938 
Jht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 28, 1924 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Home* 
Established tsso 
V iblUbrd weekly by the Hu rat Publishing Company, 333 West 80tb Street, New York 
Hkrbkiit W. Colling wood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
"Wm. 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, 82.01. Remit in money 
order, express order, pei-sonal 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 
advertisei-s 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. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertiser 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 subscriber and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertiser or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscriber 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. 
HE New York school law regarding qualifica¬ 
tion of voters in school meetings seems quite 
plain, yet we have frequent calls for interpretation. 
Here is one: 
There has been much discussion upon the following 
question : Has a wife, possessing the age and citizenship 
qualifications only, a right to vote at school meeting? 
The husband is a taxpayer. m. r. ii. 
In this case the answer is no. The wife must 
have one of the other qualifications. If she is a 
joint owner of the property with her husband, they 
both can vote on the same property. 
Another case frequently brought up is found in 
the following: 
We are a family of three—father, mother and son 
(single). Father and I have a deed for our farm which 
is joint, or made with both names. This deed was made 
by a competent lawyer. I attended our district school 
meeting and was elected collector and treasurer, and in 
the voting voted myself for the other officers. After the 
meeting some of the old officials came to me and told 
me that I had no right to vote and that the meeting 
was illegal on that account; that I had no right to vote 
because a joint deed between father and son was not 
legal. C. G. 
In this case our answer is that the old official who 
told you you had no right to vote because you had a 
joint deed with your father either did not know the 
school law or was trying to deceive you. If you 
have the other qualifications you are entitled to 
vote. 
* 
An order has gone forth from the Highway Depart¬ 
ment that by virtue of authority conferred by recent act 
of the Legislature, no signs, billboards or advertisements 
of any nature shall be erected hereafter within the four- 
rod limit of State highways, and all those that are al¬ 
ready up shall be taken down. 
HAT refers to New Hampshire, the first State to 
make determined war against offensive adver¬ 
tising signs. The chief natural asset of New Hamp¬ 
shire is her scenery. Tourists pour into the State, 
and a great army of Summer boarders march up her 
hills each Summer. They have become disgusted at 
the way advertising signs have crowded in. One 
can hardly see “the old stone face” or the blue 
stretches of lakes for the endless string of signs 
offering “hot dogs,” garters, corsets, soaps, and all 
sorts of clothing from overcoats to the skin. The 
State will lose much of its tourist trade unless this 
nuisance is abated. Farmers are interested in this, 
for next to follow will be some of the roadside mar¬ 
kets. Many of them are not conducted by farmers at 
all, but by peddlers who buy produce on the public 
markets and use it as a side line with soft drinks 
and “hot dogs.” It will be necessary to set some 
very cold-blooded dogs after them before long in 
order to protect legitimate dealers. We think that 
soon the States will agree to some form of license for 
these roadside stands, with some limit or model for 
the building to be erected, and some certificate of 
character for the owner. The business has now de¬ 
veloped to great proportions, and we think actual 
farmers and legitimate dealers will be helped by fail- 
regulation. 
* 
W HAT a world this is! What a country this is! 
How is it possible that with all the great dif¬ 
ferences in thought, desire and accomplishment, this 
big nation of ours has held together in the American 
Union so long? Have you ever thought of that— 
thought what a mixed-up personality this America 
of ours really is? The occasion for these reflections 
ii presented by a letter sent by one of our readers in 
Idaho. Here at the East life has been one prolonged 
bath. Rain after rain has washed and soaked us 
continuously. Yet listen to this, all ye who have seen 
your lower fields so wet that you have accused Na¬ 
ture of being a bootlegger: 
The Western farmers are suffering from the worst 
shortage of water we have ever known. Perhaps you 
saw it in the paper. There was too mild a Winter, and 
no enow means no river water. The Snake is the lowest 
we have ever known. The worst of it is that the farmers 
above us on the canal are stealing our water every night, 
We, at the tail end of the ditch, set our water at night, 
only to find that it has not flowed. Such situations re¬ 
sult out here in murders. There have been several oc¬ 
casioned by water disputes. Our men have to go out 
and lie in the weeds all night on the canal hanks watch¬ 
ing for the thieves. Strangely enough, these water 
thieves, who wouldn’t think of picking a pocket, will 
steal a man’s living by diverting his water to their own 
use, and then go on Sunday to church and sing their 
loudest, and pray there most earnestly, unconscious of 
their sin. 
