.—This informa¬ 
tion will be tabulated for general use and it will be 
condensed, and will be tabulateel in detail for infor¬ 
mation within the county. Each county therefore 
will have a center to which a farmer may apply for 
sources of seed, fertilizers, live stock or help, and to 
which he may send any surplus of seed or live stock 
that he has on hand for sale, which will already ap¬ 
peal* in the census taken by the schools, and be on 
file with the county agent. The names and addres.ses 
of the county agents are as follow's: 
Albany—II. E. Crouch, 90 Court House, Albany. 
Allegany—R. Q. Smith, Belmont. 
Broome—.1. F. Eastman, Chamber of Com., Binghamton. 
Cattaraugus—H. K. Crofoot. Glean. 
Cayuga—E. C. Weatherby, Auburn. 
Chautauqua—H. B. Rogers, .Tamestown. 
Chemung—T. W. Vann, Chamber of Commerce, Elmira. 
Chenango—E. P. Smith, Norwich. 
Clinton—C. B. Tillson, Plattsburgh. 
Cortland—A. S. Merchant, Cortland. 
Delaware—E. R. Eastman. Walton. 
Dutchess—F. H. Lacy, Poughkeepsie. 
Erie—W. L. Markham. Chamber of Commerce, Buffalo. 
Esse.x—.1. E. I'hillips, Es.sex. 
Franklin—C. M. Austin, Malone. 
Herkimer—C. A. Taylor, Herkimer. 
Jefferson—F. E. Robertson. Watertown. 
Madison—D. F. Putnam, Cazenovia. 
Monroe—L. A. Toan, Chamber of Commerce, Rochester. 
Montgomery—A. S. Merchant. 
Nassau—T. M. Avery, Mineola. 
Niagara—N. R. Peet, Lockport. 
Oneida—O. F. Ross. Chamber of Commerce, Ftica. 
Onondaga—.1. R. Teall, 312 Court Hou.se, Syracitse. 
Orange—T. E. Milliman. Middletown. 
Orleans—L. .1. Steele, Albion. 
Oswego—E. V. Underwood, Oswego. 
Otsego—F. S. Barlow, Cooperstown. 
St. Lawrence—E. S. Bird, Canton. 
Saratoga—C. S. Phelps, Saratoga Springs. 
Schoharie—R. F. Pollard. Cobleskill. 
Suffolk—R. C. Parker, Riverhead. 
Sidlivan—H. P. Smith, Liberty. 
Tioga—E. R. Zimmer, Owego. 
Tompkins—V. B. Blatchley, Ithaca. 
Idstei'—W. IT. Hook, Kingston. 
Warren—E. W. Cleeves, AVarrensburg. 
Wayne—F, E. Rogers, Sodus. 
Westchester—.1. G. Curtis. Cham. Com., White Plains. 
Wyoming—H. M. Bowen, Warsaw. 
Home Demonstration Agents. 
Cortland—Mae L. Wells, Cortland. 
Erie—Sarah Pettit, Chamber of Commerce. Buffalo, 
.Jefferson—Mrs. V. M. Godfrey. Watei-tc'wn. 
Otsego—Florence H. Freer, Cooperstown. 
The organization for counties not yet organized 
will be given later. A survey of the seed supply in 
the State is also being made, so that this source of 
supply will be promptly available for the informa¬ 
tion of farmers not already supplied. 
SCOPE OP THE WORK.—Local information may 
be had at any time through the farm agents where 
they exist, but general correspondence should be ad¬ 
dressed to the Patriotic Agricultural Service Corn- 
Farm Labor in Central New York 
We have had many letters from farmers who say 
they cannot obtain farm help. The following let¬ 
ter is unusual. We print it because we wish to 
give all sides of this big question. Is Mr. Horton 
Correct in his conclusions? The an.swer must come 
from experience. 
I chanced to pick up a copy of The R. N.-Y. the 
other day, and my attention was attracted by a letter 
from some one in Seneca County, in which the writer 
set forth the difficulties experienced by the farmer.s 
of his section in procuring help, and incidentally told 
of the great scarcity of farm laborer.s. This was in 
The R. N.-Y. of March 24. Now I don’t know who 
the writer of that letter was but I am familiar with 
the conditions^ prevailing in Seneca, Tompkins and 
Schuyler countie.s, and when a man tells you that there 
is a scarcity of farm help, you put it down in your 
memorandum book that he does not know. I have lived 
within 30 miles of this place for the past 45 years, 
and I never .saw any scarcity of help except for a few 
days in haying and harvest, and this oidy lasts from 
four to eight weeks at the outside, and it is not steady 
work then. 
Every farmer who employs help by the month or 
year, has all the steady help he wants, so far as 
I have been .able to find out, and there is very little 
call for day hands. I know of one man who is both 
alj/e and willing to work, who has had just three days’ 
work_ this year, and he walked three miles night and 
morning to do that. One reason why .some farmers 
have trouble to get help, is their unwillingness to pay 
living wages. Farm labor is the poorest paid of any. 
A man cannot live on less than two dollars a day, with 
the prices of all food stuffs as high as they are, more 
especially when he can only depend on about 150 days 
work in a year. 
Another thing which sometimes causes an apparent 
scarcity of labor is the uncertainty of the pay. Only 
about one farmer in five, pays his help every week, 
and the ones who do, never have any trouble to get 
all the help they want at any time. With the average 
farmer, you may get your pay when it is due and 
you may not, the chances are, not. If you ask for it, 
the chances are that you will hear something like this: 
"I ain’t got the money now, you’ll have to wait till 
I sell my hay,” or it may be buckwheat, or something 
else; and after you have finished work for the season 
it will take from one to three months to collect your 
pay, and sometimes you never get it. 
