1218 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE liirSISKflf! FA/nrEE S FA PEE 
A National Weekly Joiiriinl Tor Coiiiilry mid Siiliurbnn Ilonieo 
EittnhliHhfd /mo 
l^blUbrd nrrkly by lh» Riiml riiblUhlnr Compnny. 333 W>m 3 O 1 I 1 Slrrcl, .>rn Vorii 
HHRIIKRT W. COIXIJJGWOOD, I'redtdeiit Riid Kaltor. 
JoHS J. Dit.bON, TreftKiircr anil Geiiei-al Maimjfer. 
Wm. F. I> lt.l/>N. Secretary. Mils. K. T. Kovlk, Associate Kiiitor. 
SUBSCRIPTION ; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR ^ 
To forolRii countries in the fnlversal I’ostal Union. $ 2 .W. equal to 8 s. Od., or 
*‘3 marks, or JOtj francs. Hemit in money oiiler, express 
order, pei-sonal check or hank draft. 
Kntered at New York Post OUlcc ns Second Class flatter. 
Advert isin(? rales, 76 cents per ntrafe line—7 words. Tteferences requireil for 
Biiverliscrs unknown to us ; and cash must accomiMiny transient orders. 
I "A .SQUAUK I>KAL” 
V bfilieve that fvery advortiRf^mont In this papor it* baokod bv a wpon- 
flbb* rn^rRon. e umc ovrry ^lORMiblo precaution and a<imlt the adVcrtlKlnjf of 
rollabic houRcs only. Rut to make doubly wire, wo will make crood any lowi 
to iMild Hubwribor« KUKtalnrHl by tnintlnjr any dcliborato Hwlncflor, irrowpon- 
fdblo advortlKors or mlHlomlln^ advertlwmonts In our coliimnw. and any 
juch ,»;wli)dlor will bo publicly exposed. We are also often called upon 
to adju^ clHrerencoH or iniHtakea between our mibRcribc'rs and honeat, 
re^onnlble bouROfl, whether udvei'tiw'rR or not. Wo wilMn(cl 3 ' uwj our trood 
onloeH to IhlH ond, but Hiieh eaaoH nhould not bo ronfuKo<l with dlnhonoat 
traTiHacfbmR \Vo protect HubRorilwra n«ralnFt roiruoH, hut we will not ho 
roRporiHible for the dt*btR of honoHt h.ankriipta Hanctionod by the oourtR, 
botiee of the cornrilalnt miiHt be wnt to u« within one month of the time of 
1? i<tenilfy It, you fihould mention Thk ItlTRAL New- 
1 oitKKR when wrltinif tho axIveiiiHor. 
A.\Y7)ii.N(i I oan do to boo.st yoiir paper I will bn 
pb'aspd to do, for I fool j'oii aro oiio of tho ino.st pow»*rfiil 
infliioncrs for good for rural lifo that wo bavo in Ainor- 
ioa today. I spout most of my lifo in tlio oity (Colnm- 
bns, ().), St) can apjirooiato what you are trying to do 
for llio farmor. Aftor oiglit yoars of running a farm 
mysi'lf. I roalizo what tho farmor is up against, and 
somo day onr oonntry will wako u)) wlion it is too lato. 
IIKNKY n. JUDD. 
O rit host jiiiilrition is to size up to that .statement. 
All iiiflnenee for good on rural life is like the 
enduring mortar which binds the stone.s of the fonn- 
tlatlon together, and rural life is as ever the fonnda' 
tion of the Iteimhlie. 
T IlKJtl'l are many jieoirle in this w'orld who have 
good lirains and are eajiahle of clear, hard 
thinking. '^I'iieir lirain lacks a stojijier, .so that 
under e.xcitenient or .strain it emjities. The wi.se 
man uses liis longne as a stojiper for the brain, 
and knows when to stop talking. Too many jieople 
use the tongue as a corkscrew. Talk has (unirtled 
many a head where silence would have tilh'd it 
witli wisdom. 
