916 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S TAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established tsso 
1‘nbtlxhed weekly by the Ilnral Publishing Company, 333 West 30th Street, New York 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
Jons’ J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Koyi.e, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 8s. fid. or 
8l£ marks, or 101$ francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter 
Advertising rates, 75 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 mako 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 bo 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month or the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention Tiie Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
ll'c seem to have started a fair and reasonable 
discussion of the milk question. This week's contri¬ 
bution is particularly interesting. Dairymen have 
long needed just such an analysis of the situation, 
with logical presentment of facts and without per¬ 
sonalities . 
* 
The object of all reform in this essential matter must 
be the genuine democratization of industry, based upon 
a full recognition of the right of those who work, in 
whatever rank, to participate in some organic way in 
every decision which directly affects their welfare, or 
the part they are to play in industry. 
T HAT is taken from President Wilson’s message 
to the new Congress. If we may take a broad 
interpretation of “labor,” with farming placed on 
terms of equality with all other branches, everyone 
will endorse the statement. Generally when public 
men talk about “labor” they refer to the organiza¬ 
tions which have done so much to give power to city 
workmen. Farming is unorganized labor, although 
the most important labor of all, as well as the most 
necessary of all. We must agree with the President 
about what ought to be the rights of labor to have 
a voice in public matters. He ought to be reminded, 
however, that in the mighty problems growing out 
of both war and peace the working farmer was never 
asked to take a position -where he could express 
himself. He did not “participate in some organic 
way.” 
* 
T HE Dairy and Food Commission of Connecticut 
had the following notice printed as an adver¬ 
tisement in one paper in each county of the State: 
MILK REGULATION BOARD 
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING 
The Milk Regulation Board will hold a public hearing 
in Room 70, State Capitol. Hartford, at 1:30 I*. M., 
Tuesday, June 3. 1910, on the proposed rules and regu¬ 
lations concerning the production and distribution of 
Certified Milk, and to establish grades for milk, as pro¬ 
vided by Chapter 242, Public Acts of 1917. 
MILK REGULATION BOARD, 
Chairman. Thomas Holt, 
Dairy and Food Commissioner. 
The object of this publicity was to attract as many 
dairymen as possible, so as to have the matter well 
worked out. It was a good plan to use printer’s ink 
in this way. Other interests use this method when 
they wish to reach the public. Why not farmers? 
Get as many as possible out when a dairy law is to 
be changed. 
I feel there are wonderfully strong influences right 
now operating in such manner that the fanner is 
going to be injured more than any other class during 
the decade that is ahead of us, unless we can get enough 
enthusiasm and business ability into the farmer’s league 
work. C. B. w. 
E share that belief. In this connection we 
would like to have you read the article on 
page 912. Business depressions are sure to come. 
They follow periods of prosperity. There are com¬ 
paratively few individuals or nations capable of 
standing full prosperity. Most men. when relieved 
of the pressure of necessity, become extravagant and 
reckless in their expenses and indifFerent to the 
more serious problems of life. When millions of 
people get such a spirit the reaction is sure to come, 
and it means hardship and enforced economy. The 
world makes its material advance in times of great 
prosperity, but out of the trials of business depres¬ 
sion will usually come moral and spiritual develop¬ 
ment. Speaking of the farmer’s business situation, 
we repeat what we have often said before. All 
material wealth must come out of the earth. The 
business of the world is measured by the consumer’s 
dollar—that is the final price of all goods. It is the 
way this final dollar is divided between producer and 
handler which decides the distribution of property. 
Unless a'.fair share of this final dollar can be sent 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
back-to the producer this, nation will become like a 
great building where the workmen are adding to its 
weight faster than they are strengthening the foun¬ 
dation which supports it. 
