738 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS F Alt 31 UR'S rAPER 
A Notional Weekly Journal for Country and Suburhnn llomcM 
Established tsso 
Published weekly by the Rural I’lihlishlnp Company, 838 West Stllh Street, New York 
Hf.rbkrt W. ColijngwOob, President and Editor. 
Jons J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Boyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.01. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
marks, or 10!* * franca Remit in money order, express 
order^ personal cheek or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 90 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 paiier is backed by a res|>on- 
pihle person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. Rut to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to tiaid subscribe!-* 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 ui>on 
to adjust, differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisere 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. 
I am an American-born citizen. I have several so- 
called newspapers. My hired man is an alien who does 
not seem to be able to learn our language, lie takes a 
foreign language newspaper printed in your city. I 
had to go. day by day. to my alien worker to get the 
evidence taken in that Socialist trial. If 1 want to get 
the debates in Congress I must go to my alien worker 
and listen to them.in liie language. Is that making the 
world (what concerns us more is America) safe for 
democracy ? o. it. w. 
OW then, we ask if that indictment of the daily 
press is fair. We have thought that several of 
the big daily papers gave a fair report of the trial 
of these Socialists at Albany. These papers were 
opposed to the trial and they gave a reasonable 
synopsis of the evidence. What they said was no 
doubt as fair from one side as the ideas of that 
foreign or alien paper were from the other. It is, 
however, a hard commentary on the so-called free¬ 
dom of the press when an American makes such a 
complaint. We have for years advocated a law 
which would compel the printing of the debates and 
committee work in the New York Legislature. As 
it is, no one can ever pin a member down to any 
statement he may have made in speaking for or 
against a bill. The money now spent for printing 
the session laws ought to ho used in printing the 
legislative record. As for Congress, a printed record 
is kept of all business transacted in Congress, and 
practically every library or large school can obtain 
them through Congressmen. A good many of our 
readers have access to them. Rut is it a fact that 
Americans have been obliged to go to alien hired 
men in order to learn such public matters? What 
do you say? 
* 
S OME of our readers who have farms for sale 
will criticize Mr. Smith’s reply to the Idaho man 
on page 720. The truth seems to be that for ranch¬ 
ing or large operations the far West is better adapt¬ 
ed to sheep raising than the Atlantic slope. As a 
side lino, or for a medium-sized flock, many of our 
Eastern farms offer good opportunities, hut for big 
flocks, where practically all food must be bought, the 
feeding season is too long. This does not apply to 
feeding sheep or lambs as a Winter job on a fruit or 
grain farm, where the manure supply is very impor¬ 
tant. We are speaking of ‘ranching,” the sort of 
farming this Idaho man is doing now. For that 
kind of sheep raising we think his present location is 
better. Some of our people are a little inclined to 
complain because we do not ‘boom” our Eastern 
farms and adopt the real estate agent methods for 
inducing Western men to come here. Wc try to tell 
the full truth about Eastern farm life, and let it go 
at that. Our country does not need boomers and 
strong-arm methods to locate people who would 
surely be disappointed and discouraged when their 
dreams faded away. Some of the finest farm op¬ 
portunities in the world are now waiting on the 
Atlantic slope, but a good part of their success will 
depend on a contented farmer who knows before he 
comes that this is no paradise, but a place for a 
man-sized job. 
* 
O N April 1 the price of milk was cut to a figure 
over 12 per cent less than that of one year ago. 
At the same time, as compared with one year ago, 
hay had increased in price 50 per cent, and feed 
nearly 25 per cent. Thus, alone among all manu¬ 
facturers or business men, the dairymen are com¬ 
pelled to sell iit a lower price, while forced to pay 
far more for their raw material. There has also 
been an average increase of at least 25 per cent in 
labor cost and in general supplies. No other busi¬ 
ness on earth would continue to operate for six 
months under the outrageous treatment which dairy 
farmers have received, and there is sure to be a 
steady decline in milk production during the future, 
as farmers give up their herds and work into other 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
lines of farming. And, to add to the trouble, milk 
consumption has fallen away. Months ago The R. 
