716 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Strong - f or - W ork 
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JOBBERS OVERALL COMPANY, Inc., Lynchburg, Va. 
New York Office, 64 Leonard Street 
Largest manufacturers of Union Made Overalls exclusively in the world 
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—— 
If you buy a furnace without finding out what’s 
underneath the cover you are buying more care¬ 
lessly than if you bought a pig in a bag. 
It’s the care and expert knowledge that goes into the parts 
under the cover that make the furnace a successful heater. 
N P • Sterling Furnace 
The One Register Furnace 
Is the product of a firm of over 60 years experience in 
building high grade ranges and heaters, and under its 
cover is as high quality a furnace as can be manufactured. 
The NP is designed especially to heat the entire house with one register and 
to do it comfortably and easily with the least amount of fuel. 
Study the cross section and you will see why with the NP the air is forced 
to circulate more rapidly than is possible in any other type of construction, 
and remember the faster the circulation the better the one register furnace 
heats the house. 
A—Scientific Sterling construction insuring perfect combustion, and saving 
of fuel. 
B—Extra large heating dome which heats air passing around it more quickly 
and to higher temperature with less fire. 
C—Outside air passages keep the air cool way to the bottom of the furnace 
and so make the air flow very swiftly thru the heating chambers D, and 
then pours it out with great force thru the register. 
These outside air passages are vital Sterling features. Here are some 
others: a cool cellar, feed door large enough for chunks of wood, heavy 
grey iron castings (no scrap used), special fire pot where natural gas 
and solid fuel are used, special three point dust and gas proof joints, 
extra large air moistener. 
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grade furnace which is made by the same firm 
who manufactures 
THE STERLING RANGE 
The range that bakes a barrel of flour with one hod of coal 
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SILL STOVE WORKS, Rochester, N. Y. 
■ i£Sf„ 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a 
quick reply and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
The City Man Versus the Farmer 
The most indifferent observer cannot 
but be apprehensively impressed with the 
present hostile attitude of the average city 
dweller toward the man upon whom he is 
dependent for his daily bread, the farmer. 
In spite of the fact that there are more 
farms idle today than ever before in our 
country’s history, for want of tenants ; in 
the face of the unprecedented shortage of 
I help even on those places the farmers 
imake a pretense of tilling; in view of the 
fact that numberless diseases and insects, 
droughts, floods and frosts destroy the 
growing crops; notwithstanding all that 
has been said and written on the hard¬ 
ships. difficulties and lack of profit in pro¬ 
ducing food, and in spite of the depopu¬ 
lation of rural communities because of 
the allurements of greater income and 
more congenial life in the city ; notwith¬ 
standing all these things, the urban ig¬ 
norance of the causes of the high cost of 
foodstuffs is extremely painful, and dis¬ 
gusting to anyone who is at all informed 
.is to the actual facts. 
The writer lias had the unusual advan¬ 
tage of seeing both sides of the fence, 
having for the last 20 years lived part of 
lie year in town and part tilling his own 
farm. The other day I was eating in a 
hotel in a large city. Seated at the table 
with me were three women, strangers to 
me. One of them ordered a fried egg 
(20c). a baked potatoe (15c), two small 
pieces of toast (15c), a cup of coffee 
(10c). a very frugal meal for GOc. The 
•onversation centered upon the high cost 
of food and the exorbitant profits made in 
farming. One remarked: “Think of it, 
one egg. 20c; ,$2.40 a dozen ! The aver¬ 
age farmer keeps about 100 hens, and they 
would ley at least seven dozeu eggs a day. 
That would bring $16.80 a day, or $6,132 
a year, from 100 liens.” Another of the 
ladies chimed in : "Yes, and imagine ISc 
a quart for milk. I’m told a cow will give 
40 quarts of milk a day, and that would 
mean a profit of $1,971 on one cow in a 
year. And I understand that lots of farm¬ 
ers keep as many as 40 cows. I figured 
>ut that that would mean $7.8.840 profit 
in a year. Just imagine! Isn't that per¬ 
fectly scandalous? It doesn’t cost a cent 
more to pasture a cow today than it did 
10 years ago. The Government ought to 
protect us against such rapacious liav- 
seeds.” 
