1585 
Why Not Remove The “System”? 
Commissioner George Gordon Battle, who is con¬ 
ducting an investigation of the Department of Foods 
and Markets on an appointment by Governor Smith, 
under the Moreland Act, has made a preliminary 
report recommending the dismissal of Dr. Eugene 
H. Porter as Commissioner of Foods and Markets 
by the Council of Farms and Markets. The reports 
indicated that the Governor has no authority him¬ 
self to remove Dr. Porter. The Council alone has 
authority. 
The report goes into considerable detail to show 
evidence developed at the public hearings. Briefly 
stated, the causes as given in the report may be 
epitomized as follows: 
That Dr. Porter neglected his duty in failing to 
compel milk dealers to give bonds as provided by 
law to secure payment for milk to fanners; and that 
this neglect caused heavy losses to milk producers 
through the failure of milk dealers. 
That he encouraged a plan to create a milk 
monopoly in New York City. 
That he recommended the suspension of the regu¬ 
lation of the Department requiring the marking of 
cold storage eggs; and that he neglected to enforce 
the regulation after the resolution of suspension 
had expired; and further, that while it is his duty 
to enforce the order now, and while the regulation 
has been approved and commended by the courts, 
he raises numerous objections to the enforcement 
of it. It also charges Dr. Porter with neglect to 
enforce cold storage laws in the case of private 
cold storage houses owned by meat packers and 
others, under the assumption that the present law 
did not cover them, instead of taking the benefit of 
the doubt and enforcing the law in their case. 
The report also blames Dr. Porter for neglecting 
to ascertain the cost of delivering milk in New York 
City, and quotes criticism of him by members of the 
Council for accepting fees from other organizations 
while employed and paid by the State. 
It recommends his removal for incompetentcy and 
inefficiency, and the Governor has passed the recom¬ 
mendation along to the Farms and Markets Council, 
which has exclusive power under the law. 
Dr. Porter issued a statement in which he criti¬ 
cised the manner of conducting the investigation, 
and accused the commission of political bias. He 
said the report was inaccurate in many features, and 
that it was inspired by unfriendly interests. 
This is a temporary report, dealing exclusively 
with Dr. Porter's administration of the Food and 
Markets Department. Final judgment must be re¬ 
served until the final report is issued; but the cry 
of “politics” will not be taken seriously by anyone 
familiar with the situation. The Department was 
originally organized under the auspices of the 
Grange and all other farm organizations of the State 
and the housewives. There was no politics in it 
until the law was changed, at the request of the 
produce dealers, speculators, milk dealers and cold 
storage interests, after they had contributed liber¬ 
ally to a political campaign. That was where politics 
in the work began, and it has been a factor since. 
Everybody knows that the agricultural division 
always has been in politics, no matter what party 
was in power. The whole thing has become a scan¬ 
dal, and a clean-up is imperative. 
Our sympathies, nevertheless, are with Dr. Porter. 
He was put in a position where it was impossible 
for any man to make good. His department, de¬ 
signed and outwardly professing help to producers 
and consumers of food, was actually committed to 
the dealers and speculative interests. That policy 
was not made by Dr. Porter, and if free to use his 
own discretion it would probably have been different. 
The policy was the payment of a political debt. Dr. 
Porter was only an incident in the liquidation of 
the political account. If the system is to be con¬ 
tinued, his removal will have no great effect one 
way or another. His is the most important work 
in the State today, but neither Dr. Porter nor any 
other man can do much in it unless backed up by 
the Legislature and administration and a well- 
informed public opinion. 
The test of the investigation is yet to come. Treat¬ 
ing a symptom will not cure a disease. The in¬ 
vestigation can be of real service only if it gets down 
to fundamentals and shows a way to change the 
whole system, and dedicate the Department exclu¬ 
sively to the interests of the public. 
A Chance to Say “Yes” or “No” 
We did not intend to print anything further about 
the campaign in Wayne County, N. Y. Every man 
and woman in Wayne County now understands the 
situation, and the outside world will accept their 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
verdict as evidence as to how far the farmers have 
gone along the road to independence. Two things 
have now happened which invite a little further com¬ 
ment. First is the following letter. It was sent to 
various local papers, but the editors refused to pub¬ 
lish it. They frankly admitted that every word of it 
was true, but just as frankly they stated that they 
wanted a share of the public printing, and could 
not get any of it if they printed this article. We 
think it deserves publication, as it expresses the 
views of several thousand farmers in Wayne County: 
Who will m it he? 
The above question is asked with the thought of giv¬ 
ing three valid reasons, any one of which ought to be 
sufficient, for not having Charles H. Betts represent 
Wayne County in the State Assembly. 
The first I would name as the moral reason. Mr. 
Betts has schooled with a number of New York poli¬ 
ticians, both Democratic and Republican, who have op¬ 
posed every progressive and moral movement in State 
and nation. His answer to the Anti-Saloon Leagne 
that, like all good citizens, he, if elected, will favor the 
enforcement of every law, including the Eighteenth 
Amendment to the Federal Constitution, may satisfy 
that organization, but it will not satisfy the voters of 
Wayne County. They will concede that in that state¬ 
ment he may be sincere, but they will rather consider the 
question: If Charles H. Betts had the power would he 
or would he not repeal every law. statutory or constitu¬ 
tional, aimed at the destruction of the beverage liquor 
traffic? 
