1617 
Milk Association Contracts 
Tf we sign the enclosed contract for the new milk 
association, conferring such extraordinary powers on the 
management., what protection do we have? n. a. c. 
New York. 
Organized society seeks to protect its individual 
membership in a constitution definitely expressing 
its purposes and fundamental policies. This charter 
also outlines the form of government, to he adopted 
and defines the duties and authority of its officers 
and the limitations of their powers. The constitu¬ 
tion usually confines itself to broad lines and general 
principles, but provides for by-laws to define in de¬ 
tail the scope of operations and to execute the pol¬ 
icies under the broad plan of the constitution. This 
is a duty and a safeguard for rhe membership. 
Usually both the constitution and by-laws are prop¬ 
erly worked out by the membership and approved 
before officers are elected. The later amendments 
are also made and approved or disapproved by the 
membership. 
These instruments, and the privilege under them 
of every member to -a vote are, aside from general 
laws, the only protection of the members, and for 
this reason they should be carefully prepared and 
zealously guarded. In our judgment the constitu¬ 
tion of every farm organization should make provis¬ 
ion for an election committee to he elected by the 
membership, and a system should he provided so that 
every member would have the privilege and the con¬ 
venience of a secret vote by ballot for officers and 
policies. Iieferendums should be submitted to the 
members on important questions. 
We believe this voting system the most important 
provision of all. It is the one and only protection 
the individual members can have in any circumstance. 
It insures the greatest degree of support for the man¬ 
agers. and for the policies adopted. Every member 
will respect and support a majority decree. It holds 
the confidence and the interest of every worth-while 
member, avoids suspicion among the members, and 
minimizes extravagance and scandals in the manage¬ 
ment. 
With loose organization and all power and author¬ 
ity in the management there is opportunity for ex¬ 
travagance and waste and selfishness, and in time 
these are sure to lead to scandal and failure. Econ¬ 
omy, vigilance and publicity are the safeguards of 
co-operation. 
To provide these safeguards and protections is not 
the function of the officers or of the board of direc¬ 
tors. It is indeed not a proper function for them. 
It is the duty of the members themselves. If they 
neglect it. they simply neglect a responsibility and 
invite the result of their own neglect. It is a proper 
question for the local branches. 
Wages Paid State Road Workers 
There have been many statements about the wages 
paid workmen on the State highways. We wrote 
the State Highway Commission about it, and have 
received the following letter: 
Laborers who work upon our highways are paid ac¬ 
cording to tlie prevailing rates in the many locations 
where highway construction is under way. Phis year 
both this department and the contractors have not been 
in a position to dictate what wage they will pay. It 
lias been impossible to get as many men to work on 
our roads as was necessary, with the result that a 
good deal of work which would have been done in nor¬ 
mal times lias been left, undone. Contractors all over 
the State have been vicing with each other to secure 
laborers, and in several instances have run the price 
up beyond what it should have been. We have been 
doing everything possible to regulate this competitive 
bidding for labor between contractors and have met 
with considerable success. So far as laborers employed 
by the department for maintenance work are concerned, 
we have been short all Summer; nevertheless we have 
consistently refused to raise the prices for labor beyond 
those paid for similar work in the locality. 
As you doubtless know, this commission abandoned 
its 11)110 program, and one of the main reasons for our 
doing tiiis was in order to protect the farmer as far 
as possible. .Inst at the present time in the apple 
belts of this State the farmer is paying more for his 
labor than this department or any contractor working 
for the department, with the result that many men 
working on highways have left to go into the orchards, 
la our maintenance work the cheapest wage which wo 
could get a man for this year was $3.50 per day, but 
the average throughout the State is about .$4 per day, 
which is somewhat less than the rate paid by con¬ 
tractors. It is a mistake to think that this depart¬ 
ment is paying as high as 80 cents per hour for labor. 
M e have no record where such a price was paid in any 
part of the State. fukd’k Stuart okeene. 
A Back-to-the-Lander’s Fruit 
I am endeavoring to sell apples direct to Brooklyn 
consumers, and the names enclosed are my first two 
easterners. It has occurred to me that The I{. N.-Y. 
coming along with a basket, of nice Wagoner anples 
aught help to establish a warm place for the producer 
in the consumer’s heart, and so lead to further orders. 
