212 
C7ic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 0, 1918 
Concrete feeding-floor 
There’s going to be big mone}' in jinrk—ham—^bacon— 
this coming year, and )'ou know liow easy it is to raise. 
France wants it; England wants it; America needs it. 
By all means raise plenty and of the best quality. 
Build a concrete feeding-floor 
It saves feed. It is easily cleaned. Helps keep hogs 
healthy—that means more and better pork. Quickly 
saves its cost. 
You can easily build it }'ourself. You probably have sand 
and pebbles on your own place. A floor i8 x 20 feet— 
5 inches thick, with 16-inch curb, 5 inches wide—requires 
only 40 bags of cement (ask )'Our dealer what this will cost), 
80 cubic feet sand and i6o cubic feet pebbles or gravel. 
Use Atlas Portland Cement 
Its high uniform quality and the plain instructions in the new Atlas 
Farm Book—make it easy for you to build; 
watering-trough barn floor barn approach 
manure pit foundation dipping vat 
sidewalk garage fence posts 
feeding trough cellar floor root cellar 
mmSmWkS-are'^nmamred^ 
A Plea for the School Law 
a’uE Atlas Portland Cembnt Co.i 30 Broad Street, New N ork, or Coni Exchange Bank Luildiug, Chicago. 
Send free Atlas Farm Book. I e.xpect to build a___ 
Name and Address____—- 
on this fine buggy. 
a I give you a 2-year guar- 
\ y antee and a 30-day free 
1 Spread test. I built a big stock 
, buggies before materials advanced— 
you get the benefit—my 1918 prices prove it. 
I SPLIT HICKORY BUCRIES 
are known everywhere for their superior Style* 
flntflhand durability. My direct-from- 
factory boIIIdr plan and biflr output aayo X 
you money. Over 260|00p in use —“ tho 
I moet popular buerfirics built* 
I Catalog FREE-eend for it today— 
shows overlSO styles to select from 
I and tells how 1 save you from $2?/ 
I up* A postal brinsTS it—postpald.^ 
I M. C. PHELPS. Pres. 
I THE OHIO CARRIAGE MFC. CO. 
I Station 290 Columbui, Ohio 
J With this wonderful new Llb- 
jfbay Automatic Water Bowl. 
* Each bowl controls own water 
'supply. Animal moves lever, 
fopening water valve, when it 
2 starts to drink. Lever 
fswings back closing valve 
/ when animal stops drinking. 
'No float tank TMuired. Bowls 
^ may be put at different heights 
or in any stall or pen. Cannot 
. overflow; cannot get out of order; 
almost no water left in bowl. Most 
sanitary bowl ever sold. Prevents spread of con¬ 
tagious diseases. Increased milk yield quickly 
pays back cost. Saves labor; saves^ 
feed. Write today. If interested in —eJ 
Stanchions, Stalls, Carriers, etc.,, 
ask for General Catalog. Sent free. 
C. A. LIBBEY COMPANY 
280 Marlon St. ■ Oshkosh, Wis, 
HOGS ADVANCE 
200 PER CENT 
Buyers at Chicago are paying as high 
as 18(^ per pound for iive hogs, the highest 
price in history. Compared with two years 
ago, this is an advance of 200%. The de¬ 
mand is strong and sure to continue. Here is the 
opportunity of a iifetime to secure big returns. 
Feed your pigs 
Reichard’s Digester Tankage 
and watch ’em grow into dollars. This superior brand of tankage supplies the necessary mus¬ 
cle and bone-building materials lacking in all grain feeds. It insures health, perfect digestion, 
quick and even development and makes big profits sure. You can’t afford to do without it. 
The sensational Berkshire boar shown above—Majestic Mammoth 229500—weighed 407 lbs. 
at seven months of age. He was bred by Mr. C. H. Carter, \\'est Chester, Pa., who regularly 
fed him Reichard’s Digester Tankage. 
Write for samples of tankage, prices and interesting booklet, FREE. 
ROBERT A. REICHARD 15 W. Lawrence St.* Allentown* Pa. 
I note from rending not only The 
R. X.-V. but other paper.s as well, that 
there is a strong note of protest against 
the new township school law. I must con¬ 
fess that I cannot (pialify as a juryman 
who has never thought about or heard 
the case discussed. It is true that I 
happen to be the chairman of our local 
town hoard, and for the past five months 
I have h:id occasion to deal with and to 
think a good deal about the law. There 
are reasons why I am somewhat preju¬ 
diced in favor of the law. It is iterhaps 
one of my natural mental defects that 
when I want advice on any suhjt'ct I turn 
to those who are supposed to he exi)erts. 
When I want h'gal advice I do not ask 
tlie local chcese-maker. and if I need 
medical attention I do not consult the 
village blacksmith. I>y the s’ame token. 
