1268 
‘Die , RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Things To Think About 
The object of this department is to give readers a ohance to express themselves on farm 
matters. Not long articles can be used—just short, pointed opinions or suggestions. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER does not always endorse what is printed here. You might 
call this a mental safety valve. 
The Community Potato Plan 
Last year a number of towns or com¬ 
munities tried the plan of raising potatoes 
or vegetables on a sort of partnership 
plan. Stock was sold and the money 
used to pay expenses. Tin* potatoes were 
divided among stockholders at cost. Has 
this plan been repeated this year? 
A. J. P. 
The plan was tried in several places 
that we know of, but was generally aban¬ 
doned this year. Here is the explanation 
given by one reader. 
The community garden scheme did not. 
go through this year, as the committee 
who carried it on the year before did a 
lot of work for which they received very 
little thanks, and no one went, forward 
to push it. The farmers were bitterly 
opposed to it. as it lost them the sale 
of about 4.000 bushels of potatoes which 
should have been sold in this small-sized 
town. Of course, the people who bought 
shares in the community scheme were 
glad to get their potatoes last year very 
cheap, but some of them were the kind 
of people who would be the first to com¬ 
plain bitterly if the crop had been small 
and they could have bo tight potatoes from 
outside cheaper than these cost. 
Starting a Community Laundry 
At our last. Grange meeting we had a 
discussion about the possibility of start¬ 
ing a community laundry here. If you 
can give us any helpful suggestions we 
will appreciate them. We have read 
many articles in The R. N.-Y. and other 
farm papers about this plan. but. none 
that seems to apply to this place. A mem¬ 
ber suggested that as the creamery is 
owned by New York parties, that might 
make a difference. mrs. C. a. babbett. 
Sullivan Co.. N. Y. 
This is a case for co-operative discus¬ 
sion. Will anyone who has had exper¬ 
ience in developing such a laundry tell us 
how it. was done? The Minnesota Agri¬ 
cultural College at St. Paul issues a little 
pamphlet showing how one such laundry 
was started. Such things are usually 
connected with a co-operative creamery. 
We do not know how the plan would work 
at a place where private parties had no 
great interest in the neighborhood except 
to buy milk. A business like running a 
laundry is more of a convenience than a 
commercial enterprise, and there will 
have to be good neighborly spirit in the 
community to put such a plan over. Rut 
what a blessing such a laundry would 
prove to farm women. We hope someone 
can tell us just how to do it. 
Keeping Stray Heifer 
We found a stray heifer, cannot seem 
to be able to locate the owner. We have 
advertised in the local paper three times, 
but have not received any answer. Can 
we keep the heifer and be within (lie law? 
Tf not, what mode of procedure will we 
be obliged to go through to become legal 
owner of «ame? n. n. 
Connecticut. 
We should simply keep the heifer. You 
have done all that can be reasonably ex¬ 
pected to find the owner. Do not give 
her up without legal proof of ownership. 
Keep a record of what you paid to adver¬ 
tise her and what it costs to keep her. 
If the owner does come and prove pro¬ 
perty he must pay these charges. 
What Is the Farmer’s Share 
It is often stated in the agricultural 
press and reiterated at farmers’ meetings 
that the farmer does not receive a just, 
recompense for his labor. Rut what is 
a just recompense? IIow many farmers, 
if questioned, could give a clear and exact 
statement of the labor they should furnish 
and the returns they should receive? The 
labor men, from time to time, tell how 
much work they will do. when they will 
do it, and how much they shall receive 
for said labor. Not only that, but after 
they have stated what they want they go 
and get it. Now I would like to see the 
matter discussed in The It. N.-Y., and 
hear views from practical men on the 
subject. 
First, how many hours a day ought the 
farmer to be obliged to work? 
Second, what pay should the average 
farmer receive per hour or per day for 
his labor? 
Third, how many holidays should he 
be able to take without detracting from 
his income? Men in other lines of busi¬ 
ness usually have a yearly vacation with 
pay. It is an old song that the farmer 
can take a holiday any time he wishes. 
