134 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January IT, 1020 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
All letters to Publisher's Desk depart¬ 
ment must be signed with writer’s full 
name and address given. Many inquiries 
are answered by mail instead of printing 
inquiry and answer, hence unsigned let¬ 
ters receive no consideration. 
A few weeks back I had a letter from 
-&-in regard to roofing material, 
and told them I used it, as 1 saw their ad¬ 
vertisement in The R. IV.-Y. at that time 
and was going to use more roofing, and 
wondered why they did not still carry an 
ad. in this paper, as it was the only farm 
paper I knew of that protected its sub¬ 
scribers and advertisers as well. They 
wrote me, inquiring as to its circulation 
in my neighborhood. I told them, nearly 
every farmer in this locality took it. 
They replied they would start using it 
again, so I shall expect to see their ad¬ 
vertisement back where it belongs,'ovith 
my endorsement of their roofing. 
New Jersey. W. s. c. 
W. S. C. is a very efficient advertising 
solicitor for The R. N.-Y., .to say the. 
least. But the advertising order in ques¬ 
tion is only incidental to the policy of the 
paper during the present management, 
and we do not know how long before, of 
accepting advertising of only meritorious 
goods, backed by responsible and fair 
dealing houses. Our standard in con¬ 
sidering advertising submitted is: Would 
we patronize the advertisement ourselves 
if so situated that we could use the ar¬ 
ticle offered the public? If our answer 
is “yes,” the advertisement is accepted; 
if “no,” the advertisement is rejected. Our 
chief concern is the welfare of the sub¬ 
scriber, but the policy relieves the legiti¬ 
mate advertiser from meeting spurious 
and dishonest competition. We shall 
earnestly strive to merit the unstinted 
confidence as expressed by W. S. C., and 
which we have reasons to believe is shared 
by now more than 170,000 subscribers. 
I wrote II. L. Barber & Co. trout fish¬ 
ing was very good, but suckers were not 
biting well in the .State of Washington, 
as We read The R. N.-Y. I offer best 
wishes for your paper. E. L. 
Washington. 
The above is an appropriate reply to 
the solicitation of II. L. Barber & Co., 
Chicago, for subscriptions to the stock of 
the. Consumers’ Stores Company. If the 
public generally could only be brought to 
see these in their true light, stockbrokers 
of Barber’s type and promoters of worth¬ 
less stocks as a whole would go hungry, 
or would adopt some legitimate means of 
livelihood. 
I am enclosing several telegrams and 
letters from the United Produce Company, 
by which you will see they “stung” us. 
On September 3 and G I shipped them 
two cars of peppers as requested by 
them. On September 8 I received a tele¬ 
gram stating that part of the first car ar¬ 
rived in bad condition and that they 
would sell the bad lot. which was 08 bbls., 
at our account, but the bill of September 
G you will see they deducted 25c per bbl. 
on the rest of the car, or 124 bbls. of fin¬ 
ger or long hots. The peppers were only 
three days on the road, and Weather was 
very cool, and they should have refused 
the car if they were bad. The second car 
was shipped as requested on September 
G. It contained 245 bbls. and one crate of 
bull-nose peppers. They wrote me on 
September 0 that they did not order this 
car, but as you will see by the enclosed 
copy of the original telegram. I shipped 
according to their instructions. All these 
peppers were sold f. o. b. Vineland, but 
as you will see, they deducted freight in 
both cases. The last was bargained for 
82 and they sent about 93c per bbl. We 
should have received $1,014 for both cars, 
but as you will see, we received only 
$629.80, or $385 short. J. J. u. 
New Jersey. 
The written record in the case confirms 
the above statement of the manager of 
West Vineland Farmers’ Association. We 
have appealed to the United Produce 
Company of Pittsburg for justice for these 
farmers, but our letters have been ig¬ 
nored. It is fair to assume that if the 
United Produce Company had acted in good 
faith in the transaction the company 
would have been glad to present their side 
of the case. By silence the concern vir¬ 
tually admits the charges. The produce 
was not shipped on consignment, but sold 
at a price mutually agreed upon. With 
cool weather and prompt delivery it is 
hardly conceivable that the produce ar¬ 
rived in bad condition, as is claimed. It 
has been reported to the AVest Vineland 
Association that the peppers were left on 
the track a week without unloading be¬ 
cause of poor market. The only pretext 
of an excuse for the attitude of the Unit¬ 
ed Produce Company is that the instruc¬ 
tions were to ship in refrigerator cars. 
