838 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE Jill SIS EUR FAIiMETl'S EAPER 
A National Weekly .loiiriinl for I'oiinlry and Suburban llnmew 
EsIabliKhed ISSO 
I’libllibed nttkly by the Horal Piibliihlnf fomimny. .1* *3 W>«f 80th Street. New Vork 
Herbert W. Coixixowood. President and ICditor. 
JOHS J. Dlbl/?X, Treasurer and General Manafrer. 
TVm. F, Dn.iX)K, Secretary. Mus. K. T. ItOYbK, As,soeiate Editor. 
Subscription one dollar a year 
To foreign countries in the I'nivei-sal 1‘ostal I'nion. $2.01. eqtial to 8s. 6d., or 
marks, or 10k francs. Iteinit in money order, expres.s 
order'personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New Vork Post Ofllce as Second ('la.«s ITatter. 
Advertising rates. 75 cents per agate lint?—7 words. Iteferences required for 
advertiseis unknown to us ; and ea.sh nnist accomiKtny transient orders. 
“A SQUARE- DEAL” 
TVe believe that every advertisement in this paiter is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubl.v sure, we will make good an.v loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers 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 
oflices to this end, hut such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We i>roteet subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest baitwrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month or the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you .should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
D I'RINO the past few day.s we have received a 
dozen or more iinsijrned letter.s—all asking 
questions which we assume are important. Among 
the signatures to the.se letters are “A Reader,” “A 
School Director,” “One who Knows.” “An Olijector.” 
etc. We thought we had made it entirely clear that 
no notice can l>e taken of unsigned letter.s. We see 
nothing in most of these questions to make all this 
secrecy necessary. Yet if names were given we 
would w’illingly respect the wishes of any reader and 
give private information. The waste basket yawns 
for anonymous communications. 
* 
I T has been our jirivilege to read a good many 
letters from soldiers now on the battle line in 
France. The spirit .shown by these young men is 
admirable. They are hopeful and strong, with no 
complaint, and filled with determination to do what 
they went over for. The Germans seem to regard 
the American soldiers as “nice little men, but with 
no knowledge of war.” They need not worry about 
our “little men” until they feel the point of an 
American bayonet. Then there will be full cau.se for 
worry. But what a fine spirit our boys are showing. 
We older men who must hold the trenches at home 
must be no less cheerful. 
Y OTJ can hardly take up a paper in these days 
without reading of a pi’oposition to change the 
name of some common article which has long been 
associated with Germany. Sauerki-aut and Dim- 
burger chee.se are being renamed, and the desire to 
cut out all references to German names is spreading 
everywhere. The latest suggestion is to change the 
name of certain flowers. A Long Island garden club 
has passed a resolution to that effect, and the author 
said: 
“Let us take these roses and name them for people 
who stand for the things we are standing for and our 
boys are fighting for. Let us, for instance, call the 
Kaiserin Augusta Victoria the Edith Cayell. Let us 
call our great big, pure white rose the Lusitania instead 
of Frau Karl Druschki. _ Let us call the Gross an 
Teplitz the President WTlson.” 
.\t first thought all this may seem a small thing, 
yet it will in the end strike Germany a harder blow 
than our soldiers ever can deliver on the battlefield. 
That is because this desire to take the German 
names from the things we love or respect is an ex¬ 
pression of the contempt and moral repugnance 
which is developing in this country. During the 
long years which are to follow this hideous war 
Germany will be obliged to face the moral condemna¬ 
tion of the world. No nation will trust her—she 
will be like a man who has lost his character through 
betrayal or the repudiation of the most sacred obli¬ 
gations of manhood. Men and nations may recover 
from physical injuries, and, if they have been true 
to a principle, rise to higher standing in the world, 
Init no one can face a just moral condemnation and 
ever recover except through some great act of per¬ 
sonal or national reparation, and that is what Ger¬ 
many—the incarnation of selfish government—seems 
incapable of doing. ^ 
* 
W E are at a loss to understand why the Roch- 
ster Herald should persist in printing such 
notes as the one we print on page 842. This paper, 
and some .other city journals, seem anxious to find 
and print any statements or figures which indicate 
that farmers are making enormous profits. It is 
hard to understand just why the Herald—publi.shed 
in a noted farm section and depending on fanners 
largely for support—should act in this way. The 
case which we review on page 842 is so clear and 
simple that the most ordinary mind ought to be able 
to see that Mr. Adank could not invest $1,693.20 
and make a “profit” of $2,000 unless he threw in his 
entii’e yeai’’s labor and then threw in his crop for 
C-Ac RURAL NEW-YORKER 
nothing. Yet the evident purpose of the Herald is 
to try to make city people believe that Mr. Adank 
made 120 per cent on his investment The sneering 
inference is that all farmers could do the same if 
they were only “efficient.” and the Herald is at it 
again. One of our readers says: 
Our friend of the Rochester Herald takes another 
.shot at us. Someone out in Indiana m.ade a profit of 
$608.07 on 25 pigs by the simple process of figuring the 
total costs as the price of mill feed bought, plus .$2 each 
for the weaned pigs. It evidently required no labor to 
tend them, and he had no money invested in breeding 
stock or equipment. If there_ were a paper giving the 
news from Rochester and vicinity and making a little 
attempt to .show some common decency in its treatment 
of farm questions I should tell that editor where to 
get off. 
