1359 
Do Farmers Understand Their Own 
Problems ? 
TTeve is a situation which calls for “careful con¬ 
sideration" by fanners. The National Board of Farm 
Organizations is a federation of the stronger farm or¬ 
ganizations of America. It represents about 3,000,- 
000 organized farmers. The chairman of its execu¬ 
tive committee is Win. T. Creasy, a prominent and 
well-known citizen of Pennsylvania. This National 
Board is interested (as all of us are) in the recon¬ 
struction of industiy which is to follow the war. As 
it speaks and acts for organized farmers it is pai’- 
ticularly interested in securing rights for agriculture 
in the great world changes which are coming. Nat¬ 
urally. after this war, the changes in Eureopean agri¬ 
culture must have a vital effect upon farming in 
America. Therefore, in order to plan for the future 
in any large way, our farmers must know what Eu¬ 
rope will do for agriculture and make world-wide 
plans. Unless the nations of the world can act to¬ 
gether in the future this fearful war will have been 
partly in vain. Acting upon this principle, the Na¬ 
tional Board decided to send delegates to Europe 
with instructions “to .secure all available information 
as to plans and purposes of other nations for recon¬ 
struction after the war which may interest or affect 
the farmers of America.” 
We believe that every farmer who is capable of 
connective thought Avill agree that the National 
Board had a full right to appoint such delegates and 
that it was a good thing to secui-e such information. 
Mr. Gifford Pinchot was appointed as one of these 
delegates. No one can deny that Mr. Pinchot is a 
good-sized man with the necessary character and 
ability required to obtain the desired information. 
Yet when iNIr. Pinchot applied for passports in order 
to make the trip the .State Department refused to 
give them for the following reasons: 
This department i.s informed by the Secretary of Agri¬ 
culture that the Council of National Defense is the only 
body which has been charged by the I’resident with the 
problems of reconstruction and of discovering what di¬ 
rection effort should take to this end. Furthermore, the 
Department of Agriculture has recently sent abroad a 
competent (Commission for the purpose of investigating 
the agricultural problems connected with recon.struction. 
Thi.s Commission is now abroad and is in touch with the 
various governments and agricultural interests of the 
countries of Europe. 
If this moans anything at all it is that the farmers 
of .\merica must be satisfied with the information 
they can obtain through “oflicial channels.” There 
is particular need right now that the farmers should 
know, through their own agents, the exact situation 
in European agriculture. Past experience has taught 
them to have little confidence in the various boards 
or commissions which have been .supposed to repre¬ 
sent them. Delegates of commercial and other or¬ 
ganizations have been permitted to go abroad on 
similar errands, but farmers are expected to be satis¬ 
fied with the “oflicial” reports which are handed out 
to them. They are not satisfied with such reports, 
nor are they satisfied with the autocratic spirit in 
which government and regulation and “education” 
by commission is being forced upon them. Thus far 
they have in every case been refused any fair repre- 
sent.ation in deciding and handling the great war 
(piestions which affect their business. 
William D. Hoard—Friend of Dairymen 
The picture of Hon. William D. Hoard here shown 
was taken from a photograph in the Wisconsin His¬ 
torical Library. It was printed in a pamphlet on “The 
Bennett I.aw in Wisconsin” recently published. This 
pamphlet gives a very clear and striking record of 
the exciting controversy of the question of teaching 
English in Wisconsin schools. During that contro¬ 
versy Gov. Hoard took a strong and consistent stand 
for a principle, and while he was defeated for re- 
election history has fully shown that he was right. 
William D. Hoard’s name was a household word— 
not only among country people, but with many whose 
homes have always been in town. At his death many 
of the large daily papers, which usually know little 
and care less about farm matters, printed very appro¬ 
priate and appreciative studies of IMr. Hoard’s life 
and character. Perhaps the best of them came from 
the New York Sun, and we can hardly do better than 
quote from it: 
On the roster of men to whom we owe the modern 
development of dairying, the name of William I). Hoard 
of Wisconsin, who died at his home in Fort Atkinson 
on Friday, will always have a high place. He was one 
of the first Americans to recognize that disaster must 
follow the robbery of the soil, one of the earliest to 
ignore the long cherished opinion that organization of 
farmers was not feasible, and one of the pioneers in the 
crusade for modern and enlightened methods in the cow 
barn and the pasture. 
Modern scientific dairying, with its intricate machin¬ 
ery and exact records, rests on the Babcock test, and 
Mr. Babcock, after years of study of the chemistry of 
Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
milk, butter, cheese, and other milk products, and the 
intimately associated problems of cuttle feeding for the 
sustenance of the cow and high production of rich, 
wholesome milk, completed the tester in ISOO, not quite 
a generation ago Mr. Babcock and Mr. iloard were 
both natives of New York, always one of the gi-eatest 
agricultural and dairying States of the Union. Mr. 
