C%e RURAL NEW-YORKER 
679 
Political Methods of Some Big Milk 
Interests 
You may bo interested to know that certain big 
milk interests in New Y'ork City and an allied news¬ 
paper recently had a young man in Central New York 
interviewing creamerymen, bankers and farmers, in an 
effort to “get something on Mr. Dillon.” lie lived in 
high-class hotels; spent money freely for livery and 
autos, and had the appearance of being well supplied 
with cash. He was seen in company with ex-Judge 
Ward, the ex-attorney of the Wicks Committee. It is 
said that the big milk company concerned declared it¬ 
self ready to spend $40,(X)0 to get something that would 
cause farmers to lose confidence in Mr. Dillon. This 
was not so much because of the October fight as be¬ 
cause of the Towner bill, which they fear above every¬ 
thing el.se. I don’t know how the sleuth made out 
with the creamerymen and bankers, but be got little 
comfort from farmers. If those gents had anything 
on Mr. Dillon in the city they would not be up here 
looking for it; and if they “got it” in either place we 
would be pretty sure to have heard of it before now. 
One of the farmers here gave the agent a picture of 
Mr. Dillon as a souvenir. You may have heard of 
these things, hut it is a good joke here. H. A. 
New Y^ork. 
Rome of the above is news; most of it we already 
knew. We know that sleuths and spies have sha¬ 
dowed IMr. Dillon for month.s. Ills office has been 
watched, his office attendants have been approached, 
and when he returned to the city after spending a 
Rnnday and holiday out of town he was shadowed 
at the ferry and follow'ed. We know that there is 
ft bunch of crooks hereabouts that you could not 
trust as far out of sight as you could fling a Perch- 
eron horse by the tail, and from their experience 
with themselves they cannot believe that any man 
is honest or capable of doing anything except for 
a selfish motive. We know that these crooks have 
gone over Mr. Dillon’s record of 40 years with a 
fine-tooth comb, and if there had been anything of 
intere.st to them in that record they would not re¬ 
main silent very long. 
We kimw the Towner bill stirred iip the oppo¬ 
sition of big milk dealers as nothing else has. We 
know that neither money nor influence has been 
spared to defeat it. From the “lobby” view it is 
.said to be the best thing in Albany for years. 
We also knew that the .sleuth had been sent up 
ftState, but we did not have the details. We even 
know that his expense money had been telegraphed 
to him by a newspaper, and that it was paid by a 
big milk company. 
What these gentlemen do not know about farm 
life and farm sentiment would make the biggest 
book in existence. Their strong combination of men 
and money has defeated the Towner bill. They 
have not even permitted it to come to a vote. Ren- 
fttors who would not dare, and some who would not 
wish to vote against the Towner bill, have tolerated 
the leadership that refused to permit a vote on the 
bill. The time was when political leadership of that 
kind went unrebuked. The farm vote next Fall in 
the Renatorial district represented by Hon. Klon R. 
Brown will show whether a leader can yet use his 
power of office to defeat the interests and demands 
of dairymen in New York Rtate, and yet command 
farm votes to keep himself in power. 
The Patriotic Farmers’ Fund 
A number of readers have asked us about the 
farm loans to be made under what is known as the 
I’atriotie Fanners’ Fund. The secretary of this 
fund is Marc W. Cole, and his headiiuarters are 
T’tica, N. Y. This fund has been raised by a num¬ 
ber of wealthy citizens, and is used solely for the 
purpose of increasing the food supply. It is to he 
loaned to worthy New York farmers at the rate of 
4i/f)%. .\11 loans must mature not later than De¬ 
cember 1, 1917. No individual loan can be made 
prior to .Tune 1st to exceed .$150. It is possible, 
however, under certain conditions to make addi¬ 
tional loans on blanks which are furnished by the 
Local Loan Committee. As for the methods of op¬ 
erating the following three rules have been estab¬ 
lished to cover the business. ^ 
1. Local loan committees, consisting of throe mem¬ 
bers, two Grangers or members of other farm organiza¬ 
tions and one banker, wherever possible, have been ap¬ 
pointed by the Masters of each Subordinate Grange or 
other farm organization. 
