7bt RURAL NEW-YORKER 
A Few Price Considerations 
Our Onion crop of last year is still in storage, and 
we expect this week to take it out of storage and spread 
it on the fields. Storage cost 10 cents a bushel, and this 
loss must be added to the total loss of the crop. All 
through the Cortland Valley hundreds of tons of cab¬ 
bage are being dumped out on the fields. Potatoes can 
be had there almost for taking them out of the cellars. 
B. 
A writer in the New York Herald give the follow¬ 
ing: 
I saw a letter received by Edwin Somers of Hallan¬ 
dale, Florida, on March 25. in which he received seven 
1-eent stamps as the total proceeds coming to him from 
a carload of 227 crates of the finest cabbages I ever saw 
shipped. 
Cabbage sells in Atlantic City at retail for 8 cents a 
pound. 
m the street where this business is located a huck¬ 
ster is yelling his throat out. offering potatoes. 15 
lbs. for 25c, apples 5 lbs. for 25c. and onions 5 lbs. 
for 10c. Even at these prices there is but little sale, 
for rice is cheap and easy to prepare. As for spin¬ 
ach. the New York llcmlrf says: 
CONSIDER SPINACH 
Should you like to be in the spinach business for a 
living—raising spinachV 
Down in Texas the farmer who grows tin 1 spinach 
sells jt for shipment to Chicago, says the Railway Aye, 
at $5^ a ton. The cost of shipping it to Chicago is 
$2.0 00—only six times as much to the railroad for haul¬ 
ing it as the farmer gets for raising it! 
But there is more yet to this tale of what there is in 
the spinach business—raising spinach. There is some¬ 
thing also as to what there is in eating spinach. 
The spinach that brings the Texas farmer $5 a ton 
and brings the railroad that hauls it to the Chicago 
market $30.00 a ton lands on the dinner table of the 
Chicago spinach eater at $300 a ton. 
> And that, as anybody can see at. a glance, is only 00 
times the .So a ton the Texas farmer gets for his spinach 
as it starts on its journey to $300 a ton ! 
^ es. consider spinach. Consider also the spinach 
grower who does not get anything for it. Especially 
consider the public against whose pocket the price of 
the spinach multiplies 00 times on the way from the 
farm to the retail delivery wagon. 
Requirements of Milk Inspection 
blow is milk graded’, or how can one tell what grade 
he is to sell at retail, if according to score only, or but- 
torfat? What is required for different grades of milk, 
A. B and C? n. i„ .r. 
New York. 
The grades of milk defined by the New York City 
Board of Health are: tirade A raw, Grade A pas¬ 
teurized, Grade B pasteurized and Grade C pasteur¬ 
ized. for cooking purposes only. The Board of 
Health prescribes rather lengthy and exacting regu¬ 
lations and requirements for each grade. These 
regulations relate to the health of tlie cows, the con¬ 
dition of tlie bam and milk house, the supply of 
water, and cooling of milk, the care of dairy utensils, 
die time of delivery of milk, and the number of 
bacteria that must not be exceeded in it. In all 
eases 1 lie cows must lie examined once a year by a 
veterinary surgeon, and the premises inspected year¬ 
ly. In addition, Grade A raw milk must he produced 
from cows that are tuberculin tested, and those that 
react must he removed from the herd. The bacterial 
count must not exceed 30.000 per cubic centimeter 
for milk, and cream of th's grade not more than 
150,000. The regulations are too long for publica¬ 
tion in detail. Every feature of the business is un¬ 
der regulation, from the cow to the milking stool 
Inspection is authorized by the city employees, by 
State inspectors and by inspectors employed by the 
dealers. Sometimes the inspection means something, 
and sometimes it means nothing. When milk is 
scarce, inspection is easy. When it is plentiful, in¬ 
spection Is usually more exacting, and there have 
been records of dairies and plants that were all right, 
under one dealer and all wrong under another. 
Farmers all over the State know that Grade P> milk 
often goes into the Grade A plants. 
There is no special fat requirement for any of 
the grades except the general State law that ail 
whole milk must test 3 per cent butterfat or more. 
Those who want the regulations in detail may get a 
copy by writing tlie Board of Health. 505 Pearl 
Street. New York City, and making a request for the 
printed regulations. 
