The Dairymen’s League Election 
Last week the new board of directors of the 
Dairymen's League organized by election of the 
following officers: President, George W. Slocum, 
Milton. Pa.; vice-president, John D. Miller, Susque¬ 
hanna, Pa.; secretary, Albert Manning. Otisville, 
X. Y.; treasurer, Bruce M. Kilpatrick, Roxbury, 
X. Y. All were elected to succeed themselves except 
Mr. Slocum, who succeeds R. D. Cooper. The new 
president is a leading farmer in Xorthumberland 
County, Pennsylvania. He is popular with the 
dairymen of his district, and while he comes to his 
new position in trying times, he comes with the 
opportunity for a great service. On the first ballot 
Mr. Miller was elected president, but preferred his 
present position of vice-president and counsel. Paul 
Smith of Xewark Valley, X. 1’., was elected to 
the executive committee. Mr. Smith has been a 
director from the first, and is regarded as one of the 
strong and capable men of the board. 
The price of milk for January is to remain $3.18 
per 100 pounds, the same as for December. 
The infusion of new blood always means new life 
to an organization and an enterprise, and we antici¬ 
pate the usual result 'in this case, but the new man¬ 
agement faces a time of general falling prices, and 
it will require some time to work out results in any 
new and progressive policies adopted. In this con¬ 
nection it will not do to have some members in the 
pooling plan and some out of it. Full and prompt 
monthly accounting is promised, and with this in¬ 
formation, all members being on the same footing, 
can make reservations and changes any time if they 
find occasion to do so. Unity must be maintained, 
and so long as a single member remains out, unity 
is not complete. Send the contracts in as a Xew 
Year’s greeting to the new administration. 
An “ Emergency Tariff ”—What It Means 
Among the plans started at Washington for the 
relief of farmers is an “emergency tariff” on a num¬ 
ber of farm products. The following list gives the 
articles-named, the tariff proposed and the estimated 
revenue: 
Commodity and Proposed Duty. 
AYheat, 30c bu. 
Wheat flour. 20 per cent... 
Corn, 15c bu. 
Beans, 2c lb.•. 
Peanuts, unshelled. 3c lb. 
Peanuts, shelled, 3c lb. 
Potatoes. 25c bu. 
Onions, 40c bu.. 
Rice, cleaned, 2c lb. 
Rice, uncleaned. l%c lb.. 
Flour, meal and broken rice, %e lb.. . . 
Rice, unhulled. %c lb.. 
Lemons, l*4c lb. 
Oils, peanut, 20c gal. 
Oils, cottonseed, 20 gal. 
Oils, Soy bean. 20c gal. 
Cattle, 30 per cent. 
Sheep, $2 per head. 
Lambs. $1 per head. 
Mutton and lambs, 2%c lb. 
Wool, unwashed. 15c lb. 
Wool, washed. 30c lb. 
Wool, manufactures of, 45c lb. 
Wool, ecoured, 45c lb. 
* Xo estimate. 
Est. Revenue 
. $2,109,520 
657,900 
137,625 
3.091.760 
642.540 
4.405.410 
1.560.000 
787.040 
2.900.660 
235.575 
5.037 
70.672 
88.250 
4,333.420 
2,479.400 
3.837.000 
5,851.500 
102.484 
* 
1.656,792 
9.900,000 
28.500.000 
11.250.000 
45.000.000 
It is proposed to limit this plan to 10 months, or 
until a new tariff bill can be framed. There is some 
opposition to the plan in Congress, but probably 
never before in our history have farmers of all sec¬ 
tions been so united in favor of an embargo on 
imports of farm products. That general agreement 
has been forced by the tremendous slump in prices 
and the heavy imports of wheat, live stock and wool. 
