If* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
373 
First Figures on the Farm Referendum 
The first farm referendum lias already gone far 
enough to prove it a success. Under difficult circum¬ 
stances farmers are voting on the questions pre¬ 
sented. We realize that it has been difficult to vote 
at all. Readers lmd a choice of either mutilating 
the paper or copying the ballot. Many chose to make 
a ballot. No doubt many intended to vote after the 
paper was completely read, and then overlooked if. 
Others have been deterred by the bad conditions of 
the roads. But with if all the votes are yet coming 
in at the rate of 300 to 400 a day. During the first' 
five days the vote has been 2.842. In this vote 2.704 
were in favor of repealing the State daylight law; 
and 7X were against its repeal. 
There were 2,347 in favor of revising the agricul¬ 
tural law; and five against. 
Tn favor of electing the Commissioner of Agricul¬ 
ture and (he Commissioner of Markets by direct vote 
at a general election 2,522 voted yes; and only 33 
voted no. 
Only IS voted in favor of creating a commission 
to fix prices of any farm product; 2,522 
voted no. 
The vote to limit the amount to be 
paid owners for damage to domestic 
animals and fowls was 1.810: and the 
vote against any limit was 541. Many 
do not fully understand this proposi¬ 
tion. It will be explained more fully 
later on. 
A vote of 2.505 ballots was registered 
in favor of revising the school law and 
to limit the powers of the department 
over local branches. The opposite vote 
was 1G. 
The vote to adopt the referendum 
vote to represent farm demands at 
Albany and elsewhere was 2.430. The 
vote against the referendum was 7. As 
all seven voters voted the whole ballot 
we think these seven voters probably 
did not understand the proposition. 
The interest in the plan was keen 
and many showed real enthusiasm for 
it. We estimate that the total vote will 
amount to something between S.OOO and 
10.000. which will be a very good show¬ 
ing from one State under the circum¬ 
stances. It shows that farmers will 
vote, and that they vote right. 
This is one of the important features 
of the Federation of Agriculture. The 
Idea is to provide facilities by which 
every farmer and every qualified mem¬ 
ber of his family shall have an oppor¬ 
tunity to vote or. farm policies; and 
also to vote for the men who are to 
speak for farmers. Such spokesmen 
will go with authority, and they will 
have the credentials with them. Many 
farmers call it the best departure that 
has over been made. Many say they 
had the same thing in mind for a long 
time. Others say “keep it up” and de¬ 
velop it into a system. A large number 
want to use the same form of ballot in 
the Farm Bureau and Dairymen’s League and Fruit 
Growers’ Association. Others want such a ballot to 
enable farmers to indicate in advance their choice 
for Governor and other important officers, especially 
members of the Legislature. 
When measures affecting these problems are before 
the Legislature we shall be able to show the members 
just what the faryi sentiment is. We will present 
all the votes yet to come. If any representative from 
a farm district refuses to abide by the referendum 
instructions we shall tell who he is. We must know 
our friends and identify our enemies. 
Later on. when the Federation gets strong enough, 
it. can prepare regular ballots and furnish printed 
return envelopes, and farmers may elect a committee 
to receive the ballots and count the votes. It is such 
an important feature in farm organization work and 
in farm development the postoffice should carry the 
votes as official business without stamps. The postal 
service carries free now much matter of far less 
importance. Politicians often excuse their acts by 
complaining that they did not know what farmers 
wanted. The referendum furnishes the information 
and calls the bluff. 
There will be a hearing at Albany on February 18 
on the daylight saving law. As it is now the bill to 
repeal the State law will pass the Assembly, but be 
defeated in the Senate. City interests are lighting it 
hard. Farmers have not appeared for it. Those who 
want the State law repealed should write or wire 
Hon. .1. II. Walters, leader of the Senate. 
A Little Competition in Milk Prices 
When the price for February milk was fixed at 
$3.48 per cwt., Sheffield Farms announced that the 
price to the city consumer would be Iffc for Grade A, 
and 17c for Grade B. This was allowing a cent a 
quart below the January price, but still a cent a 
quart above the retail city price last year, when the 
producer received tie per cwt. more. 