The Educational Committee Meets at 
Watertown, New York 
Over 400 persons attended the educational confer- 
< nee held at the Chamber of Commerce and the First 
Baptist Church at Watertown. N. Y., on Saturday, 
April 30. They included farmers, district superintend- 
ents. trustees, teachers and clergymen of Jefferson, St. 
Lawrence. Lewis and Oswego Counties. George W. 
Dunn of Monroe County proved a tactful yet determined 
chairman, who held all to the necessary limits, aiming 
to err. if at all. on the side of over-indulgence when 
anyone became unnecessarily warm in advocating his 
own viewpoint at the expense of th» majority of senti¬ 
ment. 
The discussions, which are considered of at least 
<qnal importance with the addresses, were, on the whole, 
characterized by good feeling and an earnest desire to 
get, at fhe exact truth about rural school conditions, and 
to find for difficulties, solutions acceptable to all. Sum¬ 
marized. it may be said that practical unanimity was 
shown along these lines: 
A larger taxation unit for schools, including all kinds 
of taxable property, so as to equalize the burden bearing 
very heavily now on remote farming sections. 
Necessity of searching for an intermediate unit of 
organization that should a If or d local machinery for ac¬ 
complishing any good thing for schools desired by the 
people of any and bach locality of the State,' and 
peculiarly adapted to that locality. 
More duly licensed teachers, a raising of the standard 
of tlie teaching profession to approximate the high 
level of the best rural teachers, more teachers for one- 
room schools from the State normals, and these trained 
especially for rural work, -as suggested by Dr. R. Riggs. 
Progressive periodic increases in pay for teachers, 
such increases based on improved quality of work, 
improving usually from length of experience and study 
and 1 effort of the individual teachers. 
Better care for the health of rural children. 
More practical course of study, more thoroughly 
taught. 
E. R. Eastman told the purpose of the meeting, and 
gave the personnel of the committee and the story of 
its organization as ,-i result of a resolution offered at 
Farmers’ Week Conference at Cornell one year ago. 
It was shown to be a committee comprising a majority 
of farmers' selected' by the State farm organizations. 
I’rof. George A. Works explained' that the following 
problems_are being studied by the survey staff: 
Administration and supervision, preparation of rural 
school teachers, course of study; buildings, grounds 
and equipments; results of instruction, rural high 
schools, taxation and school support, and the commu¬ 
nity relations of (he schools. 
Every rural sehool patron will be given an opportu¬ 
nity to express his views on these nrcblems. 
District Superintendent W. E. Pierce spoke on the 
school curriculum. He showed that it is a difficult 
task to prepare pupils in one-room schools for admis¬ 
sion f 0 dip high schools. 
A lively discussion followed. A dozen people took 
part in it. One or other of them expressed the follow¬ 
ing ideas: There ought to be a high school in every 
township. There is a waste in providing for physical 
training. English and'business arithmetic for the farm 
need more attention. The*right kind of physical train¬ 
ing is valuable. The State Department should not 
provide the same course of study for rural schools that 
it does for city schools. There should' he follow-up 
work after the physical and health examinations of the 
children. Better trained teachers are needed. There 
should be consolidation in order to obtain a bettor cur- 
I’culum. The farmer needs more education, not less 
than tlie city man. Normal school graduates are not 
always the best; there is a certain sense in which teach¬ 
ers are born and not, made. 
Ray P. Snyder of the State Education Department 
gave a valuable address on the “School Teacher.” lie 
presented carefully compiled statistics fundamental to 
an understanding of the real crux of tlie whole school 
problem. 
Dr. G. II. Judd of the TJuiversity of Chicago, head 
of a division of the survey, dwelt on the high degree of 
independence and the isolation of the American school 
districts | consequently wide diversity is found in tlie 
manner in which they function—some very successfully 
."ml some very baddy. He said : “The survey should 
find why some fail, and they should be told why and 
how the others succeed. TTc showed the advantages 
that, may accrue from an intermediate unit if a suitable 
one can be determined. 
II. E. Cook gave a common-sense talk oil an evolu¬ 
tionary reform of rural schools, putting emphasis on 
development through local interest and work—of better 
relations with the State Department. A teacherage, 
intensive teaching, of fundamentals, children’s health* 
es much interest in the children as in the automobile* 
Lie live stock and! the labor-saving machinery; more 
public attention to the country and less to the city 
interests, were some of the points made. 
