1178 
"Uhe RURAL N E W- YORKER 
October lo, 1917 
^MBERTVILLF 
Grubber footwear^ 
will prove to be the 
best you ever bought 
Lamco Four 
Buckle Arctic. 
Chock full of extra wear, extra quality, extra comfort. 
on the 
safe side 
and buy Lambert- 
ville this year. You 
want boots and shoes that will withstand the hardest 
wear you can give them—the kind that besides being 
wear-proof, are as comfortable as they can be made. 
That’s exactly what you get when you buy Lam- 
bertvilles. Nothing but first quality rubber is used in 
Lambertville boots and shoes. The tight seams can’t 
come open, and talk about comfort! The minute you 
put your feet into Lambertvilles you know that cold 
weather or discomfort can’t reach you. 
There’s a Lambertville Brand for 
Every Purpose and Every Purse 
You can’t help but get solid comfort and satisfaction out of any 
of these Lambertville Brands. No matter which brand you buy 
you will find it comes up to the Lambertville reputation for being 
the best at the price. You can identify any Lambertville Boot and 
Shoe by the Green Oval Label. Here are the different brands: 
Farm Forums Are Suggested 
Snag-Proof —All rubber and 
duck. Seven thicknesses of rub¬ 
ber ground into the heavy duck. 
Redskin —Made of long wearing 
red rubber. 
Lamco — Pure gum reinforced 
with seven stout ribs to prevent 
cracking or breaking. 
L Brand — Duck vamp, long 
service footwear at moderate 
price. 
White —Pure white rubber in 
Snag-Proof quality — steam 
cured in vacuum, designed for 
extreme severe service. 
Make Farm Opinion Public Opinion 
The New York Situation. —The 
special session of the 11117 Legislature 
heard the, voice of the farming interests 
expressed by their duly registered and 
legitimate lobbyists in Albany, but the 
voice. was not strong enough to prevent 
the passage of antagonistic food bills. 
The professional politicians at Albany 
figured that the means of collective ex- 
I)ression of farming opinion are scattered, 
that farmers do not always act on the 
same set of facts, that they do not always 
have them at their command, and that 
sentiment is therefore neither focussed 
nor constant. The politicians and dealers 
feel that they can juggle this situation 
and beat the game. 
D'ivipep Ranks. —Not long ago the 
secretary of the Receivers’ and Distrib¬ 
utors’ Association of New York City 
started out to cultivate the members of 
the (Jrange. He addressed the (Irange at 
Lewis, N. Y. It reported that among 
other things he told tlie Grange members 
that the object of his benevolent associa¬ 
tion was to ])revciit legislation interfering 
with all legitimate business and schemes 
))rojected by fake i-eformers. The Grange 
thereupon sent out literature eulogising 
I'llon R. Rrown ns a high type of legis¬ 
lator, who works in the interest of the 
farmer and the common pcoi)le,—Rrown, 
the “coi’imration lawyer,” the reactionary, 
tlie representjitive of “big l)usiness,”dis- 
trnsted by both the working people of the 
cities and the farmers of tiie country! 
About the same time the Holstein 
Rreeders’ Clnh of St. Lawrence County 
jiassed a resolution based on an entirely 
different set of facts. Their resolution 
stated flatly that Lion R. Brown, the 
majority leader, was conspicuously work¬ 
ing against the farmer’s interests! Tliese 
two contrasting incidents show that no 
I'cpresentative of big business—nor, in 
filet any one else—should he trusted to 
address mootings wlicre the audience is 
not free to put the speaker on the witness 
stand, and cross-question him about' his 
facts, statements and connections. 
Making T’AnMERS The Goat. —Today 
the milk dealers are publicly laying the 
blame to the farm producer for the rising 
cost of living. The third party, tlie con¬ 
sumer, is consuming, unawares, public 
opinion manufactured by the milk dciih'rs, 
distributed by them and delivered at the 
front door in the columns of the city 
newspapers. It is not the business of the 
city press to run a news pasteurizing 
lilant. tSo usually all those press-agent 
statements of a small group of greedy 
middlemen go out as raw as they come in. 
