1400 
Oic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
I THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban UoraeR 
Established iSSO 
PnbllKhpd nrrkij bj the Rnral Pnblishlnff Company, 333 West 30fh Street, hen Pork 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Mana^rer. 
Wm. F. Dn.LON, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreiprn countries In the Dnlversal Postal Union, $2.0i, equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8>4 marks, or 10)4 francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 76 cents per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper Is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible aiivertisers or misleading advertisements in our columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify It, you should mention Kib Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
i 4 HERE’S many a true word spoken in jast.” A 
X reader sends us the following, taken from a 
local paper: 
A farmer raised a peek of wheat beside the River 
I )ee; a boarder ate a wdieaten loaf “w’ay down in Ten¬ 
nessee the loaf the boarder fed upon cost half as much 
and more as did the farmer’s peck of wheat a montli or 
so before. “Now, why is this,” the boarder raved, “they 
hold me up on bread?” “And w'hy is w'heat so bloomin’ 
cheap?” the plodding farmer said. 
A guy beyond the Rocky Ridge raised 20 pouud.s of 
limes; another guy in old New York -was kicking on the 
times, for he had downed a gla.ss of “ade,” and, poor, 
forlorn galoot, had paid one-half the market price of 20 
pounds of fruit. “Now, why is this, they soak me thus 
for this wee sip of ‘ade’?” “And why,” exclaimed the 
orchard man, “am I so poorly paid?” 
Now, hold your horses steady there, you jay beside the 
Dee; go easy there, you Lungiw guy in sunny Tennes¬ 
see ; restrain yourself, you orchard man, forbear this 
angry talk, and you, beside the soda fount in little old 
Noo Yawk, remember this: Our food and drink, no 
matter where and when, must also be the food and 
drink of thirty middlemen! 
* 
T he town of Winsted, Conn., worked out a potato- 
grow'ing scheme this year. The Chamber of 
Commerce rented 35 acres of land and, with the 
county farm agent, planted a crop of potatoes. A 
jiotato expert was hired, labor employed and a full 
outfit of tools, seed and fertilizer purchased. To 
finance the project 350 shares of stock at $10 per 
share were sold to families in the community. Re¬ 
turns on this stock were to be made in potatoes, the 
fiuyer, of cour.se, taking a i*isk on a succes.sful ven¬ 
ture. The crop ran to 5,000 bushels and the share¬ 
holders had them put into the cellars for le.ss than 
$1 a buyhel. This represented about two months’ 
supply for the entire town. We have not heard of 
just that plan being worked out in any other com¬ 
munity. The saving was made apparently not so 
much on the cost of production as in distributing 
the crop. 
* 
I am .sending you herewith the editorial page of the 
St. Tx)uis I’ost Di.spatch with a couple of items marked. 
$7,tK)0,()00,()00.00 net profit! Where is it? Either .some 
few farmers are making enormous profits or else the 
article is pure mendacity. Why don’t some of these 
penny-a-liners start farming if there is so much money 
in it? There is one thing sure; there is nobody on 
God’s green 'footstool who knows as much about farm¬ 
ing as those fellows who just think about it and never 
tried it. J. S. SiiliLTZ. 
Missouri. 
T he article referred to is a variation of the one 
from Ilulbert of Chicago, to which we recently 
referred. Tt is much like other foolish comments 
made in the daily papers, and evidently intended to 
discredit farmers and their business. We believe 
it is part of a settled plan on the part of certain big 
intere.sts to throw the entire blame for high-]iriced 
food upon the farmers. Most of these newspapers 
do not know anything about it, but they do what 
they are told, or cater to the prejudices of city peo¬ 
ple. Get these men out on the farms to do a day's 
uork? You -would have to carry them out and 
bury them in order to get them “back to the land!” 
* 
W E notice that whenever some farmer states a 
few facts about his business with a big cor- 
lioration we promptly get hot attacks in reply. 
These letters apparently come from country people, 
but investigation usually shows that the authors are 
agents or financial friends of the big corporation. 
These concerns .seem to have as a part of their or¬ 
ganization groups of people trained for just this 
kilnd of work. Whenever they see any criticism of 
their company’s methods they rush into print with 
a plausible argument in reply. Most papers seem* 
very willing to print such matter. Thus .such news¬ 
paper discussions are luuch like a battle between 
trained soldiers and a group of volunteers. That is 
one reason why the daily papers are making .such 
bitter and unreasonable attacks upon farmers. ,We 
shall have to organize for this sort of work, and 
trailn farm men and women to present the farmers’ 
side in print It ia being well done by many now, 
but there .should be more of it. 
* 
O N page 1322 we i-eferred to the connection of E. 
