Milk is a Life Necessity 
'"Milk-fed children make mighty men and women." 
This last article by Dr. Osborne presents a more pow¬ 
erful argument than ever for milk as a part of diet 
Milk is one of the necessities of life; of secondary 
importance only to air, water and fire. It contains, as 
no other food does, the elements of life and growth. No 
child can make full growth of body and mind without 
a full supply of milk, at least up to the time of securing 
his second set of teeth ! Any nation which denies its 
children a full milk supply must expect to develop a 
race of small, undersized men and women, incapable 
of attaining the true physical and mental proportions 
of mankind. In this country the present tendency is to 
drain the country into the city. Unless city children 
can obtain a full supply of pure, clean milk the race 
will decline. It has been said that city children have 
the advantage of better sanitary conditions and medical 
attendance, but these alone will not avail unless these 
children are milk-fed. And these statements are no 
less true of invalids, elderly people and those recovering 
from wounds or accidents. These, too, must be milk- 
fed if they are to make recovery. Milk ranks with air, 
water and fire as a necessity of life. Thus the milk 
producer or dairyman ranks as a life giver and should 
be treated as such. Through ignorance and prejudice 
on the part of consumers the dairyman has not, up to 
within the past few years, received the recognition or 
recompense that is due him. lie has been regarded not 
as a benefactor and life-giver, but as something be¬ 
tween a necessary evil and a good-natured drudge. The 
time has come when all this must be changed. The 
milk producer must be regarded in his true relation to 
si ciety and fairly paid for his labor. Unless that is 
done milk production will decline and the city cannot 
obtain a full supply of this life-giving necessity. We 
have got to make the public understand the truth of 
such articles as this one by Dr. Osborne. We have got 
to make them realize that they must have milk for the 
children j. st as they provide water for the family and 
open the windows for the sunshine. This will mean 
wide and thorough advertising of milk. The California 
fruit growers advertised their products until millions 
of families became convinced that they could not start 
the day right without eating an orange or a grapefruit. 
It was the advertising which educated the people. In 
like manner we must make every city consumer under¬ 
stand that milk is a life-giving necessity! And we have 
got to combine and do it ourselves. No one is inter¬ 
ested in doing it for us without taking all the income 
as payment. 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
will work there it may be that he will continue to re¬ 
main on the farm. If the boys leave and father is 
alone I fancy he will get tired of the job after a time. 
It is not with him a matter of so vital importance as 
with some. 
On the other hand, I know of farmers who are selling 
farms and going to town. They are better off than on 
the farm, for they are too old to stand up against the 
hard business of the farm. Farms are selling readily 
now; more so than at any former time in my remem¬ 
brance. Although the towns seem to be filling up rap¬ 
idly, there are many to take the farms, and it would 
seem to me that it nuty not be long before the prices may 
advance somewhat. I do not think prices will be any¬ 
thing like those of some parts of the West, but will be 
higher than now. One correspondent in Iowa says that 
lands there are .$-100 an acre. He complains that a man 
cannot buy a farm unless he is rich to begin with. He 
is interested here because he wants a farm where he can 
buy something with $1,500. Well, he can get it here, 
but I suspect that he will find farming here a different 
proposition from what it is in Iowa. If he can adjust 
himself to our conditions he might do well. u. h. l. 
A 75-Year-Old Farmers’ Club 
On .Tune 14, at Olney. Md., was celebrated the 75th 
anniversary of the founding of the Farmers’ Club of 
Sandy Spring. This club was started in February, 
1S44. It probably has the simplest and the broadest 
constitution of any organization of its kind. Probably 
its long life is largely due to the simplicity of its organi¬ 
zation and th" character of its work. The club has but 
one elected officer, a secretary. At each meeting a leader 
is chosen to preside. The membership is limited to iff, 
and the monthly meetings are held at the homes of the 
members, in alphabetical order. The result is that the 
meetings held on any particular farm occur at various 
seasons of the year. These meetings are very simple. 
