48 
January 11, 1919 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes 
Established iS50 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 333 West 30th Street, Sew Vork 
Herbert W. Colling wood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.01, equal to 8s. 6<L, or 
8^ marks, or lOh; francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter 
Advertising rates, 76 cents per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us , and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any 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 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
This new subscriber, Mr. Carrigan, is a comrade of 
mine of the Civil War, and he is the father of Bill Car¬ 
rigan, the great baseball player and manager. I am in¬ 
troducing you to extra good company, and I believe and 
trust that'you will gain their good opinion. 
Maine. JOHN l. ham. 
ANY of our readers are baseball “fans,” and 
they have seen the great Bill Carrigan pick 
them off the bat behind the plate or drive in the win¬ 
ning run with his big bat. Farming is something of 
a ball game, and the farmer must go to bat with 
Bug and Blight, Bad Season and Bulldozing Busi¬ 
ness to pitch hot ones and curves and “spitters” at 
him. We shall all bat a little harder when we real¬ 
ize that we all belong to the same club as Bill Car¬ 
rigan. 
* 
Regarding the change of time by the Government, 
would say that it was very unpopular here, and caused 
much adverse criticism. It was felt that it was an un¬ 
warranted monkeying with the fixed habits and customs 
of the people. If it were submitted to a popular vote, I 
think there would be a vast majority against it. It 
created so much bitterness that it surely will not be 
imposed upon us again unless the majority should vote 
in favor of it, which will never be done. b. 
Illinois. 
UR investigations lead us to conclude that 85 
per cent of the country people would vote 
against the “daylight saving” scheme if they had a 
chance. There can be no question about this, and 
now that the necessity for any such scheme has 
passed, the law should be repealed before the time 
comes for changing the clocks. Admitting any pos¬ 
sible advantage for “daylight saving” as a war meas¬ 
ure, the war is now over, and we know it proved a 
disadvantage to the great majority of farmers. 
* 
Your editorial on Secretary Lane’s land scheme (for 
disabled 6oldiers) was read in our Grange at the last 
meeting, and no thoughtful farmer could fail to be im¬ 
pressed with its force. I was reminded of Dr. Bailey’s 
comment on the hullabaloo that was made about “aban¬ 
doned farms” in this State, a few years ago. It was to 
the effect that they might better be left for the future, 
so long as there was so much land not farmed up to its 
capacity. When we were really crowded it would be a 
good thing to have some slack to take up, and the aban¬ 
doned farm question would solve itself. G. A. 
T seems that a good many Granges take statements 
in The R. N.-Y. as the basis of a discussion. We are 
glad to have this done, for that is the only way to get 
at the real truth of any matter. In the big changes 
which are surely coming to farming the great dan¬ 
ger is that we cannot get a clear understanding at 
the beginning. Unfortunately many of these great 
changes are not understood until the habits and 
social machinery which they produce or bring about 
are too firmly fixed to be easily remedied. Had 
they been more clearly understood at the beginning 
the condition of country people might have been bet¬ 
ter. So we are greatly pleased to have our state¬ 
ments analyzed and discussed. If we are shown to 
be wrong after such analysis we will admit it, and 
get on the right side. Do not, however, expect us to 
accept an opinion for a fact. 
ft 
The appropriation desired for the State Police De¬ 
partment for 1919 is over $864,000. Is the service ren¬ 
dered rural communities worth this immense sum? Do 
the farmers of the State really want the State police? 
Oswego Co., N. Y. c - H. h. 
HE best way to answer this question is to ask 
the farmers, and we herewith put the question 
up to them. With the present Legislature and mixed 
condition of the State government anything like a 
popular expression of opinion will receive attention. 
The fact is that this popular expression of opinion 
must be made a foundation part of all reforms. We 
have made a good beginning at putting a fork handle 
on the Legislature, now we must be able to state 
clearly just what our farmers want. Do you want 
to spend the best part of a million dollars on this 
State police force? Tell us, with a brief statement 
of your reasons, and we will collect and submit the 
Cfte RURAL NEW-YORKER 
evidence. This State police is supposed to protect 
rural neighborhoods. Therefore the country people 
should decide whether they want it or not. The R. 
N.-Y. offers its services in an effort to find out 
whether this million is well spent or not. 