IIkrk is an oxamplo of cotton jrriccs. 1 brdiovo that 
raw cotton went up to 117 cents a ironiid, the Jiigliest 
kmiwn. I jn.st bought two yards of colored chee.seeloth, 
whieh used to cost S cents a yard. It is now J// rents a 
ysird. The two yards, which cost 48 cents, weigh just 
three ounces. Spool cotton has not gone tip in projror- 
tion^with other textiles, for I just bought a ilozen spools 
for .70 cents~flve cents a spool has long been the staml- 
iird. Labor in tlie thread mills must be as well jmid as 
the woven good.s, especially as the .Southern mills em- 
jdoy so much cheap child labor. T. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
dozen men (bore may he throe who are niort* or ]es.s 
willing to go riglit ahead, two more who are half 
willing, three who must lie pulled in. two who wait 
until the scheme is safe and suece.ssfni. and two 
oiienly critical or liolding hack. This jiroiiortion will 
vary somewhat, hut all these characters will he 
found in the usual farm organization. The few 
.strong men are expected to pnsli the plan through, 
and their motives will often lie questioned. Tho 
.social or business reformer must he very mucli of a 
philo.sopher, as patient as an ant, as persl.stent as 
a hnlldog and as patriotic as a lionoy-l)ce. 
C OTTON is now quoted at .'lOi/i cents jier junind, 
wliile tliis cloth co.sts Tims the cotton 
grower receives what we call an II cent dollar on 
this transaction. We have tried our best to iiavc 
.someone givt* ns any jrlau.sihle reason why a f.-irmer 
.should sell his wool at 70 cents or ]o.s.s and then lind 
his wife comiielled to jiay .'^4 or more for knitting 
yarn. It will he harder stilt, we imagine, to find 
W'hy a cotton grower receives .‘50 cents or loss for cot¬ 
ton and tlien iias liis wife ]iay over J}:2.50 for cotton 
chitli. 'I'hc same thing runs all through the list, with 
very few excejdions. Next week we sliall give the 
frad(‘ I'elations between a cow’s liido and a irair of 
.shoes. We used to talk about tlie .TTcent dollar, 
and W(‘ were told tliere Avas no .sucli thing. Now we 
shall liixl flmt on many articles that dollar has been 
cut in two. 
A F'I’KR December 1 no barley or other grain may 
he used for brewing jmiqioses if Ihe T’niled 
.States Government stands up lo its word. Tlu* brew¬ 
ers and .saloon-keeii(>rs seem lo think this law can¬ 
not h<* enforced, hut we think it will he. 'I'lie h:irl<‘y 
thus saved from brewing will naturally he n.sed for 
linman food and for feeding stock. Tin* brewers 
liavc claimed that the loss of hrt'wer.s’ grains will 
jirove a calamity lo dairymmi, Init the ground harl(*y 
will contain more food than tlie grains alone, and 
ouglit to help out the feed situation. There are a 
good many Noi'thern dairy farms Avliert; oat.s. barley 
and corn ground together have provided a good bal¬ 
anced ration for cows. Tlie fact is that barley has 
hcmi so long regarded as a brewing gr.-iin lh:it ils 
lnu‘ value for bread and for stock food has not been 
recognized. ’I’liere are many locations where barley 
will jray heller than oats. 
» 
'I'mk fact that vve purchased a car of feed and saved 
.$2t)0 on it did more than live years of lectures ami or¬ 
ganization to show the advantage of co-operation among 
farmers. n. c. 
Micliigan. 
I T did! Derlmps some of the lectures aifd organi¬ 
zations were needed lo get things under way, hut 
“doing something” always heats talking. When it 
comes to action, liowever, there must always he a 
few strong men willing to go aliead and as.sume re¬ 
sponsibility. rsnally in tlie average group of a 
T' 
Aftkr reading your editorial in regard to the letter 
from Secretarj' F. K. Lane, I decided to write yon in 
regard to nnocenpied land in onr locality. In thi.s dis¬ 
trict, in D.swego Co., N. Y., there are eight farm.s, six 
of which are not occupied, and some of them haven’t 
even been worked at all for three years or more. Eleven 
years ago. when I came here, these farms Avere all occn- 
jn'ed by prosperous farmers, but today the real e.state 
men have raised the jrriee until no one can afford to buy 
tliem. We would be glad to see tho Government get 
irossession of these farms. u. f. 
dIE Government is not trying to got po.ssos.sion 
of or AA’ork such farms. What Secretary Lane 
sngge.sts is that all suitable places should he dis- 
ctiA'cred and ela.ssified .so that Avhen the soldiers re¬ 
turn they may know irromjdly Avhat tliero is ojien to 
them. The Government Avill not buy and .sell land. 
