1456 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BVS1SESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A Xu1 tonal Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
ExUiblitthcd I8u0 
rublbhtd weekly by ihe Knral PubliRblnR ( ompany. 883 lVesI 8 OII 1 Street, New fork 
Herbert W. Collikgwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
"’m. F. Dillon. Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Koyle. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04. equal to 8s. Gd., or 
s-o marks, or 104* francs. Ilemit. in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rales, 81.00 per agate line—T words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“ A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement iri this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable bouses 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 ealled 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 eases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect sttIcsiribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must hr- sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
i orkkh when writing the advertiser. 
Why don't you start ;i department or a column under 
tht> caption “The Hired .Man”? Plenty of them read 
your paper, and would probably be glad to contribute. 
E are ready to start it. provided the hired 
man and his wife will help make it what it 
should be. We do not care to print a long series of 
complaints and criticisms. That will never get us 
anywhere along the road. There is too much had 
feeling now over the situation. If such a depart¬ 
ment can be made to bring about a better feeling be¬ 
tween farmer and hired man. we shall be only too 
glad to -.rive it space. Having worked as hired man 
ourselves, and now playing the part of employer, we 
know something about both ends of the proposition. 
How can the hired man he made more useful and 
contented? That is what we want to know. 
* 
OME of us who have good memories are filled 
with strange thoughts when we read in the 
papers that Charles W. Morse has fil'd to France 
and that the government had him held up as an 
"undesirable.'’ This is the same Mr. Morse who had 
former troubles with the government, lie was found 
guilty and sentenced to Atlanta prison. The case 
against him was strong. He was properly convicted. 
Then there began a great campaign for his release, 
on the plea that he was a dying man. unable to live 
out his term. Had Morse been a poor man with a 
family suffering because of his imprisonment, he 
would have served his full time in jail. He was 
clearly guilty, and in reasonable health, yet he had 
power and influence enough to bring such pressure 
to hear upon President Taft that he was actually 
pardoned or set free! The explanation was that 
Morse was a dying man—not repentant, not making 
good to those he had defrauded, hut "too sick to be 
in jail." That was nearly 1<» years ago. The "dying 
man" recovered his health as though by magic, and 
is alleged to have employed it in making more impu¬ 
dent and disastrous frauds Ilian ever! The leopard 
might possibly change his spots if he could he cross¬ 
bred with a sheep for about five generations. In 
common practice he brightens up the color of his 
spots by feeding on Ihe lamb. 
* 
UR readers are sending us dozens of clippings 
taken from papers and magazines which contain 
more or less open attacks upon milk and its food 
value. This is all part of propaganda carried on 
chiefly by the manufacturers of oleomargarine, in an 
effort to discredit the value of butter and milk. 
Within the past few years many of the old theories 
about nutrition have been exploded through the 
study of vitamines. We now know that pure milk 
and its products are the chief sources of these vita- 
mines and that, therefore, milk is the most useful 
food known to man. This gives pure butter a new 
advantage over “oleo.” The oleo makers cannot 
find vitamines in their product. Therefore they are 
doing their utmost to "blackmail” milk and butter. 
They employ great chemists to try to show that while 
milk may be useful for feeding children it is not 
really necessary for adults. They are also working 
overtime to show that the food value of oleo is 
equal to that of butter. Then there are writers hired 
to flood the country with “literature" cunningly 
written in an attempt to show that milk is not an 
essential food. You will find these articles appearing 
everywhere. They are not genuine. Many of them 
:,re paid advertisements, disguised as scientific ad¬ 
vice. It is a very shrewd and dangerous campaign, 
and is costing the oleo men millions of money. They 
can well afford to do it. if they can by this means 
1 ad off the increasing demand for milk and butter. 
Do not permit yourself to he deceived by such ar¬ 
ticles. Milk and butter are essential foods. Use all 
you possibly can of them. 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
FEW months ago we printed some facts about 
kudzu. We have more to come soon. Our own 
plants this year—their first season—made in some 
cases 40 ft. of growth. We have reports from as far 
north as Albany stating that the kudzu survived 
the Winter. In these cases it was grown as an orna¬ 
mental plant, and not for pasture or forage. It is 
now suggested as a crop that can and will master 
and kill out quack grass. It will have the job of its 
career to do that, hut we would like to see it tried. 