But he would not “get off.” He is glued to the 
.saddle and we must expect to have a long series of 
such stories. 
•5: 
I wish to commend The R. X.-Y. upon the stand it 
has taken in a recent editorial in which it refers to the 
commis.sion which is to investigate the rural schools of 
New York State. Your advice given as to the person¬ 
nel of the committee is both safe and sane; the country 
women should have a representative. ^ They can give 
valuable information as to what their children need 
along educational lines, from a professional as well as 
a practical standpoint. . 
To cite a specific instance: In Eastern Wayne Coun¬ 
ty. in a community in which I am personally acquainted 
and interested, there lives a young woman who is a 
normal school graduate. Before her marriage she was 
a successful teacher. She now has two boys attending 
the rural school, and a third will soon enter. This 
young woman not only finds time to visit the school 
regularly, but the teachers, who are young and too 
often inexperienced, find this teacher-mother’s advice 
sound and hints helpful. Other things being equal, can 
anyone give a valid reason why this woman, in the light 
of her formal training as a teacher, her practical ex¬ 
perience in the school-room, and finally her position as 
a parent in the community, is not fitted to give advice 
that is both “safe” and “sane” about the needs of the 
rural schools in the ^tate? G* w. F. 
HIS commission to investigate the rural schools 
is composed of various State officials and is 
headed by Senator E. R. Brown. These persons are 
granted the privilege of appointing someone to serve 
for them if they care to do so. The majority of this 
commission will frankly admit that they know little 
or nothing about rural .schools except what they read 
in the school reports. They never will send any 
children to such schools, and they know little about 
the feeling of country people. We think we are jus¬ 
tified in saying that the majority of the commission 
feel convinced, before they start, that they must 
find fault with the present system. Our suggestion 
is that these members who confess that they know 
little about the subject step one side and appoint 
just such women as our correspondent refers to in 
their places. This Avould be a courteous and sensi- 
l»le thing to do, and it would result in a more thor¬ 
ough investigation, and one that would satisfy our 
country people. Thus far we have not heard of any 
of these commissioners making this reasonable offer. 
Hi 
Ou page 1183. Oct. 31. 1917, you printed figures show¬ 
ing proportion of the price paid for a loaf of bread which 
goes to the farmer who grows the wheat. These figures 
are quite different from those put out by various 
“authorities.” Have they not criticized your figures or 
disproved them? 
O one has yet attempted to disprove these fig¬ 
ures, though we have submitted them to va¬ 
rious j)eople and asked to be corrected if we are 
wrong. Briefly stated, our proposition is that one 
ounce of wheat will m.ake about one ounce of average 
white bread. This estimate was worked out by Dr. 
E. F. Ladd of North Dakota, and has not to our knowl¬ 
edge ever been disproved. This makes a very simple 
method of figuring the farmer’s share of a loaf of 
M hite bread. If it 'weighs 12 ozs., then 12 ozs. of 
wheat were required to make the flour which it con- 
taims. As the price of wheat is determined by the 
Government, the farmer receives 3^4 cents a pound 
or about 4^ ozs. for one cent. In this way we see 
that when the 12-oz. loaf sells at 10 cents the farmer 
received 2.66 cents for the Avheat which the head 
contained. If this figuring is not correct will the ex¬ 
perts pick it apart? 