I lio small fruit dealers in Brooklyn certainly seem to 
nave both the producer and consumer by the throat, 
Till behooves us to try our utmost to deal direct. 
Although my motives in sending those subscriptions 
are not entirely unselfish, T am perfectly willing to pass 
ine idea on to other producers for what it is worth. 
5 he RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The orchard is steadily improving, and promises to be 
self-supporting from now on. r. a. young. 
R. N. Y.—Mr. Young is a back-to-the-lander-—a 
mechanic who went to the country, bought a piece of 
rough land and planted an orchard. He had to go 
hack to the city now and then while the apple trees 
were growing, hut lie hung on, and now has a good 
orchard. Having lived in the city he knows how to 
trade with city people, and is trying to sell direct. 
We must all come to it or near to it sooner or later. 
New York Apple Prices 
In Western New York several sales are reported 
at $3.50 to $4 per barrel—grower to furnish the bar¬ 
rels. Many growers have no barrels in stock, and 
must pay at least $1.05 each. No definite price on 
cider apples has yet been made. Trices for “tree 
run” fruit are reported at $1 per hundred for Green¬ 
ings and $1.50 for red varieties. From Monroe 
County a sale of Twenty Ounce at $1.50 per hundred 
is reported. Not much demand for cider apples at 
40 cents. 
Buyers are visiting the growers offering from 
$3.75 to $4.25 for “A” grade fruit, packed, but few 
growers are selling Winter fruit at this price. It 
is reported that one buyer traveled 300 miles one 
day, and only purchased two small lots. 
Conditions in ihe Hudson Valley are pretty well 
presented in the following report from Columbia 
Conn ty: 
The farmers who have barrels and storage space are 
putting their fruit in cold storage, expecting a better 
demand later in the season. Cider apples are selling at 
50 cents per 100 pounds, but as yet I have not seen 
many loads going to the cider mills. Yon may be in¬ 
terested in soine^ sales: Two thousand barrels good 
quality fruit. $4.50 f. o. b. cars; 2.000 barrels tree run 
fruit, two inches up, ciders out. $3.75 per barrel; grower 
picks, furnishes barrels and hauls; buyer packs; there 
is considerable smaller-sized fruit in this orchard; 1,800 
barrels Winter fruit, $4.50, A grade fruit. 2 1 / -> inches; 
1.000 barrels Winter fruit, A grade, packed. $2; buyer 
furnishes barrels; SCO barrels, $3.50 f. o. b. cars. Some 
local sales for $1.50 per barrel for the fruit, with low 
quality apples out. Farmers who are shipping A grade 
fruit, on consignment report they are receiving $5 to 
$6.50. This, of course, includes expenses. The high 
quality fruit is bringing considerably more than this. 
There seems to be less difficulty in disposing of high- 
class fruit. From these typical sales you will see the 
prices vary. There has been a considerable movement 
of export apples and pears from this section. Net re¬ 
turns so far have varied from $5 to $6. Many growers, 
however, are reluctant to take chances on losses by 
export. 
Some New England Apple Prices 
V out* correspondent, E. I, Farrington, in “New Eng¬ 
land Garden Notes,” in recent issue, gives a rather pessi¬ 
mistic picture of the apple situation. May I give some 
facts looking the other way? First, I have not heard of 
“the great apple crop,” except in this case, though sev¬ 
eral in our vicinity have “some apples” this year as 
usual. The Baldwin crop is called light. As to Graven- 
steins,. my own have sold, hand-]ticked No. 1. from 
truck in South Market Street, Boston, almost without 
exception f<>r $2.50 per box, packages exchanged; drops 
for $2. They bring now (October II hand-picked, tree 
inn, over $2 at my farm, without package. 
I hear of Gravensteins being sold at curb markets by 
farmers in peck quantities, paper bags, at $1. equal to 
$11 per barrel. McIntosh is worth about $3 per box. 
tree run. at the farm, no packages. Baldwins, firsts 
and seconds together, are "being engaged at from $1 25 
to $1 50 per bushel, no packages. With trees of these 
several sorts netting, in some instances, $40 to $50. and 
sometimes more, we are here not feeling pessimistic 
about the apple situation, though the market has had 
some low periods owing to the large quantities being 
shipped in. The scab on McIntosh, referred to as a 
handicap to their growth, I feel personally can be con¬ 
trolled by a Bordeaux spray at the pink period. For 
two years I have used Pyrox at this time, and have had 
little scab, except in one or two little air pockets in 
the orchard, so I shall hopefully contiuue this practice, 
and watch results. e. f. DICKINSON. 
