58 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established isso 
Published weekly hy the Rural Publishing Company, 1133 tVest 30th Street, New Vork 
Herbert W. Colling wood, Presidentand Editor. 
.John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon. Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Roti.e, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04. equal to 8s. Cd, or 
8J» marks, or 10 1 a 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 make 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 aro 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 be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the ad.crtiser 
Found advice to the politicians tcho think they 
have such a sure thing they can do what they please 
with fanning: 
“KEEP OFF THE GRASS r 
* 
It seems to me that the best way to show oux' city 
friends the real conditions on the farm is to get them 
to read a good farm paper, and to that end I am sending 
the name of a new subscriber in the city with my com¬ 
pliments. If it does him one-half the good that it has 
clone me for years. I shall be satisfied. We can expect 
no assistance from the city press, since they write from 
ignorance or misinformation, and in either case do more 
harm than good to farmers. 
Here is a funny situation : There are two copies of 
The R. X.-Y. that come to this household of five mem¬ 
bers every week. Neither of the subscribers wants his 
name off the list of The R. X.-Y. family, so we keep 
on year after year. However, if you could see the grand 
rush after those copies on the day and hour that they 
ought to arrive, and usually do. you would probably 
conclude that we ought to have five copies instead of 
two. You really ought to have a circulation of at least 
a million, and 'when that happy day comes you’ll see 
farming in the front rank of industries. 
Essex Co.. X. Y. w. w. sciiermeriiobn. 
M ANY of our readers are doing this very thing— 
sending The R. X.-Y. to city friends. We 
constantly hear from these city people, and know 
that they are gaining a new idea of country life. 
That is a good scheme of education. Some of the 
daily papers in the smaller cities are being strongly 
influenced by farmers. One of the big problems of 
agriculture is how to get the producer and consumer 
together in thought and feeling. How are we to get 
the blinders off the eyes of the city consumer? 
Thousands of unorganized workers in the city are 
the natural friends of the farmers, and we must put 
our story before them so that they can understand 
the language. We could stand one million subscribers 
without getting dizzy, if that would speed the coming 
“happy day.” 
* 
W E have spent much time in learning how 
farmers feel regarding Government owner¬ 
ship or control of the railroads. In such matters 
The R. X.-Y. tries to represent the thought and de¬ 
sires of its readers rather than to tell them what 
they should do. Among our own readers it is clearly 
evident that a large majority are opposed to Gov¬ 
ernment. ownership. Before the experiment in public 
operation which now seems coming to an end we 
should say that at least half of our people were in¬ 
clined to believe that public ownership, or a gradual 
working up to such ownership, would he desirable. 
The actual fact of railroad and express control has 
cured most of the desire for any further experiment 
in Government ownership. We have had inferior 
service with greatly increased expense, and no im¬ 
provement in equipment. It is claimed that the 
Government has hardly had a fair showing—'through 
indirect obstruction of the railroad owners. It is 
also claimed that the present Administration has not 
followed out a strong and businesslike policy. Be 
all that as it may, the fact seems clear that the 
farmers, and particularly those of the Eastern 
States, have had enough of the present Government 
management of transportation. They are in favor 
of private ownership under control of the Govern¬ 
ment; enforced by laws which have the teeth to bite 
in hard. 
* 
A NUMBER of readers have asked about so- 
called “bone-dry silage.” which was described 
in a farm magazine last Summer. The author 
claimed that it was easily possible to “inoculate” 
silage by introducing cultures of the “lactic acid 
bacteria.” These “cultures” were to spread through 
the silo and regulate the chemical processes so as to 
give a very superior product. This article made 
“easy reading,” and led many farmers to believe 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
that they can control the chemistry of the silo much 
as the wife controls bread-making by the use of 
yeast. The scientific men are testing this theory 
carefully, but results thus far do not give much en¬ 
couragement. The article was avidently not based 
or. any practical work, or on any extensive tests. 
There seems to be little in it thus far. An airtight 
silo, a well-matured crop, thoroughly packed in. with 
the top in some way closed to the air. will produce 
good silage—there is little definite proof yet to show 
that these “cultures” will improve it. 
* 
t <1% yrSMORIAL trees” are becoming popular, and 
1V1 thousands of them will be planted this year. 
In many towns a handsome tree will be planted to 
commemorate each soldier killed in the war—or 
each public citizen who rendered some great service. 
Those will also be used as living monuments in 
memory of personal friends or family members. The 
idea is a beautiful one, and we hope it. will become 
generally popular. 
* 
I T is part of the business of a politician to know 
the feeling of the people. .Tust now. on the eve 
of a presidential election, the politicians are trying 
to decide just how far the farmers will go in demand¬ 
ing a fair chance in protecting their business. While 
everything else is changing with the times, the busi¬ 
ness of politics will remain just the same if the 
politicians can only have their way. If they can 
do it. they will name candidates and make platforms 
so that the old issues of the past -10 years will be 
fought all over again. What puzzles them and 
makes them hesitate is the attitude of our farmers. 
During the past few years great work has been done 
at organizing. Farmers have begun to realize their 
power, and to taste the fruits of combined effort. 
Can these organizations be manipulated for political 
purposes? Has the farmer got past the condition 
of thought where as in years past he will grumble, 
but still vote the party ticket? These are the things 
which puzzle the politicians. Some of them appeared 
at the State Farm Bureau meeting and tried to get 
an endorsement of the Agricultural Council. They 
failed. The near-defeat of Charles II. Betts in 
Wayne County, X. Y., was a big shock to them, for 
these things go to show that the farmer is not likely 
to be haltered and led as he had been in the past. We 
might suggest that these politicians read Kipling’s 
poem, “Norman and Saxon.” The old Norman 
baron advises his son how to treat the Saxons so as 
to keep them under control. 