In some parts of New England quack grass has taken 
possession of entire fields. It: grows a little hay and 
some pasture, but a patch of it in any neighborhood 
becomes a nuisance, as it will spread underground. 
A battle between crab grass and kudzu would be 
well worth watching. Some of the New England ex¬ 
periment stations ought to try this out Two other 
Southern plants which should he tried in the North 
are beggar weed and velvet beans. Botli are legumes 
which will grow with little lime or fertilizer. Though 
best suited to the South, they will make fair growth 
in parts of the North. We exipect to try them both 
next year. 
* 
O UR people are taking great interest in that case 
of the "typhoid carrier’’ reported on page 1371. 
We hope to have a review of this case made by the 
State Board of Health, and another review made by 
the highest authorities we can find. It is had busi¬ 
ness. A good woman, entirely innocent of any 
wrong-doing, is branded by the State as an "unde¬ 
sirable.” and thus deprived of her best chance to 
support herself. Grant that the State is justified in 
ruling that a “typhoid carrier" should not associate 
with others in doing household work—should it not 
provide some recompense when it thus takes away 
reasonable means of support? The exigencies of war 
or disease may compel some measures that seem 
cruel, but they should be provided for. We have 
many letters from people who do not believe in the 
commonly accepted theory about the transmission of 
typhoid. They say this woman is not in any way 
dangerous to her companions. We notice, however, 
that while they offer sympathy, they do not show 
their faith by their works and offer her a real job. 
* 
I am having a person in New York City raise $1,500 
as a first mortgage on my place. This man sent me 
word it would eost around $300 for the necessary ex¬ 
pense to do this. I think that too much for the neces¬ 
sary expenses. Can you give me any figures what it 
would cost for the legal expenses of drawing up such 
papers? mbs. m. h. b. 
New York. 
Ills party is trying to get rich too fast. Some 
cf the rates demanded for obtaining mortgages 
in this way are simply outrageous. We hear of cases 
where agents demand about 30 per cent for obtaining 
money for a second mortgage, and there is always 
some “explanation,” which does not explain. It 
should not cost over $50 to cover all the expenses of 
a $1,500 mortgage, counting tax. search and drawing 
papers. The man who demands $300 is certainly 
doing what we may call a “star jQb." It is simply 
legalized highway robbery. Before you submit to 
any such extortion you should apply to the Federal 
Land Bank at Springfield, Mass., for a loan. 
* 
The farmer receives his money wages in the form of 
payment for his crops and live stock. These wages are 
not paid regularly every week or every month, except 
in part in the case of some dairy farmers, but at irreg¬ 
ular intervals varying from three months to a year or 
more, depending upon the nature of the crop. Neither 
rate of wages nor hours of work is agreed upon in 
advance. The consuming public pays, hut it makes no 
agreement as to the amount it will pay. The farmer 
is urged to produce abundantly, but the price paid him 
for what he produces is set after the amount of his 
production is known. The buyers drive the shrewdest 
possible bargain. The more the farmer produces, the 
less the buyers want to pay. Thus we have large pro¬ 
duction penalized. Very often—indeed, it is the general 
rule—a large crop brings the farmer fewer total dollars 
than a small crop. 
T HAT is taken from the annual report of Henry 
Wallace. United States Secretary of Agriculture. 
It is true: no one can dispute it. yet for years the 
average worker in town and city has paid no atten¬ 
tion to the facts. The general idea has been that 
the farmer is a patient beast of burden who may 
grumble a little, yet will continue to produce so that 
the world may be fed and clothed. That idea causes 
the death of business. We now realize that a small 
crop nets more to the farmer than a large crop. The 
only benefit from a large oro}) goes to the handlers 
under our present system of distribution. At any 
rate the present Administration realizes the situa¬ 
tion. and the advertising it is getting will help. We 
can easily remember when anyone who made such a 
public statement as Mr. Wallace makes would have 
been called an anarchist. 
December 17, 1921 
r is evident that thousands of tons of ear corn 
will be burned as fuel in parts of the West. At 
present prices this corn will ho cheaper than coal. 