Then the third added: “And look what 
they are getting for wheat. $2.38 a bushel. 
And it costs no more to raise it now than 
it did when they were getting 80c. The 
Government ought to take this tiling in 
hand and put the price right down to SOc 
again, and even then they would make 
enough to retire in a few years. Why, 
they have no expense. I went out to a 
farm in my limousine last October, and 
the farmer, his wife and daughter were 
digging all their potatoes and keeping all 
that profit themselves. And then to charge 
us such perfectly ridiculous prices. They¬ 
’re simply hogs, that's what they are.” 
Thus the talk ran on. none of them 
showing any more knowledge of actual 
conditions, and no more common sense 
than a five-year-old child. Finally I told 
the ladies I felt deeply gratified by their 
compliments, as I. too, was one of those 
despised beings, hut that my experience 
did not bear out their fantastic estimates. 
Then I tried to explain that farmers get 
55c per dozen for eggs, instead of $2.40, 
and that never in all hen’s history did 100 
hens lay seven dozeu eggs a day for 365 
days in the year, nor anywhere near it. 
Also I told them that in my opinion they 
somewhat exaggerated one cow’s annual 
profit; that the dairyman got only 7c a 
quart instead of 18c; that the best cow 
that ever lived never gave half that quan¬ 
tity per day as an annual average; that 
many a dairyman, if he charged to ex¬ 
pense his own labor, the 16 hours a day he 
is obliged to slave, at the rate his city 
friend is getting, would be in debt at the 
end of the year instead of making the fab¬ 
ulous profit of which they accused him. 
Upon hearing these statements the ladies 
not only doubted my veracity, but be¬ 
lieved me crazy, as well. 
A6 the writer pondered over this con¬ 
versation he became convinced that there 
is an almost unbridgeable chasm fixed be¬ 
tween producer and consumer, equally 
harmful for both. The city man has his 
mind constantly poisoned against the 
farmer by the retailer and hotel man. who 
ceaselessly repeat that they must charge 
these exorbitant prices because of the 
farmer. No more deceptive statement was 
ever made. 
What are some of the means by which 
this chasm may possibly be bridged? As 
every business concern of any consequence 
has an advertising department, so should 
fanning, the greatest and most funda¬ 
mental business, have means of meeting 
publicity with publicity, evil attack with 
just rebuke, untruth with truth. Even 
churches are realizing the advantages of 
systematic advertising, and every political 
party spends thousands of dollars in ads. 
to impress upon the public the virtues, 
facts and figures of their respective par¬ 
ties. Altogether too long have our city 
friends heard only one side of the story— 
the side told by the middleman for his 
own selfish ends. Therefore let our farm 
organizations, such as the Grange, Dairy¬ 
men’s League, the State Federation of Ag¬ 
riculture, provide a permanent advertising 
committee empowered to employ an expert 
publicity man on a stipulated annual sal¬ 
ary to work in conjunction with them, 
whose business it will be to have charge of 
this important and long-neglected matter. 
Let them make it their business to give 
the urbanites, through the leading city 
April 19, 1919 
dailies, the truth concerning what the 
farmer is getting for eggs. milk. meat, 
grain and other farm products, and more 
especially to inform them as to what it 
costs to produce those articles. 
W. S. DROMAN. 
Inside Toilets for Country Schools 
Previous to the taking effect of the 
township system school law, a regulation 
had been made requiring all schools not 
so equipped to install inside toilets for the 
pupils. Before that regulation could be 
complied with, however, the township law 
took that matter, with others, out of the 
hands of the local trustees. Now that the 
township system law has been repealed, 
the old law again becomes effective, and. 
I am told, will be enforced. No particu¬ 
lar kind of closet is required, and flush 
closets will undoubtedly be preferred where 
a water system makes their use feasible. 
As a substitute, chemical closets may be 
installed, and, so far as I have been able 
to learn through inquiry, they have proven 
satisfactory in use. 