I know all about this farm labor question, every 
part cf it. To n«e a very common expression I’ve been 
there. I understand that the 'State is going to take up 
the problem of getting a supply of farm help this Sum¬ 
mer. Now if the State will guarantee living wages, 
and then invent some method of compelling farmers to 
pay them every week, as manufacturing establishments 
do. there will be no scarcity of farm labor, either this 
Summer or any other time. E. L. rtouTON. 
Trumansburg, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—.Vre those farmers able to pay such 
wages for hired help? There you have the whole 
thing in a nutshell. When a man gets a .35-cent 
dollar how much is there left for him.self after the 
hired man is ])ai(l? Statistics show that on thou¬ 
sands of farms the farm owner gets less for his 
.vear’s work than the hired man. .\11 the time he 
is compelled to pay higher and higher wages while 
the income has not, until Avithin the pa.st few 
montlT.s, increased in anything like proportion. So 
we do not see that Mr. Horton tells us anything 
new. M’hat he writes is simply the old ti'iith stated 
in a new Avay. 
The Farmer as a Patriot 
The press of the country has been engaged all AA'in- 
ter in urging the dwellers in city and town to go into 
competition Avith the farmer by planting their lawns 
and flower beds; some even Avant the AValks torn up 
and the strip of earth utilized for i)Ianting gai’dens tit 
reduce the cost of living. Noav, they Avant to enlist 
the farmer against himself by telling him it is a pa¬ 
triotic duty to double his acreage. I am a believer in 
patriotism—it is both a personal virtue and a national 
a.sset. There is, hoAA’ever, grave danger of the farmer 
doing more than his share. While railroad employees 
and union labor have been continually shortening their 
hours and raising their pay, the farmer has been plod¬ 
ding along from 12 to 3G hours per day. The press 
seems to think that from patriotic motives he ought 
to work the other eight hours. 
If the American farmers were to put their business 
on an eight-hour basis, they Avould starve the nation 
within a year. The pre.ss never has suggested to 
union labor that it could shine in a patriotic light by 
working longer hours and thereby reduce the cost of 
living, of tools, of machinery and of supplies Avhich 
the farmer has to have. Why do they make this an 
especial appeal to the farmer? It is because they thiidc 
he is the fool of the family, but if they think he is 
to be caught by so transparent a bait, they have an¬ 
other guess coming. 
The farmer is engaged in the mo.st hazardous busi¬ 
ness in the world. He is the plaything of nature and 
the child of chance. He never knows Avhat he is going 
to raise nor what it Avill bring him when he gets it. 
He ha.s to compete in the labor market AA'ith the Avhole 
Avorld, The government, the munition factories and 
the highway interests, will put labor practically out of 
his reach. 
People in my community are a unit in believing that 
a conservative policy is the safe.st course for the far¬ 
mer as the most likely to produce just returns for the 
labor expended. I notice that all classes of people, 
whatever their calling, are looking out for number 
one—they all Avaut easy jobs, shorter hours, large pay 
and cheap food. People will talk about State huv. 
Federal Iuav and rant about international Iuav, hut 
there is a greater law than these—the Iuav of self- 
preservation. I say it is the greatest law of nature. 
It is a Iuav Avhich Avas operative before man had a 
conscious existence in the Avorld. It is a laAV Avhich 
is moving the AVorld today. These things being true, 
and they cannot Uh refuted, I can see no reason Avhy 
the farmer should be olTered as a special sacrifice on 
the altar of i)atriotism. geo. av. smith. 
Steuben Co., N. Y". 
Federal Farm Loan Enactment 
A’'arious newspaper articles and bulletins are urging 
the farmer to plant bigger crops to feed ourselves and 
Europe. The most essential requirement in increasing 
production is money ; money to buy seed, fertilizer and 
more machinery—all of which have advanced from 20 
to .30%. Farm help can scarcely be hired at any price. 
Noav, the Federal Farm Loan Act Avas passed July 
17, 1916, for the purpose of extending credit to the 
farmer through first mortgages on their property, but 
up to date we have received no definite statement AA’hen 
we can obtain our loans. It seems as though the real 
enactment of this Iuav is being unnecessarily delayed. 
One signed article of last week says there has been 
perfected a system to lend out $200,000,000 to the far¬ 
mer, but $200,000,000 or 200 cents Avill not increa.se 
crop production materially if it is held in the banks 
until Spring planting is done. 
The small Southern farmer in particular has had 
to mortgage his groAving crops to obtain ready money. 
Also,_ the lack of money has cut down the acreage here 
and in the West. The planting season in the S’outh 
and South'Avest is noAV practically over—the crops 
North and West majq however, still bo increa.sed. 
Hence, our loans to be of any use must be available 
before the_ planting sea.son clo.ses. 
In farming, as is perhaps little understood in other 
business, there is a certain definite se<iuence of events 
or operations that must be followed to groAv good crops; 
the time of planting is one of the most important of 
these. The urgency of the immediate need of the far¬ 
mers obtaining their loans ought to be appreciated by 
all. 
Therefore, instead of “Let us mobilize the farmer.s,” 
“lyet us have warriors on the farm,” “Let us have big¬ 
ger crops,” let us haA'e our money. s. av. k. 
New Jersey. 
