878 
TShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
Tim ursTsmss paumer-s paper 
A -Nutloiiul Weekly Journitl I'or Country und l^iiburlinn llonicii 
Enlablished ixso 
nreblj by the Kural l*nbM<ihlne Compmitj. WeiU 30tb Street. New Tork 
Hkrbkkt W. C'oti.iXGwooD. President and Editor. 
•loiix .1. Diuxtx, Treasurer and Uftneral Manager. 
Wm. K. Dii.uon. Secretaiy. Mrs. E. T. Hoylk. Associate Editor. 
.SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreitrn eotintries in tlie Universal Postal Uidon. $2.01. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8k. marks, or loki francs. Uemit in monc.v order, express 
order, personal cheek or bunk draft. 
Entered at Xew Yoi'k Post Ofllee a-s Second Class flatter. 
Advertisinir rales. 75 cents per atrate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must aeeomp.any Irjinsient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this pai>er is backed by a respon¬ 
sible ijcrson. We use every possible jtreeaution and admit the advertisinfr of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make prood any los.s 
to paid subscribers sustained by trustinpr any deliberate swindler. iiTCspon- 
sible advertisers or misleading .advertisements in our columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called ui)on 
to adjust dilferences or mistakes between our subscribers and hone.«t. 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willinprly use our pood 
oflices to this end, but such ca.ses should not be confused'with dishonest 
transactions. We proteet snbsoribers apainst ropues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sjinetioned by the courts. 
Notice of the com|>lainf must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention Tiik Rural New- 
Yorker when writinp tlie advertiser. 
have made .‘leveral references to a commis¬ 
sion to investijrate the inral schools of New 
York. We find tliat while the hill to establish .such 
ji commission passed the Lofrislature it was never 
siKiU'd hy the Governor. So there will lie no such 
commission this year. The discussion lias .served to 
hriuj; out the fact that onr farmers and country 
lieople do not want any such commission unless they, 
or iieoiih' who fairly reiiresent them, can have a jilace 
on it. What we have said tihont such a commi.ssion 
will stiind. 
T wisli to find out about iu.t tlojc- ^I.v dog was asleep 
on the highway: an auto caiue tliroiigh. not blowing horn 
until on dog. and killed him. Have I a claim for dam¬ 
ages? A- B- 
Ulster Co. 
E think not. Tlie law would prohahly hold 
that neither a dog nor a man has any busi¬ 
ness to sleep on the highway. That is not the place 
for slnmher, hut for the most wideawake business, 
and whoever makes his bed in the road dust must 
surely lie in it. There might he some particular cases 
of a road but little used, or some other condition, 
where there would he greater respon.sihility. hut. 
gt'iierally speaking, a dog. .sleeping on the road, would 
he out of the safety zone of law. 
E lea 1-11 of wool growers who .shipped their 
wool as soon tis the government set the price. 
'’I'hey htive not heard from it yet. A good many 
fjirmers Imve started with sheep during the past two 
years. The TL N.-Y. has lieen in part responsible 
for this, for the outlook could not have been better. 
Now the wool price situation has upset calculations, 
and some of these beginners are tpiite discotiraged. 
What shall they do? While the war lasts it is not 
likely that the government will change its jiolicy 
regarding wool. Prices may rise, but the general 
))olic.v of controlling the crop will be likel.v to stand. 
The iiosition 'taken by Wr. Reynolds on page 8S2 is 
sound, and all sheep men should take the advice to 
hold on to the sheep and organize. 
T WISH to call your attoutioii to the attacliod slip 
which was cut from the Albany Evening Journal of 
Thursday. .Tune 27. My first thought was to send it 
to you without comment, hut it seems to me that in 
view of tilt' jiosition of certain oflioials toward farmers 
you may wish to revise your estimate of the number of 
farmers needed in the .Vssemhly in order to .secure .ius- 
tice for farmers. A. ,T. S. 
.\lhauy County. N. Y. 
TTie item to which onr friend I'efer.s reads as fol¬ 
lows : 
.lustice Rudd has denied the aiiplication of Albert A. 
Myers of Floyd for a writ to compel the State^Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture to allow hi.s claim of .$100 as dam¬ 
ages foi- slieej) being chased hy dogs on several occasions. 
Dejuity Attorney-General Cliarles M. Stern appeared 
for the commissioner and ai’gued that the new law de¬ 
signed to protect sheep from attacks of dogs and_ allow¬ 
ing compensation for losses, was not intended to include 
damages every time a sheep wtis chased hy dogs. 
The dog law distinctly states: 
If sheep are attacked, chased or worried, the amount 
of damages to he recovered shall be as iirovided, and 
there shall he added to the iimonnt of such damages the 
sum of two dollars for each ewe, of the ago of one year 
or upwards, in the flock attacked, cliased or worried hy 
Slid) dog. 
