The New Commissioner Dr. A. R. Mann 
Dr. A. R. Mann, Dean of the Agricultural College 
at Cornell University, was elected State Commis¬ 
sioner of Farms and Markets on Wednesday of last 
week. Under the new provision of Farms and Mar¬ 
kets law the Farms and Markets Council met on that 
day to elect a commissioner. The names of three 
candidates were presented. Commissioner George A. 
Hogue, of the agricultural division, had a strong 
hacking in the council and in strong circles behind 
it Dr. R. A. Pierson, a former Commissioner of 
Agriculture and now president of Iowa Agricultural 
College, Ames. la., was urged by a large number of 
friends who yet remember his former administration 
of the Agricultural Department. Dr. Mann seems 
to have come in as the third candidate, and was 
elected, lie has accepted. 
To those familiar with the present conditions and 
past history of tin* department there is yet little 
cause for hope in the development of its possibilities. 
It has been the plaything of polities ever since its 
organization, and the final form of the new amend¬ 
ment to the law clearly shows that the political 
bosses yet control it. and continue to dominate it. 
The Commissioner’s services end at the will of the 
council, and no man can be a free agent in the posi¬ 
tion. No one can' defy the politicians and remain 
on the job. Consequently he acts the part of wis¬ 
dom and renders the best service in accepting the 
limitations put on his activities, and while avoiding 
needed measures of improvement, not to say reform, 
performs some helpful work on lines that are not 
subject to restrictions. 
Dr. Mann will be a capable and earnest Commis¬ 
sioner. Ilis principal work has been on educational 
lines, and in this we judge he is at his best, but 
we have sat with him over the council table, and 
few men bring to it a more considerate bearing to 
bis associates, and none a more honest purpose for 
the general welfare. If there were no big politicians 
in the State, and no sinecures in the agricultural 
office at Albany. Dr. Mann would create a Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture in which we would all feel a 
satisfaction and a pride. 
A Dairy Meeting in Orange Co., N. Y. 
Oil Saturday of last week (lie dairymen of the 
Wallkill Valley, extending into Orange and Ulster 
Counties, New York, held a basket picnic at the 
Wallkill plant. It was a good dry and a good pic¬ 
nic. It was composed of men. women and children 
nearly 1,500 strong. Milk is low in price and the 
checks are small, but you would never suspect it 
from the contents of the lunch baskets, nor from tin* 
cheerful spirit of the picnickers. The presence of 
the good women gave a special interest to the outing, 
and beyond any doubt adds utility as well as charm 
to such meetings. They are quite as much con¬ 
cerned in the income of the farm as their brothers 
and husbands, and may yet play as important a part 
in the solution of the problems that now puzzle the 
men. 
After the lunches and the sociabilities on the 
lawn the members assembled in cue of the buildings, 
where dairy problems and co-operation were dis¬ 
cussed by four speakers who had been invited for 
the occasion. This plant was the old Borden eon- 
densery, which has been in operation for a little 
more than forty years. It. was purchased by the 
farmers some two or three years ago. The price 
was substantially $50,000, and an equal amount of 
improvements have been made, so that it represents 
an investment of a little more than $100,000 at pres¬ 
ent. It was taken over by the Dairymen's League 
Co-operative Association last year, and it is now 
operating under the pooling agreement. Some local 
dissensions, however, developed, and in consequence 
the volume of milk received is not sufficient to run 
the large plant economically. Naturally the speak¬ 
ers for the most part made unity and perseverence 
a feature of their addresses. 
Mr. Milliman, the general manager of the asso¬ 
ciation. represented the management. He announced 
that 52,250 dairymen had signed the pooling con¬ 
tract, and insisted that it was those who believed 
in the plan, but refused to sign the contract, who 
were the real slackers. He explained the plan of the 
organization. 
John Arfman, the president of the Orange County 
Association, made a strong plea for those in as well 
as those outside to forget their differences and work 
together foi the general success. 
Chester Young of Ellenville spoke intelligently of 
local conditions, and also urged the necessity of 
sticking together to work out the problems in which 
all are concerned. 
John Y. Cerow, the first president of the League. 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
spoke with his oldtime force and vigor on the 
whole problem. The day, the aedienoe and the sub¬ 
ject suited him. He was at his l est, and bis remi¬ 
niscences went straight back to the camps of the 
enemy, and his thrusts of humor and sarcasm went 
straight to the intelligence and heart of his hearers. 
