1011 
An “Organization’’ and a ‘ 3at’s-paw” 
^Vhat is the matter n-ith Lewis Orange 1077 of 
Essex Co., N. Y.f 
Farmers all over the State are askinsr that ques¬ 
tion. They constantly receive cards and circulars 
fi'om Lewis Grange praising Senator Elon R. 
Rrown or the “Receivers’ and Distributex’s’ Asso¬ 
ciation.” It is the genei*al conviction that the deal¬ 
ers and pi-ice manipulatoi*s have, in some way, ob¬ 
tained control of Tjewis Gi-ange, and ai’e using it as a 
cat’s-paw to i-ake chestnuts out of the Ivegislature! 
This belief may do an injustice to Lewis Grange; 
at any i-ate it is doing harm to the New Yoi-k State 
Grange, for fai'mers who read these cards and cii-- 
culars are led to think they express the sentiments 
of Gi-ange leaders. Here is an exti*act from one of 
them: 
You have all read about Senator Elon R. Brown’s 
-food bill. This bill was O. K.’d by the War Committee. 
iDuring this period of hysteria it is especially refresh¬ 
ing to have such a really big man as Senator Elon R. 
Brown as a “buffer State” against political claptrap 
which strengthens^ and oils the “machine.” The farmer 
may “go chase himself’ as long as the “machine” is 
only well oiled. This “oil” we farmers are supposed 
to supply. Farmei-s and their friends should rally at 
once to the support of Elon R. Bi-owu, Senator from 
the .Teffersou and Oswego county districts— a man who 
has his feet on the ground, and one of the best friends 
the farmei-s and plain people generally have ever had 
at Albany. 
The New York Gi-ange cannot have a woi-se thing 
happen to it than to be put on i-ecord as giving 
such unqualified praise to any xnan—pai*ticulax-ly a 
man Avith Senator Bi-own’s i-ecoi-d. Fai-mei-s Avill not 
spend time chasing themselves, but they will chase 
men like Mi‘. Bi-own, and the oil they furni.sh will be 
“strap oil.” The membei-s of Tvewis Gi*ange have 
been taken in and foolexl by the “Receivers’ and Dis- 
ti-ibuter.s’ Association.” We hate to see farmers led 
into the job of doing the political Avox’k of this “as¬ 
sociation.” 
What is this association? 
q’here is another frequent question. Our nixder- 
standing is that it is a small bunch of middlemen 
gathei-ed around a good-sized bari-el. The men who 
j-eceive, buy and disti-ibute food in the city foi-med 
this “association” Avith the main object of bi-eaking 
down the Avoi-k of the Foods and Mai-kets Depai-t- 
ment! There is only a handful of them, and so they 
ran clei*ks, drivei-s, portei-s, anyone aixd anything 
into the “association.” A lai-ge proportion of them 
do not even live in New' Yox-k, but they have put up 
a bai-rel of money, AA'hich they have used at Albany, 
trying to kill off any legislation AA-hich Avould give 
farmers a faii-er show'' in the markets. We believe 
they are paying for these cards and circulai-s sent 
out fi’om “I^Avis Gi-ange,” and they ai-e booming 
Senator Brown evidently because they expect him 
to look after their Interests at Albany. It has been 
charged that he did so, and these cii-culars wall be 
all Intelligent men need to prove it. This oi-ganiza- 
tion or “bunch” has not power enough to do any¬ 
thing out in the open, but Ave hate to see them tiy- 
ing to Avork the Grange by pulling strings with dol¬ 
lar bills tied to them! 
The Food Bill Fight At Albany 
The farmers’ fight to prevent bad food legislation 
at Albany during the past j'ear has been partly suo- 
cessful. The authoi-ized monopoly of disti-ibution 
in New York City has been eliminated at last. Min¬ 
imum xind maximum pi-ice-making has been ixut 
aside. Farmers and farm co-opei-ative exchanges 
haA-e been excluded from the px-ovisions against 
storing and for taking out licenses to do business in 
emex-gencie.s. They are also excepted from the pro¬ 
vision alloAving the State to seize food held iix stox*- 
age. One of the thx-ee useless commissions has been 
abolished, bxxt axiother is cx-eated. 
The proA'isions for ixxxblie max-kets are a farce. It 
is just a cumbersome pretense to keep people hoping 
and expectaxxt and quiet It sets up legal machinex-y 
enough to defeat any practical results.. It ignox’es 
the fact that Ave already have sxxfRciexit and efticiexit 
law's for tlie establishmexit of markets aiul i-e(iuire 
only an appropx-iation to put dhe xnarkets into busi¬ 
ness. Even if a city adopted public markets, xxnder 
tlie ixew bill, the city Avoxild pay one-half the ex¬ 
pense, and the city w'ould run it for its oavxx benefxt. 