Babcock was born in Bridgewater, Oneida county ; Mr. 
Hoard came from Stockbridge, in Madison county. The 
inventor of the Babcock test had the advantage of a 
thorough academic training: Mr. Hoard, who was Mr. 
Babcock’s senior by seven years, had to get along with¬ 
out this early advantage. But though Mr. Hoai’d lacked 
the training Mr. Babcock put to such distinguished use, 
his intellectual horizon was always a wide one. and he 
was mentally equipped for the task of leadership his 
disposition and the circumstances his interesting life 
brought to him. 
It is conceivable that no university instructor, no 
matter what his attainments in his specialty, could have 
done what Mr. Hoard did. Primarily, fundamentally 
and continuously a farmer, his writings and his addresses 
were the expressions of intelligent concern for tlie far¬ 
mers. He talked to them as one of themselves, not as 
a missionary from an alien sphere. 
Mr. Hoard lived to be 82. He lived to see the princi¬ 
ples of farm management for which he contended in the 
face of thinly veiled distrust adopted without question. 
He had the satisfaction of being a prophet honored at 
home and held in esteem abroad. 
The salvation of the nation, the peace of the world, 
depend absolutely on the production of food. The most 
alarming incident of American life has been the aban¬ 
donment of agriculture for other industries. The most 
hopeful national tendency now observable is the intelli¬ 
gent effort to \yhich so many agencies, public and pri¬ 
vate, are contributing to reestablish agriculture on the 
Gov, William Dempster Hoard of Wisconsin 
plane on which it belongs. This is not tu be brought 
about by sentimentalists, by ill-considered “back to the 
land” movements addressed to persons incompetent to 
plow a straight furrow, but by hard-headed, business¬ 
like study of the problems of farming, by the employ¬ 
ment of every aid science can bring to the cultivator 
and by the elimination of bad practices in farming. To 
this men like Mr. Hoard are the most potent contribu¬ 
tors, and thus true benefactors of the race. 
Must Wentify ‘‘Cold Storage Eggs” 
Last week Sui)reine Court .Tustice Delelianty con¬ 
firmed the permanent injunction to re.strain Swift 
Co., packers, from selling cold storage eggs 
without the words “cold storage” marked on each 
e.gg. This order was issued by the Department of 
I’oods and Markets two years ago. Hwift & Co. ig¬ 
nored the order and were promptly summoned to 
court by Commissioner Dillon. The local courts 
granted injunctions against Swift & Co. and several 
other dealers in cold storage eggs. These injunc¬ 
tions made it illegal to sell storage eggs without the 
markings, but Swift & Co. carried their protest to 
the Supreme Court, and the injunction is now perma¬ 
nent. In granting the decree the .Justice said he 
could see no hardship or injustice to a merchant in 
requiring him to call an article what it is. 
I.ast year the order was enforced up to December 
ir». when jMr. Dillon left the department, and cold 
storage eggs wei*e selling around 45 cents a dozen. 
The order was not enforced after December 15. and 
cold storage eggs were then sold nil over the city 
under signs which descril)ed them as “strictly fresh 
State eggs” at 60 to 65 cents a dozen. The difference 
went into the pockets of the dealers; and the cold 
storage eggs went into competition with eggs pro¬ 
duced in the Winter on high-priced feed. The order 
is not being enforced now, but the courts and the 
Attorney-General have done their part. 
The National Grange at Syracuse, N. Y* 
What the Grange Stands For 
Bakt I. 
A REPRESENTATIV’E BODY.—The National 
Grange met at Syracuse, N. Y., Nov. 13-23. The Na¬ 
tional Grange is a rather select delegate body, repre¬ 
senting all the States, and much of its proceedings are 
participated in only by delegates, and of interest only 
to members of the Grange. The work of the National 
Grange of general interest is the policies it places itself 
on record for. and which will be advocated by its legis¬ 
lative committee and supported ’oy all Granges in the 
United States. The program at Syracu.se included an 
opening reception on Wednesday at which Gov. Whit¬ 
man and others made addres.ses; Thursday, Friday and 
Saturday were given to conferring degrees and to the 
secret work of the Grange. More than 1,500 were initi¬ 
ated in the seventh degree. On Sunday there was a 
memorial service; Monday was spent by the delegates 
at Cornell University. The remainder of the week until 
Friday-night was occupied with business sessions. 
LEGISLATIVE REPORT.—The legislative report 
submitted called forth unanimous approval and the en¬ 
tire report was endorsed without a dissenting vote. 