The real oiiiiiion of the public lies locked 
up ill the great mass of city consumers 
and farm iiroducers. What they think 
counts jirovided tlieir voice can be heard, 
and that it is backed up by the truth ami 
that the maehinei-y for collc'ctive expres¬ 
sion of farming opinion is well organized. 
Voice of the Farmers. —Tt is not to 
be understood that the farmers at pres¬ 
ent have neither opinion nor voice, or 
have not the facts to back them up. The 
Grange, the Dairymen’s League, the I’ann 
Bureau, the breeding and growing and 
co-op(“rative as.sociations, give evid<'nce 
that ('dneation, propaganda and organi¬ 
zation are making jn-ogress. And were it 
not for certain farm journals, farming 
opinion would have had only half the force 
it has had. If tli. 1 lairyineii’s League ex¬ 
presses anything, it is.organize, organ¬ 
ize! Without organization the big milk 
strike of 1!IJ(> could not liave been won. 
’J'he voice of .‘10,()()() dairymen was backed 
l)y organization that bargained for them 
collectively, and handled their educational 
])ul)licity. Beliind them stood the alert 
and eflicient Farm Bureau, as the educa¬ 
tional agency that on demand collected 
the facts on the cost of milk jiroduction. 
The right hand of fellowship and moral 
support was extended by the Grange. In 
defeating unfriendly food bills in Albany 
it was not a question of “collective bar¬ 
gaining” with one class of middlemen or 
the leadership of one strong organization 
reinforced by sympathetic farming opiii- 
iim. It was a (juestion of the .solidarity 
of all fai'iners’ organizations, a united 
farmers’ sentiment, and educating public 
opinion of all the State, rural and urban. 
The Oi'.vious Need. —At tlie .source in 
every farming comimmity might be found 
part of the trouble. No stream risi-s 
higher than its source. At the source the 
energy and the attention of progressive 
farmers are divided among three or four 
good organizations, tlie Dairymen’s 
Lmigue, the Grange, the Farm Bureau, 
this exchange, that breeding association, 
that club. All hid for interest, dues 
paying membersliip, meetings, programs 
and speakers. Fach has to do organiza¬ 
tion work, each .separately tries to carry 
on public educational work, and each 
aims to jiropagate jiublic opinion from its 
special point of view. But the proportion 
that each organization itself eaii do siic- 
cessfull.v is the question, and whether 
or not pooling some of their efforts in a 
joint work, leaving each organization au¬ 
tonomous and independent, would not be 
as profitable to (nich farmer as pooling 
orders for fertilizer. It would .seem 
therefore that there is an acute need for 
some method for co-ordinating the elTort 
of all these bodies, wherever their lines 
of work overlaps or duplicate. The farm¬ 
ers’ organizations can profit by the ex¬ 
ample of the various trade unions of the 
cities that have their joint assemblies, 
which on one hand disseminate common 
information to all the groups represented, 
and on the other, present a solid front to 
all the forces oiipo.sed to the common in¬ 
terests of the organized wage earners. 
The Farm Forum. —Certain phases of 
public educational work carried on by all 
the existing farm organizations could be 
pooled. Bi'tter jirograms and bigger 
speakers would be the result. A co-oper¬ 
ative platform would be a C()mmunit.v 
forum. Being a straight pooling proposi¬ 
tion, a Farm Forum wmnld be managed 
and directed by representatives appointed 
by the co-operating organizations. A 
joint board of delegates appointed by the 
(iiange, the Dairymen’s League, the 
Farm Bureau and other bona fide farmers' 
organizations, would arrange for the hall, 
the program and the speakers. Meetim-n 
could be monthly. Churches have union 
meetings, and, in the same way, the loc:;! 
farmers’ organizations might hold unio i 
meetings, or regard the forum as a nni(. j 
meeting. 
Its Foundation. —The Farm Form > 
would be conducted by working farme; :. 
Farmers have got to do things the;..- 
selves and work out their own salvation. 
Politicians and men hunting the limeligl.t 
in preparation for ])o]itical careers 
should not be allowed to hold office. A 
Farm Fornm would be strictly non-jiar- 
ti.san in politics. Of the throe—educa¬ 
tion, propaganda and organization—the 
purpose of the Farm Forum would he 
primarily education. The “export” as 
speaker would provide information, the 
“leader” as speaker would discuss is¬ 
sues; the audience would add or subtract 
by asking questions and contributing a 
variety of experience and point of view. 
