Oie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
American Farmers and the War 
I do not believe that the farmers of America begin 
to realize that what they have done is the greatest and 
most splendid patriotic service rendered by any class of 
onr people in the Great War. Without adequate laboi*, 
credit, or farm supplies, neglected by the Government, 
.misunderstood and, abxised by the city press, neverthe¬ 
less the farmers produced the food we had to have. 
When it seemed to those who really knew that human 
strength could not suffice. American farmers grew the 
two giT.at crops without which we would have lost the 
war.. Their wonderful achievement was accomplished in 
the face of difficulties that were wholly unnecessary. 
Three great blunders w’ei’e made in dealing with food 
production while we were at war. The first was in giv¬ 
ing our principal attention to the conservation of what 
food we had instead of to the production of more food. 
If even a small part of the effort and exhortation which 
have been devoted to saving food had been given to 
growing more food, there would have been vastly more 
fowl available, and most of the painful need for saving 
would have been done away. 
The second blunder was in failing to make it possible 
for the farmer to get enough labor, farm supplies, and 
credit to give him a reasonable chance to raise the 
crops the nation and the world required. 
The third blunder was in excluding the farmer from 
partnership in the conduct of the war, and especially 
from that i)art of it which had to do with food supply. 
Yet. according to the United States Census, a full half 
of all our people live in the country and in small villages 
and towns, which are for the most part dependent on 
farming for their prosperity, and which have the same 
interests and the same outlook as the farming communi¬ 
ties which lie about them. 
In spite of all these blunders, needless, dangerous, and 
exasperating as they were, the farmers w'ent ahead and 
won out. There has been nothing finer outside of the 
conduct of our men at the front. 
Although the guns are silent at last, for the American 
farmers the war is not yet ended. They have been 
fighting the Germans by sending men abroad and raising 
food at home. But now that our own splendid boys, 
side by side with the wonderful fighters of our Allies, 
have beaten the Germans into submission, the farmers 
of America cannot lay down their fighting tools. Two 
great armies are still to be defeated. One is world 
famine, which can be prevented only if the fanners of 
the United States keep up their marvelous record. The 
of her is the persistent refusal of common justice and a 
fair share in our government to the men who feed us all. 
Our farmers have seen their Government advancing 
hundreds (if not thousands) of millions of dollars to 
hel)) other industries, but not to help them. They have 
seen a limit set on the price of what they have to sell, 
but not on the price of what they have to buy. Their 
own problems were decided for them, and very often 
wrongly decided, without their being consulted. But 
looking beyond the ignorance and shortsightedness of 
officials, in the presence of the Nation’s need, they forgot 
everything but their duty as Americans, and they 
brought to pa.ss what seemed altogether impossible. All 
honor to the men who set patriotism above party, dit,- 
regarded abuse and neglect, turned their backs upon 
selfishne.ss and resentment, and in the face of the great¬ 
est difficulties accomplished what the .safety of our coun¬ 
try and the world ab.solutely required. 
Every farmer knows that since the Civil War this 
nation has been managed by city men for the advantage 
of city people. Laws and i)olicies have been, and are 
still, in city hands. For exami)le. there are today in 
Congress 031 members in both houses; and only eight 
of them even claim to be farmers. One-third cd’ our 
people live on the farm ; and all of our people are de¬ 
pendent on the farm; yet only one and one-half per 
cent of our lawmakers are farmers. If an exact pro¬ 
portion were possible or practicable, which it is not, no 
less than 178 of our Congressmen would be farmers. 
It goes without saying that the farmers of America 
have no desire to deprive other classes in our population 
of the proper influence and just representation which is 
their due. Conditions which are unfair in the case of 
the farmers would be equally unfair if applied to others. 
What the farmers want is justice all around- 
F.very farmer knows that ever since the Civil War 
what the Government has done to help the farmer has 
been done still more to help the city man. Even in the 
matter of food production, the city man’s point of view 
has been in control. What the city man wanted was 
cheap food. Therefore what was done for the fanner 
was directed almost without exception toward helping 
or inducing him to grow cheap food. But what the 
farmer got for himself and his wife and family out of 
what he produced was a wholly different matter. 