“The Saxon is not like us Normans. Ilis manners are 
not so polite. 
But he never means anything serious till he talks about 
justice and right. 
When lie stands like an ox in the furrow, with his sul¬ 
len, set eyes on your own, 
And grumbles, ‘This isn't fair dealing’—my son, leave 
the Saxon alone!” 
We think it is fair to say that The It. X.-Y. is in 
a position to know the feeling among farmers as 
clearly as any one can get it. When we stated what 
those Wayne County farmers were likely to do the 
politicians smiled. They know better now. and the e 
farmers have only begun. Never in the past .'!<> 
years have we known anything like the great deter¬ 
mination and courage which our farmers are show¬ 
ing. It will be like playing with dynamite to fool 
with them this year, or expect them to be satisfied 
with promises or “careful consideration.” We might 
say to the politicians in the words of Kipling, "My 
son, leave the farmer alone!" —or what happened to 
Betts will not be a circumstance. 
* 
W HAT is the truth about the printed state¬ 
ments that at least one-fourth of our soldiers 
in the American army could not read and write Eng¬ 
lish? Secretary Lane of the Interior Department 
made this statement in his report to Congress, and 
we asked Secretary Baker of the War Department 
for the facts. He says that during the war tests 
were made on 1,552,25G men, and 24.fi per cent of 
them could not read or write English well enough 
to understand a newspaper or write a letter. The 
percentage of such illiteracy among 'the colored sol¬ 
diers was 21-3 times that of the whites! Taking 
these figures and applying them to the entire army 
of 4.0fi0,000 men, the War Department concludes 
that 1,023.000, or 25 per cent, were illiterates! of 
the white soldiers, 21.5 per cent were illiterate, and 
of the colored soldiers 50.6 per cent could not read 
or write! While this is an estimate it is probably 
near the truth. It is a striking commentary upon 
the working out. of our public school system. There 
seems to be greater need of good schools at the back 
road than there is for new colleges out in the lime¬ 
light. 
January 10, 1020 
OMETTMES at a farmers’ meeting a speaker 
undertakes to tell the whole truth about fawn 
conditions. He does not smooth things over, but 
gives a plain statement without any varnish or 
beauty spots. The usual plan (or at least it was the 
plan until quite recently) is to ridicule such a man 
and call him a “grouch” or a “kicker.” One favorite 
illustration which always got a laugh was to say 
that the speaker never could see the doughnut—he 
was always looking at the hole! Thoughtless jjeople 
roar at. this very funny joke—but did any one of 
them ever try to eat a doughnut without any hole? 
They would find it a soggy, indigestible mass. It is 
the hole in the doughnut which makes it fit to eat 
by permitting thorough and quick cooking all around. 
A doughnut without a hole would make very poor 
food. And so the man who punches a hole in some 
fat and petted old theory of contentment makes a 
better doughnut by letting in thought and common 
sense. It may seem like heresy, but what is radical 
today is rational tomorrow. 
* 
T HIS is a thing that has puzzled many practical 
farmers: City business men often criticize 
them for not being “efficient’; for not showing good 
business management. We have had men who made 
a great success in the city come to the farm and 
criticize the management and work, and then point 
out why we failed to make a success. This was 
before they tried farming with their own money 
invested. Now many of these critical business men 
have tried fanning. They had the advantage of 
capital and. of course, they knew how to manage— 
or they could not have gained a fortune in their city 
business. It is supposed, of course, that they put 
the same brains and “management” into farming 
that they employed at. selling, soliciting, or manu¬ 
facturing. Yet how many of them will claim that 
they make any money out of agriculture? Their 
income tax papers usually show that they use the 
farm deficit to pull down their taxable income. 
Now and then such a'man shows the figures which 
prove a profit, but as a rule such a near-farmer is 
quite far from making the farm self-supporting. 
Surely, if “management” alone were responsible for 
farm failure, these big business men should be a 
huge success as farmers. Why. then, are so many 
of them more of a huge joke? 
* 
S OME men come from the South and West to 
farms in New York or New England, and expect 
to keep stock just as they did in the old home. That 
means no shelter—turning the cows and young stock 
out to the “tendering” mercies of the sunny (or 
frosty) side of a straw stack. Then they gnd fault 
because the cows do not pay. There have been fail¬ 
ures from this cause, and people have gone back 
South complaining about our “conditions.” The fact 
is that nature does enforce certain conditions upon 
men who take a contract with her to provide them 
with a living and a competence. They have got to 
consider our climate, and plan to make a cow com¬ 
fortable if she is to pay any profit. Some of our 
Southern friends who never think of providing more 
than a light shed for the stock are frightened at the 
cost of a comfortable barn on a Northern farm. 
They should never think of moving to the North 
unless they are willing to pay the price of comfort 
for their stock. A cold cow may make fair beef, 
but she cannot make profitable milk. 
Brevities 
We understand that large quantities of whale meat 
are being sold in the northern seacoast cities. 
Ground beans are being used in the dry poultry mash 
as a substitute for part of the meat or linseed meal. 
We have a letter from a man in Hood River, Ore., 
who figures on coming to New Jersey for apple growing. 
It means future slavery to sell your Liberty bonds 
and buy luxuries in order to keep step with the neigh¬ 
bors. 
The sugar shortage is likely to continue through most 
of this year. A patch of sorghum for making syrup is 
in order. 
A popular song contains a true line: “You’re a 
thousand miles from nowhere when you’re one mile 
from home.” 
We had a Swedish neighbor who said: “I care not 
so much for you think as I do for your tllings. >, She 
had it about right. 
A few years ago Japan was spoken of as a country 
practically without cows—where milk was seldom used. 
Now the Japanese have entered the world’s markets as 
manufacturers of condensed milk. 