2. Applications should be made by borrowers in du¬ 
plicate on forms to be supplied by the Local I.oan 
Committees, and when approved in writing by at least 
two members of the Local Loan Committee, both cop- 
ie.s are to be filed by the borrower with the local bank. 
3. On approval of the application a note payable 
to the local bank or to bearer in the form supplied by 
the Local Loan Committees must be deposited, duly 
signed, by the borrower with the local bank. There¬ 
upon the borrower will receive the face amount of the 
note from the local bank. 
Organizing the Food Problem 
AN UNRiyrTLED QUESTION.—At this moment 
the entire country seems upset, with all thought and 
action badly mixed. People of all classes desire to 
do something for their country, but there is little or¬ 
ganization. State and Federal money is being voted 
lavishly in an effort to establish national defense. All 
sorts of organizations are ready to spend money and 
experiment with work or plans. Some of this is w'ise, 
some is fooli.sh, some is for selfish purposes, but it 
seems all mixed up—without definite, orderly plan. But 
wait—it will finally settle down to the real business 
of war. 
IXIOKING TO THE FUTURE.—When our ships 
are on the seas, and some of them lost; when our men 
are on the firing line, and we sadly learn of the fate 
of those who are not to return, our affairs will take 
a steadier turn. Experience will teach us to spend 
more wisely, and the organizations that are now cross¬ 
ing each other in wasteful confusion will fall in line 
as adjuncts of Federal, State and local units, all co¬ 
ordinated in one well-directed movement. We are rich 
and strong and resoui'ceful. We are also impulsive, un¬ 
organized and undisciplined. We must go through the 
cruci'ble of trial and suffering before we can show OUT 
real metal. When we once get under way we will 
astDuisb not only ourselves but the world. 
THE FOOD CRISIS.—The States and Federal gov¬ 
ernments yet struggle with the food supply problem. 
None of them as yet has the courage to touch the real 
root of the trouble. The one problem is to secure an 
increased supply of food. This must come out of the 
ground. The farmer must supply it. There is no¬ 
where else to get it. Everyone admits that the pres¬ 
ent food crisis has been brought on by years of dis¬ 
couragement of production. They admit that the sup¬ 
ply would be readily increased if the farmer could' be 
assured of the cost of production. They admit that 
the organized system of piracy that we have permitted 
to grow up between producer and consumer is respon¬ 
sible for the present condition, but they hesitate to put 
the ax to the roots and destroy the system. They want 
to maintain the speculative system of distribution ; and 
those who oppose it lack the full courage to go ahead 
against the terrible pressure exerted to preserve it. 
THE CITY’S ATTITUDE.—The average city man 
wants to treat the farmer as a coiTimodity. He wants 
him to produce food for himself and his operators in 
the factory. They are willing to supply seeds, to send 
him city help to harve.st his crops, and to furnish 
machinery on credit; but they do not want to give him 
enough for his produce to cover cost of production and 
a reasonable profit a.s they themselves demand. They 
do not want to treat the production of food as an eco¬ 
nomic problem. They do not want the farmer to op¬ 
erate as a business man. 
A DISCOURAGING ATTITUDE.—In this attitude 
we find the greatest danger. It is trifling with a .serious 
situation. It is discouraging increased production now 
just as it caused a decreasing supply in recent years. 
The abundant fresh crops of cabbage and lettuce com¬ 
ing in today from the South are treated in the usual 
way. The grower gets scarcely enough to pay for 
transportation. The consumer pays 15 cents a head. 
Consumption is held in check, and waste results. The 
' middleman prevents the disturbance of the market at 
the expense of producer and consumer. 
