701 
Farmers and the War 
No. III. 
It would be easy to trace the history 
of American farming and show how, 
starting as the great, leading industry of 
the country, it has gradually fallen be¬ 
hind in jKditical power, social standing 
and individual profit. Farming bas al¬ 
ways been the foundation industry—the 
one thing which kept the Nation alive. 
That is just as true now as when in 
earlier times everyone tilled the soil and 
there were no grocery stores or meat 
markets or cold storage houses. It is 
just as true now, only most people do not 
realize it until some great world traged.v 
brings want and famine near. In the 
early days of New England a frost killed 
the corn before it could harden. The set¬ 
tlers faced starvation—hemmed in as they 
were by hostile Indian.s. In desi>eratiou 
they sent boats outside around Cape Cod 
to tbe coast of Connecticut. Along the 
valleys of the streams flowing into T.ong 
Island Sound were then the best corn 
lands in America. There the settlers 
bought corn from pioneer whites and 
friendly Indians—enough to carry them 
over to another harvest. It was, in its 
w.iy. a defensive league against a coui- 
moii enemy, for both buyer and .seller re.il- | 
ized that unless the settlers on tbe .\t- j 
lantic coa.st could be fed and carried | 
through their trouble English civilization 
would be wipe<l out of New England. 
In much the same way. but upon .a i 
mucb larger scale, tbe same problem is 
put up' to American farmers. We are at 
war. With the Engli.sh. French and 
Russians we have a common enemy. 
Some of our peopb' do not like the Engli.sh 
—some like the Germans, while others 
may be indifl’erent, but the fact remains ; 
that we are at war and the fui ther f.-ict 
is that should Germany win .she wotild 
have no moia' love for tins country tluni 
she has for England or France. If Ger¬ 
many \ boat England she would demand 
the English fleet as one war prize and 
with that fleet the war could easily be 
transferred to our Atlantic coast line. 
No matter what the former feelings of 
an .\merican farmer may have been he 
must remember that we are now at war 
and that unless we do our share to help 
our allies their fate may be ours. 
Now in all human probability the only 
wjiy for Germany to whip England as 
the war now stands, is to starve the Eng¬ 
lish people into submission. As we have 
said so many times before, this war will 
be lo.st or won in the grain fields or in 
tlu' kitchens. As has been sliown, the Eng- 
lislr people made, the awful mistake of 
neglecting agriculture and making it sec¬ 
ondary to other industries. Now they 
are struggling to incre.ase the production 
of food, but it will be another year be¬ 
fore they can come near feeding them¬ 
selves. In the meantime they are like 
those settlers on the .\tlantic coast ap- 
l>ealing to their Connecticut friends to 
help them. 
We should look straight at-this ques¬ 
tion without flinching. The time bas 
come when America can settle one of the 
greatest world problems which history 
has on record. It is a great, big question 
between democracy or individual liberty 
and the autocratic or military paternal 
government. It seems to me something 
of the working out of pro]>hccy that this 
great Republic should have the chance to 
give new life and impetus to what we 
call fi-eedom everywhere and particularly 
freedom to farmers or those who work 
upon the soil. I think this country is to 
be given the chance to give great help to 
Ireland, to help strengthen the new Rus¬ 
sian republic, to give the .Tews a fairer 
chance, and to turn this fearful war into 
an uplift for the human race. And I nee 
in all this, as it seems to me. the great¬ 
est opportunity the American farmer has 
ever had. Our public men fully realize 
and admit that the farmer is to-day the 
most important man in the world. He 
and not our fighting men will settle this 
war and decide his own future. Never 
before since pioneer days has the man on 
the farm been regarded by the Nation as 
he is to-day. Everybody admits that to him 
is given the chance to win or lose this 
war and to settle his own future by the 
way he does it. If he is to do this great 
service to the world he must be paid for 
it not in any mercenary .spirit, but in 
■Uhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
order that he may develop his l)usiness 
and get back his old standing in .society. 
What “pay” should he have? Let us 
take that up definitely next. H. w. c. 
Disinfectants ; Powder to Destroy Flies 
1. What chemicals should Ix' used iu 
a sanitary closet, that will inalo' the con¬ 
tents harmless? 11. Sonu' time .ago you 
told us of a powder to u.sf> to stupefy 
flies so they c<^u]d be swept up. Will 
you please print this again? n. F. n. 
.Vurora, Mo. 
1. The manufacturers of the indoor 
closets, to which I presume you refer, do 
not disclose tbe nature of the chemicals 
which they use, and I have no way of 
knowing whether these chemicals render 
the contents of the closets harmless or 
not. Ghloride of lime, if a good, fresh 
]»reparation. is .a valu.able deodorizer .and 
disinfect.ant for closets, giving oil' free 
chlorine, a powerful disinfectant gas. It 
should be used in sufficient qu.autity and 
mixed with the contents of the closet. 
Ordinary unslaked lime, added with .suffi¬ 
cient liquid to ))ennit of slaking in the 
closet, is a cheap and efficient disinfec¬ 
tant for sanitary closets. 
2. Persian iusecfl powder, or biihach, 
another insect powder, may be .sprinkled 
over the stove, in the air and in window 
ledges, etc., at night in a tightly-closed 
room: in the morning the flics will be 
found stupefied and ready to sweep up 
and burn. So .say.s. at least, a bulletin on 
household insects issued by the Cornell 
Agricultural College. M. li. D. 
