784 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S TAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country ami Suburbnn Homes 
Established tsco 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company. 3311 West 30th Street, New Voile 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
Jonv J. Hillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dili.on, Secretary. ' Mrs. E. T. Kovlk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION . ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $ 2 . 04 . equal to 8s. Cd., or 
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order, personal check 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 paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising ot 
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 by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time ot 
the transaction, and to identify it. you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. _ 
A LL through the discussion of "daylight saving’ 
we have steadily insisted that the enforcement 
of the law would mean an increase of food prices. 
The city people have been fully warned, and cannot 
escape the result. The first report comes from P. D. 
Fox. president of the Borden's Company. He says 
that the total increase of cost of milk to consumers 
may reach $500.000: 
The difference in time between the train schedules 
and that under the daylight saving law is causing great 
confusion in the milk traffic. Under an agreement be¬ 
tween the milk distributers and the drivers of ‘their 
vehicles, the latter work eight hours a day, front two. 
o’clock until 10 o’clock, in the morning, but if the 
drivers work after 10 o’clock they must be paid at the 
rate of $1.46 an hour. 
The men report for work at two o’clock every morn¬ 
ing. but because the railroads maintain standard time 
in their train schedules, they actually do not begin their 
work until an hour later, because the milk trains do 
not arrive until three o’clock. 
Most of the milk trains are run on standard time 
because the farmers very properly do their work by 
the old time. It is their privilege to do that if they 
see fit. You notice that the loss sustained by the 
Borden’s Company is to be shifted right upon the 
consumer. The farmer lias no chance to shift the 
loss he sustains through daylight saving upon any¬ 
one—since the price paid for his product is made 
by someone else. Does Mr. Fox expect that farmers 
will submit to loss and annoyance simply to save 
him trouble? Why does he not say he will deliver 
milk on the old time? We said that this matter of 
“time” will settle down to an industrial contest 
between town and country. That was tried in 
Canada, and the country won, for law and its en¬ 
forcement is ever the expression of public opinion. 
Fool laws or vicious laws exist and oppress only so 
long as the public refuses to express its opinion by 
lawful methods. As for the people who support day¬ 
light saving, we have interviewed great numbers of 
them. Not five per cent will say that they use the 
extra hour of daylight for any useful, productive 
purpose. From the man who owns a car or plays 
golf to the girl with a new hat and the hoy with a 
new ball, they are simply after pleasure. But will 
they pay for the pleasure willingly? 
# 
When I was a small boy wo had some neighbors who 
were always bragging up The R. N.-Y.: 87 years ago 
this Winter I subscribed for it. and liked it so well that 
I have subscribed for a number of my friends at differ¬ 
ent times. There is one thing, however, that my wife 
and I disagree with you most emphatically upon, and 
that is that anyone has to know anything in order to be 
a farmer. If we have anything to sell we take it to 
town and the merchants toll us what it is worth. If 
we want to buy anything, the merchants toll us what it 
is worth. All that wo have to know is the way to town 
and back. We are baek-to-tho-landers, and we think 
that if others knew how simple it is they would not hesi¬ 
tate so long in buying a farm. c. B. hunt. 
Michigan. 
ELL, no one will claim that neighbor was not 
a man of sound and true judgment, at least! 
As for the rest of it, we have been called a Bolshevie 
for printing certain truths about marketing condi¬ 
tions. which are less open and undeniable than this 
statement. These conditions exist in many com¬ 
munities, though some farmers have worked away 
from them. They will continue just as long as we 
let others run our business for us in their own way. 
If there is to be any relief, ice have got-to do it our¬ 
selves. 
* 
I N suggesting Dr. Liberty Hyde Bailey as presi¬ 
dent of Cornell University we have thus far re¬ 
ferred chiefly to the agricultural significance of such 
selection. Entirely aside from that feature of the 
case, Dr. Bailey is eminently qualified to head this 
great institution. lie is a scholar and author of 
world-wide reputation. Very few Americans are 
better known throughout educational circles, and 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
* 
particularly among students of rural problems, than 
Dr. Bailey. We must all recognize the fact, that pub¬ 
lic events and business development have made the 
rural problem the greatest public question an Amer¬ 
ica. Our great universities (and from'its very his¬ 
tory and life, Cornell in particular) must train their 
students to study this question in a sympathetic 
way. And Dr. Bailey knows Cornell, its students 
and its needs, as few others do. lie has lived almost 
upon the campus for over 80 years. No new man, 
unfamiliar with local conditions and traditions, 
could take up the work without a long period of in¬ 
vestigation and experiment. And Dr. Bailey is also 
a noted educator, with the true spirit of the teacher 
developed from the common sense study of human 
nature in the district school. Add to these qualities, 
the highest personal character and kindly sympathy, 
and we have, in our judgment, an ideal man for the 
position—Dr. Liberty Hyde Bailey. 