!when T .«eek advice on (>ducational topics, 
i very naturall.v turn to the gentlemen 
who have their offices in the splendid 
educational building on Capitol Hill in 
Albany, because they have made it their 
business to tlTink about these problems 
for many years, and I am not afraid of 
i expert knowhalge. Now I am willing 
,to admit that these men, like all enthusi¬ 
asts, sometimes lose sight of the dollar 
and are inclined to put what they believe 
I to be school efficiency ahead of taxes, 
'yet I cannot hut think that they are edu¬ 
cated, patriotic, high-minded gentlemen 
who ' very earnestly and ' sincerely and 
tinselfishly desire the best good of the 
rural schools of the State. I think I am 
; also, correct when I state that, the law in 
its main outlines at least had the approval 
lof the New York State Hrange. which is 
j supnosed to he the clearing house for 
:agricultural legislation. 
1 I believe the opposition is coming 
I mainly from two sources—one being that 
rather numerous class who are mentally 
i.so con-stmeted that they are constitution- 
Uilly opposed to anything they do not nn- 
iderstand, and then there is vociferous 
! opposition to the law on the part of those 
iwho have been touched in that most sensi- 
jtive part of their anatomy—the pocket 
I nerve. I believe that an attitude of open- 
! minded toleration toward that which we 
!do not iinderstiind is commendable aftd I 
ifurtht'r insist that if this new law retilly 
:me:tns increased efficiency on the part of 
'onr country schools, we cannot afford to 
lay too nitich stress on an incidental in¬ 
crease in the tax rate. 
I I’lease note that this law sets in mo¬ 
tion no large amount of new or expensive 
I machinery. No matter how our rural 
I schools are administered, this cost is 
bound to increase along with everything 
else, and we cannot expect anything else. 
Outside of a clerk that may receive from 
$50 to .$.‘100. and a treasurer that may 
I serve without charge (an officer of a 
.local hank may do this free in considera- 
ition of the town placing the school funds 
jin his custody) or may receive a small 
salary, there is absolutely no reason why 
j schools should cost more Ilian under the 
iold system. But teachers’ wages have 
igone up. although, less than in almost 
!any other calling—also there has been an 
increase for janitor service and for fuel, 
supplies and rejialrs. It is true tluit the 
Dejiartment, of Education has established 
a policy looking tow:ird tin' adoiition of 
sanitiiry toih'ts ;uid ahso for instruction 
in physical training and the princijiles of 
elomt'iitary hygiene. I really believe that 
.sanitation*, decency and even eommon 
morals rt'ipiire some changes in onr oft- 
times unspeakable school jirivy. I’hysical 
(raining hapiiens to antedate the towiishiit 
law, but incidentally I may say that if 
the expense of a suitable instructor can 
be dividt'd between three or four towns, 
the cost per district will not be heavy, 
and I really believe that if we are fortu¬ 
nate enough to secure a sympathetic and 
tactful teacher who can look after the 
children's eyes and straighten up their 
sliouldors and give some t'lementary in¬ 
struction in jiersonal and family hygiene, 
it will be worth more than the cost. The 
fundamental itrinciides of the township 
law may be summed up in a single sen¬ 
tence, viz.: It makes the township the 
unit of school organization for luirposes 
of taxation and administration, and it 
vests the control in the hands of a body 
of live trustees instead of a trustee for 
each district. We hear the curious state¬ 
ment that this bill will transfer the con¬ 
trol of the schools to Albany, when as a 
matter of fact tlu'se five trustees are :th- 
solutely supreme in questions of local ad¬ 
ministration. They surt'ly need not. and 
in many cases will not, eonsolidate a 
single district or close a single school. 
will he as easily voted out 
town clerk or the village 
if they are unresponsive 
will, there is the ballot 
These five men 
of office as the 
constable, and 
to the poi)nl:ir 
for the one reason that he was not pres¬ 
ent to decline the ‘‘honor.’’ while quite as 
often he has been chosen because of his 
recognized ability to drive a hard bargain 
in hiring a teaelier at the lowest possible 
wage without reference to their qualifica¬ 
tions. 
The nltimatf' test of any educational 
law is this: Does it secure school ef¬ 
ficiency'/ Surely this (piestion cannot he 
answered at the end of five months of 
partial trial, and I do not jiropose to 
debate it. I wish the law might have :i 
year or two of fair trial and then if cer- 
tiiin changes seem desirable (as Avill prob- 
:il)ly be the case), it can be amended. 
IBit there is one outstanding jirinciple 
of the law that is fundamentally souml. 
and does not admit of debate, and that is 
the idea of making the township the unit 
of school taxation, because it puts the 
burden on those best able to be:ir it. and 
hence makes for what we have learned to 
call “social justice.’’ If a farmer -lives 
in a district where lands are valuable, 
where population is fairly dense, and 
where the amount of taxable property is 
fairly large, he will surely pay more taxes 
than ever before. On the other lutnd. if 
he lives in a remote locality, where farms 
are .scattered :uid land value.s low. and 
where, in the past the maintaining of his 
poor school has meant a heavy bui’den. he 
will surely he snriirised at his decreased 
tax rate, but unfortunately he is not 
likely to take the trouble to write the 
papers about it or to express his aiiprecia- 
tion to the department at Albany. Tin* 
law puts into effect tlu* socialistic dic¬ 
tum, “From every man according to his 
ability.’’ 