CT'TTING COST OF DISTRIBimON.—We doubt 
if government fixing of prices will meet the need. It 
would be an expediency at best. We need a system 
that will work automatically in peace or war. Let us 
find out the actual cost of distribution by doing the 
work of carrying food from the country farm to the 
city home. Then guarantee the American farmer that 
he will get his rightful share of the consumer’s dollar, 
and he will feed the world. 
The Hired Man Question 
In Orange County, N. Y. 
In reply to the letter of E. L. Horton, published on 
page 023, will say that Mr. Horton has not had much 
experience with the hired help question, and if he 
wants some would better come to Orange County. 
Other years I have always had from one to three 
men, and always paid good wages, and the men got 
their money when due, as I guess you will find most 
farmers do here. This year I have no one, nor can 
get anyone who wants to work. I can find those who 
want to work eight hours and then go just as slow as 
the law will allow. I have 40 head of stock to take 
care of, and a milker to milk them. Another man 
near me with about GO, and only a young boy to do the 
work. He has always had three men and can furnish 
good houses too. In regard to the Rtate guaranteeing 
help their wages I think that is covered now by the 
lien law if anyone is doubtful of the pay; and I would 
like to ask Mr. Horton what labor has as much money 
clear after his expenses are paid as the farm helper. 
He gets his rent, firewood and milk, and a garden 
where he can raise everything he eats, so that all he 
has to buy is his clothes. The single man’s wage is 
about all clear, and has no care or worry, where the 
farmer has all this and may break even and may not. 
Orange Co., N. Y. F. ii. mapes. 
The Hired Man on Top 
I wish to write an an.swer to the I'emarkable letter 
of E. L. Horton on page 623. Mr. Horton doesn’t 
mean what he says, or else he knows nothing about the 
subject. I know something about conditions in Cort¬ 
land County, and that joins one of the counties he 
mentions. Beginning with 1905, I have paid $2 a day 
and board for 10 hours work in haying and harvest, 
and usually had to pay the same for a day any time 
in Summer. One season I paid .$2.50 and board. He 
says, “Hlow can a man live on .$2?” If he is a single 
man he has the best chance in the world to save money; 
he needs nothing more but bis clothes and how much do 
they cost, suited to his work? But what kind of use 
do they make of it? 
Mr. Horton speaks of the man able and willing to 
work who has had just thi'ee days’ work this year. 
Isn't there any firewood to cut in the three counties 
he mentions? Here in Cortland County any number 
.)f farmers were anxious to have wood cut, but there 
were no wood cutters; they even offered $1 per cord 
and board for cutting 14-in. wood. Here a day man 
can work every day from the first of March till the 
plow freezes in; then he can find all the wood a thou¬ 
sand men could cut, but the chances are he can’t find 
one good man who will be willing to help cut any. 
He says farm labor is the poorest paid of any. It 
is the very best paid, because they get their board and 
lodging, and right here is the most unjust thing of the 
whole question. They won’t give us any credit for 
their board, lodging and washing. Just this Rpring I 
hired a man for $3.5 and board, and as soon as the 
month was up he raised his price to .$2 a day; said he 
<‘ould get it doing cement work, but the board did not 
go with cement work. If mo.st of the farmers had just 
the land their own families could work, they would be 
better off financially and much happier. As it is we 
are at the mercy of the hired men, they are the most 
independent cla.ss we have. For my part if I could sell 
enough land to dispense with their services I should be 
much happier. 
Here is another of Mr. Horton’s statements that I 
can’t pass over. He says most of the farmers are 
such poor pay, that they can’t get help., The best far¬ 
mers who can pay every night complain pretty loudly, 
and a poor man will pay his help better than any other 
debt he owes, because he knows the.se independent 
fellows would not stay. If a man bought a farm and 
the whole outfit on credit, and then hired all the work 
done at $2 per day and board, he couldn’t begin to 
l)ay the interest on the investment. Rtill at other kinds 
(»f busine.ss they can do ju.st that, and make money. 