G. Lewis with the food administration in Cali¬ 
fornia. We now have the following explanatory let¬ 
ter, which we are very glad to print: 
Our attention has been calle<l to a clipping from your 
paper in which you refer to the appointment of Mr. E. 
G. Lewis as “food director” for the State of Califor¬ 
nia, and make some unfavorable comments on his record. 
Mr. Ivewis W’as never appointed food director for the. 
State of California, or food administrator for Califor¬ 
nia, to use the proper term. The Federal Food Admin¬ 
istrator in that State is Mr. Ralph Merritt. At the 
beginning of the intensive campaign for food pledges, 
Mr. Merritt made some use of Mr. I^ewis as an organ¬ 
izer of the women of the State, but as the re.sult of an 
investigation of his record, it was soon decided to dis¬ 
pense with his services. 
We feel confident that you desire to he perfectly fair 
to Mr. IToover and the food administration, and we 
therefoi'e hope that you will correct the mistaken im¬ 
pression given by the article to which we refer. 
Re.spectfully yours, 
XT. S. FOOD ADMINISTRATION, 
Public Information Division, 
Frederic C. Underwood. 
California papers printed articles congratulating 
the people on the fact that such an able organizer 
as Mr. lAjwis was to show women how to conserve 
food. Most likely Mr. Lewis wrote those articles 
himself, he being a great conservator of shrink¬ 
ing modesty. This job of firing Mr. Lewis on the 
strength of the sulphureted hydrogen in his record is 
the best thing the Food Administration Board has 
done yet to gain the confidence of the plain i>eople! 
* 
W E have rarely started any .subject that calls 
out so much discussion as this one on the 
“factory system in farming.” Two articles are 
given this week—two sides. The subject has a very 
much bi'oader scope than the mere plan of feeding 
the nation, although we find that the younger gener¬ 
ation is inclined to consider that side of it alone. 
It is not only a question of where shall the food come 
from, but who shall produce it. M'odern history 
gives us facts about this winch we cannot ignore. 
We firmly believe that this present war wmuld have 
been impossible if Germany had a large class of free- 
holding farmers such as we have in this country. 
Germany is now^ being fed and her armies are chiefiy 
supplied by the nearest appi-oach to “factory farm¬ 
ing” wiiicli the world now' know'S. The ruling class 
in I’russia controls great tracts of land and practic¬ 
ally monopolizes the production of food through 
cheap labor of W’omen and boy.s, or old men and 
W’ar prisoners. It is an “efficient” .system of produc¬ 
ing food and dull spiritless peasants wiio obey their 
masters like sheep, and thus permit an autocracy 
to drive them into hateful wmr. We believe that the 
extension of this “factory system’” in this country 
Avould in time destroy the sjiirit and oiiportunity 
of the small freeholder and bring us nearer and 
nearer to the system of Germany, with all its evil 
featui'es along w'ith the good. England nearly lost 
the W'ar at the beginning through her long neglect of 
fanning. The English government proceeded on 
the theory that it makes little difference wdio pro¬ 
duces the food so long as it is supplied by some one. 
Thus through neglecting the independent or small 
farmer Germany found herself at the mercy of her 
merciless nobles while England w'as kept from star¬ 
vation only by foreign supplies. The English are now' 
rushing to give every protection and price that will 
serve to make English farming profitable and iiopu- 
lar. England has had her lesson, and those W'ho 
talk of this factory system of farming must remem- 
l;er that the hand which feeds the nation must domi¬ 
nate it or, in time, play the part of the poorly-paid 
servant. Cut out the small farmer and what poj>'er 
is left to turn the corporation farmer into « servant? 
* 
N ew YORK CITYV last w'eek, had a chance to 
listen to A. C. Tow'uley, president of the 
Farmers’ Non-partisan League of North Dakota. A 
number of farmers w'ho came to the labor conference 
remained to hear Mr. Townley tell the W'hy and how 
of this league. Here was a man from the West 
where food production is the chief business talking 
to consumers who live in the most thickly populated 
spot on earth. Mr. Townley came like one who 
follow’s a bushel of wheat as it is harvested, and 
watches it handled honorably and di.shonorably, by 
the honest fingers of labor and the thieving fingers 
of graft before it is delivered as a loaf in New York. 
He told in new w'ords the old familiar story of the 
35-cent dollar and w’hat happens to the man who 
honestly tries to add a few cents to it. It came to 
us all with great force that this 35-ceut dollar 
problem is nation-wide and at the bottom of all 
national troubles. The North Dakota farmers are 
engaged in a life struggle to w'in the right to trans¬ 
Deccinber S, J!»17 
act their o-wn business. They claim that the dis¬ 
tribution of their crop is an inalienable right which 
belongs to them, and they are going to have it. 
