The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Return of the Railroads 
On Monday, March 2, the American people woke 
up to find that the railroads had passed out of 
Government control—back into the management of 
private -or corporate ownership. No one felt any 
jar: the same employees greeted us and the trains 
ran as usual. The great majority of the American 
people seem glad that the war experiment has ended. 
Most of them are now opposed to Government owner¬ 
ship after the experience just closed. Personally we 
think the Government labored under great disad¬ 
vantages in handling the business. The demands 
made by .war transportation were too great, and 
there seems to be no question that strong influences 
were at work to hamper the Government and in¬ 
fluence public opinion against its work. Nor do we 
think the Railroad Administration was as strong as 
it should have been for handling this big situation. 
That, however, is all over now. and the roads are 
back under corporate management, but with stricter 
Government control than ever before. One result of 
this experiment has been a great reaction from the 
ideas about Government ownership or control of 
transportation and food once held by thousands of 
farmers. They now see that such strict control by 
a form of partisan political government might pre¬ 
vent them from having any power to work out busi¬ 
ness reforms. It is this feeling which influences 
farmers of New York to oppose with all their powei 
the proposed State legislation to fix prices and con¬ 
trol the sale of farm products. “Government’' con¬ 
trol in this country is too likely to become “party” 
control, and until the average voter can separate his 
best interests from party politics it will be a mistake 
to put the control of life’s necessities into the hands 
of politicians. 
The labor unions were generally opposed to the 
return of the railroads. This was largely because 
the railroad workmen think they stand 'a better 
chance for high wages under Government control. 
At first they threatened to strike, but have aban¬ 
doned the plan for the present. They will, however, 
demand more pay. They say that they agreed to 
work without increases on the virtual promise that 
the cost of living would be reduced. President Wil¬ 
son and Attorney-General Palmer now seem to admit 
that there has been no such reduction—nor can they 
see any fall of prices in sight. The Government has 
spent most of its time trying to pacify city workmen 
by promises and paying practically no attention to 
the big question of increased food production. Its 
policy of encouraging the town workman has drawn 
labor from the farm until we are now approaching 
one of the most serious food situations ever known 
in this country. The railroads announce that they 
will call for increased freight and passenger rates, 
but we hear nothing of a clean-up and reorganization 
for more economic service which every farmer and 
business man is now being forced into. 
Farmers and Income Tax 
The following letter was sent to the New York 
State Comptroller regarding the proposed income 
tax: 
In preparing my income tax return I found only one 
point which, from the farmer’s point of view, it was 
difficult to understand, and that is that no depreciation 
is allowed on orchards, although a fair rate of depre¬ 
ciation is allowed for farm buildings, equipment, etc. 
Now. the income is dependent in many cases almost 
entirely on the orchards. There is no question but that 
the first seven or eight years’ life of a pear tree is very 
precarious, owing to rabbits, field mice, etc., and other 
pests which often ruin entire orchards, and at present 
are causing farmers in our vicinity great trouble and 
loss. The natural average life of a pear tree is. say, 
about 50 years, which would leave about 40 years of 
productiveness. It would seem, therefore, that one- 
fortieth of the value of the tree should be written off 
each year as depreciation or depletion. Now the ques¬ 
tion is how to establish the value of a tree. In the case 
of an orchard, cost basis hardly seems fair, as the cost 
of the trees originally was a very small fraction of their 
value. For instancec. 1.000 trees might have cost $500 
to set out. but today they may be producing say $2,000 
worth of fruit on an average, which would be 5 per cent 
on $40,000. This must be a very important matter with 
large producers throughout the State, and a fair basis 
ought to be setablished. f. r. wilcox. 
This will interest farmers and fruit growers, espe¬ 
cially the latter. We would like to have opinions 
or figures on this matter. The Fruit Growers’ Asso¬ 
ciation should appoint committees or representatives 
who are qualified to help arrange a fair basis for 
this valuation. 