The second I would name as the financial reason. The 
last supervisor’s report records that the Lyons Republi¬ 
can (which is Mr. Betts) had no less than 41 bills 
against the county, aggregating nearly $6.(KX>. Whether 
or not Wayne County got value received for this amount 
we will take one sample. If the record is correct, a bill 
was claimed and allowed at $7.50 for “newspaper for 
county home.” The record shows other papers at $3 or 
less for like purpose. It is self-evident that the tax¬ 
payers of Wayne County are going to take matters in 
consideration in choosing those who seek position by 
their votes. 
The third reason is the one of occupation. Wayne 
County is distinctly an agricultural county, and while 
the farmers of Wayne County do not ask for “special 
privileges” in legislation, they yet ask for men at Al¬ 
bany who are in sympathy with their occupation and 
will give them a “square deal” in the making of laws. 
As an office-seeker Mr. Betts was appointed secretary of 
a purely agricultural commission, and the opposition 
he there encountered by the agricultural interests of 
New York State is a well-known matter of record. 
In his statement to the people Mr. Betts says that 
every committeeman of his party in the county asked 
that he be the candidate. The primary proved that some 
of these committeemen did not represent the sentiment 
of their districts, so we do not believe that the sentiment 
of Wayne County voters favors Mr. Betts for this office. 
ISAAC BRASSER. 
This incident is a good illustration of the forms of 
petty tyranny used to muzzle the local press. Farm¬ 
ers are interested in this, for they support these local 
papers, which should be the champion of country 
people. How can country people give expression to 
their wants if the papers which they support are 
forced to wear a muzzle? There is no escaping the 
conviction that a vote for Charles H. Betts is a vote 
for the further application of this muzzle! 
Several readers have asked us to give the figures 
showing last year’s vote in Wayne County. The fol¬ 
lowing are taken fi’om the Legislative Manual: 
WAYNE COUNTY 
Towns. Whitman. Smith. 
1.205 
47S 
329 
S3 
774 
362 
207 
91 
1.016 
544 
506 
217 
447 
56 
537 
167 
7S5 
289 
386 
99 
Suvuiinflh !*»«••*••♦•#••••*••••••••• 
337 
129 
Sodus 
S10 
321 
W alwortn •••«#••••»»♦••••••••••••• 
399 
96 
Williamson . 
537 
124 
Wolcott . 
665 
256 
Total . 
9.030 
3,312 
With a margin of nearly 6.000. or a 
i vote of nearly 
three to one, it might seem at first 
thought 
like a 
walk-over for Mr. Betts. Yet he is 
evidently wor- 
ried. The “big guns” of the party. 
like Mr. 
Hays, 
Geo. A. Glynn and C. F. Boshart, have been called in 
to help. We just want to see how many farmers and 
members of the Grange will stand up to what they 
have said. Their votes will mean more than any 
“resolutions” or loud talk ever indulged in. Here is 
a chance to say “Yes” or “No” on the big question of 
putting agriculture to the front. After election we 
shall print the vote of these towns for comparison. 
Do Wayne County farmers want to be represented by 
Charles II. Betts? 
The Farm Bureau Organization 
What It Is; What It Seeks To Do 
The growth of the Farm Bureau organizations in 
New York State to a point where there are bureaus 
established in all of the agricultural counties, and a 
membership of nearly 70,000 farms in the County Farm 
Bureau Associations, has undoubtedly been so rapid 
that a good many people have not kept up with the de¬ 
velopment of the organization of the bureaus and their 
functions. These no doubt include some of the Farm 
Bureau Association members themselves. 
The definition of a Farm Bureau, as given by the 
State Director, II. E. Babcock, is that it is a county 
institution for the purpose of the development of agri¬ 
culture that is jointly supported and directed by the 
farmers of the county through a Farm Bureau Associa¬ 
tion and the State and Federal Department of Agricul¬ 
ture and the College of Agriculture, through a State 
Director’s office. The departments of agriculture and 
the college are charged by .aw to work to give the coun¬ 
try a sound agriculture. Prior to the establishment of 
the Farm Bureau, their only contact with the farmers 
was through bulletins and occasional speakers at meet¬ 
ings. With the establishment of the bureaus, the insti¬ 
tutions joined directly with farmers in the employment 
of a County Agent and the carrying out of a joint pro¬ 
gram. As now constituted, in New York State, the 
County Farm Bureau Association, which is the farmer 
partner in bureau control, is a county-wide organization 
of the farmers of the county. The percentage of 
farmers that are members of the associations varies from 
about 10 per cent to over 50 per cent, and over the State 
as a whole, 33 per cent of the farmers are members of 
the farm bureau associations. 
Membership fee in the associations is at present $1. 
An annual meeting of the organization is held usually in 
December or January, at which an executive committee 
of five to nine members is selected by the membership. 