Rev. A. K. Bradshaw of Harrisville said the rural 
teachers and the rural preachers themselves are inade¬ 
quately equipped intellectually to he the right, kind of 
leaders. “How many of either teachers or preachers 
i'o you know who have been trained 1 for rural leader- 
sin p?” 
Acting State Commissioner Frank B. Gilbert ex¬ 
pressed most hearty sympathy with the popular move¬ 
ment to obtain better advantages for rural children. 
His address was received with applause and hearty 
approval. 
“While the State Department should always aid and 
advise, it should never direct and control, except in 
cases where through 'failure of comprehension or neglect 
of duty, tlie children of a particular locality are being 
deprived of school facilities’ to which they are entitled 
according to prescribed minimum standards. We. know, 
as - you do, that statutes under which our rural schools 
are being administered are antiquated and often un¬ 
adaptable to existing conditions.” 
There will he another conference of tlie Committee of 
Twenty-one as soon as there is a general lull in farm 
work. R> 
The Work Is Encouraging 
My visit April 30 to tlie meeting held at Watertown 
by the Committee <>f Twenty-one has greatly encouraged 
me I begin to think that the committee’s work will 
result in great good, to our country people and schools, 
though much of this benefit may come in ways little 
dreamed of by those who started the movement. 
When all the farm people of half a dozen counties 
are invited to meet at Watertown when Spring work 
is in full swing, it is only natural to suppose that those 
issuing the invitation do not expect it to be accepted too 
generally. When those farmers, some of whom must 
come over one hundred’ miles, are told that the commit¬ 
tee especially desires to hear from the farmer, while 
i he whole program includes addresses by more than a 
dozen representatives of the Education Department, 
educational experts and members of the committee, it is 
only natural to take this statement with a grain of salt. 
However, not a minute of the time given us was 
wasted. Mr. Dunn, who presided, had much difficulty 
in restraining us when the discussions became warm, 
blit he acted very fairly. These meetings are doing tlie 
members of the committee, the department officials and 
the farmers all sorts of good Farmers are finding out 
what our professional educators think of us and pro¬ 
pose to do for us. and our educators are learning bow 
deeply farmers will resent innovations to which they 
are opposed. One class leans too much toward theoriz¬ 
ing and idealism, while it must be admitted that the 
other has let stinginess and carelessness makp the criti¬ 
cism of our country schools, in some cases* only too well 
deserved. 
715 
Acting Commissioner Gilbert s address seems to illus¬ 
trate some such change of position possibly as a result 
of interchange of ideas, as well as any. A little over 
a year ago. at a conference of superintendents at Syra¬ 
cuse. he was quoted as saying that superintendents had 
fooled too long with the question of consolidation ; that 
they must make up their minds to go back to their re¬ 
spective districts and 1 begin the work, no matter how 
disagreeable it might be. But at Watertown he kept 
strictly on the defensive. He does not now believe in 
compulsory consolidation “unless the welfare of the 
children is clearly endangered.” This is not so satis¬ 
factory as it might he to those who believe that, too 
lunch power held by officials not. directly responsible 
to the people may bring worse evils than lack of up-to- 
date schools, hut it is an advance on the part of the 
department, and that is hopeful. He admitted, though 
rather ungracefully, that the department had acted 
arbitrarily and without, proper investigation of con¬ 
ditions, and' had made other mistakes in the past, and 
this also is encouraging. 
. Bo placed much of tlie blame for arbitrary consolida¬ 
tions upon the district superintendents, and declared that 
if these latter officials were hot what they should-be, the 
farmers who elected them need not blame the depart¬ 
ment. ID said tiiat. the farmers were responsible for 
the consolidation law which had been on the statute 
hook since 1878. and that the department officials, like 
himself, were chosen by the people. 
Judge Gilbert is. of course, a lawyer, and perhaps 
does not appreciate as he might otherwise the difference 
between technical truth and truth iself; but superin¬ 
tendents are elected by the people just as Presidents 
would have been if the Electoral College had functioned, 
or as United States Senators were elected before the 
seventeenth amendment removed the farce of choice 
by the State Legislature. The law of 1878 gave the 
power of consolidation to the school commissioner, who 
was elected by the people of his district, and whose 
term and salary were not held, as in our superintend¬ 
ents’ ease, at the pleasure of Albany officials. Yet any¬ 
one who listens to Judge Gilbert will be inclined to 
believe that he really desires the welfare of farm chil¬ 
dren. and that his ignorance and prejudices are, like 
those of everyone else, incident to his environment. He 
said that the department’s mistakes are of the mind, 
not. of tin 1 heart, and we will take his word. 