Many measures have been enacted into law as war nec¬ 
essities. It is not unusual for such measures to contain 
carefully veiled economic or political provisions calculat¬ 
ed to secure some special privilege or to buttress the 
strong and oppress the weak. Many questions are now 
sure to come up which must be settled in the interest of 
the common people, or the victory we have won will bo 
largely, if pot wholly, lost to humanity. The Grange 
cannot begin too soon to study these great questions 
with a view to influencing the minds and opinions of 
the farmers of the countrjc There has never been a 
time in the history of American agriculture when it 
needed the_ steadying, thoughtful statesmanship of the 
Grange as it does now that the gigantic struggle toward 
normal condition is upon us. The responsibility that is 
upon the Grange is appalling. The report also referred 
to the organization of a league of nations. At the “Win 
the War for Peace” convention in Philadelphia last 
May the National Grange Master was selected to head 
the executive committee of the League to Enforce Peace. 
(GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP.—While the legis¬ 
lative committee believed the new war revenue bill 
“might be more equitable in some respects,” the mem¬ 
bers reported that “it is making progress in the right 
direction, having fixed the war profits tax at SO per 
cent in harmony with the demands of the National 
Grange.” The committee believed that its efforts in be¬ 
half of national prohibition will soon bear fruit and a 
dry nation will result. For many years the Grange has 
ravored government ownership of railroads, and now 
since the government has found it necessary to take over 
and operate the railroads as a war measure w’e may 
h'iirn by experience many things of value concerning 
government operation of our transportation facilities. 
“This is certain to be one of the far-reaching and vital 
questions that must be settled, and it seems to be gen¬ 
erally believed that some form of government ownership 
operation will continue. The government’s war time 
action has vindicated the wisdom of the policy pursued 
by the Grange w’ith regard to federalizing the telegraph 
and telephone systems.” 
RECONSTRUCTION WORK.—A committee was 
appointed to draft a program of agriculture’s needs dur¬ 
ing the reconstruction. The committee is a.s follows: T. 
C. Atkeson, West Virginia; S. .1. Lowell, New York; 
Louis .1. Taber, Ohio; William .1. Thompson, Maine; 
L. H. Wright, Indiana; John C. Ketchem, Michigan; 
C. E. Spence, Oregon; Barton Needham, Kansas, and 
C. C. King, Oklahoma. Accepting an invitation ex¬ 
tended by Cornell University, the Grangers in session 
went to Ithaca by automobile Monday morning. They 
were shown through the State College of Agriculture 
and entertained at luncheon, and returned to Syracuse 
late in the day. 
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.—Tuesday morning 
the business sessions were resumed and were continued 
tintil the adjournment on Friday. The peace committee 
said it is our first duty to see that our hospitals are 
equipped to care for our wounded soldiers properly, and 
also that our Allies escape as far as possible the differ¬ 
ing and destitution that follow war. and also the morals 
of the soldiers be carefully guarded during the time of 
demobilization and enforced idleness. The plan of the 
league of nations, it was said, is an old Grange policy 
which is now to be worked out. When peace is actually 
established it will be time to consider the welfare of 
the Central nations we have been at war with, who have 
committed every crime against state and international 
laws. Following this report the woman’s suffrage reso¬ 
lution was unanimously adopted, asking the Senate im¬ 
mediately to pass the Federal suffrage amendment, 
which is now lacking two-thirds majority by its recent 
action. The pure food committee next reported, and 
asked that the Grange still remain on record in recom¬ 
mending that purity of foods be maintained, and there 
be no substitution or articles that reduce their value as 
nutrients, or are injurious to health. 
DAYLIGHT SAVING LAW.—,The resolution to pre¬ 
vent a continuance next year of the daylight saving law 
was introduced. The farmers declare that the daylight 
.saving law as practiced during the last Summer hurt 
them greatly. They claim that the morning dew pre¬ 
vents them from doing much work about the farm until 
eight or nine o’clock in the morning by the right time, 
and that when the clock is turned forward an hour the 
men come to work an hour earlier by the sun; it means 
they are on the farm when their efforts are little needed. 
In the afternoon the men quit an hour earlier by the 
sun. and this hour cannot be spared. “The hands of the 
clock are right where they should be now, and we want to 
keep them there,” said one of the Grange members. It 
was admitted that the extra hour of daylight in the 
evening helped city men to some extent by giving them 
an hour more in their war gardens. It cut the farmer 
an hour short, though, on his help. That hour on the 
big farms will help the country a great deal more than 
the hour of the city men in the war gardens. The help 
the war gardeners gave in solving the food question last 
Summer was appreciatetl, but the farmer must be pro¬ 
tected. This daylight saving law now lengthens the damp, 
dewy hours of the morning when hay cannot be cut, 
crops cultivated, or such work be done, and it shortens 
the closing hours which are the best for farm work. On 
the big farms today men have to be hired for a nine or 
10-hour day. just the same as the factory man does. He 
comes to work at six or seven o’clock, as the case may 
be, and cannot be worked after hours any more than 
can the factory man. Farmers cannot afford to lo.se the 
afternoon hour. w. ii. .j. 