* 
T HE final tabulation of votes in New York State 
gave Smith for Governor 1,009.936 votes. Whit¬ 
man polled 995.094. There were 43,650 blank vdtes 
and 16,892 void—that is, improperly marked. The 
largest vote was polled by James L. Wells for State 
Treasurer, he receiving 1,028,752, or a plurality of 
1S8,975. Thus while Gov. Whitman lost by almost 
15,000 five other candidates on the Republican ticket 
won by an average of more than 120,000. On the 
\ ote for members of the Legislature the Republicans 
had a majority of over 125,000. 
* 
T HE retelling of the Alfalfa story in this issue 
calls attention once more to the most valuable 
natural resource of New York State. That is not oil or 
timber or limestone or salt, but Alfalfa. There is 
greater prospective wealth in the Alfalfa lands which 
stretch through the limestone formations of Central 
New York than in any other product now lying in our 
soils. People who live outside of the Alfalfa belt 
cannot quite comprehend the wealth-producing power 
of this crop. Those who grow it do not always 
realize how they have been blessed. These farms in 
Central New York can produce as large crops of 
Alfalfa as any land in the world, and they are so 
situated that the returns for market or for feeding 
are higher than anywhere else in the country. As 
time goes on and more and more of this limestone 
land is seeded to Alfalfa the crop will bring untold 
riches to Central New York and, what is more, leave 
the soil stronger and more productive than ever. 
Grain farming has driven entire sections to poverty 
and depression. ^Alfalfa always leads in the other 
direction. 
* 
S OMETHING like 50 soldiers have already applied 
to us for information about farms. Some of 
these young men have lived in the country—others 
never saw farm work performed. Quite a few of 
them inquire about short courses at the agricultural 
colleges. The great majority of them seem to prefer 
a location in the East. Few if any are interested in 
the schemes for developing idle or waste lands in 
the Far West. As we talk with these young men it 
becomes evident that their service in the army has 
sobered them and given them a clear idea of the 
situation. Fifty years ago the soldiers of the Civil 
War had, many of them, an almost insane desire to 
rush into the cheap land of the W est—without ex¬ 
perience or capital, and without considering what 
would happen to both ends of the country through 
a sudden increase in the food production. We find 
little of this feeling among the soldiers who are now 
considering this land proposition. They understand 
what overcrowding and overproduction in agriculture 
will mean and they are not going to spend their lives, 
as many of their fathers and grandfathers did, pro¬ 
ducing so much food that only the middlemen and 
handlers could really prosper. What the nation needs 
of these young men is to have them take the good 
larms at present half cultivated or neglected and 
bring them back to good use. That will supply the 
world with food and the neighborhood with new and 
^ igorous life. 
* 
How many fanners in the New York Legislaturef 
HERE was some delay in making out an exact 
list of occupations, as in some cases the soldier 
vote was needed to make sure. The following figures 
are taken from the manual: 
NEW YORK STATE SENATE 
Merchant, 2; lawyer, 26; real estate, 5; batter, 1; 
druggist, 1; manufacturer, 1; accountant, 1; architect, 
1 ; banker, 3 ; business, 1; civil engineer, 1; farmer, 2; 
college professor, 1; contractor, 1; insurance, 2; book- 
keeper, 1; no occupation, 1. 
NEW YORK ASSEMBLY. 
Manufacturer, 7; mining engineer, 3; banker, 3; re¬ 
porter, 1; politician, 1; contractor, 1; lauuderer. 1; 
farmer. 30; auctioneer. 1; oil producer, 1; reclamation, 
1; lumber, 1; automobiles. 2; lawyer, 47; salesman, 1; 
newspaper man, 2 ; school teacher. 2 ; shoemaker, 1; ac¬ 
countant, 1; real estate, 11 ; broker, 3; manager, -; 
advertising. 1; tailor. 1; dealer, 2; merchant, 2 ; printer, 
2; insurance, 5; business, 6; undertaker, 1; investiga¬ 
tor, 1; basket manufacturer, 1 ; dentist, 1; chemist, 1; 
bricklayer, 1. 
In this list we couut those who permit the word 
“farmer” to be printed with their names. Several 
men profess to have other occupations, but they own 
or operate farms. They never could have been elect¬ 
ed had they not agreed to support farm interests. 
