The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
251 
The N. Y. State Agricultural Society 
Among other things the New York State Agricul¬ 
tural Society presented a broad discussion of dairy 
problems at its recent meeting in Albany. Hon. 
Israel T. Deyo of Binghamton presented perhaps the 
strongest paper of all in his discussion of the produc¬ 
tion of milk. It was not that he presented much 
new matter. The subject has been pretty well cov¬ 
ered. but his marshaling of facts and forcible pre¬ 
sentation of them made an interesting half hour for 
his hearers. It was full of suggestions for the prac¬ 
tical dairyman. Mr. Deyo made the point that taxe* 
are laid on property wherever found, and not on per¬ 
sons or communities. There is. therefore, no sig¬ 
nificance in the fact that one locality pays more 
taxes than another, except that society happens to 
locate more property in one place than in the other. 
The drift of population indicates opportunity for 
profits, and when the drift from city to country ex¬ 
ceeds the movement to the city we can safely con¬ 
clude that the best profits are made on the fai*m. 
The present drift is the other way. He said his 
sympathy was not for the poor boy 
who is forced by circumstances to 
make a man of himself, but for the 
unfortunate boy of fortune, who had 
the luxuries of life thrust upon him. 
No training school is equal to the 
farm for the development of a boy; 
but that is no reason why poverty 
should be the fate of the farm. 
When farmers get a fair compensa¬ 
tion for their enterprise and labor 
the boys will stay on the farm. 
George E. Hogue made a good talk 
on feeding and feeds. He advised 
growing more feed on the farm, but 
acknowledged that some buying in 
New York State is necessary. Some 
dairymen use high-priced feeds at a 
profit: others at a loss. The man. 
he said, is 75 per cent of the feed 
problem. He suggested some amend¬ 
ments to the feed law, the most im¬ 
portant of which was to name each 
ingredient, by weight, and to require 
that the information be printed on a 
plain tag, instead of on the bag, as 
now. 
The story of the Bang system of 
treating reacting cows at Lincoln- 
dale was told in a simple, straight¬ 
forward story by M. E. Bulkley. 
Two barns are operated. They are 
widely separated, and neither the 
animals nor the boys who care for them are allowed 
to mix. The reacting animals are kept in one 
barn and the healthy animals in the other. Calves 
from the reacting cows are removed at once to the 
healthy herd and not permitted any contact with 
their dams after birth. The calves are fed on pas¬ 
teurized milk, but their best success in raising calves 
is with unpasteurized milk. Since reducing the tem¬ 
perature for pasteurizing they have experienced less 
trouble. They have raised lit head of young stock: 
all were from reacting mothers. They have never 
had any reactors from them. The herd consists of 
160 cows. The work is done by boys committed to 
the institution for delinquencies and waywardness. 
After training they go out to the farms as helpers. 
This system of raising calves would pay only in the 
case of high-class registered stock. 
Dr. Jordan supplemented this experience with a 
report of work in the same line, and to the same 
effect, at the Geneva Station, began 20 years ago 
He has had no reactors from calves raised under this 
quarantine system. 
Bradley Fuller gave a general outline of the plan 
of the proposed co-operative association to solve the 
milk problem. He proposed a centralized control of 
the whole milk territory, to be financed by a uniform 
tax on all the milk. He would reserve the territory 
near the cities for shipments, and place the butter 
and cheese factories in distant territory, and pool all 
money from milk, so as to pay all producers alike ex¬ 
cept as to certain differentials as to freight, etc. He 
would sell the dealers what they want, charging 
them the cost of production and a profit, and manu¬ 
facture the remainder in the country plants. 
, Another side of the milk question was discussed by 
Samuel B. Botsford of Buffalo. His subject was the 
‘‘Milk Problems in Large Cities.” He is a city milk¬ 
man. and discussed the subject from that angle: but 
be was in harmony with farmers in opposition to 
price-fixing commissions, municipal control of the 
business and monopoly through the city zoning sys¬ 
tem. There was at least a suggestion in his argument 
that the city consumer might well be required to pay 
more. It was, as a whole, a dealer’s speech, but one 
need not agree with it in toto. and yet recognize skill 
and ability in the man who produced it. 
