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The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established isso 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 333 West 30th Street,New fork 
Herbert TV. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Roylb, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 8s. Gd., or 
81.1 marks, or 10^ francs. Remit in money order, express 
order j personal check or bank draf t. 
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 pereon. 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 are 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 bv 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 advertiser. 
H ERE are some things which we shall keep 
pounding at this year: 
“We have got to do it ourselves /” 
The farm women must he paid and the cost of 
their labor added to the price. 
It is the God-given right of every child to have 
what he needs of water, milk and play! 
* 
I feel somewhat like the farmer who was taken to 
dine at a restaurant for the first time. The meal was 
brought on in the old-fashioned small dishes, and Mr. 
Farmer, who was blessed with a good rural appetite, 
soon had things cleaned up. He then informed the 
waiter that 1 he had cleaned up the samples and liked 
them, and please come on with the real feed. I have 
enjoyed the trial subscription, and am looking forward 
to the numbers of 1020. boscoe a. williams. 
Michigan. 
HI, the world is led along into new paths by 
the “samples.” If the sample tastes or looks 
good, people come back for the “real feed.'’ One of 
the best friends we have said he first saw The R. 
N.-Y. in a barber’s shop while he waited for a shave. 
Now he and the barber are planning to go “back to 
the land” together. 
* 
W E have a letter from a reader who says he 
is a hired man, and he encloses the money to 
pay for a year’s subscription for the boss. He says 
the owner of that farm is a man who never gained 
the reading habit when he was a boy and thus he 
misses too much. The hope is that The R. N.-Y. 
can interest this farm owner and get him to study¬ 
ing. We hope so, too. We have come to a time in 
history when no man can successfully butt his way 
through life. He has got to use the inside as well 
as the outside of his head, and many a land owner 
might well go to school to the hired man i Easy 
reading is like kindling wood to start up the fires 
of knowledge. 
* 
T HERON McCAMPBELL, a large potato grower 
of Monmouth Co., N. J., says that manufac¬ 
turers should make and supply an attachment to 
the light high-wheeled tractors which will dig the 
crop. The machine diggers now on the market are 
not entirely satisfactory. Something better is 
needed, and before long every large potato grower 
must plan to use a tractor. A digger and sorting 
attachment to work under the tractor and handle 
one or two rows at once ought to get out the crop 
as well as the present powerful diggers, and thus 
utilize the tractor’s power. Potato growing in the 
East seems likely to concentrate on level, open land 
generally free from stones. With the power of the 
tractor such a digger attachment might well dig 
the potatoes and elevate them into a wagon. Such 
an attachment is needed and our manufacturers 
will have to supply it before long. 
* 
W E would like to have you read that story of a 
second mortgage (on page 223) carefully, and 
then read it again. Personally, we became con¬ 
vinced long ago that in order to make any system 
of Federal farm loans fully successful we have got 
to do it ourselves —at least, to some extent. Thus 
far we feel safe in saying that the Federal land 
banks have not contributed as they should have done 
to develop new farms or to giving hired men and 
tenants the chance to own a farm. Most of the loans 
thus far have been made for the purpose of changing 
the mortgage. A farm would be found carrying a 
mortgage of eight per cent or more—held by a pri¬ 
vate money-lender or a bank. By obtaining a loan 
from the Federal Land Bank the farmer has been 
able to pay off the old mortgage and assume a new 
one—saving two per cent or more in the interest 
rate and slowly paying off the debt. While most 
men will feel freer under such conditions, and feel 
more like developing the property, this- is not the 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
way to make new freeholders, and give worthy men a 
chance to use their character as an asset. A much 
finer way is given in that story of the second mort¬ 
gage. We can all see r.t once that if there had not 
been men ready to accept that mortgage, the renter 
could never have had his chance. He made good, 
and there are thousands more like him who could 
do as well if they could gain possession of a farm. 
