834 
Tbt RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 31, 1924 
All Sorts 
Wants to Try Farm 
We have a typical letter from a young 
man in New Jersey who wants to try a 
position on a farm, more for the sake of 
getting experience than anything else. 
He is a high school student taking a 
course in vocational agriculture. As part 
of his course, he is expected to take what 
is known as a project in crops. The 
course is quite practical, but this young 
man wants to get a taste of real farming 
on an up-to-date place. lie says, very 
sensibly, that “Working on a farm will 
either cure him of his desire to be a farm¬ 
er or make him want to go on a farm 
more than ever.” lie is an intelligent 
young man and evidently willing to work 
and we should like to see this experiment 
tried out. There ought to be places 
where euc-h young men can do the work 
of a regular farmer and find out whether 
they are fit for the job or not. Why is not 
that a practical side of agriculture and 
who among our people is willing to help 
apply this test? 
A Quick Weather Change 
The pictures shown are sent by Mrs. 
C. J. Sheppard of Cumberland Co., N. J., 
to show the rapidity with which Spring 
comes in that favored part of the earth. 
The Winter scene was taken April 2. It 
would pass for a view of December in 
many sections, yet the next picture shows 
the same house and grounds taken April 
16—or only 14 days later. There are ap¬ 
parently few other spots of earth where 
two weeks of April weather can bring 
about such a change. 
Do We Need State Troopers? 
A recent occurrence upon an isolated 
farm, a half mile from the nearest neigh¬ 
bor, four miles from a village, and nearly 
40 miles from any city, in a county where 
the population is chiefly rural, and where, 
if anywhere, a farm family might be con¬ 
sidered cafe from crimes of violence, leads 
one to believe that the time is rapidly ap¬ 
proaching when country roads will need 
about the same police protection now 
given city streets. 
Daniel Snyder, with his wife and 13- 
year-old son, lives upon a farm tucked 
away in the hills of Tioga Co., N. Y.. far 
from any State road, and apparently as 
safe from molestation as a family could 
be anywhere. The family, too, offers, no 
particular temptation to marauder®, since 
it is one in moderate circumstances, with 
no reputation for keeping large sums of 
money or other valuables in the house. 
In spite of all this, the farm was made 
the scene of one of the most heinous 
crimes ever committed in the county on 
one recent April afternoon. As Mr. 
Snyder was doin" his evening chores, a 
closed car, driven by a negro and con¬ 
taining an Italian passenger, passed. In 
a short time it returned, carrying two 
other Italians. Stopping, they exam¬ 
ined closely the rural directory sign upon 
the premises and said to Mr. Snyder, who 
spoke to them, “This is not the place.” 
They drove on. only to return again with¬ 
in a very few minutes, still with two 
other Italians in the car. Accosting Mr. 
Snyder, they displayed revolvers and or¬ 
dered him to go with them to the house 
and get the $1,000 that they knew he had 
there. 
As they approached the house, Mr. 
Snyder’s son came out to meet his fath¬ 
er with a loaded shotgun. The six ruf¬ 
fians interfered, however, and wrested the 
gun away before Mr. Snyder could get 
possession of it, and one of them put a 
bullet from his revolver through both of 
Mr. Snyder’s legs. The father and son 
were then taken into the house and, with 
Mrs. Snyder, were bound with ropes 
brought in the car and straps taken from 
a harness in one of the rooms. The des¬ 
peradoes then ransacked the house in 
search of the money that they evidently 
believed might be found there. Failing 
to find it. they kindled a fire upon the 
kitchen floor and departed, leaving the 
family tied and helpless. 
The boy, not. being as securely bound 
as his parents, managed to get his knife 
from his pocket and cut his bonds. Re¬ 
leasing the others, he extinguished the 
fire in the kitchen and ran to the nearest 
neighbor’s to summon help by telephone. 
The county sheriff was notified and, with 
three State troopers, reached the place 
within an hour or two, but not, of course, 
until the murderous gang had had ample 
time to put many miles between them¬ 
selves and pursuit. At the time that this 
ic written they have not been apprehend¬ 
ed, and it does not seem likely that they 
will be. 
Some months previous to this assault, 
Mr. Snyder had an Italian poultry dealer 
arrested for stealing fowls. The dealer 
was convicted and served a term in the 
county jail. This has led to the very 
natural suspicion that this poultry deal¬ 
er instigated the attack upon the family, 
though no proof of it has been secured. 
Whether or not this is true, that such a 
crime could be committed on a quiet coun¬ 
try road and the perpetrators escape of¬ 
fers little in the way of argument to 
those who believe that the State constabu¬ 
lary should be cut down in numbers or 
done away with. If it cannot be retained 
and made still more efficient, life in the 
country is likely to prove less safe than 
that in congested and better policed cen¬ 
ters. M. B. D. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK 
DOMESTIC. — A boy was killed and 
three men injured May 16 when an auto¬ 
mobile swerved to avoid striking a truck, 
hit workmen who were repairing a man¬ 
hole and ran on the sidewalk at Sher¬ 
man St. and Hope Ave., Passaic, N. J. 