It seems now that the Borden’s Company had not 
been consulted about the retail city price for Febru¬ 
ary; or. if consulted, they did not agree to the 17c 
price for B milk. The understanding is that Bor¬ 
den’s desired to make it 1714c. In any event, on 
February 1 the Borden’s Company cut the price to 
lGc. and for the first time in years a row is on be¬ 
tween the two big milk distributors. Some of the 
smaller dealers who are yet left follow Sheffield’s 
and some reduce the price to meet Borden's. The 
profits during the scrap will be less than for Janu¬ 
ary. when New York milk dealers probably made the 
biggest profits of recent years, if not of their whole 
lives; but personal dignity must be preserved at any 
cost. Borden’s used to be the undisputed autocrat 
of the distributors. They made the prices for the 
years, and all the others who had not agreed in ad¬ 
vance fell in behind them. Relatively Sheffield’s have 
been growing as the business narrowed down to the 
two, so Sheffield’s sailed out alone for once and 
Borden’s, piqued at their initiative, goes them a cent 
better. But it will not last long. Members of the 
trust always find a way to adjust differences that 
favorably affect the consumer. 
Mr. Hoover and the Farmers 
For some months now. on each Monday of the week, 
rural and city readers of the State of New York have 
been privileged to read a semi-official bulletin or state¬ 
ment under caption "The Farmer’s Side" in the Syracuse 
I'ost-Standard. The writer signs the fictitious name of 
Elias Brent, and the articles appear by arrangement 
with leading agricultural agencies of the State, like the 
State College and the Grange. One of the last articles 
to appear touched on a topic of keen interest to farmers 
of the entire country, that of the proposal to regard Mr. 
Herbert C. Hoover as a candidate for the presidency. 
As the selection of the right man is of such vital in¬ 
terest to farmers, and as no less a man than the Mas¬ 
ter of the National Grange urges farmers to interest 
themselves at once in the selection as candidates for 
this office for ail parties of men whose attitude towards 
and whose understanding of agricultural problem* are 
such that the country’s welfare will be safeguarded in 
any event, no matter which party’s candidate is finally 
elected, it will be of interest to note what this writer 
says of Mr. Hoover in that capacity. He says: 
"It is hard for the layman to judge whether or not 
there is anything to the Hoover presidential boom. If 
the politicians know any more about it, which is doubt¬ 
ful. they are following the course which has saved their 
faces so many times, of looking wise and keeping silent. 
"So far in any discussion of Hoover’s acceptableness 
the opinion of the farmers does not seem to have been 
considered. Business men are declared to be for 
Hoover; they feel that the country needs a business man 
at the helm in these troublesome times. 
“Finally, he is agreed to have a better grasp of the 
world’s economic conditions, particularly of the condi¬ 
tion of its food supply, than any other man. With the 
world on the verge of famine, such a knowledge is surely 
most essential. 
Farmers Dourtfih,.— “The question is, however, has 
Hoover demonstrated such knowledge? Has he the 
world’s master mind in relation to food 
problems? Frankly, the farmers of the 
nation do not believe that he has. Many 
of them will even go farther and tell you 
that in their opinion much of the food 
scarcity of today is directly due to Mr. 
Hoover’s activities as Food Administrator. 
These men. the food producers of the na¬ 
tion. should know what they are talking 
about. When Hoover became Food Admin¬ 
istrator his first move was to associate 
with him in his office the very best men in 
the various lines of food manufacture and 
distribution. Thus we saw Whitmarsh 
handling the affairs of the grocers, packer- 
trained men looking after meats, and can- 
ners in charge of canned goods. This ac¬ 
tion gave Mr. Hoover almost overnight a 
wonderfully trained and efficient machine. 
That he had the foresight to pick such 
men and the ability to secure and hold 
their confidence is a great credit to him. 
They constitute today his most ardent ad¬ 
mirers. 
Where Hoover Faii.ed. —“With all 
phases of food distribution looked after. 
Hoover failed, and failed badly, on the 
next and most important step. He dis¬ 
missed the problem of food production 
with a wave of his hand and the remark 
that he considered it the field of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture. Perhaps this 
would not have been so bad if he had 
carried out what he said and left pro¬ 
ducers alone, even though protected by a 
weak Department of Agriculture. No 
sooner, however, did the Food Administra¬ 
tion begin to operate than it began to 
concern itself with the most vital point in 
fowl production—the prices of food. Very 
openly Mr. Hoover, hacked by the Presi¬ 
dent and both urged on by organized 
labor, took the position that food prices 
must lie kept down. The men represent¬ 
ing distributing interests on his staff were 
there to help keep them down, to help win 
the war, and last, hut not in all cases 
least, to see that their interests got a deal 
that squared with a certain comfortable 
sort of patriotism. Costs were rising, the 
people demauding and expecting cheap 
food, less of it being produced. Someone 
had to hold the bag, and Hoover nominat¬ 
ed the farmer. 