It may. in tin* fulnri', so change some of the features 
of tlie Land Dank .system tliat poor men, Avifhout 
cairital, may iiaA’e a cliance on tlie land, hut the 
(iovernment lias no thought of hnying land or AAmrk- 
ing it. Wliat Ave are trying to do is to show jn.st 
AA'hat those Eastern farm.s are—tlieir disadA’anlages 
as Avell as their good points. We Avant to get them 
all ii.sted and elassilled before the Avnir is ov'or. Then 
Avo Avant to develoji some .system for selling and 
transferring llie.so farm.s direct or under charge of 
some farm organization. TIio country is full of real 
estate agents, some of them straight, and otJiors as 
crooked as a river. We do not Avant the.se men to 
reap all tlie lienefit from a discussion of these farms. 
1'here ought to he in evtu-y county an organization 
for liaiidling tliis land .situation. 
o 
N iiage 1224 Frof. Savagi' of Cornell gives sev¬ 
eral comhinations of fi'cds to make a good bal¬ 
anced ration for dairy cows. Some of tlie.se are 
ratliei* more eoinjilicated than the man Avitli a foAv 
cows AA’onld care to handle, hut there is no doubt 
about tlieir quality. During the jiast few years 
I’rof. 11. E. .Tndklns has answert'd many questions 
about feed comhinations. Sometimes by adding one 
or two strong f<*cds to tlie liomc-grown siipjily a 
farmer 1ms been ahlt' to “halancc” tlu' ration so that 
tlie milk flow gained 2.'5 jier cent or more. There 
can he no question about the value of giving a coav 
AA’liat slie needs and Avhat she Avants. Prof. Savage 
says lie has for years askt'd tlie feed manufacturers 
to state on the paekagt' just what tlu'ir mixture con¬ 
tains. Our impre.ssioii is that some of them do that 
now. 
dIE Avhirlwind caniiiaign in 1-hirope Avhieh has 
swept the Germans hack toward the Rhine start¬ 
ed Avitli the active entrance of our.army into the 
tight. It is now avcII understood that Germany, and 
to a Ic.ss extent our oAvn Allies, <|ucsfioiicd Hit' liglit- 
ing iiower of tlie .Vnu'rican Army. 'I'lu'.v all kiicAV 
the Avcalth and immcii.se resources of this oonntry, 
hut thc.v did not know Hit' spirit of onr men. 'I'he 
Germans from the tirst said that onr hoys Avoiild not 
figlit. ’I'hcy could not imagine a jieacofiil nation 
taking hoys right olT Ihc farm or from tho dt'sk or 
Gie Avork.shop and quickly turning them info a mighty 
army. IMen like the Kaiser and his Avar lords ar<* 
utterly incapable of niiderstaiidiiig the siiirit of a 
rc|inhlic. 'I'lieir notion of tlie “jilaiii jieojrle” Avonld 
mean a group of solid, stupid and nntliinking men 
Avlio Avere creati'd to <lt» just Avhat the ruling classes 
told tlK'in fo do. and nothing else. As for these 
Americans Avho rule the country throngli popular 
sulTragc. av1i(» liave little reverence for autocracy or 
any other “class,” it Avas impo.ssihle for the German 
leaders to imagine such men slaiiding uji against 
their vctt'raiis. 'I'o a less extent the other nations 
also felt that tlie American soldier Aviis an experi¬ 
ment. hocanse they did not ninh'rslaiid the true s]i!rit 
of .\nierica. They all found out at Chatean-Thierry, 
and they have ht'en learning niort' ever since. When 
our .\nierican hoys cut tlit'ir A\'ay through the faimnis 
Prussian Guard, tlic German Avar lords knew they 
were Avhiiiped. 'I'hen the Avorld kru'w that .\nieriea 
could not only supply the needed material, hut the 
highest type of manhood as Avell. 'riit'se farmers and 
clerks and Avorkmen and students took nji “the 
double iioAvor of manhood” and gave Ihe Avorld its 
greate.st lesson in democracy. From that moment the 
October 20, l;)1.s 
final defeat of Germany lias been certain, for it has 
put into the .Vliies that spiritual poAver Avhich must 
CA'cr Avin in a contest between men or nations. And 
we older men Avho must remain at home duties Avhile 
we watch onr hoys at the front may well take all this 
to heart. While these hoys are cleaning up the auto¬ 
crats in Europe aah* liaA)' the job of cleaning up ma- 
c‘liine-gnn nests of iioliticians and profiteers in .\mer- 
ica. We can only do thi.s liy sliowlng tho fearless 
fighting spirit Avhlch has made n.s .so proud of onr 
hoy.s. For years iioav the groat intere.sts engageil in 
handling and transporting onr products have come 
to regard-ns somoAAhat as tlie Germans regarded onr 
boj’.s. They knoAA' aa'o Iuia'c tlie power and that Ave 
are Avilliiig to work, and that we are patriotic, but 
they have come to fliink that avo avIII not fight. They 
believe still that they can make us desert principle ’ 
for party Avhonever avo get too close to a demand for 
onr rights. Onr Iioys liave given the German auto¬ 
crats the surprise of their entire national life. What 
are yon doing liere to hack nji your boy’s Avork? 