All this is wrong and ought to stop. That is why 
the National Board of Farm Organizations has under¬ 
taken to find out just what the farmers of America be¬ 
lieve they are entitled to in the reconstruction after the 
war. To find out just what you want is the first step 
toward getting it. When a farmers’ plan of recon- 
struc^-ion, thus formulated, has been criticized, corrected, 
and adopted by the organized farmei« of America, there 
will be a real chance that justice for the farmer can 
be brought out of the great changes which must follow 
the conclu.sion of peace. But the whole united power 
behind it of one-third of our people, the farming third, 
will be none too much to change the old bad order and 
begin the new. 
There ought to be a change. If the farmers of Amer¬ 
ica make up their minds to get that change they can 
have it. To get it they must go after it all together 
If they continue to scatter their forces the city mind 
will continue to dictate and decide for another fifty or 
one hundred years. gifford pinchot. 
Farm Bureau Membership Campaign 
The farm bureaus in the So agricultural counties in 
New York State are making many plans for a State¬ 
wide membership campaign to take place the week of 
November 25. Efforts are being made by many of the 
bureaus to increase their membership materially. Quotas 
have been assigned by the executive committees of the 
various farm bureau associations to each community 
committee based on the total number of farms in one 
locality. Most of the campaigns will end on November 
.30, or at the annual meetings early in December. It is 
expected that the present membership of nearly 4.5.000 
will be increased to 60,000 or 65.000. There are now 
20 per cent of the farmers of the State members of the 
farm bureaus. Five counties have over 40 per cent of 
the farmers members of the bureau. Nassau County 
leads with 47 per cent. 
The Federation of Farm Bureau Associations which 
is backing this campaign urges the farmers to get back 
of the bureaus for production and for the reconstruction 
period after the war. S. L. Strivings, president of the 
Federation, in an open letter to the farmers of the 
State, says: 
‘Tn the shaping of new policies as touching the food 
supply of the nation, farmers must have a large part. 
We do not wish to draw lines of class or occupation, 
which the war has sc largely obliterated, but must 
center ai’ound the business of farming, which must be 
made so satisfying as to its returns and the social and 
intellectual statufi of its workers that it will compai'e 
favorably with other occupations whose value to the 
nation is as great. 
“No agency is doing moi-e to build sanely into the 
nation’s plans an orderly program for the weal of the 
agriculture of the nation than our farm bureaus. The 
fact that they have been fair, conservative and just in 
their woi’k ; that they have worked hand in hand with 
the nation’s big war program of winning the war; that 
they have been squarely back of a program of progress 
which has merited the approval of the nation’s best 
thinkers, all conspire to place the farm bureau in the 
forefront of the agencies doing the task of making sure 
and strong the agricultural foundation upon which the? 
future well-being of the nation must rest. 
“It seems reasonably clear that the nation will be 
ready to coiiperate in a big program to insure the pros¬ 
perity of agriculture if agriculture demonstrates by its 
united form and the clearness and justice of its de¬ 
mands that it has the vital force of the millions of 
strong men of the country behind the plans. It is but 
reasonable to expect that farmers everywhere will see 
this, and that they will be a part of our wprk.” 
Farmers are making greater use of the bureaus this 
year than ever before. The Government has woi-ked 
largely through the bureaus in its campaign for in¬ 
creased food production, or in securing information of 
value which would help in its \var program! Farmers 
are backing the bureaus more and more each year, as 
they better understand the nature of the work, and the 
fact that the type of work carried on in each community 
depends upon themselves. T. 
Improving New York Drainage Laws 
. I notice an editorial in Thf, B. N.-Y., page 1294, rela¬ 
tive to the need of a simplified drainage law. That need 
has long been apparent, but the State Constitution 
stands as a barrier in the way of much improvement. 
To prepare the way to meet present-day conditions I 
olTered a concurrent resolution in the T.egislature to 
amend the State Constitution last AYinter, which if it 
shouhl be adopted, will permit the enactment of laws 
very much needed in that respect. 
