494 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 15, 1924 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
I read Moore's Rural New-Yorker 
during the Civil War. and for a time 
afterwards. It was taken by my grand¬ 
father. I have taken it at times for the 
last 50 years; now my son and his sons 
read it. E. L. M. 
Pennsylvania. 
Here are five generations of readers 
in one family. It is a proud record, and 
one that is seldom beaten, because the 
paper was only about 12 years old when 
the Civil War broke out. We, however, 
frequently yet hear of friends who had it 
continuously in the family from the be¬ 
ginning, and it was probably so in the 
case of this good friend’s grandfather. 
We wish now to give Gearhart Knit¬ 
ting Machine Company, Clearfield, Pa., 
credit for refunding $60 on Feb. IS to 
our subscriber, II. W., whose complaint 
appeared on page 74, issue of The Rural 
New-Yorker. The Gearhart company 
declined to answer our letters in behalf 
of the subscriber in question. This closes 
our files in the case. 
A subscriber recently wrote us about 
an unsatisfactory farm implement, and 
asked our influence to secure satisfactory 
service on the implement from the manu¬ 
facturer. The subscriber failed to state 
when the implement was purchased, but 
when taking the matter up with the man¬ 
ufacturer in question, we found that the 
purchase was made more than five years 
ago. Evidently the subscriber realized 
that he could not expect Publisher’s Desk 
to support his contentions in asking foe 
free service on an implement that was 
purchased more than five years ago, and 
he therefore carefully concealed the date 
of the purchase in his original letter. 
When advised of our refusal to prose¬ 
cute his claim under the circumstances, 
the subscriber writes us a very abusive 
letter and intimates that The Rural 
New-Yorker is subsidized by the manu¬ 
facturer through its advertising patron¬ 
age. 
It is rarely that any reader of The 
Rural New-Yorker has tried to take 
advantage of the Publisher’s Desk service 
and attempted to secure our influence in 
any unreasonable cause. There have been 
a few instances’, however, where a farm¬ 
er has not told us the whole truth in 
presenting his case, and apparently ex¬ 
pected The R. N.-Y.’s support of his po¬ 
sition, regardless of the justice in the 
case. The editor of Publisher’s Desk 
weighs the evidence and all the circum¬ 
stances in each individual case just as 
carefully and conscientiously as any judge 
in a court of justice. He may not be al¬ 
ways right, but any decision is always 
based on the best information available, 
without favor or prejudice to either party 
in the controversy. Anyone, whether sub¬ 
scriber to The Rural New-Yorker or 
not, who comes to Publisher’s Desk with 
any other expectation, is doomed to dis¬ 
appointment. Neither the cancellation 
of his subscription by a farmer nor the 
withdrawal of patronage by an adver¬ 
tiser is given the slightest consideration. 
We received a letter from the Lakewood 
Hotel Supply Go., Lakewood. N. J., some 
time ago. quoting us a much higher price 
for eggs than other dealers were paying. 
Several weeks after writing the first let¬ 
ter we received another letter wanting 
to buy poultry. This man. Abbott, must 
be the same Abbott who was doing busi¬ 
ness under the name of the Newark Prod¬ 
uce Co., Newark. N. J. Why are men of 
this type allowed to continue doing busi¬ 
ness, defrauding the public through the 
mails? R.L. H. 
Pennsylvania. 
H. A. Abbott, doing business under 
the title Lakewood Hotel Supply Co., 
has no connection with Newark Produce 
Co., so far as we have been able to learn. 
He has no established responsibility that 
would warrant poultrymen shipping prod¬ 
uce to him. There is always reason for 
suspicion of the dealer quoting higher 
prices than the market warrants. Such 
parties either do not intend to pay for 
the produce at all. or plan so to grade it 
as to nullify the high quotations. 
Here I come again for help but this 
time it is only for a little information. 
Will you tell me what you know about 
Black’s International Selling Service. 