Middlesex Go'.. Mass. 
TF N.-Y.—Of course we must remember that these 
prices mean direct sales—that is, direct to the consumer, 
or with only one handler between. They cannot be 
fairly compared with prices obtained by distant, growers 
who must, ship by railroad or sell to “buyers.” Mr. 
Dickinson lives not over 25 miles from Boston. 
Fruit Markets in Southeast Michigan 
It certainly has been plain all along that the farmer 
has been, discriminated against, and also that his lack 
of organization and co-operation lay him open to the 
underhand dealings of a group of men who prey upon 
both producer and consumer. In this district here it 
was very evident last Spring that the fruit crop would 
be the heaviest in years, aud still no extra effort was 
put forth to see that the proper marketing facilities 
were obtainable. At? a result we had at one packing 
station 25.000 bushels of peaches and no baskets or 
cars. At another they dumped 10 big truck loads of 
peaches over the bank of the river. One of the largest 
peach growers in the country managed by a supreme 
effort to get 20 cars on the track here, only to find that 
bis shipment of baskets had fallen through. Besides 
this they are forced to pay $5.50 per day for peach 
pickers, besides furnishing meals, and still they caunot 
get them because they cannot pay the wages that the 
foundries and factories pay here in the cities. Ev*m the 
fruit exchange has had to ship peaches in apple boxes, 
but at that, the independent growers are weeping be¬ 
cause they are not in the exchange. They claim that 
thousands of bushels of peaches have rotted in Chicago 
because they were held so long waiting for baskets be¬ 
fore being shipped. It would be a grand thing if the 
farmers would only jump into the organization idet 
with a little more pep. and just a few more seasons like 
this one will serve as the reonired stimulus. .t, y. 
Why Cattle and Men are “ Runts ” 
The following is an open letter sent by Charles E. 
Leach of Florida to Dr. .T. R. Mohler of the National 
Bureau of Animal Industry. It is in reply to a set 
of questions asking for the causes of stunted or 
“runty” live stock, and the most practical methods 
of prevention: 
INST I-1 If ILN T FOOD.—This is the principal 
cause ot the stunted livestock in the Southwest. There 
is no pait. of this continent where it is possible to raise 
so much and so many kinds of nutritious forage as in 
the Southwest, and there is no section where so little 
is produced. Ticks are, of course, a great handicap, 
but they are by uo means the limiting factor. Cattle 
here grow well and get fat. in spite of ticks, when they 
have, plenty of feed, and purebreds, born and bred here, 
are injured no more by ticks than are the native cattle 
it provided with sufficient feed. There is no real live 
stock industry in the Southeast, and there never will be 
until the farmers can be induced to raise sufficient 
forage to maintain their stock the year around. It is 
possible here to have green and luxuriant pastures every 
day in the year. 
THE MAN BEHIND THE STOCK.—But in the 
Southeast and throughout rhe country the real cause of 
stunted live stock is stunted men . Except iu a few 
favorable localities the farmers of the United States 
have been stunted by the same things that have stunted 
their live stock. Both live stock and farmers have been 
stunted by parasites and semi-starvation, but the 
farmers have also been stunted bv overwork, isolation 
and man’s inhumanity to man."’ In the case of farmers 
generally the semi-starvation has been more mental than 
physical, but in many sections, and iu many cases in 
all sections, it is physical as well as mental. There are 
millions of farmers in this country who are under¬ 
nourished.. This will seem incredible to the town dwel¬ 
lers, but it. is true. This semi-starvation of mind and 
body has been caused by the horde of parasites who live 
• ■ft. the farmers’ unremitting toil. From every dollar 
paid by the consumer of farm products these parasites 
suck 6o cents. 