The members gather in the late afternoon, and after 
appointing a leader they all take a walk over the farm, 
looking over the crops, live stock, farm machinery, or 
home conveniences. The constitution makes criticism 
an obligation. After the walk a good dinner is served 
by the host, and after the dinner there is a regular busi¬ 
ness meeting. There seems to be no definite program, 
but questions are asked and a general discussion of farm 
topics is developed. The fact that this simple arrange¬ 
ment has worked successfully for 75 years, and is still 
as efficient as ever, is good evidence in its favor. It 
would be hard to estimate how much good a simple club 
of this sort could do in a country community. Its 
effects would be seen in the improvement of live stock, 
building better roads, public schools, and in a broaden- 
ing of the whole social life of the community. The 
chances are that a good many farm organizations go to 
pieces because they are too highly organized, so that 
they get to depend more upon their organization than 
they do upon the actual living work of their members 
Suppose there could be 50.000 just such clubs in the 
country neighborhoods of this country ! What a won¬ 
derful foundation that would be for the larger organi¬ 
zations which are so greatly needed. 
The Problem of the Tenant 
Notes on New York Farm Lands 
There have been a good many inquiries about those 
cheap farms in New York since that brief statement 
about them in The R. N.-Y. a little time ago. People 
at a distance hardly understand the real situation. 
Some seem to have the idea that these cheap farms will 
have a level surface and be free from stones. As a rule 
that is not true. Some think they can go on cropping 
indefinitely and still *et good results. This, too, is au 
error. There are farms in New York that are level and 
that are free from stones, but these, as a rule, cannot 
be classed with $10 to $20 land, or even $40 an acre. 
There are farms that are in these classes that have 
some of the land of that description, but I want to warn 
anyone thinking of these farms that they cannot buy a 
farm for a little money and then simply take a living 
and a profit without further effort. It requires hard 
work and good management to get ahead in farming, 
but I consider that a man with a limited amount of 
money and ambition to succeed can do better here than 
in any locality that I know about. It is not worn-out 
land, as people have been taught in certain cases. 
Just the other day I heard a farmer speaking of his 
milk at the creamery ; over 800 lbs. a day, he said, and 
this milk is somewhere around $3.25 a hundred at the 
creamery. He has one hired man, and his other ex¬ 
penses are not heavy, except for feeds. He is certainly 
making some money. He has no considerable amount of 
level land, but he can work, and does so. Another case 
came to my attention yesterday. This man has about 
40 cows and he and his wife get some 12 cans a day 
from them by using the milking machine. lie hires a 
little by the day when he can got the help, but remember 
that this man does a lot of work himself. It is not 60 
much the location of the farm or its freedom from 
stones or level land as it is an understanding of condi¬ 
tions and how to meet them, with ability and disposition 
to work hard and save well. I do not know how much 
this man makes, but I cannot see how he can escape 
paying an income tax on more than $2,000 by a consid¬ 
erable. 
There is a farm near me that has recently been sold 
at less than $10 au acre, with fair buildings. These 
need some repairs, but will answer for the present. This 
buyer had. according to reports, about $200, but a friend 
loaned him enough to buy nearly 100 acres, with what 
he had. He has a cow, and I think a horse, and will 
start some chickens soon. He will live in a somewhat 
economical fashion, but if he likes it I do not see why 
he cannot win out. If he understands how to farm it, 
or can learn, he will soon have something to do with. If 
he does not know how or does not learn, it will be a 
matter of disappointment with him. 
Recently I was told of a case where a business man 
bought a farm of considerable size. lie said that he 
could go back to business and make more in a week than 
he could make in a year on the farm, but he would not 
leave the farm under any consideration. In this case 
the man is understood to have some money and can do 
as he likes.. He has Ijoys, and if they like the farm and 
es 
Some 0 years ago I bought a suburban trollev-line 
farm. On the house and barn I have laid out 8400 to 
$500 worth of improvements. I rented this propertv 
.or 10 or ll years on a cash or share basis, with fair 
success, by keeping my eye on my propertv Then 
meeting with severe reverses, caused by big fi're in our 
city and poor health. I decided to move mv familv con¬ 
testing of wife, daughter and myself, onto our' prop- 
erty I worked my farm, with the aid of my neighbors 
about eignt years. Having regained mv health, we de¬ 
cided to move back to city life, leaving our farm and 
buildings in fine, up-to-date condition. On leaving the 
farm I rented to two brothers-in-law for cash rent, pav¬ 
ing one-third down. They separated in a few weeks one 
staying on a few weeks longer and then abandoning the 