Well, we may have different weather, but human 
nature seems to be much the same. The failure of 
the irrigators to co-operate is no more irritating than 
the refusal of some of our Eastern farmers to help 
dig a ditch to carry off the water from their neigh¬ 
bor’s farm. 
R EGENT announcement by. scientific men that the 
future will see a remedy for cancer has encour¬ 
aged a new lot of quacks to rush up to the front 
with “cancer cures.” The peculiar psychology of 
those who suffer from cancer or tuberculosis is well 
understood by these quacks. Most of the afflicted 
will grasp at a shadow and throw their money at a 
cloud. There is the old story of the man who paid 
his money for “shadow soup,” a miraculous food 
which was to put flesh on his wasted bones and bring 
back his lost vigor. It was found that the makers of 
“shadow soup” hung a bone in the air so that its 
shadow fell into a pot of boiling water! Most of 
the so-called cancer cures are just about as efficient 
as that soup. There is no sure cure for cancer yet 
worked out. The knife, promptly and properly ap¬ 
plied, is at present the hope for cancer patients. 
Fooling with these so-called “cures” will only permit 
the disease to spread until even the knife will not re¬ 
move it. Beware of “cancer cures.” We regret to 
say that this dread disease has afflicted many of our 
people. Take it in time! Be prompt. Keep away 
from advertised cures. 
* 
T HE last issue of The R. N.-Y. contained this 
brief advertisement: 
SAVAGE DOG WANTED to guard chicken range— 
that attacks first and barks afterward. Bull pre¬ 
ferred. No yap-yap. 
Here is a chicken man who knows just what he 
wants and he certainly describes a very good antidote 
or medicine for chicken thieves. Some gentle, tail-wag¬ 
ging dog may be good for children and pleasant vis¬ 
itors, but for the chicken owner “man’s best friend” 
has greater use for his teeth than for his tail. Out¬ 
siders have very little business inside your henhouses 
and yards. Any stranger who enters without per¬ 
mission invites attack, and should not object if he 
gets it. “No yap-yap!” Good suggestion that—good 
not only for dogs, but for human guardians as well. 
Many a thief has escaped through too much yap¬ 
ping. 
* 
T HE Supreme Court recently decided that beer is 
not to be considered as a medicine in a legal 
sense. Shortly after the war the Attorney General 
of the United States ruled that beer of definite 
strength might he legally made and sold on a doc¬ 
tor’s prescription for use as a tonic or medicine. 
Congress promptly passed a law definitely prohibiting 
such use. This left brewers with a large stock of 
such medicinal beer on hand, and they brought suit 
questioning the right of Congress to make such a law. 
The court has now definitely decided that such legis¬ 
lation comes within the right of Congress, and the 
law is upheld. It is a significant thing that while 
opponents of the prohibition laws claim that they 
are gaining in their fight for a modification or repeal, 
every legal decision by the higher courts is in favor 
of the law. 
* 
T HE R. N.-Y. advised its readers to buy Liberty 
bonds both as a patriotic contribution to the 
nation and as a safe investment. Even when the 
price fell to nearly SO in some issues we advised 
holding on, for these bonds were sure to rise in 
price. This advice has been fully justified. These 
bonds are now at high mark. All of them are above 
par, and some issues up to 104. People who had the 
faith and courage to buy these bonds at 81 have 
made nearly 20 points, or about 25 per cent on their 
investment, besides having a low rate of interest. 
Tliere were some who could not be content with this 
solid investment. They went chasing after 10 per¬ 
cent in oil. Most of them are now in about the posi¬ 
tion of the dog who crossed the bridge with a piece 
of meat in his mouth. He looked down into the , 
water and thought he saw another dog with a larger 
piece of meat. What he saw was his own piece, mag¬ 
nified by its reflection in the water. He snapped at 
what he saw and lost his own meat. Aside from 
the question of any safe investment, it is a great 
thing for the nation to have its obligations held as 
securities by a great number of the people. It will 
give anyone a better feeling toward his country if he 
can feel that part of his property is invested in Lib¬ 
erty bonds. 
