1238 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 27, 1917 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
The Strong Man. —A year ago last 
June we had some playful remarks about 
Alois P. Swoboda. This man is no doubt 
known to most people through the ad¬ 
vertisements which appear in the maga¬ 
zines and many weekly papers. Most of 
them 7ej»reseut a young-looking man with 
a heavy mane of black hair fairly bristling 
with energy and life. The.se advertise¬ 
ments make a remarkable appeal, and 
with circulars and letters which are sent 
to correspondents promise to cure weak¬ 
nesses of the body, restore or revive cells 
and make anybody strong and well. Mr. 
Swoboda was described as a mental and 
physical giant—all as the result of prac¬ 
ticing certain movements of the Ixtdy 
which he calls his system. 
Farm Work. —Now after some knowl¬ 
edge of these movements it became evi¬ 
dent to me that practically every one 
of them can be duplicated in ordinary 
farm work. Take the work of sawing 
with buck or crosscut saw, splitting wood 
and piling it—by the time a man had 
two cords of wood well piled in the shed 
he would have moved his body in about 
every way demanded in this “system.” 
Almost the only thing lacking would be 
lying on your back and kicking out with 
the feet. Most farmers are obliged to 
do their kicking standing up. We have 
a foot-power attachment to the grindstone 
and the work of grinding the axe would 
surely give this footwork. At any rate, 
digging potatoes, picking fruit and pitch¬ 
ing hay will complete the full set of 
movements* So when people a^ed about 
this greatly exploited system I gave an 
opinion about it in terms that our country 
people could understand. 
Earmarks. —Most of our people have 
had something of an education in circu¬ 
lars and letters and they know the ear¬ 
marks and brands. There are some left 
who think a printed circular may be a 
personal letter from some dear friend, but 
most of them are wise to that game. 
When you answered these advertisements 
you probably received a printed letter with 
your name typewritten in. This gave 
you a fine line of talk about the “system” 
and offered the lessons for $20. If you 
did not bite at this another letter would 
doubtless come, offering the lessons for 
$10! Some of our friends still held off 
and received a third printed letter. This 
had a “P. S.” in which “as a secret” the 
price was reduced to $5! Of course any¬ 
one who has taken a course of lessons in 
“Publi.sher’s Desk” would know that this 
printed letter was no “secret.” It went 
out to thousands as a “follow-up” letter*. 
Resides, a “system” for a hen or a cow 
or a bushel of potatoes isi worth less than 
the lowest price charged for it. No one 
sells anything to a farmer except at a 
profit. If you started charging a full 
dollar and then came down to 2.5 cents, 
what would your customer think of you 
and your goods? 
Farming. —To my notion there is one 
supreme test for a mental and physical 
giant. Let him go out on a poor farm 
without capital or credit and match his 
muscle and mind against the forces of 
nature. Any man who can fight back the 
forest and turn poor, unproductive soil 
into a garden is a full-sized man and the 
most useful citizen in the country. To 
read what Mr. Swoboda had to say about 
himself you would call him a superman, 
and of course such characters are looking 
for chances to prove themselves. Farm¬ 
ing is the biggest man-sized Job I know 
of—a job well calculated to tax all the 
powers which Mr. Swoboda claims. I 
would like to know w'hether tho.se big 
muscles would melt away at actual work 
or whether they can whip the storm, the 
fro.st, the drought or the rain and con¬ 
quer a farm, so I advised Swoboda to 
“go to it,” or words to that effect. 
A Oreat Inshi.t. —This experience 
has taught me something new about 
farming. There are thousands of people 
in our large cities whose only notion 
about agriculture is that they raise corns 
on their feet walking the hard pavement. 
Call such a man a liar or give him the 
customary advice about his destination 
and he will accept it as a poor and per¬ 
functory remark. Call him a farmer and 
tell him to go to farming and he takes it 
as a deadly personal insult, to be wiped 
out in gore or gold! Mr. Swoboda ap¬ 
parently feels that way. One might ex¬ 
pect a man of his muscle to .scour out the 
insult through physical movements, but 
money is a softer pad for a bruised .spirit. 
So Swoboda brought suit against The 
R. N.-Y.. claiming $795,000 damages. If 
I was doing business in this large way I 
should have added $5,000 to that amount 
and made it even, but at any rate the suit 
for libel was brought and Swoboda and 
his lawyers came right into court with it. 