John J. Black, manager, located at Chip¬ 
pewa Falls, Wis. ? Are they a reliable 
farm agency? They charge a service fee 
of $10 for listing farm or property for 
sale, and then a two percent commission 
to the agent who sells your property for 
you. I was wondering if it was just a 
scheme for the $10 or whether they really 
were reliable. b. b. 
New Y’ork. 
Just a scheme to get your $10. That’s 
all. Wisconsin Real Estate Broker’s 
Board of Madison, Wis., advises us Black 
has been denied a license—but he is pur¬ 
suing the game in the same old way. 
A representative of the Chicago Por¬ 
trait Company came to' my place yester¬ 
day. I told him that he could not do a 
dollar’s worth of business with me. where¬ 
upon he asked me if I took The R. N.-Y. 
I told him that I did. He informed me 
that no other paper had gone after their 
business as The R. N.-Y. had, and con¬ 
tended that his concern was all right, and 
that his father had investigated the firm 
before he started in the business. I called 
attention to the guarantee of The R. 
N.-Y’. protecting the subscribers, and in 
the course of the talk he told me what 
he maintained was a fact, and which 
every R. N.-Y. reader knows to be a 
fictitious piece of information, that the 
company had sent their attorney to New 
York, and he had been taken out to din¬ 
ner by the editor of The R. N.-Y.. and 
confidentially the information was im¬ 
parted to their attorney that The 
R. N.-Y. wanted something to use as a 
basis of sensationalism. We all know 
how sensational The R. N.-Y. is, and this 
was his reply when I asked why that his 
company didn’t" go after the paper. I 
wish some one from The R. N.-Y. had 
heard the conversation. I. c. P. 
Ohio. 
The Rural New-Yorker expects to be 
slandered by the agents oj concerns the 
methods of which it exposes. The attor¬ 
ney of the Chicago Portrait Co. did visit 
this office some years ago and tried to 
convince us that the “lucky envelope 
scheme” employed at that time was legiti¬ 
mate, and threatened to bring libel suit if 
The R. N.-Y. didn’t retract the things 
we said to the effect that the scheme was 
a fraud and a swindle. We didn’t retract 
and the libel suit was never brought. But 
the Federal Trade Commission ordered 
the Chicago Portrait Co. to cease making 
use of the nefarious scheme. We again 
repeat the advice to give no orders to 
agents of portrait concerns and avoid 
trouble! 
I am inclosing a letter which I received 
from the Franklin Institute, Rochester, 
N. Y. They offer to send lessons through 
the mail on civil service work, but must 
be paid in advance. They offer a tuition 
for $18. Are they a reliable firm? They 
seem to write a mighty flowery letter. 
Pennsylvania. ' c. h. l. 
We have many times expressed the 
opinion that the correspondence courses 
of Franklin Institute are easy-money 
schemes, and there seem to be more of 
these deceptive schemes appealing to the 
public now than ever before. You can 
become anything from a doctor or a law¬ 
yer to a civil engineer or an aviator, 
merely by paying a good large sum of 
money for a course of instruction that 
some nimble-minded individual has 
worked out. Then there are all sorts of 
fake work-at-home schemes, mostly ap¬ 
pealing to women. They propose giving 
women an opportunity to earn money at 
home; but the real object is to sell the 
woman a knitting machine, or some goods, 
and the woman learns when her money is 
gone that the work at home is only a pre¬ 
text to get her money. Many of these 
despicably petty swindles are put in exe¬ 
cution through the connivance of pub¬ 
lishers. mostly publishers of mail order 
publications, but some of this class of ad¬ 
vertising appears in the farm press. 
I found -the enclosed from United 
States Spectacle Co.. Chicago, in my mail 
in the country the other week and I ven¬ 
ture the guess that all of my rural neigh¬ 
bors were also offered this “wonderful 
opportunity” to ruin their eyesight. It is 
to be lamented that the law cannot reach 
such methods. l. e. k. 
New York. 