The boy was Theodore Brozowska, nine, 
No. 68 Hope Ave., Passaic, who was 
standing on the sidewalk. He died on 
the way to St. Mary’s Hospital. The 
automobile was driven by Serafino Ma- 
rinaro, No. 96 Highland Ave., Passaic. 
He was arrested on a charge of homicide. 
Fire May 16 swept Norridgewoek, Me., 
destroying business buildings and caus¬ 
ing a loss estimated at $100,000. 
Seven bandits, operating in the midst 
of heavy traffic at Broadway and 81st 
St., New York, May 16, forced a chauf¬ 
feur and two assistants to climb down 
from a motor truck while the robbers 
made away with the load of $100,000 
worth of furs. Automatic pistols were 
used to cow the men in charge of the 
truck, and despite the fact that 10 men 
were engaged in the transfer, none of 
the hundreds of persons who passed with¬ 
in a few feet of the truck took any no¬ 
tice of the robbery, so quickly and effi¬ 
ciently did the robbers work. The men 
on the truck, which, together with the 
furs, was owned by Bertram J. Goodman 
Company, manufacturing furriers of 210 
West 26th St., were driven to a far sec¬ 
tion of the Bronx and left there nearly 
two hours after the theft. 
One man was killed and 15 injured, 
one of them seriously, when a japanning 
and enameling oven on the top floor of 
the eight-story L. C. Smith typewriter 
plant at Syracuse, N. Y T . exploded May 
19. The dead man is Christian Petersen, 
who had attempted to light gas burners 
under one of five oven®. He was blown 
through a window about 200 ft. to the 
roof of a dwelling. 
Six persons were killed and approxi¬ 
mately 30 injured when two passenger 
cars of the Indiana Service Corporation 
Traction Company collided at a siding 
at Roanoke, Ind., May 19. 
The American Telephone and Tele¬ 
graph Company announced May 19 it has 
developed a new and simple system of 
transmitting photographs over long-dis¬ 
tance telephone lines. Demonstrating 
the method to newspaper men and engi¬ 
neers at its main office, 195 Broadway, it 
received variou® pictures from Cleveland, 
in a transmission time of silghtly less 
than five minutes for each. The appar¬ 
atus has been under active development 
about 18 months by engineers of the com¬ 
pany and the Western Electric Company, 
officials in charge of the demonstration 
said. In its present form, according to 
the company’s formal announcement, it 
“represents the association of many re¬ 
cent inventions together with standard 
types of telephone and telegraph appar¬ 
atus which have been readapted to this 
new use.” 
Five men were burned or otherwise in¬ 
jured, one probably mortally, when an 
oil tank ear at the Craig Oil Refining 
Company, St. Paul, Minn., exploded May 
19. igniting a warehouse containing ap¬ 
proximately $300,000 worth of oil prod¬ 
ucts. A spark, believed to have been gen¬ 
erated when Peter Fishbach, an employe 
of the company, dropped the lid of the 
car into place, is held responsible for the 
explosion. Fishbach is believed to have 
been fatally burned. 
After killing an elderly woman and 
severely injuring an aged man, an auto¬ 
mobile containing three young men and 
three young women gave the New Y T ork 
Two Weeks Later 
police a spirited chase in the evening of 
May 19 and halted at Eighth Ave. and 
50th St., only after one shot had been 
fired after it from a police revolver, and 
after the driver of the car had further 
flight barred by a traffic jam. The op¬ 
erator of the machine, who described 
himself to the police as Paul Schoop of 
West New Brighton, Staten Island, was 
charged with homicide, violating the 
speed law and operating an automobile 
without a license. The woman victim of 
the accident was described later as Caro¬ 
line Converse, 60, of Meriden, Conn., and 
the man as her brother-in-law, Oscar J. 
Dennis, 72, a hay and grain merchant 
residing at 301 West 46th St. They 
were crossing Eighth Ave. below 48th St. 
when the machine struck them with such 
force that, according to witnesses, the 
woman was carried about 25 ft. on the 
fender before she fell to the pavement. 
SOLDIERS’ BONUS.—May 19 the 
Senate, overriding the President's veto, 
passed the insurance bonus bill by a 
vote of 59 to 26. Under the terms of 
the bonus law men who served less than 
60 days get nothing, as every soldier re¬ 
ceived $60 upon discharge. Those who 
served between 60 and 110 days will re¬ 
ceive cash to the amount of $1 for each 
day of the excess. Other veterans get 
20-year endowment insurance policies. 
The value of the policy is determined as 
follows: The veteran is allowed $1 for 
every day of domestic service above the 
original $60 and $1.25 for each day of 
foreign service. This sum, not to exceed 
$500 for domestic service and $625 for 
foreign service, is multiplied by an ar¬ 
bitrary figure, depending upon the age 
of the veteran. There is little difference 
in this figure, which averages about 2.5. 