The chances now are that this or some similar bill 
will be passed, then vetoed by the President and 
passed again over his veto. The opposition is quite 
strong. It presents the usual arguments against 
any tariff, which are familiar to all. It is also 
claimed that we are now a creditor nation with 
something like $10,000,000,000 loaned abroad. This 
principal and interest can be paid only in gold or 
goods. There is little gold, and in order to receive 
our payment we must accept goods, either manufac¬ 
tured or raw material, and also supply more capital 
to provide for manufacturing abroad. A high tariff 
will prohibit the entrance into this country of goods 
which must be sent here to settle interest and fixed 
charges. Against that argument is the plain and 
evident fact that our American farmers are aroused 
and organized as never before. Many of them feel 
that they are face to face with ruin unless prices 
for their products can be raised in some way. and 
experience has convinced them that the profiteers 
have destroyed the law of supply and demand. 
A Foreign Trade Finance Corporation 
At a recent meeting of the American Farm Bu¬ 
reau Federation, Willis H. Booth, vice-president of 
the Guaranty Trust Company of this city, delivered 
•P* RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
an address on banking and foreign trade. As a re¬ 
sult, a movement was made to organize what is 
called the Foreign Trade Finance Corporation. This 
is organized under the Edge law, and will be a bank 
looking after export, trade entirely. It is proposed 
to make this bank “nation-wide in its scope and 
woi*ld-wide in its capacity.” The plan is for this 
bank to finance export sales in agricultural products 
in any part of the world. We understand that it 
will not only provide capital for such exports, but 
will endeavor to interest foreign countries in our 
agricultural trade. It is proposed to raise a capital 
of $100,000,000, to be subscribed by banks, corpora¬ 
tions and individuals. A conference was recently 
held in Chicago to further this enterprise. It 
appears that no further legislation is necessary in 
order to put the plan over. Capital is required, and 
it is expected that this will be furnished within a 
reasonable time. The plan is to take care of the 
world markets in agricultural products with organi¬ 
zations largely controlled if not dominated by agri¬ 
cultural interests. 
Retail Prices for Coal 
We have made something of an investigation 
among our readers to learn the prices that are be¬ 
ing paid at retail for coal, and tbe following reports 
are typical: 
In Clyde, X. Y., the price reported is $13.50 per 
ton for chestnut coat. In Chatham, Conn., $1S.75 
per ton, yard price at Middletown, Conn., being 
$15.25 and $17.75. In Adamsdale, Pa., pea coal is 
quoted at the yard for $8.96 per ton and $9.40 for 
nut coal. The cost of handling per ton is about $1. 
At Belmont, Mass., the price is figured at $16 per 
ton. At Bergen, X. Y., chestnut coal is selling all 
the way from $14 to $18 per ton. At Milton Mills, 
X. H., stove coal sells for $17.46 per ton. Brent¬ 
wood, Long Island, $17 per ton. Camden, X. J., the 
price is $14.50 and $14.75 for chestnut, stove and 
egg. At Iladdonfield, X. J., the price is $15 for 
chestnut, stove and egg, additional cax*rying 
charges, 50 cents. Audubon, X. .T., the price is $16.75 
for chestnut, stove and egg; additional carrying 
charges, 25 cents. At Iladdon Heights, X. .T., the 
price is also $16.75 for chestnut, stove and egg; ad¬ 
ditional carrying charges, 25 cents. At Bangor, Pa., 
$12.35 per ton of 2,000 lbs. for chestnut coal and 
$10.^5 for pea coal; earlier in the season some fam¬ 
ilies stocked up at $14.50. At Devon, Ta., prices run 
from $14 for egg and pea to $14.50 for chestnut and 
stove grades. At Birmingham, X. Y., the ruling 
price is $12.50 and $13 per ton. At Bethel, X. Y., the 
price of $12.50 per ton for chestnut is reported. At 
Attleboro, Mass., the ruling price is $14.50 for pea 
coal and $17 for chestnut. 