HE words “attack, chase, worry, injure or kill” 
iire rei»eat(‘d over and over in the law. When 
lliis dog hiw wtis being discussed the point about 
clmsing or worrying .sheep was explained and gone 
over, and ftirmers were jissnred that there would be 
comiiensation for damage done from worrying. A 
fiock that has lieen cluised hy dogs will seldom re¬ 
cover during the entire .sesi.son. Yet, right in the 
face of the clear intention of this law, tlie Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture fights payment for damage and 
succeeds in evading it. P>y the “certain officials” 
our friend no doubt refers to S. J. Lowell. R. D. 
Cooper. R. T.. Strivings, of the Grange, Diiirymen’s 
I.eagne and Farm linreau As.sociation. Well, the 
chase and worry after them has begun, and they must 
stand for the damage. They oppose the plan of put¬ 
ting i)0 farmers in the Xew York Legislature, while 
the organizations which they head would vote two to 
one for the propo.sition. Until we liaA'e more farmers 
at Alhan.v we shall have laws to protect dogs rather 
than to encourage sheep. 
* 
Tiik dog law is a sore spot here. We have never had 
so many enrs running the country as wo have .at this 
minute. Some one who has a dog and doesn’t want to 
buy a license puts him in a machine and runs him to 
the country, and ever since the law has been in force 
there are from three to ten homeless dogs running 
at large through this section, and wh.at is still wor.se, 
mostly females. A. F. 
Itensselaer, N. Y. 
J'l have many .such rejiorts. especially in rural 
districts outside of cities. These worthlesg 
dogs are dropjied from cjii's and left to shift for 
themselves. Sometimes kind-heai'ted people take 
them in .and even pay the license in order to keep 
the worthless things alive. In other cases they roam 
Jihout, attacking small animals or .stealing food. Un¬ 
less something is done to stop this nuisance there 
will lie. within a few yetirs. ilroves of wild dogs in 
some tif the lonel.v wooded sections- that will he as 
dangerous to sheep iind small stock as wolves or 
wild cats. 
S tate senator et.on r. brown of Wiiter- 
town. N. Y.. announces that he will not he a 
candidate to succeed himself. Mr. Brown gives as 
the chief reason for his retirement: 
“T/tc hrcakdoini of party government at Albany 
and a consequent loss of efficiency in the conduct of 
the affairs of the fitate." 
We have made a careful canvass of Jeffor.son and 
Oswego counties, and it became clear that a great 
nmjority of country voteivs. both men and women, 
iire opposed to Senator Brown. It is very doubtful 
if he could carry the Republican primary, and still 
more doubtful if he could he elected. The feeling 
against him may he imagined from the following 
report: 
Majority of farmt'rs lay the pro.spccts of poor crop.s 
and lioor prices to Senator Brown of Watertown. 
TJ. B. 
When f.nrmers jittribnte poor crops and prices to 
any individual you may he sure that he has surely 
put himself in the shady side of their imagination. 
Senator Brown did this Ity openly and defiantly 
opposing sever.al important things which his people 
demandetl. Among those were the Towner milk hill, 
the repeal of tlie school law and jirohihition. He 
also was responsible for the legislation which .saddled 
the present Food Commission upon the State. Sena¬ 
tor Brown knew the wishes of the ftirmers of his 
district, hut arrogantly and brutally rode over them 
and thus dared his people to fight. lie went too far 
tnid while undoubtedly many of the male voters 
were afraid of him the women were not. It may he 
siiid that the elimiiuition of Semitor Brown is the 
first big intimation of what the women of New York 
can and will do to clean up politics. As Elon R. 
Brown jiasses out of public life we may be permitted 
to express regret that he did not. as he might have 
done, fairly represent the .rtiirit and desires of the 
farmers who ga\ e him his place on the front line of 
politics. If he had tised liis strong personality and 
unquestioned power openly and honestly as the 
champion of farmers, fighting for what he knew they 
needed, he would today have stood head and shoul¬ 
ders above any other man in the State in popular 
favor. It is always a mystery to us why such men, 
deiiending uiion country peoiile for their public life, 
cannot rise to their opportunity. And now Oswego 
and Jefferson must get together and .send to the State 
Senate one of those much needed 50 farmers in the 
New York- Legist a turc I 
“ A Gold Bead in a Bam ” 
M any thou.sands of a circular letter full of per- 
.‘tonal attacks upon Mr. Dillon have been sent 
broadcast over the country. It is signed “Executive 
Committee of Dairymen’s liCague.” hut it is well un¬ 
derstood that R. D. Cooper, in-esident of the League, 
is-the author. Now this letter cannot possibly pi'ove 
of any value to the League. It will prove an injury, 
because it must, inevitably, rii) open League affairs 
and show the very small size of the man who has 
been put in charge of a large job. It can have no 
other outcome. A moment’s reflection by any League 
member will show him that ix^rsontil abuse of Mr. 
Dillon cannot possibly help the present situation. 
^Ye do not know what it cost to print iind distribute 
this circular, hut it may have reached $10,000. That 
represents the League income from one million 
pounds of milk, or 2r)0.000 quarts at the June price. 
