854 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
April 24, 1920 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
All letters to Publisher’s Desk depart¬ 
ment must be signed with writer’s full 
name and address given. Many inquiries 
are answered by mail instead of printing 
inquiry and answer, lienee unsigned let¬ 
ters receive no consideration. 
We are still holding a check from the 
express company for a shipment made 
from Clinton Corners. N. Y., on May fi. 
1019, to A. Honigsberg & Co. If the 
subscriber who sent us this claim will 
write us we will forward the check to 
him. 
As we go to press the railroad strike 
is spreading. Traffic in New York City 
is badly disturbed. The roads have issued 
embargoes, and only perishable goods are 
being received. Food is becoming scarce 
and prices are advancing. Perishable 
foods are piling up in the freight yards, 
and a large portion of them will 'be lost 
The roads and express companies hold 
themselves blameless for the delay and 
loss due to the strike, and refuse to pay 
for damaged produce lost through their 
inability to deliver it. It will be prudent 
to make careful inquiry before shipping. 
It will be useless to file claims for losses 
during the strike unless the shipper brings 
suit, and for the most part that is im¬ 
practical. and probably futile. The courts 
would hardly hold the carriers when the 
loss is due to causes beyond their con¬ 
trol. 
I am a reader of your paper since the 
holidays, and have been wondering if you 
would not be able to tell me something 
as to the reliability of some oil companies 
that are sending out literature through 
the mails each week. K. c. 
Ohio. 
We are unable to find any merit in the 
proposition of the Texas Oil & Invest¬ 
ment Co., Houston, Texas. They lay 
stress on the big profits being made from 
oil leases, but the prospects are all based 
on the prospects that some of their leases 
may be a big oil producer. They give no 
figures to show what they themselves 
have done. Since the first of the year 
we have referred to IS companies that 
have asked for other people's money to 
promote their speculative, if not worth¬ 
less. propositions, and there are many 
more that we have not reported. 
On November 14. 1918. I shipped a 
case containing 24 doz. eggs to E. Fried¬ 
man. 825 Columbus avenue. New York 
City. Mrs. B. Friedman wrote that they 
had not received the eggs shipped that 
date. We went to our express agent here 
and had a tracer sent after them. Later 
Mrs. Friedman wrote that they had not 
received the eggs. The express agent re¬ 
ported that they had looked the matter up 
and found that the case of eggs hail been 
delivered and signed for. Mrs. Friedman 
lias written again since, saving that it is 
not true: that the eggs were never de¬ 
livered. The bill is $22.50. I do not 
feel that I can afford to lose $22.50. 
and it certainly seems as if either the 
express company or Mrs. Friedman should 
pay for them. I haven’t been able to ac¬ 
complish anything by the letters T have 
written, and if you could help me get my 
money, I would he very grateful to you. 
New York. J. <>. l. 
The express record was correct, and 
showed the eggs had been received by 
Mr. Friedman. lie persisted in his de¬ 
nial. and claim was given to our attor¬ 
ney. who succeeded in collecting the ac¬ 
count. The accounts kept by Mr. Fried¬ 
man were inaccurate, and led t~ the con¬ 
fusion, but persistent denial of proven 
facts does not give a shipper confidence 
in a concern. Reliable houses are usu¬ 
ally willing to go to any trouble to help 
a shipper, and they are the only ones to 
deal with. 
A local paper published at Amsterdam, 
N. Y., publishes an interesting diary of 
an egg. It seems a local bachelor bought, 
a dozen eggs at the local store. The eggs 
were labeled “strictly fresh,” and sold 
at 09 cents a dozen. At home it was 
found that one of the eggs bore the name 
of a young woman in Missouri. The 
eggs were advertised at a bargain, being 
of a grade usually sold for .80 cents. Cor¬ 
respondence ensued between the Northern 
State bachelor and the Southern maid, 
who wrote that it. was just a year ago 
that she wrote her name on the egg. and 
she received 30 cents a dozen for the eggs. 
It is too had to'spoil the prospects of a 
romance, but we are assured that the 
bachelor had no longing for any informa¬ 
tion except the age aud original value of 
the eggs, and no pictures were exchanged. 
But it is evident that* the up-State deal¬ 
ers have mastered the essential features 
of the egg trade. 
As an appreciation of the high-class 
service and benefits received from reading 
and heeding your advice concerning af¬ 
fairs in the Publisher’s Desk, I am en¬ 
closing 20 cents for two new 10-weeks- 
trial subscribers, for your (or our) most 
worthy publication. A. S. 
Ohio. 
That is a substantial form of apprecia¬ 
tion. It is simply a sample of the service 
that comes every day from all parts of the 
country. It is the spirit that makes this 
type of a farm paper possible. 
I am in receipt of the enclosed letter 
from Spain. I haven't time to go. and 
after reading your Publisher’s Desk ar¬ 
ticles, I don't want to. J. L. o. 
New York. 
During the war this so-called “Spanish 
Prisoner” fake was suspended, but it is 
now revived in full force, and subscribers 
send in letters on the subject almost 
daily. We referred to a Texas butcher 
who had followed instructions given in 
the letter he received, which caused him 
a loss of several thousand dollars. You 
will get value from if. however, if used to 
start your fire, but that is the only use 
to make of it. 
The New York Stock Fxchauge is a 
private corporation for the purpose of 
buying and selling stocks and bonds. It 
was supposed to be an open market in the 
sense that sales are made on the offer- 
and-bid plan on the floor of the exchange. 
Accurate records of the sales are made, 
and the prices are public. But no one 
except members of. the exchange are per¬ 
mitted to buy or sell on the exchange. 
An outsider must pay the members a com¬ 
mission for any trade in his behalf. 
