1138 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINES!) FARMER'S PAPER 
A Notional Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban IIoiikh 
' Established 1850 
Published weekly by the Rural Pub lilng Company, 333 West 30(h Street, New Tork 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Diulon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Ro vlk. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8U marks, or 10!* * francs. Remit in money order, express 
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 pa]x>r is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
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 
resjKinsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the coiriplaint 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 just met an old friend in Ttie R. N.-Y. It came 
in the bottom of a basket of eggs^ from W. Henry 
Tenner, and. truly speaking, I hadn’t seen one in 20 
years, and you just can guess I sat right down and 
read it. mrs. e. tittle. 
T HE result is Mrs. Tuttle’s subscription. “The 
face of an old friend.” As we get on’ in life 
we realize what a picture of memory that calls up. 
Our young folks think their boy or girl friends are 
dear, but wait until you view them looking back 
along the shady aisles of the years! The R. N.-Y. 
is found in unexpected places—everywhere! 
* 
W E have now reached a time when the farmers 
of New York have a chance to express them¬ 
selves in State political matters. The. never had 
a fair chance to do this before. They have always 
taken such State candidates as were prepared for 
them and were told to vote the ticket thus punched. 
Several times they have refused to do this, but party 
feeling is strong, and usually a man will vote his 
ticket and make the best of it. It has long been 
evident that the true way to exercise power in poli¬ 
tics is to get down to the fountain head and control 
nominations. The candidate is made in the pri¬ 
mary. There is the place for our work. For the 
past few weeks we have been printing letters from 
men whose names have been suggested as candi¬ 
dates for Governor. We know their views on farm 
subjects. Now we want a fair and well-considered 
vote or referendum so as to select, if possible, a 
strong candidate for the primary. We appeal to 
you —men and women of New York, to give expres¬ 
sion to your choice. All sorts of “slates” are being 
prepared for us by the politicians, and unless we 
do something to show our independence and interest 
our “resolutions” and demands will be no more en¬ 
during than chalk marks on the side of a barn. Our 
first step is to show that a big army of country 
people in New York 8tate have ideas of their own 
about candidates. Will you help in this by promptly 
taking a poll of the voters in your neighborhood and 
give us the figures showing their choice for Gover¬ 
nor? No matter whom they want, send the names, 
tor this referendum is to be open and fair. We 
roust do it ourselves , and right here is where we 
begin. We all want a man for Governor! Who is 
the man? 
* 
The State Legislature near its close passed a hill 
granting a raise of 33 1/3 per cent to pensions of re¬ 
tired teachers, those already drawing half pay. I have 
not seen any account of its disposal by the Governor— 
whether he signed it or vetoed it or let it die. I am 
financially interested in it. Can you inform me as to 
the bill ? f. M. s. 
Y OU probably refer to the bill introduced by Mr. 
Lord in the Assembly, and Senator Lusk in the 
Senate. This bill raises the bonus or annuities of all 
teachers one-third, beginning July 3, 1920. This bill 
was finally passed by both houses, and was ap¬ 
proved by the Governor, and is now sections 1108 and 
1109 of the general educational law. We are often 
asked how the teachers of New York are usually 
able to secure just about the legislation they desire. 
A member of the recent Legislature and a good ob¬ 
server, puts it this way: 
I think I am within the truth when I say that no 
interests at Albany ever maintained such a strong, ag¬ 
gressive lobby as did the teachers last Winter—and 
they got everything they asked for. It was a revelation 
of strong, pushing, organized propaganda, that never 
ceased or let up. If the farmer could come up with any 
such systematized effort I take it he could have any¬ 
thing he wanted. 
All of which is commended to farmers and the men 
they select to represent them. 
* 
W HENEVER we print an article like the one 
on the first page this week we have protests 
from readers who say farm successes should not be 
made public! We are told that such stories make 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
things look too easy for the back-to-tlie-landers. so 
that many misguided people'will rush to the farm. 
Then we are told that, stories of success will only 
give the city papers a new chance to" call farmers 
robbers and profiteers! The story printed this week 
is true, and we t link the great majority of our read¬ 
ers have the p" ,ver of analysis which will enable 
them to undersi • nd. This is not an ordinary case. 
