812 
for good money prior to coming East, as had his 
predecessors. He paid $6,500 for the beautiful, level 
farm. It was fortunate that this man was qualified 
to teach school, for lie. was presently under the 
necessity of falling back upon his profession for the 
wherewitliall to make ends meet. It seemed that 
the payments from the farm which he had sold in 
Indiana were slow in coming inj and, like all the 
others, he found himself “out of luck” when Sum¬ 
mer was once established. The school-teacher-farmer 
still owns this particular place, though he has it 
listed with the same old agency, and I have no doubt 
will sell it some cold Winter's day at a $500 profit. 
THIS FARMER HIRED OFT—Another man in 
my neighborhood who bought a good-sized place found 
in two years’ time that he could not make a go of 
feeding steers. He had not fully understood this 
fact from talking with local people, and it took the 
two years’ experience to drive it really home to him. 
He was a man of some means, and likewise a man 
of action. His wife departed for the West on a pro¬ 
longed visit, and he proceeded to sell the farm and 
hire out as a month hand with one of the neighbors. 
He is still working for this man at $50 a month, 
though I believe he is worth considerable more prop¬ 
erty than his employer—and for that matter I am 
not sure that he isn't the wiser of the two men as 
it is. ,, 
ERRORS OF JUDGMENT.—There are two or 
three things that stand out in connection with this 
buying of cheap Eastern farms by farmers from the 
corn belt. These men who have farmed—many of 
them successfully all their lives—cannot understand 
that they can make such errors of judgment in 
buying our farms as they do make. Tn the first 
place, no sane man has any business to buy a farm 
out of an agency catalogue as one would a curry¬ 
comb. I have known of case after case where 
farms have been purchased unseen. The buyer sim¬ 
ply looked at the pictures in the catalogue, read the 
description and the price, and swallowed it whole. 
I do not mean to infer that the average real estate 
agency is given to misrepresenting facts, but it is 
their business to sell real estate, and they, like all 
ether business men. are out for profits. The old 
legal maxim, “Let the buyer beware,” never held 
more forcibly than it does right here. The second 
mistake that these Western men make is in not 
attempting to get the judgment of local men with 
respect to a purchase that they contemplate. In 
every community there are good substantial persons 
who know the local farms and conditions by heart, 
and whose advice could be had and would bo well 
worth taking into account. There is also in prac¬ 
tically every county a man paid by the Government, 
who knows farms from A to /, whose opinion is un¬ 
prejudiced and generally pretty accurate. That is 
the County Agricultural Agent. Some prospective 
buyers do consult the county agents, but for one 
man who does this there are 10 who do not give him 
a thought. 
WINTER BUYING.—In the third place, it would 
not seem that any sane man who was also a farmer 
would buy a farm with snowdrifts covering the 
ground. Yet I think 60 to TO per cent of all the sales 
I have seen of Eastern farms to Western men have 
been after a Winter inspection. Tt is during the 
Winter that the farmer can best get away, and ac¬ 
cordingly he takes time off then to come on East and 
look over the farm he has in mind. He might better 
save carfare. a. n. gexuxg. 
Mich. Farmers’ Candidate for Governor 
Part II. 
TRAINING IN PUBLIC LIFE.—A quarter of a 
century ago Cyrus G. Luce, a farmer, was elected 
Governor of Michigan. He chose another farmer, 
Milo D. Campbell, to act as his private secretary, 
which was the present Guebernatorial candidate’s 
first taste of public life. So efficient was he, and 
such a reputation did he acquire for integrity, that 
a subsequent Governor appointed him State Com¬ 
missioner of Insurance and another one made him 
chairman of the State Tax Commission, lie also 
has been a member of the State Legislature. In all 
his public positions he has acted upon the principle 
which he now makes his chief plank in his campaign 
for the Governorship—he did not seek to grant any 
special favors to farmers, but saw to it. as far as 
was in his power, that farmers were not discrimi¬ 
nated against by other classes. In all cases it has 
been the office that sought the man. So it is now 
also. 