Echoes From the Federation Convention 
LOSS DURIXG DEFLATIOX.—It was impressed 
on the mind of anyone attending the sessions of the re¬ 
cent convention of the Xew York State Federation of 
Agriculture at Rochester that it was a real farmers’ 
organisation. Xo doubt someone else has already given 
a report of the carefully prepared program, covering a 
broad field, and many of the problems confronting farm¬ 
ers of the State and nation, and not only was it in 
the interests of farmers, but of those who are dependent 
on their products at the other end of the line. Many of 
the wrongs with which both producer and consumer 
have been obliged to contend were set forth, but an 
especially prominent trend of thought, not only through¬ 
out the meetings, but in conversation with others, was 
the heavy losses to farmers, and the disappointments 
due to the great business readjustment, now in full 
force throughout the country. It has seemed to me, 
however, under the theory that there may be some truth 
in the old saying that “misery loves company,” that it 
would have been a valuable addition to the program to 
have had one or two “business men,” as they are called, 
to tell farmers of the troubles and difficulties they were 
up against in other lines of business, fox-, although farm¬ 
ers generally are hard hit, they are not alone. While 
we may have little or no sympathy for the speculators 
who have gone to the wall, there are others doing a 
perfectly clean and legitimate business who are down 
and out. or suffering heavy losses due to the unfortunate 
and undesirable, from the standpoint of all too rapid 
declines in prices or values that have occurred. 
MUTUAL DEPEXDEXCE.—While this is, of 
course, well known to many, it may be worthy of repe¬ 
tition here, “lest we forget’’ that it is always easy to 
find someone else worse off than ourselves, and even 
this small bond of sympathy is better than enmity or 
bitterness. We canpot live to ourselves alone. The 
farmer needs other lines of business and he is as indis¬ 
pensable to them. We must, for instance, have shoes, 
and we need the tanner and the shoemaker. But un¬ 
fortunately, too many others have injected themselves 
into the long line of leeches we must pay between the 
delivery of the hide and wearing the shoes. We need to 
get closer to the producer of the products we buy, as 
well as to the consumer of our products. The expen¬ 
sive distribution in some lines is sickening. We have 
got to cut down the size of this bunch both going and 
coming, if we are to “make buckle and strap meet, and 
to do it we must get into closer touch with the other 
17 
fellow, and we have got to do it ourselves without wait¬ 
ing for public funds to do it. 
WORKING FOR REFORM.—It is very natural, 
when one returns from a convention of this kind, or 
when others read the report of the meeting in the 
papers, when referring to the wrongs and handicaps 
fanners are up against, for the question to be asked, 
Well, what can they do about it?” The answer is 
‘Keep a dingin’ till you get it.” Great reforms come 
slowly. As one. writer said recently, he had voted for 
five or six presidential candidates, none of whom was 
elected, but he had lived to see the reforms he worked 
for and voted for adopted and put through by one or 
the other of the parties. Anyone could guess what two 
of these were. 
LEARXING FROM OTHERS.—What one gets from 
attending one of these meetings is not all on the pro¬ 
gram itself, if he is “alive.” There is always some¬ 
thing to learn from others, even though nothing more 
than little human problems. Xeeding some repairs for 
our “combined” hay harvester, which cuts under the 
hay, rolls it into windrows and presses it as it goes, it 
was a good opportunity while in Rochester to get them. 
The man in charge of one of the departments said he 
was only waiting until things got settled to get back on 
the farm, for while he was getting $125 per month, 
which was sure and steady, there was another side to it: 
Rent, $45 per month, and only a few other items of 
living ran up to $16 or $18 per week more. It did not 
take much figuring to see there would be little or noth¬ 
ing left after buying even working clothes. “No,” he 
said, “but my wife works, too.” Such wages seem big, 
when times are hard on the farm, but they do not go 
far in a big city, and it is easy to see how when people 
are pinched with high prices, they easily fall victims to 
the bitterness nursed bv city papers. 
LARGE APPROPRIATIONS.—In passing a group 
of men I overheard the remark that the board of super¬ 
visors had turned down the appropriation for the Farm 
Bureau, and butted in to learn that the amount asked 
for was $9,000. and that the county was one of the most 
progressive in Western New York, if not of the State. 
What are we coming to, when a so-called farmers’ or¬ 
ganization, if only one county, asks for $9,000 of the 
public money to support it? While a law has been 
passed making it lawful for county boards of super¬ 
visors in this State, and no doubt the same in other 
States, to appropriate public money for the support of 
the Farm Bureau, we have not the least right to such 
money unless we are willing to admit that we are run¬ 
ning our farms for the benefit of the public. No body of 
men has any legal or moral right to appropriate public 
money excepting for something that is a public benefit. 