It seems a sin to use this food as fuel, but under 
(he present system of distribution it can hardly he 
avoided. Some of our readers will do well to re¬ 
member this: Every ton of ear corn burned in this 
v ay will leave about 1- lbs. of potash, S lhs. of 
phosphoric acid and considerable lime in the ashes. 
In every Western community there are men with 
small holdings—gardeners or fruit growers—and 
most of them must use manure or fertilizers. They 
could not possibly obtain any fertilizer better for 
their special needs than the ashes from this fuel 
corn. They can make a good profit by securing every 
pound of such ashes they can find. In many local¬ 
ities such corn ash will have a value that will justify 
collecting it for sale. 
* 
ANY a man objects to jury service or other 
little jm 1 Hie duties to which most of us are 
liable. It often is a nuisance to give up time and 
comfort to these things, which seem of very little 
account, and yot it is only in tliis way that most of 
us can ever serve our country in any public capacity. 
The chances that an ordinary man will ever he 
President or occupy any large position are very 
remote. We all think we could fill these large 
places, though most of ns would rattle if placed in 
them. Our job is on the jury or in some of the 
smaller places, which are scorned or neglected by 
too many men. The real work of civil life, as in 
the army, is done by the petty officers, who come 
dose to the common people and influence them by 
example. One honest worker on a jury or on a 
school hoard is worth a dozen discontented dreamers 
who sit waiting for a larger job. We have, all of us, 
got to pay greater attention to the smaller public 
jobs, for they are the atoms which go to make up 
the large units. 
>k 
I note in some papers a controversy about substitut¬ 
ing the Magna Charta of King John’s time for the 
Declaration of Independence. Now, I have seen the 
Magna Charta in print, but it was in Latin, and I 
could make nothing of it. T have often wished, and 
tried to find it in English. Could you not print it? I 
think it would he interesting to all other readers of your 
paper, as well as to me. ii. D. 
Virginia. 
HE Great Charter of English liberty was granted 
by King John at Runnymede on June 15, 1215. 
It ended a long conflict between the king and the 
English barons, the yeomen or common people hav¬ 
ing little to do with it. It was the first, great state¬ 
ment of human rights under a government that was 
struggling toward freedom, and is one of the “im¬ 
mortal documents” in the history of the rise of man 
toward self-government. It could not well he sub¬ 
stituted for our American constitu' on—in fact, the 
latter is a development and outgrowth from Magna 
Charta. Tn the Legislative Manual or Red Book, 
issued annually by the Secretary of the State of New 
York, the Great Charta. the Declaration of Inde¬ 
pendence and the Constitution of the United States 
and of New York are printed. Many other States 
also print the Magna Charta in this way. It would 
require too much space to print the full charter in 
The R. N.-Y. 
Brevities 
Humor is the humus of life. 
We put the mulch on our strawberries December 6, 
at the first hard freeze. 
Half a dozen former Europeans have written us that 
the “Turk-hen cross” is an old fowl iu Europe. 
Some public men keep their ear on the ground, while 
others keep their heads in the upper air. Human beings 
live on the ground. 
Reports from many places show that mice are more 
numerous than ever before this Fall. It will pay to 
protect the young trees, or at least to keep trash away 
from them. 
The New York Experiment Station warns farmers 
against buying clover seed from Italy or Southern Eu¬ 
rope. Such seed is not adapted to our conditions. Buy 
American-grown seed. 
The School of Agriculture at Cobleskill. N. Y.. is to 
have a short course in ice-cream making. r The fact is 
that ice cream is getting to be about as important as 
butter iis a milk product. 
The papers report that Judge Johnson of Kansas 
city has ruled that a bee lias a right to roam at will. 
The bees in a hive cannot be classed as trespassers when 
they fly and light upon the* * property of others! 
It is reported that there are in New York State more 
than 1.000 school districts with an assessed valuation of 
$20,000 or less. Some have less than $10,000. Of 
course such districts cannot raise a school tax large 
enough to give children a fair showing. 
Ohio reports a case where a liquid for killing smut 
in oais is sold in 10-oz. Bottle for $2. It is designed for 
treating 20 bushels of grain. One pint of formalin, cost¬ 
ing 55 cents, will treat 40 to 00 bushels. That means 
the difference between 10 cents and 1 cent per bushel. 