It^a-eates no provision for a modern xnarket to pro¬ 
tect px’odxicers or consuxnex*s, and leaves the com- 
niissioxi as helpless as the present coxumlssioner to 
establish markets AAuthoxxt ixioney to pay for them. 
The objectionable food legislatioxx of this year 
originated in the committee of Avhich Geo. W. Per¬ 
kins AA'as chaix-man. Mx*. Perkins persisted in meas- 
xires that farmex-s Avoxxld not have. If the origipal 
Wicks bill Avent thx*oxxgh he Avoxxld udxninister the 
law' as head of the commission. That Avas only one 
of the soux'ces of objecticu It .e"; • d 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
farm organizations consented to the second Wicks- 
BroAvn bill only Avhen assured that Mr. I’erkins 
w'ould xiot head the commission, and the px-esent bill 
had its origin in the necessity of findiixg a place for 
hixn befox-e the Legislatux-e adjourned the x-egular 
session. That failed, and the fax*m opposition has 
been so persistent during the special session, a place 
for Mx*. Perkins has been px-ovided as Nexv Yoi-k 
City Market Coxnmissionex*, and this Avill give him a 
seat in the Fax-xn axid Max-ket Oonxmission. Avith his 
chance of being elected to its head. That chance, 
howevex-. is rather remote. To do so Avould put the 
new' coxnmission in defiance of faxnn sentiment at 
the outset. 
The ]ie\A' bill cari-ies an appi-opx-iatioxx of a xnillion 
dollai*s. Other commissions had $2,000,000. With 
the agricultural appropi-iations it all totals xxp close 
to .$5,000,000, if indeed it does not exceed that figxxx-e. 
With it all the cost of food distribxxtioix has not been 
i-edixced. The Towner bill. AA'hich- AA'oxxld IxaA'e x-e- 
dxiced the cost of deli\'ex-ing milk, Avas defeated, and 
although milk has been advanced in pi-ice four times 
Avithin a year to the consumex-, there is no px-oAusion 
in the neAA' bill to deal Avith the milk sitxxation. The 
xnilk interests had a lobbyist at Albany during the 
special session. 
They Oppose the Food Bill 
The following As.semblymen in the Ncav York 
Legislature voted to oppose the new food bill. Some of 
them are opposed to any food legislation, Avhile others 
oppose the appointment of George W. Perkins as 
chairman of the neAA' commission : 
.1. C. Allen, Dutchess; ,1. S. Allen, DelaAvare; Ames, 
Cattaraugus ; Augsbury. .Tefferson ; Baxter, Albany • 
Bloomfield. Otsego; Brink, Ulster; Brush. Orange; 
Davies, Ilei-kimcr; E. C. DaA'is, ^lontgomery; 
Donohue, Putnam; Ellenbogen, New York; Ericson, 
Kings; Fenner, Tompkins; Fullagar, Yates; Gage, 
Wyoming; _ Gardner, Dutchess; Gaylord. Wayne; 
Grant, L(>AA'is ; Hager. Cayuga; TTari-is, Monroe; .Tenks, 
Broome; Lattin, Orleans; Lefevre. Ulster; Lox-d, 
Chenango; C. L. Jlead. Orange; II. ,1. Mitchell. 
Schuyler; I’rangen, Steuben ; Qnackenbush, Steuben ; 
Seelye, Saratoga; ShoAvers, Gi*een; Soule, Onondaga; 
Thayex*. Franklin; Wheelei-, Ontario; Wiltsie, Cort¬ 
land ; Wittex-, Tioga. 
The Hard Grain Situation 
Well, Ml’. JToover is “IT” now if ever a man Avas 
and I am mightily interested in seeing how he comes 
out. To me he has about the biggest problem ever giA'- 
en to one man to handle. He must fight the food 
speculator, every boax-d of trade, every selfish indi¬ 
vidual and at the same time he must satisfy the 
consumex’, and hoAV is he going to do it? We can’t 
blame the poor in our great centers for complaining, 
and the daily and Aveekly papers have loaned a will¬ 
ing ear to the Avild statements going around the 
counti’y that the farmer was getting rich at the con¬ 
sumer’s expen.se when a moment’s consideration bv 
those same editors Avould have convinced them that 
it Avas not the producer but the middleman, the par¬ 
asite, who was getting rich, but it has been the farmer 
who has been blamed right and left, and I suppose it 
always will be so. It is true that it looks a.s though 
the fai-mer was getting it all when you note the quota¬ 
tions of the price of wdieat, corn, oats, potatoes, hogs 
and cattle, etc., but it is a fact that there Avould be 
no such prices were it not that there are none in the 
country; it is the scarcity that makes it. Ye.sterday 
I was at the farm and they are i)aying $2.25 for noAV 
wheat at the loading station, it is a case of use it or 
none, for the wheat is not to be had. Do you b(‘lieve 
there has ever been a day since there was a TJnited 
States that thei-e w'as so small a per capita of w'heat 
in the country as today? If the fact w'hich w'c have 
been fed on for years is true, that it takes seven bushels 
of Av'heat for seed and flour per inhabitant, where is the 
Avheat coming from this season to do it? Less than 
()50 million bushels for at least 105 millions of mouths, 
and you have about 6Vx bushels per person. Does it not 
mean absolutely one of three things, huiigcu-, high 
prices or let our Allies go? lx w do you size it up? 