Some Solid Truths About Business 
The following letter and newspaper clipping comes 
from a reader in North Dakota. Many of us are try¬ 
ing to obtain the exact truth about conditions in that 
State. That truth is hard to obtain. Most daily 
papers state that the Nod-Partisan League has been 
a failure, saddling the State with awful taxes and 
squandering the public money. On the other hand, 
our readers tell us that the State is well governed, 
and that nowhere else in the country are the rights 
of the common people more respected. Who or what 
is right? There has certainly been a great experi¬ 
ment in democracy in North Dakota. We shall try 
to find out just what has happened. 
Enclosed you will find a clipping from my home pa¬ 
per concerning statements about the Northwest. How 
is that for the 35-cent dollar? Those statements made 
are about as near true as you will find it. 1 will state 
some of my experiences way back in 1912. two years 
after I homesteaded. I took in to a town merchant 22 
lbs. of butter and received for same 22c per lb., and 
was to take groceries in trade. Before I left the 
store a farm woman came in and asked if he had any 
butter. The merchant said yes. She said, “Give me 10 
pounds,” and he charged her 35 cents per pound, cash ; 
but I had to take groceries. But those times have 
changed. C. G. C. 
Almout. N. D. 
The following is the newspaper clipping enclosed: 
“As a guest at the Commercial Club banquet the 
other evening. I listened with great interest to the dis¬ 
cussions on Socialism by the Non-Partisan League; 
on individual initiative vs. public ownership, etc. I 
am in hearty accord and sympathy with most of the 
things said. These social political disturbances, com¬ 
ing from time to time, indicate some underlying cause 
for dissatisfaction. I do not think the Commercial 
Club or any other organization by defying the lightning 
and offering mortal combat to Townleyism can accom¬ 
plish the desired result. 
“Such a procedure by an organization of business 
men, whom these radicals consider enemies, will often 
aggravate the disease. There is an underlying cause 
for this unrest, and the farmers and workingmen of 
the Middle West are intelligent enough, and the com¬ 
munication between producer and consumer is close 
enough so that they see it. The trouble is not in pro¬ 
duction or transportation, but in distribution, and it 
will be well for the business interests of the country 
if they will stop looking at the mote in the eyes of 
labor and Townleyism and take a peep at the beam 
in their own eyes. 
“Why is it that after the farmer. ha v ’Qg sold SO per 
cent of his potato crop for 90 cents to $1.25 a bushel, 
the laboring man’s wife now goes to the store and pays 
$1 to $1.25 for 14 or 15 pounds? I was out in the 
country in October and saw beautifully sorted car¬ 
loads of potatoes bought from the farmers at $1 a 
bushel and shipped down here at a cost of 6 cents a 
bushel. The very same day the grocers here were get¬ 
ting 75 cents a peck, and they said they paid the job¬ 
bers $1.72 a bushel that day. 
“Why did I have to pay 35 cents for three rutabagas 
the other day when thousands of bushels are being fed 
to stock all over the State, and farmers sell them for 
a song? Grapefruit, involving much labor in raising 
and packing and shipping, can be bought cheaper than 
rutabagas. 
“There are thousands of cords of wood piled up 
within 100 miles of Minneapolis begging for purchasers 
at $3 a cord, and we in the city are paying $17 or more 
for same wood. 
“Two months ago a suburban dairyman told me he 
was getting from 22 to 24 cents a gallon for high test 
milk. Why should not a poor laborer with a big fam¬ 
ily in the city be able to go to a milk station and buy 
a gallon of milk for his poorly nourished children for 
30 or 35 cents? I bought a pair of Oxfords in one of 
the large stores in the city for $12. and the salesman 
admitted the wholesale price to be $6.25. 
“A manufacturer of a certain baby food told me that 
a package cost 5y> cents to manufacture—that they 
sold it to the jobber for 15 cents, the jobber sold it 
to the retailer for 24 cents and the retailer had to sell 
it for the price printed on the package—35 cents. Some 
of these may seem extreme cases, but they are truthful 
cases, and are good examples of our system of distribu¬ 
tion which is the breeding ground of Townleyism. 
“A few years ago I bought in the Minnesota woods 
two carloads of lumber at $12.50 per 1.000 feet. f. o. b. 
cars. When in South Dakota a line yard asked $36 
per 1.000 for the same material. 
