702 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 26, 1924 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established >sso 
Published meekly by the Rural Publishing Company. 3113 West 30th Street, >em fork 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon', Treasurer and General Manager. 
We F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
L. H. Murphy, Circulation Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04. Remit in money 
order, express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, tl.00 per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. Rut 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 called upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribei-s and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
tory of the town, lie in these lonely places and their 
memory is deserving of all respect. In this busy 
and material age we are all prone to forget much of 
the sentiment and reverence which after all make 
up so much of the strength of country living and 
character. A neglected graveyard is an advertise¬ 
ment to passersby that the town has forgotten its 
pioneers, and that is a bad reputation for any town 
to gain On the other hand, when these graveyards 
are cleaned and left neat and like little parks, every 
passer-by feels that the town is alive and liberal— 
and that is the best reputation any country town 
can have. The work of cleaning these graveyards 
will naturally fall to the women and elderly peo¬ 
ple. It would make a fine social crusade for the 
local Grange. At any rate, no matter who does it, 
the work ought to be done, and we hope our people 
will organize to turn these brier patches into parks. 
* 
E think the advocates of restricted immigra¬ 
tion have made out a good case. America 
does not, at this time, need added floods of labor 
from the south of Europe. There was a time in our 
history when such labor was greatly needed. The 
need is now greater in Europe, and this country 
needs to assimilate what we now have, rather than 
add to the numbers who crowd into our cities and 
largely maintain their old world standard of living. 
If any large number of farmers or farm helpers were 
coming—men and women who would be satisfied to 
move to the country and help at crop production— 
the case would be different, but the great proportion 
of those who plan to come now have little thought of 
passing beyond the great cities. They are more in 
the line of merchants or peddlers or hand workers— 
classes already overcrowded and of the least use in 
our present conditions. Our cities are stuffed to 
overflowing now. We think restriction of immigra¬ 
tion at Jhis time a good thing. 
- * * 
Regarding the Ford proposal for Muscle Shoals, do 
you understand that Ford does not guarantee to pro¬ 
duce fertilizer? I recently wrote one of our Senators, 
urging him to vote in favor of the Ford proposal. Part 
of his reply is as follows: 
“The government has already sunk $106,000,000 in 
this project. It will have to sink from $17,000,000 to 
$50,000,000 more before it is completed. As to the pro¬ 
duction of fertilizer, Ford refuses to guarantee the pro¬ 
duction of fertilizer and agrees to pay only $5,000,000 
for this property.” 
If Ford isn’t going to produce fertilizer for the farm¬ 
ers, then why all this howl to support the measure? 
Ohio. r. b. P. 
W E have, from the beginning, questioned the 
wisdom of turning this vast property over to 
Mr. Ford, without compensating guarantees to give 
the people value. We want to know why so many 
Americans are willing to make Mr. Ford a present 
of this great public privilege, while they would fight 
bitterly a plan to deliver it to any other wealthy 
man or corporation. We would like to have a proper 
answer to that question, but thus far no one seems 
able or willing to reply except one man, who says 
the people have little or no confidence in government 
officials, Avliile on his labor record Ford seems hon¬ 
est and useful. When asked what guarantee can be 
given that those who follow Ford will be equally 
honest and fair with the public, this man admits 
that he does not know. We feel that this Muscle 
Shoals proposition is the greatest public privilege 
ever offered by any government in the world. We 
doubt the wisdom of handing it over to any private 
cbrporation—and we repeat our question: Why 
should the United States government give to Henry 
Ford what it would not deliver to any other wealthy 
man? 
Brevities 
“Tired boy and coming butter never could in time 
agree.” 
No sir! Just because the automobile makes more 
noise than a foot passenger is not proof that it owns 
the entire road. 
The only place where the blind can successfully lead 
the blind is in the dark. The 'Spanish have this prov¬ 
erb : “In the dark the mole has eyes.” 
Many people, this Spring, want to turn an old chick¬ 
en run into a garden. What are the chief requirements? 