M e can : T see, too. that no Government bank, how¬ 
ever liberal its policy, could ever have safely 
financed this man alone. There must he a spirit and 
willingness to help on the part of citizens wh > have 
money to lend and who have faith in tl n .arm and 
in human character. Efforts are now i Mug made 
to change the law so as to enlarge and liberalize 
the policy of the Federal Land Bank, .'ome changes 
are greatly needed; but let us not get the idea that 
the Government will do it all. We must back up 
the Government by making the second mortgage- 
respect'd as good security. "We think Mr. Mathewson 
is right in what he says about this. This Virginia 
man was able to pay out promptly because he knew 
how to handle a good money crop—tobacco. He 
struck a fair crop at a high price. Even an expert 
farmer would probably fall short of this record in a 
grain, dairy or fruit section, but the principle is 
the same everywhere. We must not stand back and 
wait for the Federal Land Bank to do it all, but we 
must back it up by accepting second mortgages when 
we feel sure that the farmer has it in him to make 
good. 
* 
S ENATOR JAMES W. WADSWORTH of New 
York announces that he will be a candidate for 
re-election. Should he finally decide to come before 
the people we shall have one of the most interesting 
and important issues ever presented in politics. A 
IT. S. Senator is now elected by the people directly. 
In former years a Senator was elected by the Leg¬ 
islature, and following the law that the servant is 
no greater than his master, the Senator was ex¬ 
pected to obey instructions. Now the power to elect, 
has been transferred from the Legislature to the 
people, and it has become a great question as to 
who should command. Is the U. S. Senator an agent 
of the people, doing what they ask him to do and 
deferring to their judgment, or is he sent to Wash¬ 
ington with a white card to do practically as he 
pleases? In other words, who is to run the business, 
the people who own it or the man who represents 
them as agent? That is a big question in these days, 
when the entire world is struggling toward a saner 
and fairer democracy and a co-operation with a 
capital CO. Mr. Wadsworth represents the theory 
that a Senator is not obligated to obey the instruc¬ 
tions from this State. Out of the many instances 
proving this we select one—his vote on the suffrage 
amendment. New York voted by an immense ma¬ 
jority to give woman the ballot. The Legislature, 
later on, by a great majority, requested Mr. Wads¬ 
worth to vote for the national suffrage amendment. 
There could be no clearer or more forcible expression 
of the desires of New York State. Yet Senator 
Wadsworth refused to be guided by instructions. 
He voted against the amendment, on the theory 
that he was sent to Washington, not as a servant, 
but as a superior agent for New York State, with 
power to use his judgment and vote as he saw fit! 
We make no complaint about this or other similar 
acts. Mr. Wadsworth is on honorable man. and 
we may grant that he is sincere in the position he 
takes. He has, however, made the issue very clear 
and simple. Is a New York Senator to he an agent 
of the people to represent them as they desire, or is 
he to be given superior powers and the right to put 
his own personal judgment above what we may call 
public opinion? We think the coming campaign 
will hinge on that question—and it is a good one. 
We can easily see arguments on both sides, and they 
will be presented fairly. We would like to have our 
readers think this matter over carefully. 