Seven or eight months ago the stock of 
the Stutz Motor Company was selling for 
$40 a share. Later'it advanced to $100. 
It. paid five per cent, and the price 
seemed high. Hence some of the pro¬ 
fessional traders, or gamblers, sold it 
“short” on the theory that later on the 
price would drop. They attempted to 
sell enough to establish a low price. 
Those on the inside of the Stutz concern, 
one of whom is an exchange member, 
however, knew the amount of stock that 
was outside of their hands and control. 
This available supply was small. The bears 
did not know, and as they thought to pro¬ 
tect themselves, went on buying as the 
price rose. When time came to deliver 
they borrowed from the insiders to make 
deliveries, expecting to return the borrow¬ 
ed shares when the price dropped, as 
seemed sure, since the price was above 
actual value. The process was continued 
until the stock sold at $391 a share, and 
tin 1 traders realized that the insiders had 
a corner in the stock, and the traders had 
to pay any price demanded or go bank¬ 
rupt. 
Some of the shrewdest men in the game 
operating on the ground daily, got caught 
in the gamble. What possible chance has 
a countryman or ordinary city investor 
got in the Wall Street game? Of course, 
all ‘transactions do not go to this extreme; 
but in a .mild form' the principle is worked 
all the time. It is a bigger gamble than 
betting on horse races, which is prohib¬ 
ited by law. In either case the game is 
fair occasionally, but as a whole it is for 
the benefit of the insiders, and the farmer 
who expects to profit by it is pretty sure 
to meet disappointment. 
What is the standing of II. V. Greene 
Company, Nottingham Building. Copley 
Square. Boston. Mass.? This company is 
soliciting small investments from farmers 
and others in the “First People’s Trust 
Company.” $30,000,000 capital. They 
call themselves investment hankers, and 
claim to have launched two other succws- 
ful similar enterprises which are paying 
7 to 0 per cent, besides accumulating a 
surplus. D. M. L. 
New York. 
The 11. V. Greene Company promotions ' 
are not the class of securities in which we 
would advise farmers to invest their sav 
iugs. We have expressed this opinion a 
number of times during the past year. 
The Banking Department of the State of 
Maine, under the “Blue Sky law.” has 
refused to grant a license to this house to 
sell securities in the Shite. 
Weeds are Like Flies 
A WEED is like a fly. Give it a good start, 
and before you know it you have hun¬ 
dreds, thousands, millions—instead of just one! We 
kill the flies to protect ourselves against diseases that 
they so readily spread; we kill weeds to save our crops 
from being smothered. “Swat the weed’’ should be 
just as popular a slogan as “Swat the fly.” 
And when it comes to killing off weeds, there is no 
more efficient tool than an International Corn Culti¬ 
vator. Because these cultivators are furnished with 
adjustable bearings, making ii possible to take up all play 
from wear, it is easy to keep the cultivator close 
against the corn row. 
This is practically impossible with a cheap, flimsy 
cultivator that has only bored bearings , because there is 
no provision to take up wear. As a result, after the 
cultivator has been used a short time, the wheels 
wobble badly and every time they strike a bump or 
rock they twist to the side instead of riding straight 
over the obstruction, causing the cultivator to dodge 
into the nearest corn hill with disastrous conse¬ 
quences. If, to avoid this, the cultivator gangs are set 
closer together a strip of weeds will be left along the 
corn rows on each side. Rely on International. 
There are other desirable features aside from the 
adjustable bearing, which are sure to interest you in 
International Cultivator design and construction. 
See your International dealer about these cultivators 
the next time you are in town. 
International Harvester Company 
Cuts a mile of ditch a day, 
V-sliapcd, -wide or narrow, to a 
depth of 4 feet. Builds terraces 
and levees, fills up old ditches 
and gullies. Sent you on 
TEN DAYS’ TRIAL 
Does the work of a hun¬ 
dred men. Lightest draft, 
all steel. Reversible. 
Simplex Farm Ditcher Co., Ine. 
Box 85 Owensboro, Kentucky 
A GENTS W ANTED 
Active, reliable, on salary, to 
take subscriptions for Rural 
New-Yorker in New Eng¬ 
land. Prefer men wllo have 
horse or auto. 
A ddress :— 
M. L. ASELTINE, Box 185 
SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 
or 
The Rural New-Yorker 
333 W. 30th Street New York City 
There is a Ross Ensilage 
Cutter that will exactly 
match your power whether 
a “four-horse” gasoline or kero¬ 
sene engine, a tractor or heavy- 
duty steam engine. And no matter 
what model you choose, you’ll get 
cutter that will give you better 
silage; one that will go through 
any job of silo-filling without choking 
or chattering—at low speed and at 
low power cost. 
ROSS ENSILAGE CUTTERS 
Study the Ross carefully. Note the Six- 
Fan Blower. Wish-bone Steel Mounting. 
Self-conforming Bearings, and. on the f ly¬ 
wheel Type, the genuine Rockwood fibre 
Pulley which absolutely prevents belt slip¬ 
page and gives you maximum power. 
The Ross special Ball-bearing End Thrust 
and Extra Knife Adjustment holds the 
knives right up against the shear-bar — all 
the time- -assuring clean-cut silage with all 
the rich corn juices retained, instead of sil¬ 
age that is "chewed" and torn. 
Write today for free literature and name of nearest Ross Dealer. Get all the facts about 
this highest-auality cutter which matches «our present power, operates at lowest cost 
and cuts clean-- always! 
THE E. W. ROSS CO. 528 Warder St., Springfield, Ohio 
J. B. NORTON & CO.. Utica, N. Y.. Distributors and 20 oilier Leading Distributing Points in U. S, A. 
