7bt RURAL NEW-YORKER 
229 
Friends of the School Bill 
In your notes, ‘‘School Meeting in Ontario County,” 
I find this statement: ‘‘The proponents present ex¬ 
pressed dissatisfaction that none of the proponents had 
been invited to present their side of the bill.” 
This is very interesting, because of the fact that at a 
meeting of our own Grange the one person invited to 
discuss the bill was a proponent! At our County 
Grange the three speakers on the rural education bill 
were a principal of a union school, a district superin¬ 
tendent (the only district school superintendent in this 
county in favor of the bill), and the secretary of the 
Grange. These were the speakers on the printed pro¬ 
gram, and all of them in favor of the hill! 
I was chairman of the committee on rural education, 
and the report of our committee did not favor the bill 
and was passed without a dissenting vote. As 1 left 
the meeting a reporter asked for the resolutions, and 
told me that the secretary sent her word that nothing 
was done. I had left the only copy with the secretary. 
FEED V. LESTEB. 
X.-Y.—Our experience shows that some of these 
school men are about the worst complainers 
or "kickers” we have ever heard of. We began dis¬ 
cussing the bill last May shortly after the Legisla¬ 
ture had adjourned. Friends of the bill had every 
chance to discuss it, but they kept silent and then 
accused us of taking advantage of them. We called 
for school meetings three weeks in advance. The 
friends of the bill had full opportunity to attend 
these meetings or organize others of their own. As 
soon as they find that about 1.500 of these meetings 
have been held, all opposed to the bill, they com¬ 
plained, like little children, “ ’tain't fair,” “I didn’t 
have a chance.” Again and again meetings have been 
called where the school men have had full chance to 
present their side. For example, in Fulton County. 
The friends of the bill elected the officers and had 
■full control, yet the meeting voted 03 to 35 against 
the bill. And of course its backers found fault. In 
Schenectady County the vote was CG to 4. We can 
give 100 cases where this very thing has happened. 
The truth is that 90 per cent of the country people 
are opposed to the principle of this bill, while its 
friends are arguing about its details. They strike 
us as what one may call bad losers. 
League Buys More Plants 
NXOUNCEMENT was made last week that the 
Dairymen’s League Co-operative Association 
had bought the business of the Empire Dairy Com¬ 
pany, including its country and city milk plants. 
The business of the company is largely in Brooklyn 
and Queens County. It is spoken of as the thii*d 
largest distributor in the Greater New York dis¬ 
trict. It has done some wholesale trade, but its 
business has been largely retail distribution. It is 
estimated that it handled something like 2,500 to 
3,500 cans daily. The standing of the company has 
always been good, but reports of late indicate that it 
had been a little short of ready cash. It had been 
known for more than a year that the business could 
be bought. The price paid for the business has not 
been made public. The transfer of title and posses¬ 
sion was made on the 31st of January. 
February Milk Prices 
M ILK prices for the month of February for all 
groups remain the same as for the latter part 
of January, except that the Class 3 pool price has 
been reduced 5 cents per 100 lbs. This leaves Class 
1 pool price $2.33; non-pool ‘‘all milk” basis, $2.30; 
and Sheffield’s “all milk,” $2.35. The Eastern States 
Producers do not fix a uniform price, as each of its 
units sells on its own account. There is no over sup¬ 
ply, and with all producing groups working together, 
the price could easily be one dollar more. 
Are We on the Road to Peasantry? 
I am inclosing a clipping froom the Cleveland Plain 
Dealer. It is in regard to the farmer. It is very inter¬ 
esting to me, as I had concluded some time ago that if 
the farmers did not soon take the “Do it ourselves” ad¬ 
vice of The R. N.-Y. they would in time come to a state 
of serfdom. They are supporting an army of non-pro¬ 
ducers and half-way producers, and seem to think that 
what the city fellow gets does not concern the farmer. 
As long as the farmer is willing to make a slave of 
himself and family, these slackers in the city are going 
to live off him. c - c - K - 
Cleveland, O. 
HE clipping referred to quotes from a speech 
made by M. D. Lincoln, secretary of the Ohio 
Farm Bureau, at a meeting in Cleveland. Mr. Lin¬ 
coln has just returned from a trip to Europe, where 
he was sent on an agricultural commission: 
“One of the most prominent American bankers.” Mr. 
Lincoln said, “told me in Paris that agriculture and in¬ 
dustry couldn’t prosper in the same country. He said 
that America had already made the choice, and that it 
was for industry. 
“We already have the beginnings of a peasantry. Go 
into the poorer parts of Lake and Geauga counties and 
you’ll find your true peasants. 
“A peasantry could probably produce as much food as 
the farmers of today. But peasants hiive a lower stand¬ 
ard of living and they lack the buying power of the 
American farmer.” . 