This man and tv man are of more than average in¬ 
telligence: they mew what farm life means; they 
knew how to w< rk, could command fair capital or 
credit, had >n P vision's about the country and had 
the advantage of all the elements of chance. In 
truth, they took a gambler’s chance and won out 
through a high price for potatoes, due to an abnor¬ 
mal season! That is a fair statement of it. and we 
are sure our readers will understand the situation. 
There are many of us who are taking just that kind 
of a chance this year. We do not like to think of 
farming as being a business about which the exact 
truth should not be told. 
* 
T HERE is not. and never can be. any full substi¬ 
tute for milk and its products. You can prove 
that in the calf or in the child. There are some com¬ 
binations of grains and dried blood that will keep a 
calf growing, but he cannot make a full and satisfac¬ 
tory growth unless milk in some form is added. 
Milk is nature’s life-giver: there is no substitute for 
it. You can prove it in the calf, but who wants to 
try experiments with his child? The child, like the 
calf, cannot possibly make its full growth unless it 
has an abundance of milk. We may make mistakes 
in feeding the calf and produce a runt. That is a 
mistake, but not a calamity. When we produce a 
human runt through improper feeding we are gnilty 
not only of producing a calamity but of a crime as 
well. Milk and manhood walk together. The man 
who produces milk is of far more importance to the 
world than the man who merely makes money. 
* 
On page 1076 you spoke about the brighter prospects 
for milk, which I hope will prove true, but if a dry spell 
comes along, with grain from $4 to $4.50 per 100 lbs., 
some of our dreams will be shattered badly. If you had 
added that some of the producers might also be able to 
recover on what they have run behind you would have 
it a bit nearer. My opinion may not be worth much, 
but this is the first editorial article I ever felt like crit¬ 
icizing. Hardly a milk producer around here but has 
run behind the last year. n. H. BETTS. 
Connecticut. 
HE dairyman’s complaints against conditions 
during the last year are abundantly justified. 
Every other industry in the country was rolling up 
the biggest profits of their lives. If dairymen counted 
labor and the market value of supplies, they pro¬ 
duced milk at a loss. As dairymen we have strug¬ 
gled under the trust yoke so long we take cheer with 
the least lightening of the burden, and this led us to 
speak of the brighter prospects for milk. Rut we 
cannot escape the conviction that while the trust 
makes prices we will have occasional bright pros¬ 
pects when supplies are threatened, only to be fol¬ 
lowed by months of despair, when supply is normal. 
The time is coming, however, when dairymen will 
dominate the market and make their own prices. 
Then, and not until then, may we hope to have prices 
regularly to cover the cost of production. 
* 
N OW and then we run upon a well-to-do man who 
says he will not support the schools or any 
other activity which has to do with training young 
people. He does what the government forces him 
to do—unwillingly and under protest—but no more. 
He has no children of his own—why should he be 
expected to educate children of others? He has 
worked hard to accumulate his property! It belongs 
to him; why should he give it up to educate children 
who can never he of any benefit to him or his prop¬ 
erty? Yes, there are such men—plenty of them. 