When prices begin to drop and there is a great 
rush to sell, organized labor, transportation, handlers 
and money-lenders will all strive to obtain a larger 
share of the dollar. They are all well organized, 
while the farmers are largely unorganized and thus 
easily separated by selfish appeals to party preju¬ 
dice or jealousy. Thus the danger lies in the read¬ 
justment of wages and values which must surely 
come in the future. Our farmers must learn how 
to face the situation with “enthusiasm and business 
ability.” 
♦ 
“7t is fundamental that the producer of any com¬ 
modity shall receive costs and a fair profit .” 
HAT is taken from the article by Mr. I. Elkin 
Nathans (see next page). No human being 
when in his right mind can dispute that. Yet 90 per 
cent of wars, revolutions and class bitterness in the 
world have resulted from the conviction that the 
laborer has been denied this fundamental right to 
cost and a fair profit. Modern society has become 
pretty much of a big scramble to secure an undue 
share of the consumer’s dollar. The strong and or¬ 
ganized forces if left to themselves will obtain more 
than their share. History has no record of any 
“ruling class” which voluntarily offered the unor¬ 
ganized class “cost price and profit.” We agree with 
Mr. Nathans in the above statement. We hope he 
will agree with us in the following: For nearly 40 
years the milk producers did not obtain a price which 
includes “cost price and profit.” They have now 
come closer to this fundamental right, but it was not 
given them willingly. They had to fight, for it 
* 
W E are having many letters about the New 
York law requiring sanitary toilets at rural 
schools. If it can be enforced fairly and with reason 
we think the law is along the right lines. All of us 
who know country conditions realize that, in some 
districts the toilet arrangements are unspeakable. 
They are a i*eal menace to health and morals. The 
comparatively few cases where the school officers 
would not clean up and improve this nuisance are 
responsible for the present law. These bad cases 
gave the school authorities the arguments they 
needed to put through a very sweeping measure. 
There would not have been any such law if school 
officers generally had done their plain duty. As is 
often the case, the law was put through because of 
these cases of negligence, and now the reformers 
would like to go to the extreme by compelling all coun¬ 
try districts to install expensive outfits. While the 
Department may have ordered all districts to put in 
the chemical toilets we do not believe that under the 
law they can enforce such an order. Where the 
present arrangements are, without question, filthy 
and unsanitary they can compel the change. Where, 
as is often the case, the present arrangements are 
neat and well-cared for, we do not believe the order 
can be enforced, and we do not think the Depart¬ 
ment will insist on the change. That seems a fail- 
statement of the ease. Personally, we hope to see 
the time when every schoolhouse and every farm¬ 
house as well will contain good sanitary fixtures, 
such as have become a necessary part of life in 
town. That condition will come with a fairer in¬ 
dustrial share for farmers. We hear of one young 
farmer who came back from France and made it 
one condition for remaining on the farm that father 
put water and all fixtures in the house. It happened 
that father was well able to do this, but had not 
thought it worth while! It should not be either 
necessary or possible to give anyone the arbitrary 
power to enforce such a regulation. 
* 
A LL along the country—from New England to 
Texas—plans are being laid to organize potash 
companies. In New England the scheme is to grind 
certain granite rocks and treat the dust with electric 
heat and chemicals. In Texas the plan is to dig up 
deposits of marl and dry and grind it. In New 
Jersey plans are working to utilize the greensand 
deposits. Any effort to develop supplies of American 
potash is to be commended, but they are all of very 
doubtful value for the small investor. In some cases 
the promoters are trying to sell stock to small in¬ 
vestors. We know from correspondence that some 
of our readers are tempted to sell their Liberty 
bonds and turn the money into this stock. Our most 
solemn advice is, do not under any circumstances 
make such an investment. European potash will be 
coming to this country once more within a year, and 
at such prices that most; of the • American deposits 
May 31, 1910 
can have only a local sale. There is some promise 
in the New Jersey greensand, but it is not. a scheme 
for small investors, and we urge our readers to keep 
their Liberty bonds. 