.\ft(‘r overcoming determined opposition by prominent 
members from New York City the resolution passed 
both houses, and has been properly advertised this Fall. 
If it should pass again during the coming session of 
the r.egislature, and be approved by the people at the 
next general election, it will become a part of the Con¬ 
stitution. The proposed amendment seeks to declare 
the drainage of agricultural or swamp lands a “public 
use” instead of a private benefit, as at present, and 
provides for the enactment of general laws to meet the 
.situation. 
To give all the relief possible at present I introduced 
an amendment to the drainage law, going as far as 
the present constitution will permit, which passed and 
became Chapter 445 of the laws of 1918. This amend¬ 
ment greatly simplifies and cheapens the cost of obtain¬ 
ing an outlet aei-oss the lands of an unwilling owner, 
but it doefi not go far enough for reasons given above. 
.Tudge Bay is reported to have said recently that this 
was the most important agricultural Iegi.slation started 
in this State in fifty years. D. P. witter. 
Tioga Co., N. Y. 
Up-State Farm Notes 
GEOGBAPHY A PBOBLEM.—The difficulties in 
teaching geography in Syracuse schools is typical of 
that throughout the country since war has eradicated 
old boundary linee. and new ones are indeterminate. A 
special committee to consider the problem of both po¬ 
litical and commercial geography of Central Europe 
considered the question for three hours, and concluded 
that it would take weeks or months to lay out a new 
program. No immediate change will be made in the 
curriculum, but pupils of the upper grades will be given 
a special course in latter-day geography. 
BALLYING TO WAB FUND.—Central New York 
counties are rallying nobly to the call for war relief 
funds. Cayuga County has already reported .$115,000. 
Seneca County $52,000, on a quota of only $17,500. 
isa.*) 
OsTtego County, $19,000 from four of its. town!» and 
Cortland County, $80,000. 
POTATO SITUATION TMPBOVED'.—Farmers are 
much better pleased with the new potato graders now 
introduced. The si)ac(‘fi are smaller, allowing the sale 
of potatoes that heretofore were perfectly good for food, 
but that had bei-n a real waste. Prices remain about 
the same, around $1 a bushel. 
TTTE NEW YOBK GUABT). -Under a recent law 
the State is bound to have a military force of at least 
10.000 m.en for- home protection. Now' that an armistice 
is declared the question is asked, “What will be the 
future of the New York Guard?” With the federaliza¬ 
tion of the National Guard at the beginning of the war 
its members passed completely out of the State service 
and when they return will be mustered out of military 
service. They can only re-enter it by enlistment. Col, 
Brown of the Third Begiment believes the New York 
Guard will be more popular than ever the National 
Guard was, excepting for a period follow'ing the Civil 
War. At present there are 20,000 men in the New 
York Guard—too many, he believes. He thinks the 
number wall be reeluced to 15,0(K), and that they will 
be stationed in the leading cities, and that competition 
for membership will be keen. Millions of men have had 
a taste of military training and found it good, and to 
these will be added the young men who have undergone 
military training in the schools under the State laws. 
CHTLDBEN’S GABDENS.—The-Woman’s Division 
of the State Defense Council, through county and com¬ 
munity councils, will cooperate with the State Educa¬ 
tion Department, the State College of .Vgriculture and a 
representative of the Federal Bureau of Education. The 
latter bureau has pledged to r.ai.se $5().09().(K)0 worth of 
foo<l in 1919, hoping to get 5,00().()00 children to raise 
at least $10 each. Excellent gai'den work has already 
been done in the State by schoohs. mothers’ clubs and 
other organizations. But such gardens have not ex¬ 
ceeded 50.000 in number, however, while the new pro¬ 
gram calls for .300.000 next year. Plans are being made 
to avoid duplication of effort, with a central office in 
the State Education Building at Albany, from which 
all garden work will be directed. Full cooperation of 
all agencies is earnestly desired in putting the garden 
program over. 