“A friend of mine having a line of elevators in 
North Dakota and Canada told me a few years ago 
that he had bought thousands and thousands of bushels 
of slightly frosted wheat for 40 cents a bushel and 
mixed it with No. 1 wheat and sold it for $1.25 a 
bushel. He considered it good business. Ethically it 
was pure stealing. 
“Thousands of homesteaders in Western North and 
South Dakota borrowed small sums of mouey with 
which to make final proof on their claims, giving three- 
year mortgages on the land and paying 12 per cent in¬ 
terest. This was Eastern money, furnished to the 
bankers at 0 per cent. With these high rates of in¬ 
terest. high taxes, high cost of living, short term mort¬ 
gages hard to renew, and poor crops, a very large pro¬ 
portion of these lands reverted to the banks and loan 
companies and were afterwards resold for many times 
the cost to them. I know of one loan company which 
owns more than 100 homesteads which cost them only 
a fraction of their real value. 
“These are the ghosts that are rising to smite the busi¬ 
ness interests of our country. The eternal struggle for 
the almighty dollar is so great that too often Make 
money honestly if you can. but make money.' is the 
motto. You blame the farmers and the workingman 
for the high cost of living, but I notice that the farmer 
and the workingman are not spending their Winters in 
California. 
“The old idea of ‘Catch them young, treat them 
rough, tell them nothing,’ will not work in intelligent 
America at the present time. The sooner our busiuess 
interests recognize that they themselves are the breeders 
of Townleyism. and become more ethical and equitable 
in their business dealings, the sooner the great cataclysm 
that is threatening the world can be averted, at least in 
this country.” 
Maple Sugar Prices and Organization 
Do you know how much the Vermont syrup makers 
are to receive for their syrup this season? I see by The 
R. N.-Y. that they formed a syrup organization last 
Spring, and that each one was to receive the same price 
per gailon. We make maple syrup and were thinking 
what their price was to be this season. D. T. 
Erie Co.. Pa. 
The Vermont Maple Sugarmakers’ Association is a 
State-wide organization, in existence for 27 years, and 
543 
partially under control of the State. Its object is to 
promote the interests of the maple sugar industry, and 
its work is conducted along the lines of publicity, of in¬ 
creasing the production and of educating towards a 
higher grade of product. It does not handle maple 
products in any way. neither does it fix a price upon 
maple products, nor attempt to dictate to one of its 
members, although in a great many instances it is able 
to bring the producer into business relation with the 
ultimate consumer, and thus enable one to secure a guar¬ 
anteed product, and the other to realize a much higher 
price. It has been very successful in doing this. Its 
members will receive the coming season from $2.50 to $4 
a gallon for maple syrup, according to quality. A few 
sales have already been made at a slightly higher price. 
Similar grades of maple sugar will be sold at the corre¬ 
sponding price, assuming that a gallon of maple syrup 
is the equivalent of S lbs. of maple sugar. 
The poorer grades will mostly be sold to the dealers, 
who practically fix their own price. Tentatively, it is 
now at the rate of from $1.50 to $2.50 per gal., according 
to quality, with a price for maple sugar ranging from 
ISc to as high as 30c per lb... according to quality and 
degree to which it is concentrated. The best grade of 
this ultimately finds its way to the blenders, who melt 
it. add 80 per cent of granulated sugar and sufficient 
water to bring the sugar content of the mixture down to 
65 per cent, as required by the Pure Food law. and claim 
to sell it as a maple blend. The second grade is used 
largely by the tobacco manufacturers in flavoring cer¬ 
tain brands of plug tobacco, and the poorest grade of all 
is used in the manufacture of some of the best brands of 
chocolate cakes. 
The Cortland County (N. Y.) Maple Sap Associa¬ 
tion was organized about a year ago and is working 
along the lines suggested in the inquiry. Its manager is 
Allen S. Merchant (also County Agent) of Cortland. 
N. Y., and those seeking information of this nature are 
referred to him. There is no such an organization in 
Vermont. c. o. o. 