N.-Y. pointed out the inevitable consequences of the 
policy followed by milk distributors. No efforts 
worth considering have been made to increase milk 
consumption, while the methods followed by the 
distributors have kept milk away from thousands 
who needed it. and would have bought it. It is en¬ 
tirely possible to double the consumption of milk in 
this great city and in every other city which is sup¬ 
plied from the Eastern dairy districts. Dairymen 
have not yet been able to find anyone who will sell 
their milk up to the limit. Here is still another case 
where wc liuvr tint In do il ourselves. And while the 
destruction and disorganization of the great dairy 
industry is going on the city consumers are being 
taught, that the farmer is a “profiteer.” It is a 
popular story of history that, the Emperor Nero 
“fiddled” while Rome was burning. The truth 
scorns to be that he did not. fiddle, hut sang an 
original song, accompanying himself on a lyre. The 
song about the profiteering farmer is certainly orig¬ 
inal and certainly the product of a liar. 
* 
Troubles of Hie oily farmer. 
HERE arc a good many men who have had much 
the same experience as that which “City Farm¬ 
er” relates on page 72(1. These men have capital, a 
love for agriculture, a desire to lie fair and liberal 
with employes, and managing ability which has 
made a great success of some city enterprise. No 
doubt some of them have noticed the way practical 
farmers operate, and concluded that the reason for 
most, troubles of agriculture is that farmers are not 
“efficient.” or good managers. Yet when those same 
able and efficient business men undertake to run a 
farm of their own they usually give an exhibition of 
pitiable if not laughable failure! The mind and the 
energy which compel success and perform a giant’s 
task in the city seem feeble as children when 
matched against the forces of nature on a farm. 
IIow often have we seen a rich man. hacked up by 
expert advice, on a good farm, and with a full outfit 
of machinery and expert help, fail to pay expenses, 
while some old farmer with an ordinary team and 
equipment will provide for his family, pay for his 
farm, educate his children and gain a modest com¬ 
petence. 'This experience ought to give the city man 
a mighty respect and admiration for the farmer. For 
here is a man who by sheer manhood and skill and 
dogged perseverance succeeds where the “captain of 
industry” fails. Rut what is the reason? We are 
asking our readers to take up City Farmer’s state¬ 
ment and analyze it. They will point out. the cause 
of his failure and it will be an interesting discussion. 
Our own experience and observation shows that 
there are three chief reasons. First, the “overhead” 
expenses are too great. The city man usually spends 
too much money in getting ready to run his farm. 
Such superior equipment might pay in a city busi¬ 
ness, but farming is of a different order and too 
much “overhead” smashes in the roof. Then it is 
never possible to establish a spirit of business on 
such a place. The bands all know that the boss re¬ 
gards it as a plaything—a lazy resort for an easy 
life. It becomes a case of “like master, like man,” 
and nobody is particularly interested in saving or 
doing anything except, to draw his money. If the 
city farmer tried to run a store or a factory as lie 
runs his farm lie would ruin it inside of two years. 
No farm can ever succeed unless it is run on a strict 
business basis. Just as long as the workers realize 
that the farm is a plaything they will never consider 
it a business proposition. There is another reason— 
often the chief cause of failure, 'flic owner knows 
little or nothing of fanning, hut he reads a few 
hooks or bulletins and acquires a smattering of 
scientific suggestion. lie undertakes to tell his man¬ 
ager what to do. Then there come visitors who 
criticize or suggest impossible things. The boss 
listens to all and is greatly impressed. Then he 
gives out a lot of impractical suggestions and be¬ 
cause the farmer knows they are foolish or worse 
the boss thinks his manager is lazy or incompetent. 
No man can over succeed in handling a business 
where the helpers consider the job a joke and the 
boss considers “Hot air" advice as sound doctrine. 
It. is very unfortunate that so many of those farms 
end in failure. 'Phis plan of working them demor¬ 
alizes most nf the workmen in the vicinity, and 
gives farming a worse reputation than even the most 
“shiftless” farmer could give it. The R. N.-Y. has 
thousands of farmers who have made a business suc¬ 
cess of farming. What do they think of it? 