Perhaps he can, but under present con¬ 
ditions every day lost is a direct monetary 
loss to him. In this connection it should 
also be remembered that even on a so- 
called holiday the farmer is obliged to 
do his chores night and morning, and 
thus does from one-half to two-thirds the 
work that, the average city worker does 
in a whole working day. 
Fourth, what rate of interest should 
he receive on his money invested? Of 
course, five per cent is the rate usually 
fixed, but is it enough to pay the high 
(axes which are assessed on the land, and 
insure him against losses from inclement 
weather, insects and fungous diseases? 
Also will it. enable him to move con¬ 
tinually onward to better things, as the 
Federation of Labor says that, every man 
is entitled to do? Let ms talk these 
things over, and when we decide exactly 
the remuneration w r e should receive let 
us take a leaf from the book of organized 
labor and go and get it. 
Vermont. Kenneth h. atwood. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK 
DOMESTIC.—After a long trial, the 
jury at Mt. Clemens, Mich, Aug. 14, 
awarded to Henry Ford six cents damages 
in his libel suit against the Chicago 
Tribune. The amount of costs that he 
may receive in addition to the six cents 
damages will not exceed $50. Under a 
Michigan law where nominal damages are 
awarded, not more than $50 costs can be 
assessed against the losing party. 
.T. It. Hughes, a wealthy real estate op¬ 
erator, has tendered to the city commis¬ 
sioners of Greensboro, N. C., $50,000, 
without interest, to be used for the pur¬ 
chase of coal at the mines to sell to the 
people of Greensboro at cost. This offer 
carries with it not a single condition, al¬ 
though the proponent suggested the ad¬ 
visability of an investigation first to de¬ 
termine whether or not the coal dealers 
are charging too much for their product. 
The death list as a result, of the crash 
between a street car crowded witli women 
and children en route to a picnic and a 
railroad engine at Parmanco, near Park¬ 
ersburg, W. Va., Aug. 14, was increased 
to eight when five persons succumbed to 
their injuries in hospitals. More than a 
score of others were injured. The car was 
carrying a picnic party of women and 
children from Reno, Ohio. 
Seven suits for damages, aggregating 
$125,000, have been brought against 
Francis P. Gnrvan and his wife, Mrs. 
Mabel Garvan of New York, by residents 
of Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake, Malone 
and Plattsburgh, as a result of the epi¬ 
demic of typhoid fever among the men em¬ 
ployed in the construction of Ivamp Kill 
Karo on Raequette Lake early in the 
Summer of 1910. There were 129 men 
employed on the job when the typhoid 
epidemic started, and a number of them 
died. 
A 25 to 05 per cent, increase in wages 
is demanded for 117,000 firemen and 
hostlers on railroads in the United States 
and Canada in a wage scale adopted at 
Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 17, by 200 general 
chairmen of the Rrotlierhood of Loco¬ 
motive Firemen and Enginemen. Another 
demand to be presented to the Director- 
General of Railroads is that all coal-burn¬ 
ing locomotives in road service weighing 
200,000 pounds and over shall be equipped 
with mechanical stokers and that two 
firemen shall be employed on all such 
locomotives until they are so equipped. 
About half of the. SO,000 engines in the 
United States will come under this pro¬ 
posal, only about 5,000 of which are 
equipped with mechanical stokers at 
present. 
WASHINGTON.-—Under a bill intro¬ 
duced Aug. 10 by Senator McNary of 
Oregon the Government would be author¬ 
ized to acquire and reclaim swamp, cut¬ 
over, arid and semi-arid lands for sale to 
soldiers, sailors, marines or war workers, 
“without regard to sex,” for agricultural 
purposes. An appropriation of $250,- 
000.000 is proposed. 