The trial started October 2 before Justice 
Oreenbaum and a jury. 
The Points. —In such a case the jury 
apparently had to decide two things: 
Was an article written in this playful or 
semi-humorous way a libel? If it was, 
can it be said to really injure a man 
doing business as Mr. Swoboda admitted 
doing? There were two important wit- 
ne.s.ses—Mr. Swoboda, who explained his 
.system, and Dr. Louis Welzmiller. who 
an.swered Swoboda clearly and in detail, 
and fully exposed the absurdity of many 
statements. 
Among other things Swoboda declared 
that he expected to live to be 200 years 
old! In his advertising and circulars he 
is pictured with a thicK mas.s of black 
hair. Yet when asked to stand up in 
court the people saw a medium-sized man 
with a head nearly bald—the hair very 
thin at the top. He said he was 44 years 
old, and it seemed to be the general" ver¬ 
dict that even at that moderate age he 
looked like a man who has already begun 
to slip back in phy.sical condition. I can 
find plenty of farmers who at 45 are finer 
in health and vigor. To me Swoboda 
looks like a man who would not la.st a 
month at regular farm work. 
Testimony. —A few gems from Swo- 
boda’s testimony are given below—as 
taken by our reporter. 
Swoboda; “My study of tho human body Jb 
deeper than tliat of any other living man.” 
Lawyer: “You are above all individuals—doe- 
tors and selentlstB, who have made a study of 
this matter?” 
S.: “Yes.” 
L.: “You have, without schools or lectiiree. 
brought yourself to this pinnacle of greatness?” 
8.: “I have.” 
L.: “You can overcome the effect of old age 
by your system?” 
8.: “Yes; by increasing the power of the 
body to overcome all organisms. Old age is the 
result of evolutionary error.” 
L.: “Your system of putting one foot for¬ 
ward and another backward, and the same with 
the arms, is your discovery?” 
8.: “Absolutely. The antagonizing principle. 
1 operate on the negative side. My work has a 
physiological effect of negative character. The 
reason a dog remains a dog is because he is un¬ 
conscious of being anything superior.” 
L.: “You guarantee to remedy weakness in 
any part of the body?” 
8.: “Yes.” 
L.: “Are you authorised to treat people as a 
physician ?” 
S.: “No.” 
L.: “Do you prescribe for your riupils as to 
diet?” 
8.: “No; the question of food is not essen¬ 
tial.” 
L.: “Then there is no need of a balanced ra¬ 
tion?” 
S.: “It is not necessary to give special at¬ 
tention to food so long as the body is normally 
supplied witli food. A man who is highly or¬ 
ganized does not think of his diet.” 
L.: “You claim to be able to overcome the 
effect of age and make the aged young?” 
8.: “By teaching the principles of the uni¬ 
verse I shall be able to keep everybody perpetu¬ 
ally young.” 
The Verdict. —He went on for a long 
time explaining how, by moving the arms 
or legs, all organs may be strengthened 
and wonders worked out with the body. 
Why, if someone could talk so eloquently 
about farm work it seems as if mo.st 
people would run to volunteer as hired 
men. The jury sat there like 12 men im¬ 
pressed with the idea that they must de-' 
cide whether thi.s was very ordinary 
“dope” or the rarest of inspired wisdom. 
It certainly wasn’t anything in between. 
It did not take the jury long to decide 
after li.stening to Dr. Welzmiller. The 
doctor clearly and calmly exposed the 
whole system and its claims, and showed 
the limitations of these movements. As 
a result the jury promptly brought in a 
verdict againut f^wohoda. It took nearly 
four days to fight it out, and the plaintiff 
had every chance to explain and demon¬ 
strate and prove his claims. lie failed. 
The farm trial is still open, however, be¬ 
fore a jury of the “elements,” such as 
rain, sunshine, frost and fog. 
The Lesson. —I learned a few things 
from this trial. They have to do with 
human nature. If you were to study the 
line of “dope” in this te.stimony or in the 
circulars you would wonder that reason¬ 
ing men and women would ever li.sten to 
it—much le.ss pay good money for it. Yet 
they do. Many a man who could walk off 
his troubles or get rid of them with a 
saw and axe will pay to go through these 
“movements.” Many a woman who could 
sweep off the “blues” with a mop or 
broom or scrub away her aches at a wash¬ 
board in a tub of hot water will give up 
good money in order to practice the same 
movements when put into a “system.” 