All of which is true. The unthinking will say that 
America made a great upward stride when we sold 
a good share of our manhood for the privilege of 
putting manufacturing in the place of agriculture as 
a dominating industry. We may be on the way to a 
full system of peasantry and farm aristocracy, but 
we still believe this can be prevented. It must be 
now admitted that the various educational and other 
interests which the government controls have not 
prevented and cannot prevent this approach to peas¬ 
antry. They have increased the material benefits 
from farming, but have aided in a system of distri¬ 
bution which has robbed the many and enriched the 
few. As a mass, farmers have gained property at 
the expense of independence and initiative. Their 
only hope now lies in having to do it themselves. 
The educators and school men seem too blind to 
recognize the truth, but it is this instinctive feeling 
that country people must break away from “expert” 
advice and direction which has led to the revolt over 
this proposed school bill in New York. 
Standing for Standard Time 
The following resolution was passed Jan. 22, 1024, in 
Danbury Grange. At the State session, Jan. 8-10, at 
Hartford, it was adopted and went through. A sim¬ 
ilar resolution was passed at the Fairfield County 
Pomona Grange (Conn.) Jan. 23, and the secretary to 
notify all Granges in its district, also one to State 
Commissioner of Education Meredith asking his atti¬ 
tude on keeping school on standard time and hours. 
This Grange has about TOO members, besides the extra 
members in the Subordinate Granges. New London 
County Pomona recently did the same, with about the 
same number of members, beside: those also in Sub¬ 
ordinate Granges. The city papers do not like to say 
much about these things, evidently believing they can 
keep it down and kill its effect. 
Resolved, That as an effort will be made to put day¬ 
light saving into operation this coming Summer, and as 
it is detrimental to the interests of agriculture; is a 
hardship to school children and their mothers, and to 
rural residents generally, and is also objectionable to a 
majority of the suburban residents; and as a means of 
creating a greater sentiment towards standard time and 
hours—which is the only legal time in this State—that 
Danbury Grange No. 156, Patrons of Husbandry, peti¬ 
tion the State Grange at its coming session to advise its 
members in all Subordinate Granges, and all others 
favoring standard time and hours, to patronize—all that 
is possible—merchants and business men who favor 
standard time. 
Also, that the State Grange petition all Subordinate 
Granges to write to their Representatives 'and their 
Senators in Congress from their district, requesting 
them to do all they possibly can to have Federal action 
taken to prohibit public daylight saving put into effect 
in any part of the United States. n. E. bett. 
Danbury, Conn. 
T HESE Connecticut faiuners are putting up a 
great battle for standard time. The State 
Dairymen's Association recently passed the following 
resolution : 
Resolved, That inasmuch as the forty-third annual 
convention of the Connecticut Dairymen’s Association 
at Hartford earnestly subscribes to a faithful support of 
law, it will look upon any attempt on the part of school 
officials, or of any public officials, to impose the use of 
the so-called daylight saving time as an act of leader¬ 
ship defective and profoundly unworthy of respect and 
following. 
When the daylight saving movement started, its 
promoters claimed that the farmers would soon fall 
into line like obedient children and accept what is 
good for them because the city people tell them so. 
It doesn’t look like it now, for with several years’ 
experience with the new time farmers are more bit¬ 
terly opposed to it than ever. In New York State 
there is an organization of over 200,000 people op¬ 
posed to daylight saving—led by Thomas J. Lloyd, 
of Poughkeepsie. 
Consolidation for Hill Districts 
It seems to me that the school situation in the thinly 
settled hill districts is not well understood by the pro¬ 
moters of the rural school bill, or consolidation would 
not be considered to include the hill districts. It may 
be that no member of the Committee of Twenty-one had 
time or opportunity to investigate beyond the State 
roads, or in Winter time, to observe transportation con¬ 
ditions. None of them would intentionally wish to im¬ 
pose a hardship on the school children by transportation 
along unbroken roads and across fields during Winter’s 
stormy weather. The children would have to set out 
an hour earlier in the morning to meet the conveyance; 
if it had gone they could go back home. If too early 
they have no shelter to wait in. Returning from school 
it would be dark when the last of them were discharged 
from the conveyance, and some of them quite a step yet 
to go. 
To keep the roads open, if it could be done, would 
incur a heavy expense on the townships. It would be a 
very troublesome problem to make regular trips three 
to five miles to school. The loss by irregular attendance 
and late to school would be a discouraging handicap to 
these children in their classes, and the teachers get 
blamed for the poor showing in the examinations. Chil¬ 
dren of five to eight years would not be sent so far to 
school, and thus their education would also be retarded. 
These situations offset the advantages of the larger, bet¬ 
ter-equipped school. So I assume the proponents of the 
school bill have not looked into the Winter conditions of 
our hill districts, which are somewhat different from 
the valley sections in and adjoining the villages where 
there are good roads and constant travel. 
Although compulsory consolidation is not set forth in 
the school bill, the impression is quite general that cir¬ 
cumstances may be imposed on districts that will leave 
the inhabitants thereof no alternative but to vote for it. 