farm, owing the balance of rent and leaving nothin"- bi t 
\\aste and destruction behind. The next year I rented 
to a man who proved to be a complete failure, both in 
paying the balance of his rent. $200, and working the 
land . another case of waste and destruction, to the ex- 
off the premS. 0 g t0 SerVe P;1P ° rS on him to move 
This year has been a record breaker and has reached 
the chmax. I rented. April 18. to a man who rep- e 
sented himself as a wonderful, up-to-date farmer, prom- 
isnig to do everything, but did nothing. But here is 
where the final touch, or drop, comes in. for a month 
a.ter starting, my house, with tenants’ furniture, burns 
to the ground, all Ins family having gone to town Of 
course there was heavy insurance 'on his furniture 
However, he is not so fortunate, as might be expected’ 
as I understand the fire insurance company, after tak¬ 
ing m the situation, is reluctant about settling • if at 
all. on a very small per cent. Directly after this tenant 
had secured his lease from me and moved some 50 mi 
from his former landlord to my farm, I learned to nil 
surprise, through newspaper articles and the legal pro 
fession that this man had trouble with his forme: 
landlord .that he had been lodged in jail for Severn 
days After gaining this information I was, of course 
unable to do anything, as the tenant had already move< 
onto my farm. * 
It might appear that I did not use due precaution ir 
looking up references of my tenant. Mv experience ha- 
been, and it has been the experience of others that ref' 
erences are of little value. In my 30 years experiemn 
in the real estate business, in drawing up leases it b 
mipossMo to draw up a lease on these irresponsible 
shiftless, destructive farm tenants that is worth the ini 
or .Paper. They are unlike city tenants, who have som< 
pride and self-respect, to keep the premises thev occum 
in decent condition and repair, and in case thev do nol 
the landlord has the remedy at hand to deal with such 
tenants who are destroying his propertv. But we" isl 
how are we farm owners to deal with this class of farm 
tenants ! My advice is not to sign up and deliver i 
lease under any circumstances until at least three sub¬ 
stantial references have been furnished and personally 
interviewed. Then a lease should be carefully worded 
containing just yvhat is agreed, and. if possible, have a 
lease endorsed by a reliable and responsible party \ 
league or association should be formed whose business 
would be to keep a record and information of farm ten¬ 
ants whose only object is to move every year and leave 
the former landlord’s property ruined to' the extent of 
several hundred dollars, to say nothing about getting the 
lion s share of crops. Let us hear from others who 
have had similar experiences, and mav our worthy R 
N.-\. give special publicity to such matter. w. l.’c. 
R. N.-Y.—We think this is an extreme case. It is 
printed in order to start a ful] .discussion of the tenant 
1029 
problem. Both tenants and hired men have their side of 
the case, and we should have it all. A hired man starts 
it on page 1024. 
The Voting Power of Farmers 
* <3 .°°’ t . *J ink y°" have Quite hit the mark in your 
editorial How Many Farmers and Ruralitee?” You 
state that one-third of those in gainful occupations are 
farmers but that including the population of the smaller 
towns who are not classed as “workers,” as well as the 
workers therein, the rural, or those directly and indi¬ 
rectly interested in farming, part of the population of 
this country aggregates more than 50 per cent, which is 
the greater interest therefore. The greater number of 
those living in the smaller towns are directly interested 
in farming. They either own and rent farms, or buy 
and sell farm produce, or sell merchandise to the farm¬ 
ers. I maintain the large majority would vote with the 
farmer, especially now since labor is so high-prLed and 
so hard to control. Anything that would give greater 
return to the farmer would benefit them as well. 
There were.only about twelve million votes cast at the 
last presidential election, and of these the farmer is the 
most to be depended upon because he is “stationary,” so 
to speak, while a very large number of the city voters 
opposed to the farmer are “floaters,” and therefore do 
not vote. It seems to me that with twelve million 
votes to cover, and. roughly speaking, about fifteen mil¬ 
lion farmer voters to draw from, the latter should have 
a walk-away if they wanted to organize politically and 
have a farmers’ party. 
f a , rmers would not need to organize as a political 
unit if the consumer proves that he would not try to 
produce food at less than production cost by legisla¬ 
tion. The farmers could let the law of supply and de¬ 
mand, and the growth of population gradually eman¬ 
cipate them from their present slavery, so that by 1030 
they would be making as much profit as their prede¬ 
cessors did 60 years ago. 
The consumers, however, are trying to produce food 
by. < lovernmont-owned and operated farms, to the great 
injury of the. farmer, and are trying to control the 
prices of food in the various legislatures. For instance 
in 1 i enton, at the last session of the New Jersey T.egis- 
Inte, State Senator Fdwards, of Hudson Countv intro¬ 
duced a bill to regulate the price of milk. 