Former Congressman Asbury A. Lever of South 
Carolina made the principal speech at the Tuesday 
evening session. He is now associated in the man¬ 
agement of the Federal Land Bank, which he did 
much to create. He disputed the charge that farm¬ 
ers are profiteers by statistics which prove farm in¬ 
comes average from $395 to $3,175, and income from 
farm labor from $49 to $789. The figures were quot¬ 
ed from surveys made by the Federal Agricultural 
Department. He deplored the increase of tenant 
farming, pleaded for more pay for teachers, and de¬ 
manded better consideration of the needs and con¬ 
veniences for farm women. In his own State, out of 
20 farm wells he found IS located in convenience to 
the horse trough, and only two with reference to the 
kitchen. He does not see the need of so many mid¬ 
dlemen in a chain between producer and consumer. 
He thinks we have more of them than we need. 
Resolutions were adopted: 
1. Favoring appropriations for buildings and bet¬ 
ter salaries for professors at Cornell and Geneva. 
2. For the repeal of the State daylight saving law. 
3. Recommending that agricultural fair associa¬ 
tions refuse space to exhibit and advertise butter 
substitutes. 
4. Opposing further bond issue for roads, favor¬ 
ing the pay-as-you-go plan, approving the connecting 
links of trunk roads, but favoring feeders to the 
State roads from back country sections in preference 
to cement trunk roads. 
5. Opposing health and old age and unemploy¬ 
ment insurance. 
(5. Recommending that a law be enacted to re- 
suire the pasteurization of skiiu-milk and whey 
before these products are returned to farmers. 
7. Providing that composite samples of milk used 
for testing the fat content as a basis for payment of 
milk to farmers must be kept at the plant and tested 
where taken, and not in any event removed from the 
State. 
S. Expressing opposition to the creation of any 
commission empowered to fix. regulate or control 
prices, practices and policies of producers, distrib¬ 
utors or manufacturers of milk or its products, and 
of agricultural production and food products in gen¬ 
eral : and requesting members of the Legislature to 
oppose any law providing for the appointment of any 
such commission or committee. 
Herbert Hoover—Candidate for President 
Without question there are unseen and well-direct¬ 
ed forces at work in America, through skillful for¬ 
eign propaganda. That means well-organized effort 
to influence public opinion for certain definite pur¬ 
poses. No doubt agents of the Russian government 
are at work here, attempting to spread the theories 
of anarchy and radical rule. Back in the days of the 
French Revolution much the same thing was at¬ 
tempted here and in England. Agents of other gov¬ 
ernments are working to influence the people to ap¬ 
prove of foreign loans or foreign trade, or to obtain 
some advantage from food supplies. Much of this 
might be called legitimate—a method of changing the 
popular thought of this republic. Thousands of 
Americans believe that something of this sort is 
back of the effort to “boom” Mr. Herbert C. Hoover 
as a candidate for President. Surely, if we may 
take Mr. IToo\er’s record. Europe or the European 
people could expect greater favors from him than 
our own producers can look for. This feeling is par¬ 
ticularly strong among farmers, especially those of 
the North and West. To them it seemed that Mr. 
Hoover’s one ambition during the war was to send 
cheap food to Europe, regardless of the effect of that 
policy upon our food producers. 
Prices were manipulated downward, 
with arbitrary price-fixing always 
below normal. The outcome of this 
has proved one of the calamities of 
the war. We are feeling its effects 
in decreased production and in the 
movement of labor from the farm. 