BECONSTBUCTIGN LOOMS.—Beconstruction as 
it affects agriculture, is the big problem before the Na¬ 
tional Grange in its fifty-second annual session. On 
Tuesday night the committee in charge of this, with 
S. A. Atkeson of West Virginia as chairman of a com¬ 
mittee of nine, had practically an all-night session with 
39 propositions to consider. The order went on record 
as wanting a continuation of food control in peace 
times, sug^sting a Federal Marketing Commission, with 
a branch in each State of the Union. The Grange has 
decided that it will be more active in Washington in 
protecting the interests of the farmere. The National 
Convention made an appropriation of $10,000 or any 
part thereof needed to establish permanently headquar¬ 
ters at Washington. This order will cooperate with 
all other organizations in the securing of legislation 
favoring farm interests. It pays its own expenses in 
maintaining this much uee<led service at the National 
Capitol. The marketing commission desired by this 
order is to distribute food products in such a way as 
to return a fair price to the producer and a fair one to 
the consumer, with power to stop all unjust profiteering. 
A plan to extend the scope of the Grange organization 
in the weaker States was adopted. Four States were 
not represented at this meeting, as a result of war con¬ 
ditions and general unsettled agricultural affairs. The 
Federal Department of Farm Labor Service was repre¬ 
sented hy H. E. Williams, for four years Commissioner 
of Agriculture of West Virginia, and a genuine farmer 
on his own account on an extensive scale. There were 
many questions calling for a differentiating of the func¬ 
tions of the various United States Departments of Labor 
and Agriculture, as affecting the farmer, with the gen¬ 
eral sentiment that there is a multiplicity of efforts and 
commission.s of this sort, with very little real results to 
point to as proof of effective work. The appointment of 
Mr. Williams to this office was the first one wherein the 
Department asked the Grange for a recommendation, 
and practical work is expected of him in his new 
capacity. m. g. f. 
Rights of a Dog on the Highway 
According to the present dog law. just what rights 
has a dog on the public highway? Yesterday my 
brother’s car was chased for some distance by an an- 
known dog. The animal ran out from a vacant farm 
(so that no clue as to his owner could be obtained), 
followed with the car, usually close in front, but run¬ 
ning in and out of the road, and going at the rate the 
tar did. whether fast or slow, till the top of a steep 
hill was reached. My brother and a near neighlx)r 
were on the front seat, the horn had been repeatedly 
blown and the men had called often to the dog to get 
out of the road, but to no purpose. Finally, as the car 
was going down a particularly steep part of the hill, at 
a five-mile rate, the dog still running close in front of 
the wheel, he looked around and slipped under. The 
car passed over him, but looking back from the back 
seat we could not see him and judged that he had not 
been seriously hurt, as several similar accidents have 
occurred in the neighborhood without noticeably injur¬ 
ing the dogs. At the foot of that hill lives a man who 
elaimf, now that he owned that dog and wants damages. 
He owns the land on one side of the road where the 
accident occurred, but not on the other side where the 
dog happened to be. The house from which the dog 
came is owned, but not occupied, by a prospective son- 
in-law. The alleged owner of the dog claims to have 
taken the dog to this vacant farm to drive cows, after 
which he sent him home, while the man and his son 
went in the opposite direction with an automobile, 
thongh they had gone some time before the dog left the 
place. The son claims the car should have been stopped 
on that hill and the dog sent home before proceeding 
further with the car. Is this a legal necessity? If so, 
then it is dangerous to go out on the road with a car, 
because a dog might get under. Our car was full, and 
we have five witnesses to the fact that every possible 
effort was made to avoid the accident except stopping 
the car until the dog could be disposed of. Can this 
man collect damages? g. a. 
New York. 
R. N.-T.—On the strength of the statement hero 
made we should say no. This dog law is fearfully and 
wonderfully made, and no one can tell from it just what 
right in the road a dog has. We should say that in this 
case all reasonable precautions were used and that the 
(log was responsible for the accident. Was he licensed 
and did he wear his tag? He had no business being ©n 
the road without his owner. 