THE FARMER AND ORGANIZED LABOR.—Mr. 
Campbell came into considerable prominence during 
the annual convention of the National Grange in 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Grand Rapids last November through a wordy set- 
to with Gifford Pinchot over a letter Mr. Campbell 
had written to Samuel Gompers, president of the 
American Federation of Labor, declining the labor 
chief’s invitation to tile National Bureau of Farm 
Organizations to send representatives to a proposed 
farmer-labor conference in Washington. Mr. Pinchot 
toofc Mr. Campbell to task for his attitude, the re¬ 
sult being a controversy so sharp that it was the 
sensation of the Grange meetings for two days. It 
was understood among the Grangers that Mr. Pin¬ 
chot had come to the convention particularly to 
induce that body to send delegates to the Gompers 
conference. Mr. Pinchot is a Granger, being the 
owner of a farm or farms, though not a practical 
farmer. Mr. Campbell toolc the ground that union 
labor, as at present governed, has nothing in common 
with agriculture, but rather is fighting it. in that it 
is attempting to find ways of reducing food prices 
to the growers and at the same time increase the 
prices of manufactured articles farmers must buy 
by obtaining further wage increases. When the 
question - came up in the Grange Mr. Campbell was 
upheld by an almost unanimous vote, the ballot 
being taken on the declination of an invitation Mr. 
Gompers had sent to the Grange to name delegates 
to his conference. It is probable that the stand Mr. 
Campbell took in this important matter, and the 
way he was backed up by the National Grange, had 
a good deal to do with his selection as the farmers’ 
candidate for Governor. . . 
PERSONAL YTEWS.—Shortly after Mr. Camp¬ 
bell's selection by the joint committee the writer of 
this sought him out for an interview. In his talk 
Mr. Campbell made it clear that he neither is 
opposed to organized labor nor is he afraid of it. 
and that he neither is opposed to organized capital 
nor afraid of it. Said he: 
“The farmers are not against big business because 
it is big. They will stand for big business, and be 
glad to. if it is properly conducted, for big business 
will aid big agriculture, and big agriculture means 
great development of the nation. But big business 
must be as fair to the farmers as the farmers are 
to it. We cannot submit, for instance, to the tactics 
of the packers in seizing upon the campaign against 
the high cost of living to reduce by 50 per cent the 
prices paid to farmers for their stock, while the 
prices to the consumers remained stationary or even 
went higher. 
“Neither are the farmers opposed to organized 
labor if labor will act fairly toward the farmers. 
But as long as labor insists upon decreased pro¬ 
duction and higher pay for the manufacture of what 
we must buy, thus increasing prices we must pay, 
and seeks means to reduce the prices of what we 
sell, we cannot co-operate with it. The present dis¬ 
content on the part of labor has resulted in strikes 
in vital industries and ebullitions of radicalism to 
an extent that has become threatening* to our 
national progress. On the other side of this indus¬ 
trial situation is a growth in corporate interests and 
profits that is astounding. Only a day or two ago, 
in examining some data, I learned that two auto¬ 
mobile corporations of this State have grown from 
a few hundred thousands of originally invested 
capital to be worth, upon the market, one and a 
half billions of dollars. This is equal to a third of 
the entire equalized valuation of Michigan. In 
attaining this growth they have paid wages to their 
employees so much in advance of wages paid pre¬ 
viously, either on farms or by factories within the 
State, that they have attracted labor not only from 
the farms, but from other industries. Food produc¬ 
tion in Michigan is seriously crippled thereby, and 
this is one of the main causes of the discontent. 
“The farmers of this nation have saved it in 
several previous crises, and they are the men who 
must save it this time. In spite of their present 
disadvantages they are the men who must act as 
a gyroscope to prevent the ship of state, now so 
violently rocked by industrial unrest and radicalism, 
being capsized. We hope to start the redeeming 
movement here in Michigan. To accomplish some¬ 
thing along this line, we must get some power and 
authority. The farmer must at the same time pro¬ 
tect himself from labor and the corporations. At 
present he is plodding along the narrow channel of 
his farm, unable to obtain the advantages of incor¬ 
poration or of promotion deals through which city 
interests make millions. 