North Dakota is very largely a one-crop State— 
wheat. This has made it easier for the dealers and 
middlemen to control distribution and .sale, but it 
al.so makes it easier for the farmers lo control the 
situation when they once determine to do so. The 
situation in the East is different, though the need 
of refoi'm is even greater. The question is how 
far can the methods of this Non-partisan T^eague 
be applied here. Something of the .sort is sure to be 
started here, and w’e all want to start it right. We 
shall soon print a clear statement of what those 
North Dakota farmers have done, and w'hy their 
work has been slow. Then w'e shall see just how' 
far this plan of work will fit into our New' Y’ork 
conditions. We may need the fireworks later, but the 
foundation must be laid as firm and solid as a rock, 
and W’e need men who are ready and unafraid, ll’c 
leant you! Come on in and help! 
* 
The patriotic service.s which you are rendering in giv¬ 
ing publicity to the township school law matter are 
already bearing fruit. I have just received a letter from 
Mr. Wm. Maxam, Oswego Co., N. Y., in which he states 
that a very live meeting has just been held in Oswego 
Co., t>0 being present, and a committee of three being 
appointed, of which Mr. Maxam is chairman. This 
committee will co-operate with committees from other 
counties as per our suggested plan. I believe that the 
quickest way to get action in the various counties is to 
have the various farm bureaus call a meeting and take 
action as .soon as possible. That is the suggestion of 
our own county agent. I believe the farm bureau has 
more life and a larger membership than the Grange. 
We are going to have a big farm bureau meeting in 
Montgomery County on Dec. 14. d. b. d. 
HIS school law discussion comes just at the right 
time to prove the value of the non-partisan 
farmers’ league. Surely it doe.sn’t make any differ¬ 
ence W’hether a man thinks he is a “crat,” a “can,” 
or .some kind of an “ist” when it comes to a iiroposi- 
tiou like this .school law’. Any man can see that no 
progress could be made so long as these various par¬ 
ties fight each other and thus split up what might 
be a solid club into kindling wood. Get together 
over this school law and use the same organization 
to help put 50 farmers in the New YorJc Legislature. 
When the full returns are in you will be aston¬ 
ished to see how many members of the Assembly 
barely scraped through. In some cases a former 
majority of 1,500 or more w’^as cut down to 150 or 
les.s. No u.se talking, the w’aters are moving and 
the time is ripe for that non-partisan league. Come 
on in and join. We are already hearing from mem¬ 
bers of the Ix>gislature, and they are all “atten¬ 
tive.” Our old friend Senator E. R. Brow’u has 
■ W’l’itten a note which will make a fine text for next 
W’eek. 
HTORIALLY discussing the proposition that 
farmers pa.steurize and .sell their own milk in 
the city at wholesale, the New York Evening Sun, 
with editorial leaning to the l)ig milk dealers, .says: 
Ml’. Dillon who theoretically in his c.apacity of 
Coniinissioner of Foods and Markets repre.sents the city 
with the rest of the State, i.s in practice a partisan of 
the_ up-State farmer. ’Lhe city needs representative.s 
of its OW'D, a strictly municipal agency, to uphold its 
side of the milk question. JJniil it finds the means to 
take united action ayainst the united fanners and 
the fairly united distributors it will matter little 
whether the farmer or the distributor controls the 
shipping .stations. 
It w’ill probably be useless, but w’e w'ould like to 
enlighten the “Sun.” It does make a diffei’ence to 
the people of the city whether the dealer.s or the 
farmers control distribution. While the dealer con¬ 
trols and exacts an excess pi’ofit, the extra earning 
goes into the pockets of the dealer and does not 
stimulate the production or distribution of an extra 
pint of milk. On the other hand, if the farmex’s 
came into complete control and exacted an exce.ss 
profit the extra earning w’ould increa.se production 
on the farms, and the inci’eased supply would be 
produced at less cost, and the price W’ould be i-educed 
to the consumer in order to increase consumption 
and di.spose of the sux-plus. No greater disaster 
could befall the city than a return to the policy of 
big profits to dealers and low returns to the pro- 
ducei’. The best interest of the city demands that 
distribution be reduced to actual cost, and that the 
fai’iner be paid enough to encourage him to run 
the farm to its full capacity and increase the supply 
of milk. That is the only w’ay the cost can be re¬ 
duced permanently to the consumei* *. 
Brevities 
If you are to plow under the cornstalks, let the stock 
run in the fields through the Winter. 
Giiina is now in the beef cattle business—shipping 
beef to England. 
WiiALE meat is being used as human food on the 
Pacific coast. One fishing firm sold 247,000 pounds of 
this meat last year. It is said to taste like young pig. 