• * 
W ILL it pay to cut out (he cows and try to 
make a good labor income from sheep, steers 
and hogs? That is what many middle-aged dairy¬ 
men are asking. It is a very hard question. Our 
people will be interested to know that the same 
thing has come up in England during the war. It 
is different there because most of the milk in that 
country is produced by milking Shorthorns or by 
other breeds of cattle which rank as good dairy 
animals and still produce good meat. In the Eastern 
States the tendency has been for dairymen to turn 
to the special dairy breeds, so that any change to 
meat production will be more difficult. Now there 
can be no doubt that milk will continue to be the 
chief agricultural product of New York and New 
England. We think there will be an increased de¬ 
mand for it in the future. We shall learn how to 
make better use of the surplus in the future so that 
prices will be more stable and, on the whole, higher. 
We also think that the East will come to produce 
more and more of the needed dairy feed. While 
the future of the dairy business is assured, it is 
true that some dairymen will find greater profit than 
others. Age, location, inclination, capital and ability 
will all serve to separate those who make a profit 
from those who just keep cows to make a living. 
One thing about dairying is that it is a cash busi¬ 
ness, with the money coming regularly, while hogs, 
sheep and beef cattle bring in the returns now and 
then. It seems to us that the men who may be called 
natural dairymen and have the needed strength and 
capital will do well to hold on to the cows. There 
are some others who might begin to work out of 
cows, and we expect to print some articles which 
will tell them how to do it. 
* 
O N August 3, 3492, Christopher Columbus left the 
coast of Europe on his great voyage of dis¬ 
covery. The last view of land on the Canary Islands 
was taken Sept. 9, and the little expedition sailed 
west upon an unknown sea. It was 33 days later, 
or 70 days from Europe, that the first far outskirts 
of the New World were discovered. That slow, 
mutinous voyage changed the history of the world, 
and broke the chains which had prevented the ex¬ 
pansion of civilization. This mighty achievement 
comes back to mind with greater force than ever 
before when we realize what has happened in the 
past week. American airships, carrying five and 
six men, flew across the Atlantic from Newfound¬ 
land to the Azores at the rate of SO miles or more 
per hour. It would have required two months for 
the small, frail vessels of Columbus to make that trip 
across the upper Atlantic, but these airships accom¬ 
plished it in 35 hours! In its way this successful 
ocean flight is to have almost as far-reaching in¬ 
fluences as the original voyage of Columbus. That 
is because it, goes to convince the world that nothing 
of material progress seems impossible. If man can 
conquer the air in this way and “ride upon the 
storm,” what can he not do to promote the comfort 
and power and well-being of the people? The things 
that nearly paralyzed Columbus and his enterprise 
were the superstitious belief that tlie human mind 
was incapable of great progress, and the further 
conviction that a privileged class must reap 
the benefit of wealth and new discovery. So the 
world will accept the flying machine as evidence of 
man’s power over the forces of nature. It may not 
of itself add greatly or directly to the prosperity of 
the common people, but it will show them something 
of what science and industry has for them in the 
future, and they will demand that full benefits be 
given to the public and not hoarded by some privi¬ 
leged class. 
Brevities 
A 14-oz. can of American condensed milk sells in 
Norway at 23^ cents. 
Of course children need training, but many parents 
are in greater need of it. 
Prices for cattle feed in Holland run to $85 per ton 
for oats and barley, $05 for bran or $130 for linseed 
meal. 
Refork the war, leaves of the sugar beet crop in 
Holland were plowed under as green manure. Now 
they bring as high as $05 per acre for cattle fodder. 
Does anyone buy “soggy” quality potatoes from 
choice? Such low quality tubers are preferred for 
“French fried.” as they do not crumble or break apart. 
The War Department states that its entire stock of 
canned vegetables will be consumed by the army. None 
will be sold. The fear that some of this stock will be 
thrown on the market has held up contracts-for growing, 
tomatoes, peas find other vegetables. 