The War Department during the war 
expended nearly $4,500,000,000 for ord¬ 
nance. However, only 72 American made 
guns and little more than enough shells 
for two days’ artillery preparation for a 
big battle reached the firing line, Repre¬ 
sentative Graham of Illinois, chairman of 
the special House committee on war ex¬ 
August 20, 1919 
penditures. said Aug. 1(1. From France 
an additional 409 were secured for the 
American forces. These figures do not in¬ 
clude 10 guns borrowed from the navy 
and 28 from the coast defense. The only 
guns which reached the firing line, ac¬ 
cording to officers who testified before the 
committee, were 48 of the 4,7-inch guns 
and 24 of the the 8-inch howitzers. A 
total of 20.000 guns were contracted for. 
of which 4,082 were finished when the 
armistice was signed, but of which only 
481 had been shipped to France. The 
total sum expended for munitions was 
$2,172,014,450 and the net. result of this 
expenditure was 10,027,529 shells of all 
description landed in France, little more 
than enough for two days’ artillery prepa¬ 
ration for a big battle. It is of record 
that the Rritish fired 2,752.000 rounds of 
ammunition in their preparation for the 
battle of Messines Ridge and 4.000.000 in 
preparation for the battle of the Somme. 
The figures given refer to ammunition of 
all classes furnished the expeditionary 
force by the War Department, except' 
those from foreign governments. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Rerks 
County Live Stock Rreeders’ Association 
of Pennsylvania will hold its second an¬ 
nual consignment sale of purebred swine 
at the new Fair Grounds, Reading, Pa., 
Sept. 19. Only those placing stock on 
competitive exhibit at the fair are eligible 
consignors to the sale. 
The Canadian Wheat Board has de¬ 
cided to fix $2.25 as the minimum price 
for the 1919 wheat crop. 
A bond issue of $100,000,000 for new 
highways and the improvement of existing 
highways will be asked of the next Legis¬ 
lature, according to Frederick S. Greene, 
Commissioner of Highways. State of New 
York, who announced Aug. 14 that he had 
been notified that the Board of Supervis¬ 
ors of Wayne County had adopted a reso¬ 
lution favoring such action. This is the 
first county board in the State to go on 
record for another bond issue, and similar 
action is to be taken in other counties. 
Complaint against the Government 
wheat grades was placed before Julius II. 
Barnes, president of the United States 
Grain Corporation, Aug. 20, at New York 
by members of Congress and State of¬ 
ficials from several wheat-growing States. 
3% inchTircs per Dau 
That 13 the production capacity cf Firestone Plant No, 2, devoted solely 
to thia cize—the size used by more than half the car owners cf America 
The true value cf the 
Firestone No. 2 Fac¬ 
tory lies in the kind of 
-in. tires it turns out. 
All the floor acreage, the 
batteries of special tire 
machines, the carefully 
chosen and organized work¬ 
ers express themselves in 
one thijij: 
A better 3/4-inch tire. 
The reception given the 
new Firestone 3>4-inch tire 
proves that Fii-cstone could 
an 1 did unite resources and 
volume to produce a qual¬ 
ity previously unattainable. 
The above arc the boiled- 
down facts of a tire made 
in quantity so that every 
This is the 
T»re$fone 3'4-inch 
Special Molded Tire 
At These Prices 
Non-Skid 
18= 
Gray Tube 
2i°o 
$2 70 
6,000 Miles 
one of its mile-giving qual¬ 
ities can be offered at the 
prices mentioned. 
Look at the cross sec¬ 
tion of this tire at your 
Firestone dealer’s. 
From bead to tread, you 
find sound, enduring con¬ 
struction. 
You can see the extra rub¬ 
ber between fabric layers. 
You can feel the resilience 
in the tread. And you 
cense toughness there, too, 
in the spring and vigor of 
the live rubber. 
Cushion, breaker-strip and 
sidewall are generous in 
size and in the quality of 
rubber. 
Equip your car with these 
new 3/4-in. tires, the lat¬ 
est example of most miles 
per dollar. 
r 
1 
% 
year 