* 
I F you want to realize fully what it means for the 
farmers of a section to receive more than a 35- 
cent dollar for their produce, go to Lanca.ster Co., 
Pa. Through a system of direct selling on curb 
markets the useless middleman has been almost 
eliminated. All that are left serve some useful and 
necessary pui'pose. There is a statement about this 
on page 830, which you should read. As a result 
of this direct dealing consumers and producers un¬ 
derstand each other fully, and the farmer gets prac¬ 
tically the entire dollar. As we would expect, the 
lesult of this is that with each census Lancaster 
County looms up the most prosperous agricultural 
county in the country. There might be ju.st as good 
farming done elsewhere, but so long as a larger 
share of the consumer’s dollar is sent away, other 
.Tune 20, 101S 
communities cannot compete with Lancaster County 
wealth. In fact, we think the local market system 
find the plans for selling produce are more respon¬ 
sible for Lancaster’s prosperity than are her rich 
soil and the .‘skillful farming of her people. Some 
of these mai'ket features could be introduced in other 
places, but. at any rate. I.ancaster County is a.won¬ 
derful example of what will follow in other localities 
when the .35-eent dollar is raised to .50 cents or 
more I 
T he best argument for Ihe New Yoi’k Federation 
of .\griculture may be found on the next page— 
the by-laws of the organizjition. We ask you to read 
this over carefully and tell us if you have ever seen 
any document in which the rights of farmers are 
more carefully guarded! Some “by-laws” are evi¬ 
dently arranged .<50 that the officers may buy and sell 
—get by with what they are after. ’Phese by-laws 
contain a system of checks and restrictions which 
will prevent any autocracy or misrepresentation on 
the part of officers, .i.^k yourself if it will not pay 
you as a farmer who wants to do the most for his 
business and his family to get right in back of such a 
document. Two weeks ago we referred to the effort 
made by S. .1. Lowell. R. D. Cooper. S. L. Strivings 
and others to prevent the organization of this Fed¬ 
eration. Very likely the thing which galls them 
most of all is the following from the Federation by¬ 
laws : 
See. 5.—There shall be no secret commitments be¬ 
tween officers or committees of the Fedei’ation and other 
organizations or interests. Any agreement or mutual 
understanding is a matter of concern to the members of 
the Federation and to the people that they represent, 
and the facts of any mutual agreement or understanding 
must be clearly stated in plain English. 
Tender these by-laws the Federation must submit a 
referendum to its members before it decides upon 
any definite policy. Its officers could not take any 
such action as that of Lowell. Cooper, .Strivings and 
the rest until the members had voted on the que.stion. 
Nor have these gentlemen any right to speak for 
Grange, Dairymen’s I.eague and Farm Bui'eaus as 
they do. Each one of these organizations has de¬ 
clared for the Federation and its principles, and on 
a popular vote, such as the Federation demands, each 
organization would repudiate its self-appointed 
.spokesmen two to one. We hope to put the case of 
this Federation up to the people so fairly and clearly 
that every farmer in the State must be for or ajgainst 
it, and know why he makes his decision. 
— w 
T he claws now begin to show through the silk 
glove that the milk trust has recently held out 
to farmers in tlie .Tune contract and the illu.sive 
option. Confronted with a distribution of loose milk 
at a reasonable cost, they realize that they cannot 
continue to charge 13 to 20 cents a quart for milk 
in bottles that cost them less than four cents per 
quart in the country. They have now threatened to 
shut down their big condenseries at Walton and 
Wallkill. in the hope of breaking the spirit of pro- 
• ducers and destrojdng all opposition to their control 
of prices again. This action comes at a time to 
» affect Summer prices. In the meantime Mr. Van 
Son continues to sell milk through the stores at 
seven cents a quart. His trade is daily increasing, 
and people are u.sing more of his milk. A large 
grocers’ association is negotiating for a full supply 
for all their stores. The dealers must meet the price 
or defeat the plan in some other way. Given time 
to increase consumption, the store plan will create a 
demand for milk that will wipe out the surplus, and 
the dealei's rightly feel the need fi’om their side to 
defeat it before it gets beyond their control. 
Brevities 
Better not shoot flying pigeons. They may be army 
messengers. 
The man going out, of the poultry business has one 
great desire—to meet a man who is going in ! 
Black walnut is called “Liberty tree.” Do you 
know of any? If so, you have more than full liberty 
to tell the War Department. 
The old-fashioned “sauerkraut” has been ^ renamed. 
It it now “Liberty cabbage.” By any name it smells 
the same. 
Unfortunately some people want a diet of fish— 
every day. What they use is selfish. A clam is both 
.shellfish and selfish. Don’t be a clam! 
When prosperity goes to a man’s heart the value of 
the man is doubled; when it goes to his head his value 
is cut. 
A NUMBER of readers have asked about feeding po¬ 
tatoes to stock. They can be fed raw to cattle by 
starting with half a peck a day and slowly increasing. 
For hogs we should boil or steam them before feeding. 
The T'. S. Government is in the business of breeding 
and selling "wild animals. The Yellowstone Park con¬ 
tains more wild animals than any other “preserve” in 
the world. The surplus wild animals are .sold,or rented 
for propagation or exhibition. 