“It is probable that the newly organized National 
Council of Farm Bureaus will be of great assistance 
to the farmers of the nation in overcoming adverse 
conditions. It was feared at first that that body 
was being financed by city business interests for an 
ulterior purpose, but we believe now that this report 
was wrong, Branches of the bureau have been 
April 24, 1020 
organized in many Michigan counties; the farmers 
are paying $30 a year in advance, which indicates 
their interest in the movement, and they cannot be 
bribed by any outside interests. The older farm 
organizations undoubtedly will become stronger by 
reason of this new organization. There is today a 
greater spirit of fraternity among farm organiza¬ 
tions than ever existed before. They are beginning 
to touch elbows everywhere and to know that they 
must work together if they obtain results. 
“The most heartening indication of the salvation 
of this country from radicalism is to be found in 
the columns of the metropolitan press, now giving 
some space to the farmer and his conditions of labor. 
That change has come within the last six months. 
Lack of understanding has been one of the chief 
causes of difference between the country and urban 
population. When the farmer shall better under¬ 
stand the problems of the laboring man and the city 
folk understand the things the farmer must contend 
with, the country will be safe from radicalism. 
“Our movement has nothing in common with the 
Non-partisan League in any effort that organization 
has made to enter this State. I have had a great 
deal of sympathy with the farmers of North Dakota 
because of the condition they were in when their 
league was organized. They had suffered so long 
from the oppression of the grain men, elevator men 
and so on, that seemingly it became necessary for 
them to possess themselves of the government of 
North Dakota in order to get relief. But that con¬ 
dition does not prevail in this State, nor in many 
other States, and the North Dakota methods could 
not gain headway in many other States.” 
The farmers of Michigan realize that the social¬ 
istic tendencies of the farmer government of North 
Dakota have caused the entire country to look 
askance at any other movement of agricultural in¬ 
terests to enter politics. They realize that in their 
campaign they will have to combat this sentiment. 
They believe they have a duty to perform to the 
nation in demonstrating that farmers can govern 
by other methods than the socialistic ones which 
have gained for agriculturists such an unsavory 
reputation. In the selection of Mr. Campbell as 
their standard bearer they have taken a big stride 
toward the establishment of confidence in their 
program, for he is favorably known among banking, 
industrial and mercantile men as conservative, hard- 
headed and not given at all to chasing phantoms. 
MORRIS -T. WHITE. 
Fertilizer From Horse Meat 
T have about 3.000 lbs. of horse meat, and wish to 
make it into fertilizer. I have been told that lime, such 
as is used by masons, will consume it, both bones and 
flesh, and make a nice compost for crops. Is this so? 
How much lime by weight for LOOO lbs. of meat? 
Dexter. Me. w. ii.r. 
OTT will hardly be satisfied with the use of lime 
on that meat. The action of the lime will drive 
off considerable of the nitrogen and certainly will 
not break up the bones. Unless the meat has begun 
to decay you will find it more profitable to feed 
meat to hogs or poultry and reduce the hones by 
themselves. We have had some success in cutting 
the carcass up as fine as possible, and thoroughly 
boiling the pieces. This separates the bones from the 
meat. The latter can he fed in small pieces to the 
hogs or hens, or it can be boiled into a thick soup 
with small potatoes, turnips and cornmeal. This 
thick soup fed to the hogs makes a good feed, and 
there is greater profit handling that way than in 
trying to make it into fertilizer on the farm. In 
some cases the meat is cut into small pieces and 
scattered through the horse manure with a small 
quantity of lime scattered over it. This breaks up 
the meat and adds to the value of the manure. 
Horse manure is better for this purpose, because it 
is naturally hotter and ferments more rapidly than 
cow manure. 
As for the bones, they can be burned with wood. 