Thorough spading or plowing first. Then a good dress¬ 
ing of lime, well raked in. Then a good supply of fine 
bone or acid phosphate. 
It is estimated that 87.000 tons of potash are annu¬ 
ally blown away in the smoke and dust from American 
cement works, and 84,000 tons more from blast fur- 
naces. All this settles down somewhere, but the prob¬ 
lem is to condense it and use it on cultivated ground. 
And now, it appears, bobbed hair has got into court. 
A Western woman asserted that she would have her 
hair bobbed. Her husband declared that if she did he 
would beat her, so she went to the judge to settle it. 
The judge decides that a woman has just as much right 
to have her hair bobbed as her husband has to have his 
beard trimmed. 
Although it is generally believed that a will must 
be “read” soon after the death of the testator, this is 
not true. There are many such beliefs in regard to the 
law. When a will is offered for probate a certified 
copy thereof can be obtained from the clerk of the 
surrogate’s court and usually the attorney for the ex¬ 
ecutor or the executor will furnish a copy of the will, 
on request, to interested persons. 
Readers have asked us what the State of Nevada 
has in the way of soldiers’ bonus or compensation. The 
State Engineer tells us: “The State of Nevada has not 
done anything in the way of compensation for ex- 
service men with the single exception of authorizing a 
bond issue for $1,000,000 which is not available for 
use until the federal government meets it through an 
adjusted compensation measure with a like amount or 
better.” 
This is in reply to a person who has been “directed” 
to go from New York to Pennsylvania to act as witness 
in a legal trial: A person residing in New York State 
cannot be compelled to attend as a witness in the 
Pennsylvania State courts, but when the witness elects 
to go," of course, the person desiring to use the testi¬ 
mony should pay all of his expenses. If the witness is 
uncertain as to the willingness of the party to pay 
these expenses, it would be well to ask for the expenses 
in advance. 
W E did our first plowing on April 8. That is 
about 10 days later than usual. The ground 
is still cold and wet, the season very backward, 
though Spring is now coming with a rush. The in¬ 
clination all through our territory is to plant less 
than usual and give the best possible care. Figures 
show 7 that certain crops have not paid in recent 
years. We shall cut them out, seed more land to 
grass and small grain, and put more time on the 
fruit. An extra spraying or dusting this year will 
pay better than extra acres in truck crops. At this 
moment the prospect for fruit with us is better than 
in any recent year. For three successive years a 
late frost has cut our apples and peaches by at least 
half. That performance may be repeated this year 
or Jack Frost may take advantage of the Presi¬ 
dential year to play the part of Hon. John Frost. 
In that case we shall have a record-breaking apple 
crop. 
* 
I was cdected town tax collector at past election, 
and would like to know if I am obliged to make a 
special or personal call on people who do not volun¬ 
tarily come to my home, or place where I sit for tax? 
New York. M. N. B. 
OU are obliged to call at least once on every 
person who does not come to your office to pay 
his taxes, and if he has any personal property on 
the premises you are obliged to levy and sell the 
same for the payment of taxes. Too many tax col¬ 
lectors think that they can sit in their office and 
perform their duties, and leave it to the county 
treasurer to collect those taxes that do not come 
easily. This very often is satisfactory to the tax¬ 
payer who is buying his property on a contract, for 
he figures he will stay as long as he can, and then 
give up the property with a load of taxes for the 
seller to pay. 
* 
T HE closing hours of the New York Legislature 
were marked by wild disorder—the worst riot 
and scramble ever known on that usually excitable 
occasion. The members were kept in continuous 
session for ovey 24 hours, and it is evident that 
some of them were badly the worse for wear—to 
put it mildly. It was a disgraceful scene, and quite 
unnecessary. Early in the session the members 
dawdled about, held short sessions or none at ail 
and simply loafed through many valuable weeks. 