Setting Mtt.k Price. —"No more strik¬ 
ing example of this policy is needed than 
the way the New York City milk price 
was set just before the armistice. Some¬ 
body decided that the price of milk in that 
city was not to go above 1G cents. The 
Milk Conference Board was on the job 
with its cost of milk distribution. So 
Hoover sent Dr. Clyde King up to see the 
Dairymen’s League with substantially this 
message : ‘The price of milk must not he over 10 cents. 
The distributors say it costs them so much to distribute; 
we haven’t time to investigate, so we must take their 
word for it; subtract their cost from 16 cents, and you 
can have the rest.’ This in the face of a declared gov¬ 
ernment policy of cost of production plus a fair profit ! 
Is it any wonder that the farmers out down their heifer 
calf crop, that dairy cows were slaughtered, and that 
the whole question had to be settled by a milk strike? 
Food Card Mistakes. —“Another very meritorious 
act of Mr. Hoover’s was to build up a tremendous fol¬ 
lowing of patriotic housewives. These he sought to 
direct through kitchen cards. Tn these cards were per¬ 
petrated some most fundamental mistakes from the point 
of view of food production, mistakes which consumers 
are suffering from today. Farmers as well as business 
men admire Hoover. Many of them no doubt will vote 
for him for President. There would be, however, a still 
greater number that would want more assurance about 
his agricultural policies than his acts have given them 
to date. 
"If he deliberately sacrificed agriculture to win the 
war. well and good: they may forgive him. If. on the 
other hand, he acted in ignorance or disregard of the 
fundamental principle that the only sure way to increase 
the production of food is to insure the farmer a free mar¬ 
ket and a remunerative price, he will have some awk¬ 
ward question to answer, not only to the farmer, but to 
the consumer as well.” 
This is a just and logical arraignment of Mr. Hoover. 
If the knowledge of the food production of the world is 
a valuable asset to any man who is to be considered a 
national executive, farmers of New York State believe 
that within the borders of their State they have at 
least one man whose knowledge of this subject may 
exceed that of even Mr. Hoover. M. G. F. 
Shall We Educate the City Consumer? 
I wish to sanction the views of Mr. Sehermerhorn, on page 58. He has 
struck at the very root of something which must be done before we farmers 
can ever get our just dues. The consumer must be educated to comprehend 
the actual conditions on the farm, so that he may look upon farm problems 
with something akin to the farmer's point of view. We must tear down the 
wall and grasp the hand of the man who is now shaking his fist at us from 
the other side; when this is accomplished, and we want some farm legisla¬ 
tion, we can count on the consumer’s vote. 
The finest medium to bring about this change of heart in the consumer 
is all organized, steam up, and ready for the fray— The Behai, New-Yorker. 
Not an issue but what contains articles and lessons of peculiar value, could 
we make them available to a part of New York’s consumers. Of course the 
dealers won’t help, and advertising doesn’t sink in deep enough, but the spirit 
of The B. N.-Y. will get them every time. I will go Mr. Sehermerhorn one 
better. I am inclosing $2 for one subscription each to the police and fire sta¬ 
tion nearest to The B. N.-Y. office. Will one subscriber out of each 100 
donate one or more subscriptions for the following purpose? To place The 
R. N.-Y. in every library, rest room, women’s and men’s clubs, fire and police 
stations, schools, car barns, smoking and reading room, hospital, publishers’ 
office, etc.; every place, in fact, where one paper will serve the most readers. 
Yes, this sounds visionary, but it. won’t be if you fellows who have been 
benefited by The R. N.-Y. are public-spirited enough to show your apprecia¬ 
tion by helping this worthy paper to aid the consumer in eventually, if indi¬ 
rectly, helping the farmer, and vice versa. Would it not seem advisable for 
the farm papers to devote a page for and by the city folks? la't us hear 
their side, so we may be able to analyze their complaints intelligently : in 
other words, start a debating society to hasten our acquaintance and create 
some interest. 
If the foregoing suggestions meet with the success which the writer 
scarcely dares hope, would it not be in order for The B. N.-Y. to install a 
little ginger into the cause by bestowing upon each donor an inexpensive 
badge, stating the number of libraries, or hospitals, etc., he is enlightening, 
and the probable number of readers his contributions serve? If anyone has a 
more practical plan. 1 am for it. hut for goodness’ sake let’s start something 
at once, and not sit back and cuss conditions in general while waiting for 
the other fellow to remedy them. b. c. w. 
Ti. N.-Y.—Naturally The R. N.-Y. will favor such a plan. We will 
present the farmer’s side and tell his life so it will be understood. We will 
start, the debating society (a good idea, by the way) and present the badge. 
It does us good to think our friends have confidence in our ability to present 
the argument for farmers. 
% 
.‘JtlX'in 