* 
I T came to us, too late to be of active service, that 
our old friend Charles H. Porter of Albion was 
a candidate for Republican county chairman for 
April 10, 1020 
Orleans Co., N. Y. The primary will have been held 
before this will reach our friends. It may be said 
that this is a small matter to take up, but most of 
the great wrongs in America are due to the fact 
that common people have neglected small political 
duties. The party chairman in a rural county might 
not cut a large figure in a State or National con¬ 
vention. yet if every agricultural county in New 
York had as such chairman a plain and progressive 
farmer, rather than a lawyer-politician, the entire 
attitude of the party would ho changed. And why 
should there not be such chairmen in at least 85 
New York counties? The farmers provide a large 
proportion of the business and wealth, and also fur¬ 
nish most of the votes. Why, then, should they not 
rule the party in their county? Can anyone give a 
good reason why they should not? Men like Mr. 
Porter would force the party leaders to listen to 
them, and the effect would he felt, all up to the top. 
This is one thing we have neglected. “Polities” 
will always be with us—good or had, as we put 
spirit or slavery into it. Wo cannot Control parties 
from the top. Regin at the town or county. 
* 
T HE R. N.-Y. tries sincerely to help its readers— 
especially those who are in trouble. We know 
full well that in some localities the feeble and timid, 
or those worried by debt or trouble, do not always 
receive fair treatment, and are sometimes shorn of 
their rights. We spend much of our time trying to 
help such people, and when we find a case of actual 
injustice we will use all Hie power we ean muster to 
right the wrong. Many cases of supposed trouble 
and injustice turn out, upon investigation, to be 
quite the reverse. We are often asked to advise or 
settle family troubles whore bitter feeling has arisen 
between parent or child, brother and sister, husband 
or wife. For most of these cases there is only one 
fair settlement. That is for the parties to bear and 
forbear; stop seeing only the evil in the other 
party, drop hatred and prejudice, and follow the 
Holden Rule. Nothing that we or the lawyers or the 
courts can do can over bring about any higher and 
better settlement of these family quarrels. Here is 
another case where we hare yot to do it ourselves. 
Another thing: In many cases put up to us only one 
side is presented and, not infrequently, that side is 
exaggerated. There are always two sides to every 
case. Wc cannot act as champion of any individual, 
right or wrong. Our sympathies are first of all with 
(ho weaker and needier party, because we have 
found such people most frequently abused, hut. rich 
or poor, the man or woman must first be right and 
give us all the facts. 
• 
T HERE can ho no question about the shortage of 
food that is due for next Winter. 'The situation 
is worse in some respects than during the war. At 
that time most people were willing to save and eat 
plainer food. IIow many that you know are still 
eating “war bread” and practicing war economics? 
With the high wages prevailing in town there has 
come a practice of extravagant buying and waste. 
Yet there are now fewer farm workers and fewer 
cultivated acres than during the war! Should this 
coming season prove too wet or develop a severe 
drought there will he serious trouble next Winter. 
Our readers will all do their best to produce what 
they can, hut their output will lie limited by many 
handicaps. We advise everyone of them to make the 
best possible use of the garden. An abundance of 
vegetables will be the best possible protection against 
food shortage. Most of us oat too much meat any¬ 
way, and these recent articles on vitamines prove 
that vegetables have far greater food value than we 
supposed. A good garden is a safe guardian for the 
home. 
Brevities 
Have you ever used oats and Canada peas in the 
silo? If so, how did they turn out? 
Tiik Ohio Experiment Station finds that good wooden 
fence posts stand up as well and as long as concrete and 
steel. 
“Tiieik mane is legion”—the farmers who have been 
forced to change their practice and rely upon their 
own family for help. 
Tiie highest prices for work horses arc reported from 
Chicago this Spring. These were not for city truck 
work, but for farm labor, 
Tt is astonishing what people sell through the Sub¬ 
scribers’ Exchange department.. One man offered fem e 
posts and received enough orders to fill 12 cars! 
We think the use of land plaster as a fertilizer is 
coming back on many farms. Tt went.-out of use- with 
the introduction of mixed fertilizers. Now there will 
be freer use of it. 