Some are more open and outspoken than others, but 
there are many of them. One who knows the love 
and confidence of a little child can only feel a great 
pity for the man whose soul has died within him, 
but pity will not be accepted as an argument. What 
can you say to them? They love their money and 
want to see it accumulate, far beyond their own 
power to enjoy it. The time must always come when 
this money and property must pass from them. It 
is all they can leave the world! What then? Who 
is to determine how that property is to be spent or 
developed? No one bul the little children of today 
who need education and training. The education 
they receive will largely decide what is to be done 
with property in the next generation. A man will 
demand strong bars and solid vaults to prott *t his 
money in the bank, yet the school and what it teaches 
will have more to do with,property in the future than 
any bank. If a man considers his money the most 
precious part of his life, it would seem that he would 
June 20, 1020 
be willing to spend a little of it in education for 
those who are to decide its future value. ■; ■ 
'• ' ? ; *' .) j : 
T HE last census returns show that New York 
City as a whole has gained in population, it 
is now larger than London—the greatest city in the 
world. This gain has been made chiefly in the 
suburbs or outskirts of the city. Old New York, or 
Manhattan, has lost in population, and Brooklyn 
made but a slight, gain. Personally, we think this 
great crowd of people at the mouth of the Hudson is 
too large. It is no longer an economic proposition 
to bring vast quantities of food and coal hero at 
great expense to sustain the multitudes crowded 
upon this high-priced land. America and the world 
would be far better off if in place of this tremendous 
city there were simply enough people here to conduct 
the great shipping trade, and the rest were scattered 
into 25 fair-sized cities, located back nearer the 
water powers and convenient trading places. The 
big city is breeding anarchy and revolution faster 
than most of us think. In this it is following the 
course of ancient history, and we doubt if any great 
city can develop the antidote for its own social dis¬ 
ease. Sooner or later, as has ever been the case, the 
country must, in some way, dominate the city. We 
think the future is to witness the development of 
new sources of power, taken, for example, from the 
ocean waves or the heat at the interior of the earth. 
This new power for manufacturing will be likely to 
tear the great cities apart and distribute them in 
large towns nearer the farmer. That will be about 
the only practical* cure for the disease of anarchy 
and social discontent with which the politicians are 
now playing, and it will bring agriculture back to a 
commanding position. 
* 
A FEW weeks ago we printed a note from one of 
our readers who said he had to get the hired 
man to read from his foreign-language paper in order 
to learn the truth about that trial of the Socialist 
members at Albany. We wanted to know if readers 
thought the daily papers are free and fair to the 
public. We have had a great variety of answers. 
Most, of our people seem to think the daily papers 
are generally dominated by “big business” or par¬ 
tisan politics. Yet the discussion has brought out a 
dozen or more of papers which are fair to agricul¬ 
ture. They permit a fair and reasonable discussion, 
and their spirit is reasonable at least. In every such 
case it is evident that farmers are responsible for 
this liberal policy. They have made the paper un¬ 
derstand—carried out our advice. “We have got to 
do it ourselves /” Now here is another from a coun¬ 
try minister: 
I know that I can only maintain myself in any church 
by keeping my hands off essential truths, truths that 
make for manhood and womanhood and a Chris: like 
civilization. Why can’t some of the vast sums that are 
being raised for all sorts of things be devoted to such 
mission and such a missioner? 
Now let us put that up to our readers for thought. 
Is it true that the clergyman must keep his hands off 
“essential truths”? Would it be so if the pulpit 
fairly represented the voice and thought of the pews? 
Must not true reform come from the latter? 
Brevities 
There is trouble in Arizona from rabbits eating young 
cotton! 
Some people work as though they were fired with an 
ambition to be fired. 
There is no New York law to protect foxes. A boy 
who has caught a litter of little foxes alive may sell 
or dispose of them as he likes. 
A numrek of our apple trees have not yet recovered 
from the Winter damages of two years ago. They are 
slowly coming back—like a man recovering from a wast¬ 
ing sickness. 
In the great peace treaty, among other things. Ger¬ 
many must deliver to France 6,000,000 partridges to 
restock the devastated areas. And under European 
game laws this can be done. 
Let it be recorded..when oats are treated with forma¬ 
lin to prevent smut, and well aired and dried, they can 
safely be fed to stock. Potatoes soaked in formalin 
and water for scab are safe for eating when peeled and 
washed as usual. 
Remember that in curing hay the object is to get the 
moisture out of the clover or grass iu the quickest way 
possible. The plant “sweats” out this moisture through 
its leaves. That is why curing clover in the swath is 
best because it keeps the leaves more active. 
Every year comes the old question about killing tin 
ants in an “ant hill” or colony. Punch a hole with a 
crowbar about 18 inches down into the hill, l’our m 
half a pint of bisulphide of carbon and cover with a 
good-sized blanket. The chemical will form a death- 
dealing gas, which will spread through the hill and kill 
the ants. 