A City Man on Co-operation 
I am enclosing a cutting from one of our daily papers 
here in New York, which I think might be of some 
interest to your readers who may not have seen it. 
This looks to me like a step in the right direction by 
our Indiana cousins, and would appear to be following 
your example in keeping down the type of human beings 
who make their “honest livelihood” by swindling un¬ 
suspecting people. 
“Indianapolis. Jan. 17.—The Indiana Federation of 
Farmers’ Associations is to establish a central bureau 
here to supply information to members in protecting 
them against investment in stocks and other securities 
of questionable value. A growing movement among the 
farmers is for group efforts in marketing products. 
Another noticeable tendency in various sections of the 
State is the organization of co-operative companies to 
purchase farming implements, feed for live stock and 
other supplies.” 
It is united action in the field of farming that is most 
wanted at present. Now. I don’t wish to be misinter¬ 
preted when I say this, and be put down as in favor of 
unionism, since I really take the opposite stand, but I 
do believe, as does every clear-thinking farmer in this 
country, that concerted action is what will help most to 
keep the food producer in the place where he should be. 
If we have the co-operation of each and every farmer 
in the country the middleman may in time become an 
unnecessary item, and obviate the necessity of the pro¬ 
ducer selling, say eggs, at 75 cents a dozen, while the 
retailer gets from 95 cents to a dollar for the same 
product. And. mind you. this is not the greatest ex¬ 
ample of profiteering that has been brought to my atten¬ 
tion. but I only mention it. since it is that part of the 
farming industry as a whole in which I am most inter¬ 
ested. 
It is useless for me to add any more to the already 
large amount of literature ou this subject, since we all 
realize that co-operative working, not union working, 
with its eight-hour day. is to be the great uplift of the 
farming industry. I commend you once more on the 
stand you have always taken in regard to these bogus 
stock sellers. b. n. davis. 
New York. 
Brief Notes From Albany 
A hearing was held ou the milk bills before the New 
York Legislature at Albany on March 3. It was a one¬ 
sided hearing. Dr. Copeland of New York and some of 
his aids appeared for the bill, while representatives of 
the farmers appeared against it. They declared posi¬ 
tively that the result of the plan would be to drive the 
producers out of business. There is little chance that 
the New York City bill will pass. The bill to create a 
commission to regulate and -control the milk industry 
and fix prices was strongly attacked by farmer repre¬ 
sentatives. They claimed that it would practically de¬ 
stroy the dairy busiuess and open the way for State 
control of all lines of production. As with the other bill, 
there is very little chance of its passing, although Gov¬ 
ernor Smith has announced his intention of going out 
into the State to argue in favor of this and similar legis¬ 
lation. He should go to the dairy districts where the 
milk is produced, first of all. if he wants to learn true 
public sentiment. 
The situation regarding the daylight saving bill has 
not changed greatly. The Assembly is apparently ready 
to pass the repeal bill. Conditions in the Senate are 
different, as there are 26 lawyers in that body, and 
nearly a majority from New York City. At present the 
Senate is lukewarm or opposed to the repeal of the day¬ 
light saving law. The only way to get it through is for 
country people to bring extra pressure to bear upon their 
Senators. The R. N.-Y.’s referendum shows a vast ma¬ 
jority of country people utterly opposed to daylight sav¬ 
ing. and it will be necessary to impress the Senators 
from the rural counties if the repeal is to go through. 
Mr. Van Wageneu of Schoharie County has intro¬ 
duced a bill for the protection of wool growers. Under 
this bill manufacturers or dealers in textile fabrics or 
articles of apparel purporting to be composed wholly or 
partly of wool must tag all such articles, and state the 
name and address of the manufacturer and the correct 
percentage of wool, shoddy or material not of animal 
origin. Each manufacturer or dealer must also be reg¬ 
istered by the Commissioner of Agriculture. A bill of 
this kind has long been demanded by wool growers, and 
this one follows the line of the proposed national legis¬ 
lation. Needless to say this bill will be violently op¬ 
posed by the manufacturers of and dealers in clothing. 