Now for a concrete example. I live in 
School District No. 4. Township of (’ohle- 
.skill, N. Y. It is open country with the 
farms of moderate value and fairly closely 
settled, but there is no village and no 
railroads or corporations to swell onr 
valuation for taxation. The district tax- 
roll is about $1‘J0.CKM). I.ast year our 
school tax rate was BS cents per hundred 
dollars and this year it will he 52 cents, 
and by that tokt'ii I tun entitled to be 
opposed to the scliool hiw because it costjs 
me several extra dollars. But on the 
other hand. District No. S in this sainc 
town lies high up on rugged hills with 
poor and scattered farms and a total 
valuation of only ,$1!1,()00. Last year 
those burdened farmers, out of their pov- 
errty paid a school tax of J?!..’!.’’. This 
year their rate will be the same as mine. 
52 cents. I believe that social justice 
demands that the richer and more able 
districts shall help to hear the special 
burdens of the remote and less able. ^ 1 
am sure that every voter of District No. 
8 will be enthusiastic over the new law. 
T do not believe the law is perfect. I 
think some minor features ma.v he re¬ 
vamped. T do not believe it will bring 
in the educational millenium. but I do 
know that there is a great outci’y before 
anyone is .seriously hurt and I wish onr 
farm people might keep an open mind, 
call it at least an hone.st, well-meant 
effort toward lietter things, and wait a 
year or two to .see if it will not justify 
itself. JAKED VAX WAGEXEX, JK. 
Buffalo Markets 
box and universal suffrage. A hoard of 
five men from your own town, not chosen 
from Albany and not self-periietuative, 
hilt chosen by the ballots of their neigh¬ 
bors. can hardly be regarded as introduc¬ 
ing “the Prussian system into the control 
of the rural schools.” 
Now ill theory the old system of choos¬ 
ing the local trustee was an ideal example 
of home rule, but in luaictice it was often 
a joke. There are many districts where 
in practice it w:i.s hard to get enough 
electors in attendance at the annual 
school meeting to go through the fonn of 
selecting the officers. Very often the 
office of trustee has been “put oil” a man 
Regularly once a wet'k through .lanuary 
the thermometer went to zero or there¬ 
abouts. Foi’ that reason potatoes went 
to $1,.50 per hu. for best grades with a 
good many frosted, for which a jirice of 
(iOc per bu, has been made. .Jersey sweets 
are scarce at $2.50 per hamper. 
Aiiples are not so much affected by the 
weather, being still half a dollar lower 
than last Winter, owing to tlie big West¬ 
ern crop. (Quotations an* $4.25 to .$0.50 
per bbl.. Kings and .Tonathans h*ading. 
Box apph's are $1.75 to $2.75 i»er box. 
Spitz leading. Onions are easy :it OOc to 
$i.S0 per bu. for Western and $1..50 to 
$2.25 for home-grown. Beans are also 
quoted as easy, but the price runs up to 
$8.50 to $0 per bu.. with few in market. 
I’rices of vegetables are naturally 
strong and demand good, for the effort 
to save wheat and meat drives tlu' buyer 
to them, ('ahhage is) not high, though, 
being only $.‘>.75 to $4 per 100 lbs., with 
some new Florida offering at $.’! per 
hamper. A few wax beans sell at $8 to 
$0 Iier hamper and Florida lettuce is $2 
to ,$5.;*)0 per hamper. Some home-grown 
lettuce is 00c to 05c jier two-doz. box and 
curly endive is 40c to (ioe pci‘ box. Beets 
are'$1.‘25 to $l.ij0; carrots. $1 to $1..50; 
parsnips. 00c to $1.10; purple-top turnips, 
75c to $1.2.5, all per bu. Hothouse cu¬ 
cumbers are $2 per doz.; Floridas. $4.50 
to $5.50 per Ciirrier. Parsley is 25c to 
40c; radishes, 22c to 25cshallots. 25c 
to 40c; vegetable oyster, 75e to OOc, all 
jier doz. bunches. Hubbard squash is 
$4.50 to $5 per 100 lbs.; yellow turnips, 
$1.75 per bbl. Both squash and turnip 
are of exceptionally fine quality this Win¬ 
ter. This market buys both largely from 
a single locality, where quality is known 
to be good. Celery is 40c to_$l per doz. 
and tomatoes are $1 to $1.75 per 10-lb. 
hothouse basket and $4.50 to $0 per 
Cuban crate. 
Butter is weak at 4Sc to 55c for cream¬ 
ery. 42c to 50c for dairy, 38e to 4Sc for 
crocks and 3.Sc to 35c for poor butter ; 
oleomargarine. 27c per lb. Cheese is 
steady at 27c to 2Sc for fancy domestit', 
25c to 2Gc for good. 28c to 30c for lim- 