John J. Dillon, who was one of the guests, devel¬ 
oped the point that while the production of milk 
represents more labor and capital than the distribu¬ 
tion of it, the ratio of pay in the two ends of the 
industry is one for tlie producers to two for the 
distributor. To correct this injustice, be said, was 
the function of co-operation. He insisted that co¬ 
operation must succeed with as little hardship as 
possible to producer, but, whatever the cost, it must 
succeed, and declared that economy and efficiency 
are essential to success. He laid special stress on 
the importance of the individual member, on his 
influence in the management of co-operative busi¬ 
ness. and the necessity of full end detailed informa¬ 
tion that his judgment may be good and his action 
wise. ITe laid much stress on the need of a system 
of voting as a means to avoid dissensions and to 
promote unity. lie said that co-operation and de¬ 
mocracy are one and the same, and that the essence 
of both is the right of each member or citizen to a 
vote. This right is one of the fundamental prin¬ 
ciples of co-operation, and if a system were organ¬ 
ized so that each member could take a ballot home 
and mark it to suit himself and vote it on a given 
day, so that the will of the majority would settle 
all the problems, it would not matter what contract 
was signed, because with full information and the 
privilege and means of control the members would 
protect themselves. Dissensions would be avoided 
because all would follow the majority, and nothing 
would be surer than unity and success. 
One of the pleasant and harmonizing features of 
the program was a vaudeville performance and song 
recital by the community singers of Accord, in Ulster 
County. Mr. Harry Epps led the singing and per¬ 
formed under the disguise of burnt cork. Mrs. 
Ackler and Mrs. Morse cleverly drew out the darkey 
dialect, and contributed to the enjoyment, with both 
instrumental and vocal music. These tilings break 
into the monotony and seriousness of everyday 
problems, and when the distraction is over leave 
us better able to cope with them. 
Holstein-Friesian Meeting 
The annual meeting of the Holstein-Friesian As¬ 
sociation of America will be held at Syracuse, N. Y„ 
from May 21 to June 4, inclusive. This promises 
to be one of the most attractive and important live¬ 
stock meetings ever held in the world. In connec¬ 
tion with the annual meeting which will he lively 
enough this year, there will be a large sale on the 
New York State Fair Grounds. On May 31 will 
occur the placing of State consignments to win $500 
cash prizes offered by the New York State Farm 
Committee. On the afternoon of this date there 
will be an automobile trip to Cornell University, at 
Ithaca. On June 1 the annual meeting of the na¬ 
tional association will be held in the auditorium. 
That night a banquet will be held at the State Ar¬ 
mory. with prominent speakers, including Governor 
Miller of New York. Then for three days the great 
sale will continue on the State Fair Grounds, with 
about 200 head of superior cattle to be so 1 ,]. On 
the last day of the meeting there will be a long trip 
by automobile to the Thousand Islands of the St. 
Lawrence River, with various pleasant attractions 
going and coming. It is likely to be a great event, 
and Holstein breeders from all over the country 
will attend. 
Fruit Prospects 
The Department of Agriculture has made careful 
investigation of fruit prospects. The freezes which 
occurred in late March and early April have nearly 
destroyed the plums and cherries in the eastern part 
of the country. The frost area extends from Vir¬ 
ginia southward into the Allegheny Mountains, west 
through Arkansas to the Rocky Mountains, north to 
middle Ohio and about middle New Jersey. There 
is a fair prospect left for apples in New York State, 
New England. Northern New Jersey, and the Lake 
regions. The department says that this is the year 
when spraying or dusting will pay better than ever, 
as there is likely to be a first-class demand for all 
good fruit, and especially for the early varieties of 
apples. The cherry crop has been practically de¬ 
stroyed. There is a fair crop of peaches in the 
South and in parts of the North, but the chief inter¬ 
est this year centers in the apple crop. Those who 
have a supply of apples left on their trees can well 
afford to give them every possible care. The crop 
741 
on the Pacific Coast promises to be good. An extra 
effort will be made this year to put that crop on the 
Eastern market. Only the finest fruit can be ex¬ 
pected to compete with it. 
Election of District School Superintend¬ 
ents in New York 
Farmers everywhere are vitally concerned that a wise 
choice be made in the coming election of district school 
superintendents who shall supervise the rural schools of 
our State for the coming three years. But are they in¬ 
teresting themselves in the matter to any considerable 
degree ? 