* 
A CITIZEN of Pennsylvania who has a well-ap¬ 
pointed dairy asks this question : 
I have a milk route, and I aerate and cool the milk as 
soon as it is drawn. Can I add carbonate of soda or 
carbonate of potash to the milk to assist in keeping it 
from turning? Is it lawful? How much must I add to 
100 lbs. of milk? 
The answer is “No!” One section of the Penn¬ 
sylvania milk law reads as follows: 
Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., that if any person, 
firm or corporate body, by himself, herself, or them¬ 
selves, or by his, her or their agents or servants, shall 
offer for sale, expose for sale, sell, or have in possession 
with intent to sell, for human consumption, milk or 
cream to which has been added boracic acid salt, boracic 
acid, salicylic acid, salicylate of soda, formaline, for¬ 
maldehyde, sodium flouride, sodium benzoate, or any 
other compound or substance for the purpose of pre¬ 
serving or coloring the same, shall be deemed guilty of 
a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof in the 
court of quarter sessions of the proper county, shall be 
sentenced to pay a fine of not less than .$50 nor more 
than $100, or to undergo an imprisonment not exceeding 
60 days, or both, at the discretion of the court. 
This language means that in Pennsylvania no drug 
or chemical of any kind whatsoever may be legally 
added to milk or cream. 
* 
S EVERAL letters have come to us lately, which 
seem to indicate a new idea on the part of farm¬ 
ers. Most of them come from middle-aged people 
who have a good home. Their children have grown 
up and left them. The older folks cannot work as 
they formerly did, and the farm becomes something 
of a burden. The plan is to seed most of it down, sell 
hay or rent pasture and find some new source of in¬ 
come. Such people would like to take a few children 
to board. They think there must be married people 
in the city who have perhaps one child. Both par¬ 
ents are obliged to work, and thus cannot care for 
the child properly. Would they not be glad to pay a 
fair sum in order that their little one may be kept off 
the streets and given a good home, under kindly 
care, until they are able to make a home of their 
own? That is the theory, and there are certainly 
cases where it is being worked out in practice to 
mutual satisfaction. The farmer’s trouble is to find 
people who have such children, and the city man’s 
trouble is to assure himself that his child will be 
cared for as he wishes. There have been cases where 
the farmer found himself with an abandoned child 
left on his hands, and sometimes the little one is not 
kindly treated and misses the love and confidence 
which should be a part of its heritage. If such 
things can be settled properly the plan is a good one 
for both parties, and we should like to see more of 
it worked out. Many a farm home now growing cold 
could be rewarmed by the advent of a few of these 
little boarders. 
* , 
T HERE seems to be some little mix-up over the 
New York law concerning the building of a dam 
across a stream. The Conservation law provides 
that no dams shall be constructed without comply¬ 
ing with such conditions as the State Engineer may 
prescribe. This section does not apply to a dam 
where the area draining into the pond does not ex¬ 
ceed one square mile, unless the dam is more than 
10 ft. in height, or impounds more than 1,000,000 gal¬ 
lons. Keep this in mind when seeking to hold back 
the waters of a stream. It may save you trouble. 
Brevities 
Have you tried c-od liver oil for baby chicks? 
Grasshoppers are fond of salt. A little of it used in 
grasshopper “bait” will help. 
It is said that Australia will have a surplus of 1,000,- 
000 bushels of corn for export this year. 
No man of common parts can ever rise to fame unless 
he will make drudgery his middle name. 
The man who cannot adapt himself to new conditions 
should not try to play the part of dog in the manger. 
On January 1 the total population of this country 
was estimated at 112,826,000—an increase of more than 
7,000,000 since 1920. 
Why not go to Australia and raise green turtles for 
a living! Turtle soup at $8.75 a quart brings more 
than milk at present prices ! 
One of the latest applications of science to baseball 
is freezing the ball before it is given out for play. This 
is said to increase its “lively” qualities and to produce 
extra home runs. " • . . .. 