Consolidation itself is not the weasel; he is the subse¬ 
quent big hocus-pocus in transporting the school chil¬ 
dren in our Winter climate, and also an ally of the con¬ 
tract system. 
The new larger school predicates increased taxes, a 
bonded debt, interest on same, and expensive transporta¬ 
tion service, hazardous to the children’s health. 
The loss to the rural districts of their present school 
buildings and equipment therein would be a big property 
waste, since they would unlikely salvage more than one- 
fourth their cost, to which may be added depreciation of 
neighborhood farm values. A common question asked 
by an outside prospective farm buyer or renter is, “How 
far are you from public school?” In the twelfth chap¬ 
ter of St. Luke we can read what Christ said about 
tearing down good buildings to build greater ones. 
As a substitute for consolidation and transportation I 
make this suggestion : That new district boundary lim¬ 
its be established so that each district will have an area 
of about 3.000 acres, or not exceeding two and one- 
fourth square miles. Schoolhouses move about central 
to site on or near main road. At present some districts 
have an area of about 1.000 acres and others up to and 
over 5,000 acres to one school. This plan would make 
them all single districts of about equal size, no smail 
Aveak districts and none of abnormal size. It would also 
be a step in direction of equalizing school tax rates, and 
big economy in public money. It would eliminate a lot 
of districts, consolidation, transportation and contract 
system. josepii h. wickiiam. 
Otsego Co., N. Y'. 
Western Men and New York Farms 
Having lived in a central county of New York all my 
life (61 years), I feel qualified to offer a word of advice 
and perhaps caution as well to the Indiana man who 
talks of coming East. Y T es, you are “figuring right on 
this” if you take it from the real estate men. There 
are any number of farms in this county that can be 
bought for those figures you quote, and perhaps with the 
payments you mention. But I would not want them, 
and I doubt if you do. There have been so many new¬ 
comers in this locality within the past 15 years who 
have made small payments down on the property; in 
some cases little more than to cover the personal, that if 
soon became impossible to make living expenses, plus 
taxes and interest. In such cases only a few years 
Avere necessary to elapse, and the farm would revert to 
the original oAvner, Avith a chance for the same realty 
firm to sell again to some one new to this county. The 
realty man was sure of his 10 per cent every time he 
sold. The owner was ahead the initial payment, less 
10 per cent. 
The good farms Avith good owners now have but one 
term to offer, sometimes with slight variation; one-half 
cash down or no sale. “We want to know that we have 
sold.” I have seen so many lose their savings that I 
feel it a duty to offer a word of caution. 
There has just been sold 130 acres of just as good 
land as can be found in this locality, in a fine state of 
cultivation, nearly all tillable and good faced, for $25 
per acre. But such a thing might not occur again in 
100 years. The buildings had been destroyed by fire 
and the personal all disposed of. The sale of personal 
was better than $1,000. The insurance was $6,000. 
The land was $3,250. Which, as you see, made the 
farm sell for $10,250. The asking price before the fire 
Avas $10,000, Avithout personal property included. 
There is a farm of 75 acres that joins me and can 
be bought of the owner for $2,750, which has been sold 
twice within the past 10 years, and four times within 
15 years, and is for sale now. The present owner, as I 
am informed, has left it Avith a realty man to sell for 
$3,000. He was a Western man and was doing well, 
but last Summer his Avife died and he wants to sell. 
There are extremes in all cases, and if these two farms 
are considered as such, a chance to succeed is as good in 
the expensive farm as in the cheap one. It depends 
largely upon the amount of the initial payment made 
at time of purchase. “Too much interest will carry a 
man under these times.” The really good farms, as a 
rule, will sell equipped for from $5,000 to $10,000. You 
should make a payment on the realty that will not leave 
too large a debt; one-half, is possible, and pay cash in 
full for all the personal, in order to be safe, and if a 
payment Avas held in reserve it would be all the better. 
Had it not been for the fact that A. C. P. has two 
girls and a boy, and “does not want to make a mis¬ 
take,” I Avould not have taken the trouble to write this 
letter. 
I have felt at times that I would like to sell farms 
myself, and receive fat commissions, but have not the 
heart to do it, as 1 have seen it done. You have in 
your family the very essential that too many of our 
"farms are lacking in. namely, children growing up on 
the farm. If I were in your place I Avould get a list of 
farms that are for sale from the realty men, sort them 
OA T er until there are but two or three that will conform 
to your poeketbook, and in description seem to fill your 
idea of a home. Then run out to the town clerk’s office 
in the toAvn Avhere they are located; get from him a 
more complete description as to where located, on a hill, 
in a gully, or otherwise. Discover from him if any one 
of them is a desirable farm to rent and make a living 
on. Get in a locality where it appears you would like 
to live, and rent a farm a year or two ; pay cash rent 
if necessary, and take the spare time of Summer to find 
a home for yourself and family. FARMER, 