Tn the Watertown meeting there was a very sti’ong 
sentiment in favor of a type of high school that would 
Dave district schools as at present, that would* be lo¬ 
cated outside city and village influences, would’ cut out 
college preparatory work, and give our boys and girls 
advanced work of a sort to benefit country dwellers. 
JAMES D. MOORE. 
wnai ine rarm bureau Stands tor 
r have read the comments relative to the attitude 
or ( ongressman Norman Gould in relation to the Farm 
Bureau organization and also your remarks on State 
harm Bureau Federation’s actions. I have attended 
several meetings of the New York State Farm Bureau 
ederatuon ns a representative of my county, and know 
that the association is working along conservative and 
constructive lines, and their idea would be to give Mr 
Gould an opportunity to get. better acquainted with the 
situation, and give him time to correct his attitude in 
the matter If he continues to be unfairly critical lie 
will find that he has stirred up a strong opposition 
among the farmers in his Congressional district, and 
^ t!' 1l V, h 10,v w . ] take care of him in this matter. 
l>oth the national and State Federation have been 
very careful to ask for nothing but a square deal for 
agriculture, and the opportunity for the average farmer 
to gain the same compensation for his time and money 
invested that the average man in any other line of in¬ 
dustry considers a fair recompense. As a matter of 
tact, the farmer should he entitled to more than this 
because of the hazardous nature of the business, many 
factors of it being beyond 1 his control 
The national legislation that the farmer is asking 
for is to help him attain this end in a way least bur- 
den some to the consumer of his products.’ This mav 
and probably will eliminate some private businesses which 
for years have been, in a measure, parasites who derive 
their profits from an activity that either the farmer or 
consumer could do for themselves, or which might be 
done at a much less cost if properly regulated. 
Anyone who has studied Eastern agriculture among 
the farms cannot help but be impressed by the number 
o abandonod farms on tho back roads or among the 
lulls I ho people who lived there have gone to the 
small village, manufacturing town or city, got a steady 
job with a certain dependable recompense each month, 
short hours and ofttimes easy work, with modern con¬ 
veniences in their homes. 
The Eastern farm, except on better lands, has not 
been prosperous enough in the last 50 years to provide 
these things, and the women who visit their city friends 
or relatives cannot help but compare their ease, con¬ 
venience and pleasures, usually to the farms’ disadvan¬ 
tage. Only the so-called independence of the farmer 
and the love of room and the great out of doors of him¬ 
self and family have kept many on the job at the mere 
pittance he usually lias received. Why should not the 
Banner co-operate and sell his own product and cut 
out; some of the chain middlemen? Why should not 
the farmer have the right to store his products to sell 
at any time during its season of use. as well as the 
speculator does, and why should not the banks finance 
the_ farmer m this storing on the same basis as grain 
.nuts and produce speculators are mow financed bv 
them? The average security furnished by tho farmer 
would certainly be as good as and usually much better 
llV. m ^ at: the avei-age fruit or produce speculator 
Why should not the farmer co-operatively buy his sup¬ 
plies and thus decrease his cost of production? 
It is these activities of the Farm Bureaus and other 
organizations which are arousing the enmity of some 
large manufacturing and distributing enterprises who 
because of pressure brought to bear by large wholesale 
and retail organizations are putting up a fight for the 
purpose of keeping many unnecessary middlemen in 
the field, thus increasing the cost to both producer and 
consumer. 
Agriculture, through the State and National Federa¬ 
tion of Fiinn Bureaus and other associations, intends to 
ask_ for those things which are best for the State and 
nation as a whole. They are asking for no special 
privileges. The National Federation of Farm Bureau 
organizations has. been founded upon true patriotism, 
and. aside from the salary of the Farm Bureau Agents 
and a few other officers, the work is done by people 
who believe they are helping their fellow farmers, ad 
vancing the interests of their country and State, and 
putting the nation upon the strong and firm foundation 
of a permanent and prosperous agriculture. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. b. d. van buren. 