9.i 
U .NDER a new law Avliicli Avent into effect on Sep- 
temher 1 it is noAv a crime in New York State 
to overdraAA' your Iiank account. Any per.son who 
makes a chwk, draft or order on any bank knoAving 
that he has not enough money on deposit to meet it 
is guilty of atteniiited larceny. If actual money is 
olitained from another in this Avay it is larceny. In 
any jiro.secutioii for making such a check or draft, 
the fact that it aauis offered is considered prima facie 
evidence of intent to defraud unless the money, Avifh 
interest and fees, is made good Avithin 10 day.s.. 
This bogus cheek hnsiness has been a favorite trick 
of swindlers. IMost business men hav’e been duped 
in tills Avay by advancing money on bad checks. 
Sometimes farmers roceiA’e sncli checks and hold 
them for week.s, only to find that they are worthless. 
Until this law AA'as ])as.sed it Avas not pos.slble lo 
catch all the.se rogne.s, .since they could claim that 
they fhouglit tJiey liad a hank account. Noav they 
must make their cliecks good or have them serve as 
direct evidence of fraud. 
* 
UIERE lias developr'd in tliis country a great 
trade in AA'cll-hred dogs. Of eour.se, .some peo¬ 
ple will .say there is no sueli animal—that all dogs 
are .sheep-killers and disease-carriers. Others think 
differently, and there lias been a great demand for 
“pedigree in fur.” We have been curious to learn 
whether the now dog Iuav.s, Avith heavy license fees 
and the general condemnation of all unnecessary 
stock, have affected this trade in dog.s. One of our 
reader.s states tlie following suggestive facts: 
I soil more pnpiiios and grown dogs in States Avhoro 
tho dog laws aro stn'iigent and tho taxes are high, Tho 
reason is psychological rather than a resentful motive. 
An incident in onr own day school illustrates niy 
thought: A director happened in one day, and in ad- 
dres.sing the school, sai/J he hoped that the hoy.s there 
did not do as the boys in an adjacent school do, violate 
a school regulation by crawling on the roof of the coal 
bin and thus endanger themselves and injure the roof. 
At noon, when the director had taken his leave and the 
teacher was not on guard, all of the boys, for tho first 
time, nioniiti-d the roof of the coal bin. Why? 
J. n. WlNGEllI). 
Why? Uecause these hoys folloAved out one of 
tho elemental imimlses of human nature. In his 
effort.s to learn how to think for himself man finds 
it dillicnlt to disliiignish between thought and sug¬ 
gestion. A suggestion from somo stronger mind is 
easier to adojit than to attomiit strong tlionght, and 
so many, Avitliont knoAving it, find thoniselves doing 
Avliat is .suggesti'd by others. If that director liad 
liad any hoys of his own he Avonid have knoAvn better 
than to suggest new forms of mischief. But that 
in a small Ava.v shows liow public opinion Is often 
formed. 
Brevities 
The wise man asks why. 
Ai.falfa iiay is only .^88 jier ton in France. 
The backbiter never shows liis teeth in front. 
Rememiikr that phosphorus is the life of the wheat 
croj). 
Fhuai.I.Y whenevr'i' .von j 
make liini roimd-shonldercd. 
epaulets on a man you 
’I'liKA' tell us that apjrh* varic'ties like Ben Davis and 
P.lack Ben are improved in rpiality by burying them in 
pits. 
Sugar has been .selling in Russia at 70 per pound. 
Switzerland has lixed the retail jrrice of eggs at 7 cents 
i-ach. 
L\ some towns the moving jiicture shows have a “gas 
mask” day, on wliicli they charge 200 peach stones for 
ailmittaiiee. 
'fiiE Ohio ExiieriiiK'iit Station advises farmers to 
burn tlie fence rows or borders of grain fields to kill the, 
l•hinch hugs. 
A NEW suggestion about killing Avoodehneks is to put 
sulphur and rags in a bee-smoker, lire them and puff the 
fumes down the hole! 