A genuine statesman would have 
seen that above all else, agriculture, 
the foundation business of the 
world, must be spared and encour¬ 
aged at such a time. Mr. Hoover 
could see nothing but the necessity 
of cheap food abroad. Farmers were 
neglected, and this one-sided policy 
gave exclusive control of distribu¬ 
tion into the hands of middlemen 
and distributors. The parasites 
among this class obtained such a 
hold upon the public during the food 
administration that they still dom¬ 
inate the country and defy the gov¬ 
ernment. Mr. Hoover denied co¬ 
operative farm organizations the 
privilege of handling feed and other 
supplies, and thus added to the des¬ 
potic powers of the middlemen. Mr. 
Hoover, on his record, would carry 
Europe unanimously, and poll the 
solid vote of the middlemen and 
handlers, but no man in his senses 
will believe that American farmers 
would support him—and no man can be elected this 
year who is not backed by these same American 
farmers. 
The State Agricultural Depaitment 
The Dog Law 
To begin the story of the Agricultural Department, 
we had to start somewhere, and drifted to the Ani¬ 
mal Industry Bureau, which, among other things, 
has the enforcement of the State dog law. 
This law went into effect in 1917. but the law has 
been changed every year since, and is sadly in need 
of further changes now. Under the law all dogs in 
the State must be licensed. The license usually runs 
for one year, but beginning March 1. 1920. licenses 
will be issued to June 30, 1921, in order to make the 
year correspond with the state fiscal year. The 
license fee is $2 for each male dog and $3 for the 
females. The license is issued by the town clerks, 
and an additional fee of 25 cents is charged for the 
services of the clerk. 
The assessor of each town and the police depart¬ 
ment of each city are required to prepare a duplicate 
list of the owners of dogs in their jurisdiction. One 
list is filed with the town or city clerk, and the other 
with the Department of Agriculture. The assessors 
receive 20 cents for each dog listed by them. They 
are not required to swear to the list, and the lists 
are not very accurate as returned. It is to be ex¬ 
pected that errors would occur from various causes, 
hut a verification requirement would undoubtedly 
result in a more carefully prepared list. 
A tag is also required for the dog. to go with the 
license, and the town or city clerk is allowed 25 cents 
extra for this. If the owner of a dog neglects or re¬ 
fuses to secure a license and tag his dog in accord¬ 
ance with the law he is subject to a penalty of $10 
If a dog is found without a tag. any peace 
(Continued on page 272) 
/ 
An Open Letter to Readers of The R. N.-Y. 
It has just come to my attention that The R. N.-Y. has 170.000 subscribers. 
It ought to have a million, and I believe every present subscriber ought to get 
least one new name on the list for the coming year. If you can’t find anyone who 
will pay the paltry dollar give it to some friend—if it’s a city friend it’s just ns 
well. 
I have already sent my new name, and if there is any way to count noses I’ll 
be one of a thousand to get five new subscribers each year for the next five years. 
The R. N.-Y. carries a message which every farmer and many city folk ought 
to have. But the publishers are too modest to cry their wares from the housetops 
—we readers “have got to do it ourselves!” And so I make this appeal over their 
heads. All I fear is that they will be too modest to print my proposition. 
Perhaps I had better hasten to explain that I have not the slightest financial 
interest in the publication. But I am interested in its success, because it is 
rendering a real service to humanity. And I don't mind saying that when a journal 
stands so loyally and unflinchingly for the agricultural interests it deserves material 
as well as moral support. The editors have been getting many appreciative letters 
—this is well and good, for we ought to give our flowers to the living—but a long 
subscription list will give power to the writing arm and increase their service to 
our cause. 
Let's extend the influence of The R. N.-Y., and moreover, get solidly behind 
the movement for organization. Only thus shall we gain our rights in legislative 
halls and get our share of the consumer’s dollar. Through organization we may 
reduce the burden upon the urban dweller—he may even find his dollar reduced to 
90 cent6 ! Get a new subscriber today. m. t. horne. 
Newton Falls, Ohio. January 20. 
R. N.-Y.—The above letter is printed without comment—beyond the expression 
of our sincere appreciation of the fine feeling which so many of our readers are 
showing this year. There never was anything like it before. 