.THE MIDDLEMAN.—The man who said “one half 
the world knows not how the other half lives” un¬ 
doubtedly referred to the producers and consumers of 
V? , . *■ thnl- was said before our population was 
divided into three parts—producers, middlemen and 
consumers. The middleman is the only man who really 
knows now both the producer and consumer live and 
lie knows how he live*? himself. He lives off the other 
o V ^tkirds—always playing both ends against the mid¬ 
dle* ihe middlemen—a small fraction of the great horde 
of middlemen—arc necessary and perform a great serv- 
but it is only u world of fools that permits one-third 
or more of its numbers to.live off the industry and labor 
<>c the balance—themselves producing nothing and ren¬ 
dering no necessary service. 
BETTER DISTRIBUTION NEEDED.—There is 
no question that, with a proper system of distribution 
and marketing of farm products the farmer would re- 
eeive bo per ccut of the consumer’s dollar, and if the 
farmer did get his 65 per cent he would then receive 
not one cent more than he earns and is necessary for his 
proper, development and the development of his farm 
including better sires and better stock. The United 
states Department of Agriculture and all the agricul¬ 
tural colleges and experiment stations, of the States 
nave done wonderful things for the improvement of all 
branches of agriculture, but by and large rhe farmers 
of this country have not been enriched bv the millions 
that have been expended by these great institutions and 
the inadequately compensated labors of that great corps 
of devoted scientists and agricultural experts who have 
given their lives to the improvement and upbuilding of 
our great fundamental industrv. Except in a few 
isolated sections the farmers now well know that bv 
using the improved methods of farming—careful prepa¬ 
ration of the seed bed. lime, good seed, thorough cultiva¬ 
tion. legumes, improved machinery and tools, rotation 
of crops, improved live stock, destruction of insect pests 
and fungus diseases, and all the concomitant discov¬ 
eries of modern agriculture, they cau greatly increase 
rhe productiveness of their farms, ranches and planta¬ 
tions. but they also know that not they, the producers, 
but the parasites that prey upon them will be benefited 
by this increased production. 
A FIELD FOR HELPFULNESS.—If this, our 
great aud good Government, will take one dollar from 
each one hundred, dollars it now expends in teaching 
farmers their business aud will spend that dollar in 
producing economical methods of transportation, distri¬ 
bution and sale or farm products, and so secure for the 
tanner adequate remuneration for liis labor and a fair 
return ou his investment, the labors of the Bureau of 
Animal Industry will be lightened at least 00 per cent 
tor beyond the shadow of a shade of a doubt 00 per cent 
of the farmers of this country would be onlv too glad 
to change their scrubs into purebred live stock if they 
could afford to do so. 
WHY SUPPORT PARASITES ?-Down here, in the 
center of the grear Southeast, in this naturally won¬ 
derfully productive country of Northwest Florida! where 
■■very prospect pleases the eye of the Northern tourist 
aud only we shiftless farmers are vile, we could produce 
a thousand times as many meat animals as we do but 
we are not such fools as you might think. Bv doubling 
■ ■nr investment ami quadrupling our labors' we could 
add materially.to the profits of the middleman, and even 
create more middlemen. But we view life much as one 
ot our negro farmers expressed it. A tourist asked this 
black man if he would not like to see more Northern 
people settle around Monticello. 
“No, iinleedy, busman!” said the black. “There is 
more wmte folks here now than us uiggers can support ” 
You may think from the mildly critical tone of this 
letter that the writer is sore, that things have not gone 
well lately on ( herukec I arms, but you would be quite 
wrong in tin< conclusion. Our farm is prosperous we 
use the most improved methods of farming—sometimes. 
Our s’yes are all registered purebreds. We have 350 
load of stock, and none of our calves are stunted or as 
you term it. runty. We feed them on kudzu. and so 
manage to raise them at a profit. One-half of our 
neighbors envy ns and the other half laugh in their 
sleeves, because they kuow that in the end all our extra 
labor and risk and care is really for the benefit of the 
middlemen, for to make our farming profitable we must 
do like all so-called successful farmers—work 305 days 
a. year. Working is all the fun we have—we have no 
tune for indoor pastime?. Good old Matthew Arnold 
must have had the farmer’s treadmill in mind when he 
wrote: 
‘And still while turns this wheel invisible 
No pause, no stop, no staying place can bo; 
Who mounts may fall, who falls may rise again. 
The wheel goes round unceasingly.” * 