* 
Corn is 8c per lb. f. o. b. elevator. Tankage is Gc 
per lb., f. o. b. farm. Counting cost -of raising and 
maintaining brood sows and boars, it takes 5 lbs. ot 
corn and % lb. of tankage to make a pound of pork. 
Ergo, the feed alone costs the farmer over 18c f. o. b. 
bog. Three-hundred-pound prime barrows are 14c f. o. b. 
stockyards. Freight, commissions and shrinkage eat up 
at least 8c per lb. of the 14o. and so the fool farmer 
nets 18c for what costs him ISe. and loses 6c on every 
pound he ships. Why does he do it? Answer: Just 
see the fun he has being cook, waiter and chambermaid 
to a 'bunch of swine. Part of these swine are on his 
farm. 
IIE above is written from Florida, where grain 
prices are higher than elsewhere, but the ques¬ 
tion is nation-wide in its application. It may well he 
asked about many other things besides pork. Some 
people are fond of tolling farmers that if they are 
not satisfied with prices or conditions they can raise 
something else or go to some other place. This flip¬ 
pant advice is popular with the unthinking, but in 
many eases it cannot he followed. When a man has 
waited some years to fit his farm for some special 
purpose, like dairying, pork production, fruit or gar¬ 
den crops, and prices fall below cost, he cannot im¬ 
mediately change into something else without loss. 
So that in many cases a farmer will be obliged to 
continue a losing business for some years in spite of 
the fact that he knows there is no profit in it. What 
a roar the brewers and distillers made over prohi¬ 
bition. They swore their plants could not be used 
for any other purpose! 
O N the first page you will find an interesting and 
straightforward statement of how the organ¬ 
ized farmers of Michigan intend to try to (Id it ihrin- 
sdves. This week we describe the methods em¬ 
ployed. Next week there will he more about the 
proposed candidate and what he stands for. You 
notice that this is no socialistic, violent, new-party 
movement. These farmers realize that neither of 
the old parties, as now controlled, can, even if they 
realized the necessity, put over the suggested pro¬ 
gram. So the farmers will try to exercise their 
fully legitimate privilege of selecting a candidate for 
Governor and then electing him. Now. can any fair- 
minded reader of this paper find reasonable fault 
with this program? What, if anything, is wrong 
with the hills or laws which are suggested? Can 
any of them be said to constitute class legislation? 
What legitimate business will they interfere with? 
Up to within a few years Michigan has been essen¬ 
tially an agricultural State. Recently the immense 
development of auto manufacturing and similar en¬ 
terprises has developed a large city population, yet 
the farmers are still the largest and most necessary 
class. The tendency of State legislation has been in 
favor of the town and city, and this farmers’ move¬ 
ment is well timed and necessary. And when you 
read what these Michigan farmers are planning, step 
and consider the need of just such a movement in 
New York State. Here, far more than in Michigan, 
the two old party organizations have proved them¬ 
selves utterly incapable of ministering to the true 
needs of the people. The Republican organization 
apparently has no real object except to re-elect Son- 
ntor Wadsworth. Apparently the chief object of the 
Democratic organization is to nullify the Prohibition 
amendment. This being so. no possible relief for 
either producers or consumers can he hoped for un¬ 
less both policy and personnel of the old organiza¬ 
tions can l)o changed. Bear in miml that we are not 
talking of the parties (either one could lie used as an 
instrument of good), but of the little groups of men 
who control them. In our judgment there can be no 
improvement in New York politics until some strong 
and earnest body of men organize, get control of one 
of the parties and make it work for a living—just as 
the Michigan farmers are planning to do. In the 
nature of tilings this work must be done by farmers 
and country people. They should start this year— 
April 17, 1920 
now—and organize for the primary in September. A 
candidate is needed who can combine and command 
the full support of the Grange. Dairymen's League. 