New York. c. I. 
That is printed as a fair statement of the vieAVS of 
an intelligent Noav Yoi-k fai'iner. There is no use guess¬ 
ing or telling what men ought to think or do—let us 
knoAV AA'hat they are actually thinking and doing. IMi’. 
Hoover is not a czar nor has he any despotic poAver. He 
is simply the agent of the govei-nment in its effort to 
save food and make it go around. He can only do 
what the American people ai-e Avilling to do. 
The government has taken hold of the Avheat crop 
first, fl’lii-ough a purchasing company, it is prepared 
to buy up the entire crop if necessary at its OAvn price. 
Wheat for European needs Avill be bought in large lots 
dii-ectly from this government company, so that the 
Govei’nment Avill absolutely control the export trade. 
By means of its pOAver to license dealers, the Govern¬ 
ment can also control the domestic distribxition of 
Avheat and prevent .speculating or ’“hoarding.” The 
price of Avheat Avill be determined by a committee 
of Avell-knoAvn men, and its distribution Avill be under 
the control of another committee. This system AviU 
promptly do aAvay Avith the old-time speculators, 
dealers and “e.xchanges.” If cai-i-ied out as uoav 
planned, there Avill be a sure demonstratioxx of the 
plan Ave have so long talked about—the elimination 
of the useless middleman, and more direct dealing be- 
tAA'een producer and consumer. Whenever Avar or 
some other fiei-ce necessity, compels the Government 
to sei’ve the people propei’ly some plan formerly de¬ 
nounced as “socialistic” is ahvays called for. If this 
plan sex’ve the people Avell in time of vv'ui’, it ixust be 
retoinod and dcA'cloned in peace. 
‘ s fur tlie supiily of Avheat, if there is not enough. 
we must eat substitutes. We Avould all be better off 
for eating more cornmeal. oatmeal or barley, fi’here 
is to be a record crop of potatoes this year, and people 
must be induced to eat them freely in order to save 
Avhite bread. Then thei-e are many of us Avho Avant to 
knoAV Avhy Europe should not eat more barley, corn 
and other substitutes Avhich Ave can send them. As one 
reader puts it._“Why should I give up biscuits and live 
on hoe cake in order that Europe may have white 
bread?” 
T'ntil the committee names the price to be paid for 
Avheat this Fall, we cannot state just hoAV the farmer 
Avill be treated; we believe. hoAA'ever. that he Avill have 
a .square deal on gi’ain prices. 
Horse Feed from Wheat 
The Avheat cx’op is not being conseiwed for human 
consumption to any remai’kable degree, at least, as 
far as I have been able to make out. Since the harvest 
began in the central portion of the State, I have 
travelled through a number of the most pi’oductive 
central coast counties, and I noticed that fine fields of 
Avheat were cut for hay. It seems sti’ange that 
farmei’s Avould prefer to run their wheat through a 
hay-press rather than feed it into a thi’asher. Gan it 
be that our farmers are going to give the Chicago stock 
shai’ps no chance to put one over on them, or would 
they rather let poor old Dobbin, who has been hav¬ 
ing a rather hard time of it since the automobile has 
been crowding him so hard these days, have better and 
more feed than he ha.s been getting for some years past? 
It is true, hay has been bringing a high jxrice lately— 
it Avas more than ,$20 a ton early last Winter nad I 
have heard that it has been as high as .$25 per ton 
last Spi'ing. Farmers’ avIa'cs these days do not cai-e 
to have a small army of thrashers come in upon them 
to board a feAV dayys; the baling creAV is small and 
easily fed. But I do not think this should have driven 
the groAver of wheat to make, hay of it for most 
thrashing ci’eAvs have their own cook and cook-house 
with them; they are not 'any moi’e trouble than the 
hay-pressers. So, after all, hay at its present high 
price, will keep many a family from getting lower- 
priced flour. And it seems a pity, yet the farmer 
knoAvs Avhat is best for him. When rogues, com¬ 
mission men and stock gamblei’s will stop giving him 
the short end of the bargain, then may we expect to 
see our farmers doing a little better for the dear pub¬ 
lic- AV. A. PKYAI,. 