< me day a single member appeared, elected himself 
President of the Senate, put a motion to adjourn, 
declared it carried and thus kept up the legal farce 
of continuous session. They might easily have ac¬ 
complished every useful purpose and then adjourned 
after 50 days of service, but they loafed along and 
let business accumulate until near the end the mem¬ 
bers woke up. found themselves buried beneath a 
pile of legislation, and attempted to dispose of it 
as a man would shovel coal into a furnace. As a re¬ 
sult several needed bills were defeated, while-a num¬ 
ber which never should have been noticed slid 
through with the rush. No valid excuse can be 
given for this worse than folly. The Legislature 
could easily take care of all its business in an 
orderly manner if it would work during the early 
part of the session. 
* 
W E would like to see the old rural cemeteries 
cleaned up and made respectable. There a’e 
many of them scattered about the country—usually 
in lonely places—without natural beauty. In some 
cases they have been sadly neglected—turned into 
pastures or abandoned to weeds and briers. The 
pioneers, men and women who made the early his- 
O N the next page we have a letter from a happy 
farmer—one who has no fault to find with 
taxes, prices or income. This must be some big 
powerful man in the prime of life, with a side in¬ 
come from investments earned by his father! That 
is what you would naturally conclude, but the fact 
is that this man is more than GO years old and has 
worn a wooden leg for 50 years! Further, he has 
no boys to help him, and has been forced to develop 
a worn-out farm which started with one dry cow 
and now carries over 20 head of stock with daily 
sales of over $20! Now how did this happy farmer 
do it—while practically everyone else is complain¬ 
ing about hard times? IIow did he pile up this 
mountain of contentment in the desert? We shall 
try to get him to tell his own story, and it ought to 
be interesting to know how one may run to content¬ 
ment on a wooden leg. 
* 
W ILL you help us mane the celebration of 
School Meeting Day a full success? We want 
to get a full attendance of the people in your dis¬ 
trict at the schoolhouse. Our suggestion is that the 
women provide a good supper and invite all voters 
to a free meal and a free talk over school matters. 
You have all come to be interested in the discussion 
over the school bill. That bill is now dead—for the 
present at least—but the school question is very 
much alive. Usually one can count on the fingers of 
one hand the men who turn out at school meetings. 
That lack of interest gave the backers of the school 
bill an advantage, because they claimed that coun¬ 
try people had lost interest in their schools. The 
campaign through which we have just passed proved 
that is not so, but now we must give more impressive 
proof by showing ourselves at the schoolhouse. Come 
out—everyone—and elect the best qualified man or 
woman in the district for school officer. That is the 
most effective answer that can possibly be made to 
the charge that country people are incapable of 
handling their own schools. Have someone keep a 
record of the meeting, note who was there, and send 
a report to us. That will help organize a State-wide 
society, which is now the most necessary thing we 
can put under way. 
* 
W E find a division of opinion among our people 
regarding the proposed plan for increasing 
the salaries of postal employes. Many people feel 
that these faithful government servants are fairly 
entitled to a living wage. They render good service 
and do their duty often under hard conditions. As 
town and city workers they are as much entitled to 
a reasonable salary as other skilled workmen. On 
the next page is a statement from the postmaster of 
Boston showing the cost of living in town. While 
all fair-minded people want government employes 
to be reasonably paid, they are firmly and forcibly 
opposed to any increased rates of parcel post as 
contemplated in the bill now before Congress. In 
many cases these rates are doubled, and this in¬ 
crease will work a great hardship to country peo¬ 
ple. It will not increase postal revenues, for the 
higher rates will simply drive a great volume of 
business to the express companies. All over the 
country State Legislatures and the Federal Congress 
are trying to assist the farmer in developing a di¬ 
rect trade so as to obtain a fairer share of the con¬ 
sumer’s dollar. Thousands of them are making suc¬ 
cessful use of parcel post for this purpose. To raise 
the rates as proposed would discourage them and 
spoil their trade, with no benefit to anyone except 
the express companies. 