Wliat do dairymen trunk of having their money spent 
for circulating personal abuse which cannot possibly 
July i:k I'JIS 
help their business? The R. X.-T. lias received many 
complaints from dairymen regarding Mr. Cooiier and 
his management of Iveaguc affairs. For example, 
bust Fall Mr. F. C. Dyer of Yermont was sent to New 
York on a committee liy dairymen who felt that Mr. 
Cooiier had not treatetl them fairly. Mr. Dyer 
printed the story of his visit in “The Middlehury 
Register,” and here is a part of what he said: 
The Dairymen’s Le.qgue Ls a big institution. It has 
a membership of 40.000. with over 000.000 cows. It 
needs as its executive head a man big enough to manage 
one of our big industrial enterprises. It has actually 
got a man so small that he rattles around in his job like 
a gold head in a barn. He is a sort of a pea in a 45- 
centimeter gnn. If anything comes up bigger than firing 
the office hoy a hurry call goes out and all of the officers 
from the jiresident down assemble to decide what to do. 
At pre.sent they have the City of New York on its back, 
but they don’t know what to do with it. They have 
taken a good deal bigger chew than they can masticate. 
Some time they may get a real man on the job. One 
is badly needed. 
We may add that when the officer.s “assemble” 
they evidently take care to vote Mr. Cooper full pay 
and expenses, and this opinion liy Mr. Dyer is very 
jiolite compared with many we have here. We have 
lieen urged to print them, hut tlius far have declined 
to do so because while we feel that ‘'a gidd head in 
a harn" was a very fair comparison we hoped that 
the really large men in the T.eague would come to the 
front and settle the matter witliont scandal or harm¬ 
ful publicity. The League is .-i mighty proposition 
and carries wonderftil ]>ossihilities. No farm organi¬ 
zation in the world ever liad a finer chance to rise 
to a great opiiortnnity and ]mt the most necessary 
food industry on a permanent and profitable basis. 
The plain truth, however, is that the little group of 
politicians now in control tire too snmil. too envious 
and too much tied nj) with the big distrilmtors ever 
to do their work in the big hrotid way wliich is now 
demanded. By Issuing his abusive letter Mr. Cooper 
invites publicity regarding his nninagement. He will 
get it in full measure, tind in such a way that the 
I,eagne will lie stronger for it. 
S ENATOR CAI-DER of New York has introduced 
a bill in the Senate providing for a new tunnel 
under the river between New York and New .Tersey. 
This tunnel is to be large enough to permit vehicles 
to pass through. It is to cost $12,000,000 and the 
National government is to pay .$0,000,000 and New 
York and New Jersey each $.‘>,000,000. For some 
years The R. N.-Y. has advocjited this, and also 
another tunnel to connect Philadelphia and Camden, 
N. ,1. Such tunnels luive now become absolutely 
necessary. They will he more convenient than 
bridges, and cost less tlmn half as much. As it is 
now the shiiiment of iiroduce into New York must 
depend on a .slow and inadequate ferry service. This 
makes it difficult for farmers to enter this market 
with wagons and trucks, and gives the speculators 
and middlemen an advantage. With these tunnels 
in operiition a ftirmer ctin lotid his wagon or truck 
at the fjirm and drive direct to this city without any 
great delay. This will develop a new system of 
direct marketing such as other great cities are build¬ 
ing up, and as time goes on, the area from which 
direct shipment is nnide will he gretitly enlarged. 
The motor truck is a practical fiiriii carrier and with 
this tunnel in operation thousands of farmers who 
are now at the mercy of I'ailrojids or exi)ress service 
will do their own shipiiing. Both New York and New 
Jersey should pi'omptly come in and itay their share 
of this tunnel. 
Ik 
W ITH all this extra talk jihout slieej) for the 
Eastern farm, there has come a new qne.stion 
about fences. Since the sheej) disappeared from most 
of our hill towns, pa.sture fences have also changed, 
since dairying requires a simple fence tlnit will turn 
cattle. The smaller sheep will often go through 
such a fence, and it tvill cost eon.siderahle money to 
make it hog or .sheeii-tight as well as “Imll-strong.” 
Is the owner of the next farm who does not keep 
.sheep obliged to jmt up lialf of a “sheep-tight” fence? 
The an.swer is found in the article on page S70. 
Brevities 
A SOIL without humus is like a soul without humor. 
A SOIL without organic matter is “dead.” A dead 
soil is the worst sort of a deadhead. Life is put into 
the soil by organic matter. Stable manure is best, but 
the finest substitute is the cover crop. 
As part of the fourth of .Inly “fireworks” 89 ships, 
with a total tonnage of 4.39.88(> tons, were launched on 
Independence Day. These ships will help win the war, 
iiiul after the struggle will help make this nation the 
world’s great ocean carrier. 
Few farmers realize the size of the nation’s business 
in granite jiaving stones. There were 30,978,305 of 
these stones sold in 1917—worth $2,.303,707. Wisconsin 
It'd, with Maine next and Massachusetts following. New 
I'lnglaiul produced about two-thirds of all. 