THE QUESTION OF PUBLIC MONEY.—While it 
is altogether too true that farmers are, as a class, run¬ 
ning their business for the benefit of the public, as many 
are getting little out of it for themselves, it is a short¬ 
sighted policy to continue such conditions. We are not 
now, nor never will be ready for the Trotsky idea here. 
Let us pay our own bills and have our own self-respect¬ 
ing organization, which in turn -will be worthy of the 
respect of others. What right has a beggar to make 
further demands on the public? How can we expect 
the government at. Washington to have any respect for 
the demands of a begging organization, even though 
camouflaged under some other name? Who likes the pic¬ 
ture of the American farmer, with one fist in Uncle Sam’s 
pocket, while shaking the other at him, making further 
demands, while Uncle Sam quietly places both hands in 
the farmer’s pockets and extracts good hard dollars for 
the pennies and nickels the farmer is getting from the 
public funds? We need the Farm Bureau, and we 
need it badly, but its great value lies not along the line 
for which the public money is appropriated, but in the 
fact that it is a perfectly organized machine, capable of 
great benefit to producer and consumer alike, in ways 
still untouched, not the least of which would be in regu¬ 
lating production which will benefit both farmer and 
consumer. During a time of high prices, the tendency 
is to over-produce, which results in great loss to the 
farmer, and, reacting, acreage is cut. and the consumer 
is hurt. It is entirely within the legitimate scope of 
this organization to keep production more nearly on a 
level, largely through the securing of such information 
that we may know as well what farmers are doing and 
planning to plant in other States, as in adjoining school 
districts. j, c. B. 
The Consumer’s Cabbage Dollar 
“G. E. Moore, Lavern Lord and O. A. Kirkland load¬ 
ed a car of cabbage a few weeks ago which they shipped 
to New York City and received returns recently which 
netted them about $2.10 per ton.”—Smyrna. Chenango 
Co.. N. Y.. correspondence Earlville Standard. 
Please find the price of cabbage in Xew York City 
retail_grocery stores, then “whoop ’er up” for the farm¬ 
ers’ 35-cent dollar. In Central Xew York a few cars of 
cabbage have been bought at $7 a ton. Thousands of 
tons have been laid down on grass ground and covered 
with straw in hopes for a better market later on. 
Other thousands of tons have been fed to the cows, and 
still other thousands of tons are rotting in the fields, un¬ 
harvested. The labor, seeds, fertilizer and many of the 
tools used in growing this crop were purchased at the 
inflated war-time prices. j. r. p. 
Earlville, X. Y. 
R. X.-Y.—Cabbage retails here at 12 to 15c for a fair¬ 
sized head. This means not far from $60 per ton. That 
is an average retail price. In some eases customers pay 
more. If anyone wants to figure the size of the 35-cent 
dollar from that he may do so. 
Burning Corn in the West 
I note the remarks about burning corn for fuel. Daily 
papers are correctly informed about the prospect of 
corn being burned in the corn belt, especially in the 
more remote parts of it. A few farmers in this neigh¬ 
borhood are burning corn now. A ton of ear corn is 
28 4/7 bu., worth at elevator here $15.68. A ton of soft 
coal costs $13.50 for the poorest, up to $21 for really 
good. A ton of corn in the ear will go further for kitch¬ 
en use than a ton of $13.50 coal. About the only seri¬ 
ous objection to ear corn as fuel is the fact that it is 
rather hard on the firebox of the stove in which it is 
burned, because it makes a very hot fire. A farmer 
would be foolish not to burn corn when a ton of it w r ill 
furnish him more heat than a ton of coal, and when he 
would have to shell the corn and haul it to market, and 
then haul the coal home, and have no more or better fuel 
than he had before he did this shelling and hauling. 
Xot every farmer -will burn corn, but many in Nebraska 
and South Dakota and some in Iowa. 
Bon Homme Co., S. Dak. s. M. bkann. 
R. N.-Y.—We have a few other similar reports. We 
are paying $70 a ton for mixed feed, while these West¬ 
ern farmers are bui*ning grain. How can we get some 
of that $20 corn? We need it. 