Wir.\T the Farm Forum Ca.n Do._ 
All this tends to focus attention as iH>v(’r 
before on farm problems and issues, and 
to sfimulate action. Fxeept on rare oc¬ 
casions rc.solutioii.s should not be passed 
nor votes taken at the Forum. The 
educational limitation should be ob¬ 
served. Action by way of votes or reso¬ 
lutions, if at all. .should he taken at fh ' 
next melding of the individual organi¬ 
zations co-operating, which, in most case,-; 
are organized to exi>ress their will and 
if necessary fight for it. In this way, 
while the Forum itself is not committed' 
to partisan action, it focuses sentiment 
of the wliole community on the basis of 
the same set of facts, and supplies the 
ground of eonoerfed action for its con¬ 
stituent orgaiiizatioms, whose members 
bring back from the Farm Forum the 
stimulus for action. The Forum will do 
for farmers what it hiis done for other 
groni)S which have adopted the forum 
method of education in public alTairs—it 
will develop new leaders from the ranks 
of the farmers, better speakers and mon* 
of them, and will train a group compe¬ 
tent to make laws fhemselve.s, and take 
that job forever out of the domination of 
lawyers. In part the Foi'um will be an 
(‘xperiment station on the eductaioiml 
side of the non-partisan tmlitical action. 
Organization. —I'lie joint board of 
delegates rej)resei)tiiig co-operjiting or¬ 
ganization will not foist another dues- 
paying organization ujain the overbur¬ 
dened community. The farmers are 
heading toward “Federated Agriculture,” 
and the local joint Ix^ard, at the source, 
is a step in federation. It would work 
this way; the members of the co-operat¬ 
ing organizations would automatically 
becomes memhei-s of the Forum, and have 
a voice in eontrolling tiie policy of the 
Forum through their respective organi¬ 
zations. The meetings would be open to 
the i»ul)1ic free, in order to reach the 
whole community. Fxixmses for the hall, 
speakers and i)ost('rs could he met 
through a collection or occasionall.v b.v 
h(‘lp from th(^ trcasuric's of the co-opei-- 
ating organizations. 
Fxamim.es. —It was the successful 
milk strik(^ in ('’hiciigo tliat made the 
New York d.'iirymeii feel that they could 
do the same thing in New York. The 
wa.v in which the fjirnuu's of North 
Dakot.'i have developed a fanm'r’s non- 
Itartisan movenumt and turned their 
mis-reiu‘esent!itiv(’s out of political offlee 
has long lieeii ref(>rred to as an example 
for the New York State farmers. The 
N<!W York farmer is iirogia'ssive and 
read.v to Ix'iiefit by experiments else- 
whei’c that advance his interest and win 
for real i»rogress. The city people in re¬ 
cent years have been developing forums 
in Buffalo, Baltimore. Boston, New 
York and elsewhere, and some two hun¬ 
dred now exist. Tliere is a National 
Council of Forums wltli head(|imrters in 
Boston, which holds an annual ootnaui- 
tion with d(‘I('gates from all over the 
country, 'riirough it the consumers’ 
Forums and the farmers’ Forums enuld 
d(‘V(‘lop mutual eonfid(*nc(! and interest— 
another stc)) toward l)ringing the farmer 
and the consumer closer together. 
A Case in Point. —During the big 
milk strike of IflK! there was the be¬ 
ginning in N(»w York of a definite feeling 
of comiminit.v of interest between the 
city consumer and tin* farm producer. 
(Continued ou page 1193.) 
You should find Lambertville Footwear for 
sale at the best store in your locality. Not all 
stores sell the Lambertville line because we limit 
the sale to merchants who value a satisfied cus¬ 
tomer above a quick profit. If you do not find a 
dealer near you, write us direct and we will 
see that you are supplied. 
LAMBERTVILLE 
RUBBER COMPANY 
Lambertville, N. J. 
On Every 
Boot and 
Shoe 
SnaK - Proof Short 
Boot. As water¬ 
tight as a drum. 
Pure rubber 
throughout 