But the producer always gets the small 
end of the deal when he entrusts his ship¬ 
ments to irresponsible houses, such as the 
United Produce Company. The only safe¬ 
ty is to look up the reputation and stand¬ 
ing of houses soliciting produce before 
shipment is made. 
The Ford Joke Book fake scheme is ap¬ 
pearing again in some farm papers 
over the name of Pike Publishing Com' 
pany. Norwalk, Conn. The advertise¬ 
ment is innocent enough on the face of it, 
but the real purpose of the advertising is 
to distribute a catalogue of all sorts of 
cheap, trashy goods, including magic se¬ 
crets, fortune-telling, etc. AVe repeat the 
warning so that no reader of The R. N.-Y. 
will get caught on the fake advertising. 
What do you think of the enclosed 
pamphlet? I thing it is some.more sucker 
bait. If so, it will be a good thing to let 
your people know through the old reliable 
R. N.-Y., the best farm paper printed. 
"New York. w. h. m. 
The circular enclosed of “Factory Dis¬ 
tributors,” Buffalo, N. Y., is offering stock 
on the old Bidwell scheme of offering 
stockholders-40 per cent discount on tires. 
“Sucker bait” is the proper term to de¬ 
scribe such a stock offering. 
I pay my hired man one dollar a month 
extra, provided he reads The R. N. Y. 
Chenango Co., N. Y. L. G. 
This friend estimates the value of The 
R. N.-Y. at $12 a year in more intelligent 
service of his hired man. Aside from the 
estimate in money, it is one of the best 
practical compliments we have yet re¬ 
ceived for the paper. 
< 
I enclose a dollar, for which extend my 
subscription from next May, when it will 
expire. My entire farming is done in 
reading your interesting paper. I wish 
vour farmer readers who have parcel post 
articles of food to sell would advertise 
more. Last year we bought some splen¬ 
did apple butter from them among other 
things. G- B. B. 
Massachusetts. 
AA’e have been quite surprised ourselves 
to see how many city people are subscrib¬ 
ers. Good roads and the automobile have 
taken city people to the country, and this 
may have created a desire to kuow more 
about farm interests, and, of course, the 
natural thing would be to come to head¬ 
quarters for it. Another reason is that 
our farm friends see the good in getting 
the right kind of farm information to city 
people, and often induce their city friends 
to take the paper. Like Barkis, we are 
willing when anyone has the goods to 
sell. We keep the Exchange open for this 
purpose. 
The Publisher’s Desk is the grandest 
thing ever undertaken by a farm paper. 
Massachusetts. h. e. bobbins. 
Many people ask why we devote so much 
time and expense to Publisher’s Desk. 
Others ask how is it that we can afford to 
do so. It is work that requires the ut¬ 
most care and a very wide line of infor¬ 
mation. If conducted on any other than 
strictly conscientious lines of service, it 
could not be successful. No pretense 
would go in a work of this kind. AA hen 
the writer was a hired man on New York 
farms he was sensitive to that form 
of personal direction that was known at 
the time as being “bossed.To avoid the 
close supervision in details he took the 
initiative to do the things that needed to 
be done, and he found that such service 
was appreciated and rewarded by the 
owner of the farm and his family. Pub¬ 
lisher’s Desk is simply an extension of 
that policy. The hired man who avoided 
a job that he knew should be done, because 
it was difficult, or even dangerous, would 
never command the full confidence of his 
employer. lie would necessarily be 
“bossed.” AA’e conduct this department 
because we believe under present con¬ 
ditions the farmer needs the service, and, 
that being true, the work or the cost 
makes no difference. Some will say that 
the hired man was looking for praise more 
than a desire to avoid being “bossed” or 
to serve. It may be so. AA’ho can fathom 
all the motives of a human mind, and so 
long as this department serves our friends 
it justifies any work or expense we can 
put into it. 
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