Dripping Chimneys Once More 
We h.ive a chimney not yet 25 years 
old. which for two Winter.s” now leaks 
sooty water. It has always Ix'en used 
for coal until the past two years we have 
burned wooel. The water runs down the 
bricks in the attic, soaks through the 
l)laster and drips onto th,> floor in the 
next two stories.. If any of the readers 
have had an experience of this kind I 
would like to hear from them. Wovdd 
a cap on the chimney do .any good? 
New York. >iRS. ,7. :^t. 
I.ast year ami the previous season we 
had <iuite a long discussion of this mat¬ 
ter of “dripping chimneys.” There were 
many complaints, and some that were 
very hard to account for. 
In general the convi(;tion was that a 
combination of poor draft and burning 
green wood was resi>onsibli' for tlu‘ trou¬ 
ble. In most of thes<> cases burning .sea¬ 
soned wood that had been tlu)rougtily 
dried out, and cleaning out the pipe :ind 
chimney, prevented further dripping. In 
one case the chimney was built in such 
a way that it evidently formed .something 
much like a still in which w<iod alcohol 
is made, and there was tio way of reme¬ 
dying this without tearing the chimney 
down and rebuilding. Generally a thor¬ 
ough cleaning of the pii)e and of the 
chimney and using only thoroughly dried 
wood will overcome the trouble. In some 
cases the chimneys are thoroughly coat¬ 
ed with soot, iiiid water works down the 
cliimuey washing this soot down into 
the pipe, from which it drips on the lire. 
The pipes should be taken down and 
thoroughly cleaned out. The chimney 
can often be cleaJied by taking a cedar 
brush or the trunk of .-i simill cedar with 
many of the limbs chopped off so th.at 
it will fit closely into the chimney, ty¬ 
ing a rope to it .-lud pulling it up and 
down from the top. In some case.s far¬ 
mers recommend burning the chimney 
out by starting a tire inside in .a wet 
time when the roof is thoroughly .soaked. 
Thi.s, however, is not to be recommended 
except by those who have tried it be¬ 
fore, .and realize when the heat is too 
great. The fire in the chimney can usu¬ 
ally be put out by throwing salt into the 
stove or down into the chimney from the 
top. 
Tuf, lady who likes children was gush¬ 
ing over Helen, aged three. “How_ old 
are you, darling?’’ she asked. “I isn’t 
old.” said Helen. “I’m nearly new.”— 
Toronto Sun. 
$1150 
F, o. b. 
Racine 
Mitchell Junior—a 40-h. p. Six 
120-inch Wheelbase 
$1460 
F. o. b. 
Racine 
7-Passenger—48 Horsepower 
127-inch Wheelbase 
Why Other Cars 
Omit These Mitchell Extras 
The Mitchell offers you 
31 extra features— 
24 per cent added luxury— 
100 per cent over-strength. 
When you see these extras— 
each a wanted feature—you will 
ask why others don’t include 
them. This is to tell you the 
reason. 
Cost $4,000,000 
The Mitchell extras, on this 
year’s output, will cost us $4,- 
000,000. To add them to the 
ordinary car would bring the 
price too high. 
In the Mitchell plant, we save 
them in factory cost. John W. 
Bate, the great efficiency expert, 
has worked for years to do that. 
This entire 45-acre plant was 
built and equipped by him. And 
every detail is designed to build 
this one type economically. 
He has cut our factory cost 
in two. No other plant could 
build a car like the Mitchell at 
anywhere near onr cost. And 
that saving goes into these 
extras. 
A Lifetime Car 
100% Over-Strength 
The 31 extra features—like a 
power tire pump—will seem a 
great attraction. The added 
luxury—24 percent—makes the 
Mitchell the beauty car of its 
class. 
But our greatest extra is the 
double strength in each impor¬ 
tant part. In the past three 
years we have doubled our mar¬ 
gins of safety. 
TWO SIZES 
Mitchell 
— a roomy, T-passenjrer 
Six.with 127-inch wheel¬ 
base and a highly-developed 48-horse- 
power motor. 
Price $1460, f. o, b. Racine. 
MitchelIJunior-sl|-rifS 
lines, with 120-inch wheelbase and a 40- 
horsepower motor — % - inch smaller 
bore. 
Price SI 150. f. o. b. Racine. 
Also six styles of enclosed and convert¬ 
ible bodies. Also new Club Roadster. 
Over 440 parts are built of 
toughened steel. All safety 
parts are vastly oversize. We 
use a wealth of Chrome-Vana¬ 
dium steel. We use Bate can¬ 
tilever springs, which never yet 
have broken. 
We have proved that Mitch¬ 
ells can run 200,000 miles. Few 
owners will live to wear a 
Mitchell out. 
Our $1150 Six 
Now there are two sizes— 
Mitchell and Mitchell Junior. 
But even the smaller has a 120- 
-inch wheelbase. Both sizes of- , 
fer you values far beyond simi¬ 
lar cars. 
See these new models. See 
all the extras they embody. Yon 
will want such a car as the 
Mitchell when you buy a car to 
keep. 
If you don’t know the nearest 
dealer, ask us for his name. 
IVIITCHELL MOTORS COMPANY. Inc. 
Racine, Wis., U. S. A. 