Writing me with regard to them, one of 
the superintendents of schools of Chenan¬ 
go Co., N. 1’., says: “Several of these 
closets have been in use in this territory 
for three or four years and others have 
been placed during the present school 
year. They are so arranged as to be un¬ 
der the direct supervision of the teacher. 
The rooms are swept and cared for as 
part of the school building, and one noted 
result of this is the absence of dirt and 
filth on the floors and walls. There is 
also a marked absence of obscene writing 
and drawings. In the ordinary country 
schools, these closets need to be re-charged 
but once a year, and this takes but little 
time and causes but little trouble. When 
the tank of the chemical closet is full, at¬ 
tention is needed and will, of necessity, he 
given. The outdoor privy received almost 
no attention. The outdoor privy was cer¬ 
tainly a disgrace to any community and 
was a menace as regards decency, morals 
and sanitation : and many years of school 
work have failed to bring me knowledge 
of decent conditions existing where that 
type of toilet was in use.” 
A superintendent of schools in Chau¬ 
tauqua County, where these closets have 
probably been longest in use in this State, 
says of them : “The greater part of the 
schools in my district, including some of 
the smaller village schools, are equipped 
with chemical toilets. I have three 
schools which were equipped eight year- 
ago. simply as a matter of experiment. I 
have, therefore, made quite a careful, thor¬ 
ough study of this style of toilet; as a 
result of which I have drawn the follow¬ 
ing conclusions: The toilets are sanitary, 
if properly installed; the toilets manufac¬ 
tured at the present time which comply 
with the specifications of the Stflte de¬ 
partment last for years, and the effect 
upon the morals and discipline of a school 
is marked. The whole atmosphere of 
many district schools has been changed. 
The chemical used is some form of caus¬ 
tic soda: in fact, I believe that if this 
were used in its commercial form there 
would he no difficulty.” 
There can he no question as to the lack 
of decency in the surroundings of the av¬ 
erage country schoolhouse outdoor privy. 
No one who has had occasion to inspect 
many of them, and who remembers those 
of his own school days, will deny their de¬ 
grading influence upon the minds, morals 
and appreciation of outward and inward 
cleanliness of the pupils using them. In 
many districts they are monuments to the 
indifference or feeling of helplessness of 
parents toward the kind of education that 
their children are receiving in addition to 
the three Rs of the schoolroom. 
Probably few parents can look back 
upon the training in indecency and ob¬ 
scenity. if not gross immorality, which 
they received at the hands of playmates 
upon schoolhouse grounds without a shud¬ 
der at the thought of subjecting their own 
children to the same malign influences, 
and the outdoor privy has long been the 
center from which much of evil suggestion 
has radiated. If the. putting of these 
necessary toilet facilities under some su¬ 
pervision from the teacher can. in any 
measure, purify the moral atmosphere of 
public schools, the increased cost will be 
more than compensated and the matter of 
physical sanitation need not be considered. 
If the effect upon the mind of merely 
physical surroundings were hut half ap¬ 
preciated. and. if the degradation of char¬ 
acter which follows debasement of the 
body were at all understood, modern toilet 
facilities would be generally recognized as 
among the most helpful of uplifting in¬ 
fluences in a Christian civilization. A 
glistening porcelain washbowl against a 
background of spotless tiling is a pulpit 
from which daily sermons are preached. 
A stainless white tub, with nickeled fau¬ 
cets and flowing streams, is an altar to the 
god of purity, both of mind and body, and 
a toilet bowl which is equally clean and 
which, in its use. offeuds none of the 
senses, is a force for morality which the 
thoughtless do not give it credit for. 
It is. of course, impossible to have all 
of these things in country schoolhouses. 
If it were, no other part of the educa¬ 
tional course offered would exceed them 
in value in developing the characters of 
children. It is possible, however, to see 
that the toilet rooms used by the children 
shall be attractively clean, that their walls 
shall not be made the medium of bringing 
before the children at every visit the 
grossest suggestions of vulgarity, and that 
their daily use shall not cut channels of 
evil thought from which the minds of the 
children can never wholly turn. M. B. o. 