All of which proves we pay altogether too much for the 
j)rofits in the business. dayton L. piif.lps. 
Cortland County, N. Y. 
Handling Untrained Labor 
I would like to draw your attention to the propose<l 
plan to send inexperienced boys and girls to help on 
tln‘ farms. I don’t know what the j)ian is, but from 
a census paper which recently came to me it would 
seem as if they were expected to work by the month 
and board on the farm. Think how the green city boy 
would be teased, scolded, or sworn at by the farmer, his 
sons and his experienced helpers, according to their 
breeding, disposition and nationality. Think of bring¬ 
ing (in some ca.ses) evil-minded “guttersnipes” where 
they would chum with your children, or a well-bred 
city t»oy to be seated at the kitchen table with the rest 
of the help. Then again how quickly they would wilt 
under the work. From years of experience with various 
kinds of help it seem.s to me it would be a sad and 
expensive fizzle. This is no time to make a fizzle of 
that sort, and there is no need of a fizzle. I think this 
inexperienced help could be managed in a military way 
with gi-eat success, for the boy.s, the farmer and the 
crops. They could work something as the Italians 
do. Ruppose a company of boys has tents or barracks 
near the center of a farming district, and squads go 
out to the farms each day where their captain has ai*- 
ranged for them to work, with a working corporal for 
each squad and a .sergeant for all s(iuads in each neigh¬ 
borhood, not working too many hours for their untrained 
mu.scles. 'Wouldn’t it be likely to be a success all 
around? a loxo islander. 
We’ll Do What We Can 
I note with pleasure “The Farmer as a Patriot,” 
on page 62.3. Thi.s is without doubt true in every re- 
•spect. While any good thinking farmer or poultry 
keeper wants' to do the right thing, nevertheless we 
ourselves and lots of others are “up against it,” for 
labor is out of question or else prices are beyond us. 
They say eggs are high, but are they when you con¬ 
sider high cost of grain? WTe can do only about so 
much at the best, having no hired help. My father is 
unable to do any work. This leaves only my boy of 
12 yeai'S old, wife and myself to work, keeping 12 
cows and making butter; about 900 hens, three horses 
and also a farm to look after. We will, of course, do 
what we can; although none too strong I manage to 
take care of our stock so far fairly well, but even then 
I find it is a losing game and as you say a 35-eent 
dollar. As far as personal health of our family of 
six, father is 73 years old, mother nearly 69, and one 
boy 12 years and one girl seven years old, and taken 
altogether would be far better only to do enough for 
a living, even then would have to do more than work 
eight hours a day. But I know that is not “patriot¬ 
ism” ; therefore we are going to do what we can. 
New York. reuben h. lewis. 
The Farmer’s Patriotisn: 
The remarks on the patriotism of the farmer are 
true as gospel. Those near my home in the country 
have plowed up old orchards and every available plot 
of ground. When one considers that they know from 
sad experience that a large crop generally means less 
money, and that nothing definite has been done to 
establish a minimum selling price, there is only one 
explanation, and that is they “are answering the call” 
from patriotic motives. 
How quickly the Rtate tuims to the socialistic theory 
of a cooperative commonwealth, and government con¬ 
trol of the means of transportation and distribution, 
when war clouds rise, and what a pity it is that in 
peace times the government leaves us to the tender 
mercies of the capitalistic system! It is up to us to 
see that the best of these “paternal law.s,” so-called, 
be retained after the war. If the government taxes 
earnings over 10%, our friend Borden’s will be hard 
hit; the 8% dividends on the preferred only, is all 
they should be allowed. About 200 high school boys 
and 100 college boys are to be let out the rest of the 
term here to help the farmers. If the farmers all over 
the land are going to it the way they are here, there 
will be foodstuffs to fill the Atlantic ocean and we can 
march over afoot. j. l. p. 
Pennsylvania. 