The result is then increased by 25 per 
cent and the total is the value of the 
policy. The maximum policy for home 
service would be about $1,600 and for 
foreign service $1,900. The average is 
$962. At the end of two years the vet¬ 
eran can borrow up to 90 per cent of the 
current face value of the policy—in the 
case of a $1,000 one the loan could be 
$87.93. The amount increases each year 
until at the end of the nineteenth year 
it would be $831.23. If he fails to re¬ 
pay, the Government becomes liable for 
the debt and the veteran forfeits his poli¬ 
cy. All members of the army, navy or 
Marine Corps up to the grade of captain 
in the army or lieutenant in the navy 
are eligible for the bonus except civilian 
officers or members of the Student Army 
Training Corps and Officers’ Reserve 
Training Corps. Dependents of dead 
veterans get their bonus. Provision is 
made for a sinking fund which at the end 
of 20 years will have paid up all the 
policies. The War Department will need 
an appropriation of $4,500,000, the Vet¬ 
erans’ Bureau, $1,000,000 and the Navy 
Department $SOO,0OO to administer the 
bonus, according to estimates submitted 
to the director of the budget May 20. In 
all three government departments, addi¬ 
tional clerks will be required, as well as 
additional buildings to carry on the enor¬ 
mous task of checking up on applications, 
which will flow in from World War vet¬ 
erans. 
WASHINGTON.—President Coolidge 
experimented May 20 with the new chlo¬ 
rine gas treatment for colds, which Sec¬ 
retary Weeks found effective a short 
time ago and recommended to the Presi¬ 
dent as a cure for his bronchial infection. 
Mr. Coolidge motored to the army dis¬ 
pensary and sat 45 minutes in the gas 
chamber, while Lieut. Col. M. A. De 
Laney, attending surgeon of the army 
medical center, directed the gas supply. 
The President apparently thought well of 
the treatment, as it was said he may try 
it again within a few days. Use of chlo¬ 
rine gas.for colds was taken up after it 
was noticed during the war that those 
engaged in working with it did not suf¬ 
fer in the general influenza epidemic of 
the army. 
The conferees on the Tax Reduction 
Bill reached a tentative agreement May 
20 over the form of revenue legislation 
which they will report back to both 
Houses of Congress. The bill that will 
be reported will be the House measure 
in all practical purposes, with the Sim¬ 
mons Democratic normal and surtaxes 
retained but considerably modified. The 
Jones graduated corporation tax, the 
Norris amendment providing for the pub¬ 
licity of all tax returns, the Walsh in¬ 
heritance tax amendment and the Mc- 
Kellar amendment for the publicity of 
refund decisions all are expected to be 
eliminated. The Jones amendment, pro¬ 
viding for the publicity of hearings on 
refunds before the Board of Tax Appeals 
probably will be kept in the bill. In 
place of the Jones graduated corpora¬ 
tion tax the measure will contain the 
House provision for a 12*4 per cent tax 
on corporations, and in place of the 
graduated inheritance provision in the 
Senate bill will be substituted the House 
provision for an estate tax which runs 
to a minimum of 40 per cent. 
Lower birth rates and higher death 
rates for last year, as compared with 
1922, were recorded by the Census Bu¬ 
reau. Statistics made public May 16, 
which show that the highest birth rate, 
34.8 per 1.000 population, was in cities 
of Wyoming, and the lowest, 15.6 per 
1.000. in rural districts of Montana. The 
highest death rate, 20.3 per 1.000 was in 
cities of Mississippi, and the lowest, 6.5 
per 1,000, in rural districts of Idaho. In¬ 
fant mortality rates were generally 
higher than those of 1922. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—Escalators 
for ladder-shy fish were proposed at Seat¬ 
tle, Wash., May 16 to solve the problem 
of building a 90-ft. dam in the Columbia 
River $100,000,000 power project without 
blocking the peregrinations of the salmon 
in their native habitat. Models will be 
erected to determine whether the fish will 
consent to being escalated or whether 
they prefer to climb a ladder or be shot 
through a turbine elevator. The salmon 
annually go up the river to spawn and 
then return to deep water. 
A seven ton shipment of parasite grubs, 
to be used in combating the Japanese 
beetle, is expected to reach Philadelphia 
late in June or early in July. Dr. C. 
H. Hadley, Director Bureau of Plant In¬ 
dustry, Department of Agriculture, an¬ 
nounced May 15. The parasites are be¬ 
ing shipped from that part of Japan 
where the climate corresponds to that of 
New Jersey and Southeastern Pennsyl¬ 
vania, Dr. Hadley said. Parts of Dela¬ 
ware. New Jersey and Pennsylvania are 
included in quarantine regulations recent¬ 
ly issued. 
A Snow Scene in South Jersey, April 2 
The Same House 