* 
H ERE is a new angle of farm manure ownership 
which farmers ought to understand. A New 
York man bought a farm on a contract which gave 
him possession some six months later. The tenant 
on this farm was a relative of the man who sold 
it. and this tenant continued to live on the farm 
until the new owner took possession. There was 
considerable manure on this farm, and the new 
owner claimed it on the theory that manure is a 
part of the real estate. The tenant, however, began 
to haul this manure away to another farm appar¬ 
ently with the consent of his relative who had sold 
the farm on contract. In this curious case the law 
seems to favor the tenant, for the new owner cannot 
be said to have possession until the time limit in his 
contract expires. As nothing was said in that con¬ 
tract about the manure, the old owner of the farm 
February 7, 1920 
has the right to dispose of it, and he seems to be in 
a plan to let the tenant take it away! The man 
who has bought the farm is not the legal owner until 
the time stated in his contract. Thus the tenant 
and the former owner are able to upset the rule that 
the manure goes with the farm. It is a very slick 
trick, and farmers who buy farms in this way should 
he sure to have this ownership settled in the con¬ 
tract 
* 
A S we begin to know more about those vitamines 
which the scientific men find in food we find 
many of our old ideas about foods and eating get¬ 
ting ready for the discard. A man may stuff him¬ 
self with “strong food” which provides an abun¬ 
dance of protein,, fat, starch and all the rest, and yet 
stop growth and lose his health unless these precious 
vitamines are present. He may eat less food and 
retain health and vigor if the food is of the right 
kind. This knowledge not only helps the consumer 
to select a better and more economical ration, hut 
it will also help the producer. For example, it is 
now demonstrated that there can be no full substi¬ 
tute for milk and its products, especially in the diet 
of children. Butter substitutes have been exploited 
because they carry about the same proportion of fat 
as pure butter. Now we know that butter alone 
among these fats carries the vitamines which are 
-essential to the growth of a child. And we also 
know that certain vegetables and fruits, like toma¬ 
toes, lettuce, apples and oranges, contain these es¬ 
sential principles. We think the carrot is to become 
very popular as human food. For years it was re¬ 
garded as fit only for stock food, but we believe it 
will in the future become second only to the potato 
in the various ways in which it may be eaten. The 
fact is that modern scientific discoveries and the 
high cost of living will combine to bring about a 
change in the general diet which will help us all. 
Professor Carver of Alabama has discovered a pro¬ 
cess for producing “milk” directly from peanuts. 
All these things mean more and more of direct sale 
of original farm products to consumers, and that is 
what we all desire. 
* 
W E have just received a letter, written by one 
who calls herself a hired man’s wife, that is 
one of the most sensible and interesting documents 
we have ever read. We could be of great service 
to this woman in what she desires if we only knew 
her name. She has not given it, and, of course, her 
letter cannot he printed until we know who she is 
and something more of the circumstances. Of 
course, we cannot print anonymous articles, no mat¬ 
ter how strong or useful they may be—particularly 
when the personality of the author is involved. We 
regret that we cannot trace this excellent and ap¬ 
parently honest letter. 
* 
P RESIDENT WILSON gave the country a sur¬ 
prise in the readjustment of his Cabinet Sec¬ 
retary of the Treasury Glass retired to enter the 
U. S. Senate from Virginia. It was expected that 
some man notable in financial circles would be ap¬ 
pointed, but the President sprung a surprise by 
transferring Secretary Houston from the Agricultural 
Department to the head of the Treasury. The 
papers call this a consolation appointment, as it is 
said Mr. Houston wanted to occupy the position 
held by Mr. Herbert Hoover. We think Mr. Houston 
is qualified to fill the position. He fits into it better 
than he has as Secretary of Agriculture. As success¬ 
or to Mr. Houston the President has selected E. T. 
Meredith of Iowa—best known as publisher of an 
agricultural paper. Mr. Meredith announces that 
he v T ill attempt to w T ork out some plan for getting 
crops to market “without too much lost motion.” 
Surely every farmer in the country will back him 
in that! 
Brevities 
A good test for the truth is your inability to buy it. 
.Ttjeging from our correspondents, most of our people 
suffer from chilblains. We have had about 40 remedies 
suggested. 
“No use trying to make a man read when he does 
not enjoy it,” says a Pennsylvania reader. But the 
man may be induced to like it. 
Thebe are some reports that Canada peas will not 
thrive on certain soils. Before we gave it up we should 
try liming and also use inoculation for peas. 
Too many people get mixed in their estimate of the 
values of w-ood and coal ashes. Coal ashes have little, 
if any, plant food value—except as wood is burned with 
the coal. The coal ashes do, however, have a mechan¬ 
ical effect upon the soil that helps. 
A great country this. One report from St. Lawrence 
County, New York, says the thermometer registers 38 
below zero! Another from Florida speaks of over¬ 
powering heat! A great country, and The R. N.-Y. 
seems to be found in every part of it. 