Farm Bureaus, farmers’ clubs and all the farm and 
fruit growers’ societies. No new party, but control 
of one of the present parties. Now. ladies and gen¬ 
tlemen, voters of New York. WHO TS THE MAN? 
i|c 
W E have heard nil sorts of stories about the 
hired man and his troubles. Perhaps not so 
much about his triumphs. Here is a report from 
Connecticut, where a woman farmer owns a farm: 
She is just losing a man who lias been with her 18 
years. lie built up the place, and his wages grew as 
farm profits grew, and he leaves because he has bought 
the adjoining farm and stock for $10,000 cash. 
Good for the hired man. Half a century ago that 
was not an uncommon occurrence. There were 
many large families where both boys and girls 
“worked out” or taught school, saved their money 
and later invested in farms. That is. those of the 
children who had a natural bent for farming. Out 
of these same hard-working families of hired men 
and girls came the great teachers, business and pro¬ 
fessional men of this age. That kind of a hired 
man was inspired, and the inspiration to go higher 
kept him going. But why expect every boy in the 
family to be a farmer? 
* 
About 1010 or 1011 you carried a challenge offering 
to produce the man and a measured acre of ground in 
the East to grow more crib-dry corn than could be pro¬ 
duced in the West, and you did not exoept the corn belt. 
Was tin’s challenge ever accepted? The last I remem¬ 
ber of it you stated that the challenge was still open. 
New York. N.L.R. 
OU must be mistaken about this “challenge.” 
We are unable to find any such statement. We 
have said, and now say it again, that on some of the 
lighter soils of South Jersey farmers raise larger 
crops of corn than are usually grown in the so-called 
Western “corn belt.” They do this by plowing un¬ 
der cover crops and using chemical fertilizers. We 
have also said that the Now England States give a 
larger average crop production of corn per acre than 
any of the recognized corn States. While we have 
not issued any “challenge,” if any Western corn 
growers think they can beat New Jersey on acre, 
live-acre or 10-acre certified yields of corn, we will 
try to accommodate them with a trial, although it is 
a little late to start. And here is another statement 
made without boasting or bluff: There is a strip of 
green sand marl running through New Jersey from 
Sandy Hook across the State and down along the 
Delaware River. We will dig up two tons of plain 
Jersey dirt on This strip, ship it to some of the rich 
black Lands of Illinois or Iowa, spread it on one acre, 
and increase the corn yield by from 10 to 15 bushels! 
The potash in the marl will do it! 
% V 
* 
The article on page 686. “Should the State Compete 
with Farmers?” made me wonder. I have been employed 
by the State some time, and I certainly get no big wages, 
not as much as I could get on a good farm. My pay is 
very irregular, always behind time. In fact. I think 
the State emplove who works is not paid any fancy 
wages. ‘ JAMES WILSON. 
HE jobs mentioned on page 6.86 were working 
on the road, and tlie facts were as stated. There 
may lie other State jobs which do not pay so well. 
Tt is the road work apparently which most competes 
with farmers. If. however, any of our readers think 
the public jobs are not so desirable, let us have a 
“show-down” over it. Will these State employes tell 
us just what they are paid and how many hours they 
work? Let us have all the facts for comparison be¬ 
fore we make charges. 
Brevities 
Can you boat it? If it is the Spring carpet cleaning, 
you can ! 
Whitewash covers a multitude of sins—but does not 
hide them. 
Remember that phosphorus in some form is the dom¬ 
inating fertilizer element for making seeds. 
Farmers were plowing this year in Central New 
York before the soil was fit for it in Northern New Jer¬ 
sey. 
In mixing chemicals or grain feeds, do not go by 
measure until you know just what a “measure” weighs. 
Mix by weight. 
No doubt about it. Many a man of middle age is 
slowly committing suicide by eating too much meal. 
The remedy: Cut out most of the meat and substitute 
lettuce and asparagus. Can he live on such "green lou¬ 
der”? lie can! 
In many parts of New England the huckleberry crop 
lias value, and farmers are desperately troubled by city 
pickers who come and help themselves. In some cases 
farmers post the ground and then turn the bull into ttie 
pasture where the berries grow. This dairy gentleman 
does the rest! 
Careless pickers often do great damage to apple 
trees by climbing about in them and knocking on tin* 
fruit spurs. Some pickers do not. know what.these spurs 
are. and they are careless about climbing in the tree. 
These spurs are not. only the spurs to drive the crop—- 
they are the entire crop. We see the results of suen 
nicking this year. 