These efforts on the part of consumer legislators to 
discriminate against the farmer for the benefit of the 
consumer, regardless of the justice of the cause, by 
legislation, compel the farmer to organize into a political 
unit, and in my judgment, if they would do so they 
could win at a walk. Success is holding out his hand's 
to them, waiting to be seized. 
New Jersey. James b. vredenburgh. 
R. X.-Y.—Is it your experience that all or most of 
the people who live in towns under 2.500 inhabitants 
would stand with the farmers politically? Do you find 
many of them who try to imitate city life and manners’ 
Remember that woman suffrage will soon nearly double 
the number of voters. 
New York Farm Bureau Agents 
As there are constant calls for address of Farm Bu¬ 
reau agents in New York State, we print below the 
latest authorized list: 
IT. E. Babcock. County Agent Leader, Ithaca N Y 
N J - Coryell, Assistant County Agent Leader, Ithaca, 
n l ^.A. Toan, Assistant County Agent Leader, Ithaca, 
F. E Robertson, Assistant Countv Agent Leader 
Ithaca. A. l. 
T T. E - T Milliman, Assistant County Agent Leader, 
Ithaca, JN. ±. 
Albany.H. E- Crouch.93 Ct. House, Albany 
Allegany.R. Q. Smith.Belmont y 
Broouie .J. F. Eastman.Court House, Bing¬ 
hamton 
Cattaraugus. .O. IT Chapin . .. .Federal Bid., Olean 
Cayuga.E. C. M eatherby.. .Auburn 
Chautauqua.. II B. Rogers.Jamestown 
S enum «.T. W. Vann.Cham, of Com., Elmira 
C henango-C. E. Smith.Norwich 
Clinton.C. B. Tillson.Plattsburgh 
Columbia.... A. B. Buchholz... .Court House, Hudson 
Cortland.A. S. Merchant_Cortland 
Delaware-E. C. Brougham.. . Walton 
g u . tchess . E - H Lacy.Poughkeepsie 
Erie - \.E. V. Underwood.. 56-57 Iron & Coal Ex. 
n T ~ ,, Bldg., Buffalo 
Essex.Jay Gelder.Westport 
En J“ klin .C. M. Austin.Court House, Malone 
h ulton.li. C. Morse...Gloversville 
Genesee.E. L. Baker.Batavia 
Greene.C. W. Gilbert.Catskill 
Herkimer-C. A. Taylor.Herkimer 
Jefferson.W. I. Roe.Watertown 
Lewis.A. D. Davies.Lowville 
Livingston... E. A. Flansburg. . . Mt. Morris 
Madison.D. F. Putnam.Cazenovia 
Monroe.D. C. ^ ann.127 East Ave., Roch¬ 
ester 
Montgomery. .W. J. Hager.Canajoharie 
Nassau.FT! J. Evans.Mineola 
Niagara.N. R. Peet.Loekport 
Oneida. G.\\ endell Bush.. .Court House. Utica 
Onondaga....J.R.Teall.112 Ct. House, Syra- 
euse 
Ontario.G. \\ . Peck.Canandaigua 
Orange.L. D. Greene.Middletown 
Orleans.L. ,T. Steele.Albion 
Oswego.A. L. Shepherd_Oswego 
Otsego.F. S. Barlow.Cooperstown 
Rensselaer... N. G. Farber.Court House. Trov 
Rockland.L. A. Mueklo.Sprint-Valiev 
St. Lawrence. E. S. Bird.Canton * 
Saratoga.I.. M. Allen.Saratoga Springs 
Schenectady. .T. B. Clausen.Court ' House, '"Schen 
__ eetady 
Schoharie-R. F. Pollard.Cobleskill 
Schuyler.H. G. Chapin.Watkins 
Seneca.\\ . D. Chase.Romulus 
Steuben.II. N. Humphrey. ..Bath 
Suffolk.R. C. Parker.Riverhead 
Sullivan.Charles Wille.Liberty 
Tioga.E. R. Zimmer.Owego 
Tompkins-V. B. Blatchley_Ithaca 
I lster.C. F. Cochrane.... Kingston 
Warren.E. W. Cleeves.Warrensburg 
Washington. .J. M. Hurley.Hudson Falls 
Wayne.F. E. Rogers.Sodus 
Westchester.. J. G. Curtis.Court House, White 
__ Plains 
U yomiug. ... H. M. Bowen.Warsaw 
Tates.A. L. Holliugworth.Penn Yan 