California 
R. N.-Y.—This pxiactice ought to be stopped. In the 
present condition of the wheat and flour max-ket Ave do 
not think any one has a i-ight to feel good wheat to 
horses, hens or other live stock. It should all be kept 
for human con.sumption, as it is, many of us must eat 
cornmeal and barley. 
The State and the Farmer 
I beg the earnest attexition of every farmer in the 
State of NeAV York, and should like to include those 
of all New England and many other States. I want to 
show by a .single example what State-OAvned facilities 
do for the farmer in reducing the cost of production. 
' In .Tune, just before leaving Kinderhook, N. Y., 
where I live, for the West, our co-operative society there 
got in its binding twine at Ifi cents per pound for si.sal 
nieasuring ,500 feet to the ixound. Our attention was 
diverted from the If) cents by our being told that late 
comers Avould have to pay more. But shortly after 
reaching North Dakota. Avhei-e I used to live and am 
still farmnig, Ave got in our supply of twine, bought 
through the Equity Co-operative Society, at lt>M: 
cents a pound for pure manila. guaranteed 000 feet to 
the pound, equivalent to 12.75 cents for .500 feet, the 
same length as had in Nexv York, the twine being de¬ 
livered at the station in both cases. 
IIoAV does it happen that the North Dakota farmer, 
though living 1,0(X) miles fai’ther fi’om the source of 
supply, gets hl.s binding tAvine for 5.25 cents less per 
pound tlian does the New York farmer, a saving of 
nearly one-third the New Yoi-k price? Quantity taken 
and the time of ox-dering xiiiiy account for a little of it, 
but the great outstanilixig fact is that the tAvine in 
North Dakota is xnade in the State prison by the 
State and sold by the State dix’ect to the farmer Avith- 
out so much as ii pencil mai’k of tribute ixaid to any 
ixitermediary between the State and the farmer. This 
North Dakota binding twixie is made at >an actual profit 
to the State. The State having little xnoney had to 
issue bonds for the twine plant, fl’lie bonds -w-ere paid 
out of the ixrofits of the business eight years before 
the.v fell due. 
Let no one tell you that the upset condition of 
manila and sisal hemp xnark(>ts Avill accoxit for the 
difference. Last year we paid fox* our North Dakota 
State-made bindixig tAvine 12^/4 cexits per pound for 
GOO feet ixure xiiiinila. How much did you in- New York 
pay for the same length? Look it up. It xnay be edify¬ 
ing if not comforting. 
Noav Av-hat is to be done about it in NeAV York? Get 
busy and get State-OAvxied utilities! Fear xiot because 
soxne one says: “But this is isocialism.” Never mind 
the naxxie; get the thing if it is good. No definite px’o- 
graxn need be adopted. Let us start Avith the easiest 
thing, binding tAvixie. It is a vex’y_ simple manufac¬ 
ture. It has beexi made for years in the prisons of 
Minnesota axid North Dakota, saving millions of dol¬ 
lars to the farmers of those States. “St.art” is the word 
I meant to use. We xnay as Avell let it be knowxi that 
Ave Avant various things doxie by the State of Noav 
York that will facilitate and cheapen the cost of 
prodxxcing crops and of tho.sje crops delivered to the 
coxisuxxiers. 
The State of Washington has sixlendid State-OAvned 
tei-xainal elevators; the State of I.ouisiana has great 
State-owned elevatox’s for receiving grain and discharg¬ 
ing it into ships and it had <-otton gins and Avare- 
hou.ses. the finest ixx the Avorld. the ixlant costing .$.‘>,- 
000.000. Minnesotxi axid AVisconsin make both bindixig 
twine and farm implements in their prisons, and sell 
the products direct to the farmers. North Dakota 
exacted her binding tAvine plant from an unwilling 
Legislature ixx the old days: and uoav that her people 
are coxxxixig into their oavxi, they are going to have 
State-owned clevatoi’S and flour mills and packing 
plants—and more. 
The thing is coming as sure as right will rule the 
wox’ld, and New York might as Avell get in line for it. 
not rashly, but slowly and surely. Txet us start with 
demands for a State-owxied binding tAvine plant in one 
of the prisons and milk distribution in Nexv York City 
by the State or by the city. Why are not those two 
thiiip's aa-o'-Hi stai'ding for and fighting for till won? 
'JrailL Co., N. 1). DVI’I S C. S.AilTli. 