This executive committee acts for the association during 
the year, sometimes calling special meetings of the mem¬ 
bership to pass upon important questions. In addition 
to the executive committee each bureau has an advisory 
council. This is constituted in two ways, with more 
counties continually coming into the latter class: (1) 
Farmers are designated in each community by the exec¬ 
utive committee as community committeemen; (2) at an 
annual meeting in the community, the Farm Bureau 
Association members elect two or more men to represent 
them as community committeemen. 
The actual operation of a Farm Bureau is about as 
follows: The executive committee of the County Asso¬ 
ciation. functioning about like a board of directors in 
hiring a teacher, selects a County Agent who has the 
following qualifications as required by the State Direc¬ 
tor: (1) Farm-reared boy, (2) college graduate, prefer¬ 
ably agricultural college; (3) two years’ practical ex¬ 
perience since completing college. The rate of the 
agent’s salary is determined by the committee. After 
the agent is selected, however. $100 a month of his sal¬ 
ary as set by the committee is paid through the State 
Director’s office from State and Federal appropriations. 
The executive committee locates his office, equips and 
maintains it, buys an auto for his use and maintains 
that. The bills for all such expenses are usually audit¬ 
ed monthly by the committee, and a double entry record 
of all receipts and expenses of the Farm Bureau Asso¬ 
ciation is kept in all offices for public review. The 
funds necessary for its share of the agent’s salary and 
his expenses, and those of the office and field work, are 
acquired by the committee through membership fees and 
through appropriations made to it under authority of a 
special act by county boards of supervisors. With the 
Farm Bureau Manager, or Agent, on the job. and the 
bureau provided with facilities for work, the next step 
Is the program. 
In the beginning, this program is secured through the 
executive committee calling the advisory council together 
and learning their wishes. Afterwards the program is 
modified and developed at annual meetings of the advis¬ 
ory council. The public institutions, particularly the 
State College of Agriculture, sometimes advise through 
their representatives in regard to this program, but its 
final determination is always left to the advisory coun¬ 
cil. 
After the program for the Farm Bureau is formulated 
it is carried out by means of county-wide and community 
meetings, the development of special organizations, such 
as county sheep breeders’ associations to sell the wool, 
potato growers’ associations, etc., and field tests and 
demonstrations, e. g.. to determine the best vaiueties of 
silage corn. As in the case of the county program, what 
is done in each community is really up to the initiative 
of the community committeemen. As the program is 
carried out. the real partnership significance of the Farm 
Bureau develops, for through its activities the trained 
specialist of the. College of Agriculture is brought in 
direct contact with the Farm Bureau community com¬ 
mitteemen and the problems in the field and together, 
the practical farmer on one hand, and the scientist on 
the other, set to work on the solution, whether it be of 
a production or a marketing problem. 
As constituted, the Farm Bureau system aims to do 
two things : (1) Bring the full power of farmers to bear 
on their problems through organized effort and a definite 
headquarters: (2) focus the work of the public agricul¬ 
tural institutions on the real problems of agriculture. 
National Dairy Show Notes 
The great National Dairy Show opened in Chicago 
Oct. 7 with the biggest attendance and more enthusiasm 
than ever before on opening day. The Union Stockvards 
saw this great show four years ago. Visitors to the 
recent show are ready to concede that the present exhi¬ 
bition is without doubt the greatest purely industrial 
exhibit in the world. 
The machinery halls were humming with the noise of 
the greatest collection of improved machinery ever 
seen. All the week vast crowds have been watching 
the wonderful work done. 
The first day was marked by the stock-judging con¬ 
tests, entered into by students of many agricultural 
colleges and schools and by boy and girl winners of 
similar contests held in various States previous to the 
National Show. Judging teams were entered from 
Washington in the Far West to Massachusetts and New 
Hampshire in the East, including entrants from Ohio, 
Kansas. New York. Iowa, Indiana, South Dakota, 
Maryland. Nebraska, Wisconsin. Missouri, Minnesota 
and South Carolina. A new feature was introduced 
the first evening in the form of a horse show, and it 
proved very popular. 
The popular black and white Holsteins brought thou¬ 
sands of admirers from all parts of the country. W. S. 
Moscrift. himself a well-known breeder, judged this most 
important class, and so large were the classes that it 
took two days the first of the week to place the awards. 
Browu Swiss were also judged early in the week by 
II. G. Van Pelt of Waterloo, la. Jerseys were well 
represented by Eastern breeders, and these, with Ayr- 
shires, were judged on Wednesday. Hugh J. Chisholm 
of Port Chester. N. Y., had a large number of Ayrshires. 
M. Dickinson & Son of Lake Geneva, Wis. won first 
on four-year-old bull, with the Iowa State College sec¬ 
ond. A. E Hulet of Norwich. Ont., won first on five- 
year-old bull, with Maywood Farm, Rochester, Minn., 
winner of the two-year-old bull class. There were not 
so many Eastern animals shown as usual in these 
classes. 
The supervisors of the students’ stock-judging contest 
are still struggling with the mass of figures involved in 
(Continued on page 15SS) 