This yetfr there are more actual farmers in the Leg¬ 
islature than ever before in the past 25 years. And 
that is not all. At least 15 men from rural counties 
were forced to give definite pledges in order to be 
elected. These men are of various occupations. As 
a rule they had served one term or more, and polit¬ 
ical custom of their county would give them another. 
The farmers respected this custom in an agreement 
that these men will support farm legislation. There 
are therefore at least 47 men in this Legislature 
who are either farmers by occupation or farmers by 
pledge. In at least half a dozen other cases old- 
time politicians who had betrayed agriculture re¬ 
peatedly were snowed under at the primary or in 
the election by farmers’ votes—and the men who 
take their places know who put them there and why 
they were sent! 
This work of putting more than 50 acknowledged 
friends of agriculture in the Legislature was done 
quietly and without help from the politicians. In 
many cases the farmers found it necessary to de¬ 
velop a new organization and oppose patronage, 
precedent and political habit. The most remarkable 
instance of this was in Sullivan County. There the 
farmers met and designated a candidate and then 
forced the politicians to support him. Strange to say, 
some of the hardest and meanest opposition came 
from men who should have been their leaders. Sev¬ 
eral great farm organizations voted to support the 
movement, yet their officials went up and down the 
State ridiculing the plan and doing what they could 
to defeat it. They succeeded in preventing the nom¬ 
ination or election of at least five farmers, but as 
things turned out they did the cause a great service 
by showing farmers what they can do through their 
own leadership. And so, at the end of round one, the 
farmers come up smiling. They have put 47 farm¬ 
ers by occupation or pledge into the Legislature, and 
they have learned how to do it. If the 47 fail to 
stand by their occupation or pledge we will guaran¬ 
tee that they will never go back, and that there will 
be 74 in the next Legislature who will stand. 
* 
T HE 12 Federal Land Banks have loaned thus far 
$149,004,439 on farm property. This does not 
mean that any large number of farms have been 
brought under cultivation, or that many hired men 
or tenants have become land owners. Only eight per 
cent of this money was used to buy land and 10 per 
cent to erect buildings. About 70 per cent was used 
to pay off other mortgages or debts. Only seven per 
cent was used to buy live stock or implements. Thus 
the banks have been mostly used to refund old debts. 
These farmers have borrowed money from the gov¬ 
ernment at five and five and one-half per cent in 
order to pay obligations which cost them six per 
cent or more. That seems to be about all there is 
to it thus far! 
* 
' 1 tried your plan of 100 apple trees on our Rhode 
Island farm. After the wild deer got through eating 
the bark it seemed the part of wisdom to defer further 
plantings until the State decides which class of citizens 
comes first, sportsmen or orchardists. w. b. welling. 
NOTHER correspondent says the only hope for 
the 100 trees would be to have a farmer who 
would take some interest in them. Some men seem 
to hate a tree for the space it occupies on the land. 
We have had men smash a harrow over a young tree 
and then look back and laugh, thinking they had 
done a smart thing. About the only cure for such a 
man is to have a woman or child in his family who 
will shame him into respect for a tree. As for a 
State that will put the sportsman above the or- 
chardist, there are various answers. The State may 
be as hidebound as a dead stump. The “sportsman” 
may be attending to his business day and night, or 
rhe orchardist may be afraid to say he knows what 
a tree is! 
Brevities 
Cow peas and cow peace go together. 
Apples, hogs, Alfalfa and a limestone soil—a good 
combination. 
Every dog has his day—and many dogs also take the 
night. 
It seems to us that the crusade against the cat has 
simply produced—more cats. 
Turning over a new leaf for the new year is all right 
in its way, but turning over a few old leaves and sorting 
out the experience pays better. 
Tins looks good to us for 1919: Spring pigs grown 
on clover or Alfalfa and fattened on rape, sorghum and 
corn, with a little tankage or bran. 
Last year in New York State alone 969 people were 
killed in automobile accidents. It is claimed that ding 
fiends, drunken men and even insane people are per¬ 
mitted to drive cars. 
Those who stop to listen to all the small talk and 
scandal and trivial things may be said to drink the dish¬ 
water of life. When one come to prefer this to the real 
wine of life we have a case that is close to hopeless. 