The result of this trial ought to end the 
“easy money” part of this system, at 
least. The other thing which came home 
forcibly to me is the way so many city 
people feel about farming and farmers. 
I never realized it so fully before. I be¬ 
lieve that the third generation of those 
who are bred and raised among brick and 
stone represent the most dangerous ele¬ 
ment we have in the country today. They 
and the ideas they seem to have about 
country life and living come as the begin¬ 
ning of the classes which were responsible 
for the downfall of the old world civiliza¬ 
tion—working from within. Perhaps 
there is a fair compari.son between their 
attitude toward country life and Swo- 
boda’s “movements” as applied to real 
productive labor. At any rate the public 
may now know those movements for what 
they are, for their “creator” ha.s failed to 
make an honest jury believe that he was 
insulted when he was advised to test his 
system at farming. ii. w. c. 
T he man who bought a strong safe, put his valu¬ 
ables within and left it open, was a trifle wiser 
than the other who built barns and a home but gave 
them insufficient paint. For while robbers may come, 
decay from weather attacks is absolutely sure to come. 
The great paint, both for protection and beauty, is 
made of 
Dutch Boy White-Lead 
Exterior paint is made by thinning Dutch Boy white-lead with 
pure linseed oil, and either used white or tinted to any de¬ 
sired color. It is thoroughly waterproof. It clings firmly to 
the wood and neither cracks nor scales, no matter how hot 
the sun, nor how cold or wet the weather. 
Interior paint which gives a clean, soft, velvety appearance 
to walls is made of Dutch Boy white-lead mixed with a flat¬ 
ting-oil. Walls thus covered are washable as tiled floors. 
Spots and stains are easily wiped off. 
The possibilities of paint for you are set forth in 
Paint Points No. 107 . 
I DUTCH BOY 
§ WHITE LEA® 
National Lead Company 
New York Boston Cincinnati 
Cleveland Buffalo Chicago 
San Francisco St. Louis 
(John T. Lewis & Bros. Co., 
Philadelphia) 
(National Lead & Oil Co., 
Pittsburgh) 
Dutch Boy 
Red - Lead 
mixed with linseed 
oil prevents rust on 
iron or steel fixtures, 
implements and ma¬ 
chinery. Keep it on 
hand for retouching 
all exposed metaL It 
will save money. 
1759 
CLARIDGE 
A likeable style— It is an 
ARROW 
form^fit 
Collar 
and that’s only one of many 
things that accounts for its 
great popularity. 
20C ea. 2 for 35c 3 for ^oc 
CLUETT, PEABODY CO.. Inc. MAKERS 
USE NATCO DRAIN TILE 
Farm drainage demands durable tile. Our drain tile are made of best 
Ohio clay, thoroughly hard burned—everlasting. Don’t have to dig 
’em up to be replaced every few years. Write for prices. Sold in carload 
lots. Also manufacturers of the famous NATCO IMPERISBABLB 
SILO, Natco Building Tile and Natco Sewer Pipe. 
National Fire Proofing C|wnpany » ||2I Fulton Building, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
g^A\N T\Lt 
Yours! 
A 50-gallon barrel 
of Scale cide to 
any one who will 
suggest a fairer 
guarantee than 
that given below. 
“SCALECIDE” 
As proofofourconfidence and to strength¬ 
en yours, we will make the following 
proposition to any fruitgrower of average 
honesty and veracity: ... 
Divide your orchard in half, no matter how large 
or small. Spray one-half with “SCALECIDE”, 
and the other with Lime-Sidfur for three years, 
everything else being equal. If at the end of that 
time, three disinterested fruit ctowcts say that 
the part spray^ with “SCALECIDE”.ia not in 
every way better than that sprayed with Lime- 
Sulfur, we will return you the money you paid 
us for the “SCALECIDE”. 
. Send for new free booklet, 
“ Profits in Fall Spraying”. 
B. G. Pratt Co., M’Pg Chemist* 
50 Church St. Dept. N New York 
•3 CCELS10Il> 
Trees Grow Better If Protected With 
Wire Mesh 
Guards 
Prevent girdling, bark-peeling, gnawing 
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Strong;.heavy galvanizing prevents rust; 
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Wright Wire Co., WTorcester, Maas. 
I IIUIB' rOBSALR. Hydrated and lump, *8.50 per 
Ib 11*1 c tea at kiln. J. UlLLEB, Hurley, N. Y. 