\N ithin two weeks the school directors of the various 
townships are to meet and organize. On Tuesday, May 
17, and again on Tuesday, June 21, five weeks later, 
they meet to elect this important official. 
A day or two ago I asked the Farm Bureau agent of 
<mr county, which is a leader in the State in many lines 
of activities, if he had found much interest on the part 
of rural parents as lie traveled about the county in the 
choice of the district school superintendents who are 
soon to bo elected to preside over the school destinies of 
our boys and girls of the county. He answered: “I 
haven’t even heard the subject mentioned before!” 
What sort of a commentary is this on the interest rural 
parents exhibit in matters so vitally important to their 
children’s welfare? 
Some may think it is no use for the individual to in¬ 
terest himself in the choice of a district superintendent ; 
that ho couldn’t have any influence in tin* choice if ho 
wished. We can all see that under the present system 
partisan polities has pretty full sway in the appoint¬ 
ment or election of the school directors. But it would be 
a daring director who would disregard the expressed 
wishes of a good proportion of the influential parents of 
any township. 
The writer believes, as do many others, that there are 
today inefficient men in some of these positions. They 
came into them in some cases because there were no 
other or better candidates. But sometimes they secured 
the jobs through other and really deplorable means. 
If parents show no more interest than this in the se¬ 
lection of the new officials these men are going to be re¬ 
elected. The writer is told of one supervisory district 
where there are but. two candidates, and neither would 
be approved by a majority of the parents of school chil¬ 
dren were they given the choice. One has not even the 
qualifications required by law, but is teaching on a per¬ 
mit at present, and is depending on pull to make good 
these qualifications later on if an election to the office 
can be maneuvered. 
For the information of rural parents it might be well 
to know that a candidate for the position does not have 
to be a resident of the supervisory district at the time 
of election, if he moves into the district after election. 
If properly qualified candidates for the office are scarce, 
as they really are in some sections, then it would be well 
to induce some successful educator in whom the people 
have confidence to come into the district, and such a 
person should receive all possible help and support from 
the parents. The emoluments are not as high perhaps 
as some might think best, but at $1,800 a year and an 
allowance up to $600 a year for expenses, there are 
many worthy school principals today who would be glad 
to look ii]i such a position, and would give good service, 
where without having it called to their attention others 
with far poorer qualifications for the office will get the 
office through pull or for lack of a worthy opponent. It 
isn’t always pull that puts the poor man into the job. It 
is sometimes a lack of a really competent person who is 
seeking the office. And here is where the individual 
parents and farmers’ organizations could do good ser¬ 
vice, in looking up and supporting a really competent 
candidate. 
The county clerk in the writer’s county is publishing 
an announcement sent out by our Education Department 
saying that any election of school directors at the gen¬ 
eral election last Fall was a mistake; that such directors 
were not legally elected, and that those elected in 1915 
and in 1917 will hold office until their successors are 
legally selected. Also that no vacancies filled by elec¬ 
tion last Fall can stand, but that vacancies should be 
filled by appointment by the town boards. Directors 
serve four years, beginning January 1 following their 
election. This law as quoted by the department went 
into effect April 21, 1920. 
The present supervisory system has many weak points 
which need attention and which it is believed will be 
corrected soon. The Committee of Twenty-one may well 
give attention to the situation, and rural parents in gen¬ 
eral. the writer believes, would be glad of suggestions for 
improvement.. One very definite one might well be 
higher qualifications necessary for supervising rural 
schools 
A recent report of the work of this committee says 
they find there are 15 schools in the State now paying 
$800 to $900 a year salary to give instruction to one 
pupil each, or an expense of over $12,000 to give instruc¬ 
tion to these 15 pupils. There are 52 schools with a 
daily attendance of two pupils, costing over $41,600, or 
an average of over $400 per pupil. There are 167 schools 
with an average attendance of three pupils each, 259 
with four pupils each, and 392 with five pupils each. In 
all there are 1,085 schools running on so small an at¬ 
tendance per school that no one could conscientiously 
call them on a good business basis. The instructional 
cost per pupil is so high in these schools that no city 
would stand for the expense, and yet there is a vast dif¬ 
ference in the kind of instruction and opportunity these 
pupils are receiving as compared to the city child. 
RURAL PARENT. 