'We heartily concur in these senti¬ 
ments with regard to the idea of trying 
to fit one’s eyes with glasses by mail 
The eye is too tender and important an 
organ to be trifled with. An oculist or 
eye specialist should be consulted when 
the sight shows evidence of failing. The 
traveling “eye specialist.” however, 
should be avoided as one would avoid 
any other humau serpent. 
Cletrac—More Than a Plow Tractor 
Having a tractor enables a farmer to plow deeper, better and far quicker 
than with teams. Turning over the land is one of the biggest jobs of the 
whole year. The 12-20 Cletrac turns over the evenly cut furrows at the rate 
of eight to ten acres a day. But the farmer’s tractor, to be a real investment, 
must do more than plow well. It must be able to go right onto the freshly 
plowed ground and quickly work it down to a perfect seed-bed. Here is 
where the Cletrac owner’s foresight is rewarded. His tractor is admirably 
suited for ground fitting. 
A Better Seed Bed Insures a Bigger Crop 
Where the soil is loose—perhaps even wet in spots—the broad tracks 
carry Cletrac smoothly along without slip; full speed and load is maintained, 
the ground is mellowed and made fine and ready for planting without any 
packing down, and in the quickest possible time. When work is pressing 
and weather uncertain, to be able to fit and plant quickly and perfectly is 
the farmer’s best assurance of a bigger yield and a better product. It often 
means the difference between profit and loss on the crop. No tractor is so 
well suited for seed-bed preparation and planting as the Cletrac. 
Write for catalog and let us tell you more about the use of Cletracs. 
THE CLEVELAND TRACTOR COMPANY 
Cleveland, Ohio 
Branch Offices: 
New York Chicago San Francisco Minneapolis Oklahoma City 
Detroit Atlanta Los Angeles Windsor Portland 
Philadelphia 
SILOS 
25 years of service and still good. 
Superior door frame, bevelled doors, 
selected material. 
Right Silo 
Opening Roof 
WOOD TANKS 
E. F. Schlichter Co. 
10 S. 18th St. Phila., Pa. 
Send for catalog and get our attractive 
proposition for early buyers 
SILVER MFG. CO., Box 510, Salem, Ohio 
Down After Trial 
(and easy monthly payments) 
for this COMPLETE 
Milker 
Comes complete and ready to use; 
nothing to install, no bother, no ex¬ 
pense. No electricity—no gas engine. 
Run by hand. So easy to pump a child 
can do it, thanks to patent spring and 
vacuum. Tremendous improvement in 
machine milking. Simple, ultra simple! 
That’s why this complete milker costs 
so little and is better for you and your 
cows. Special Offer—rock-bottom price 
direct. 30 Days Free Trial. No C. O. D.— 
no bother. Easy Monthly Payments. We’ll 
make that milker pay for itself every 
day while you’re using it. Also: Port¬ 
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Free Book 
on Milking — 
A book every dairyman should read — 
quotes rock-bottom direct prices on hand 
operated, gas engine and electric milkers 
(yoilr choice sent on free trial). Write for 
this free book while this special offer lasts. 
30 days free trial 
No Money Down — No C. O. D. 
A special offer good until we have an agent or 
salesman in the territory. Mr. Dairyman, 
here s your one chance to find out on a REAL. 
Free Trial what the milking machine will 
mean for you, on your own cows. Why? Be¬ 
cause there’s nothing to install; nothing to 
hudd or fit into your bam; just move the 
PAGE in and start milking! No bother, no ex¬ 
pense. If satisfied after trial, pay cash or easy 
monthly payments. Yes, we’ll make that 
milker pay tor itself every day as you use it. 
Burton Page Co., D . pt «%in a ^ w . 
Please send me your free booklet containing the facta 
of milking machines and full details of your 30 day 
free trial, easy payment offer on the Portable Page 
Milker model checked: 
□ Hand Operated □ Gaa Eugiaa Power □ Electric Power 
How many cows have you?_ 
Name ...... 
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Also send ms roar Agents Offer Q 
Wrfto wlula thli ©Mar lasts 
