1333 
A Railroad Decision on Milk Rates 
T HE Interstate Commerce Commission has hand¬ 
ed down a decision to the effect that the refusal 
of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, and 
Central New England railroads to ice interstate less 
than carload shipments of milk and other dairy 
products from points an New York and Connecticut 
to destination, while exacting rates including such 
service, is continuing an unreasonable and unlawful 
practice. Reparations were denied for lack of proof 
of the amount of damage sustained; but this proof 
of amount of damage may be presented later. 
The complainant in this case is the Borden’s Farm 
Products Company. Previous to October 1, 1917, the 
shipper was entitled to have less than carload ship¬ 
ments iced when necessary on payment of 20 per 
cent extra of the regular tariff. On that date the 
rates were changed and included icing when neces¬ 
sary on less than carload shipments. The defendant 
carriers, however, not onlj r did not ice the shipments, 
but made no provision to do so, and the icing was 
done by the Borden’s Company. From now on the 
railroads must ice the shipments or pay for the 
service. They must also pay for icing in the past, 
provided the Borden’s Company can .show satisfac¬ 
tory proof of the damage sustained through failure 
of the railroads to perform the service for which 
they were paid through the established rates. 
This case is really supplementary to the complaint 
brought by the New York Milk Conference Board 
against the New Haven road, and decided in favor of 
the complainant. The Borden case was brought to 
establish right of reparation in certain cases. Other 
claims have been held in abeyance waiting the de¬ 
cision in the Borden case. They will have to come 
with definite proof of the amount of damages sus¬ 
tained, which is not an easy task in such cases. 
Child Labor, Rural School, and the 
Candidates 
T HE Women’s League of Voters has sent a list 
of questions to the three candidates for Gov¬ 
ernor of New York State, Gov. A. E. Smith, Col. 
Theodore Roosevelt and Mr. Norman Thomas, of the 
Progressive party. Two of these questions are of 
particular importance to our country people—the 
child labor amendment and the rural school bill. All 
three of the candidates say they favor the ridiculous 
child labor amendment. The truth is, they are all 
afraid of the noisy and insistent group which has 
pushed this amendment through Congress. This 
gi oup is not large, numerically, but it is well organ¬ 
ized and most of its leaders have nothing to do ex¬ 
cept play politics with pet measures. The opponents 
of the amendment outnumber its friends five to one, 
but they are not yet organized, and it is the scheme 
of the amendment backers to push it through the 
Legislature before the practical people who oppose 
can understand it fully and organize. The Governor 
of the State will have little to do with it. The 
Legislature will decide whether to try to ratify at 
Albany or permit a popular referendum. We said 
two weeks ago that The R. N.-Y. does not care if all 
the politicians (male or female) this side of the 
River Styx favor this amendment. As proposed, it 
is wrong, and we shall fight it to the last. Our coun¬ 
try people can prevent its ratification in spite of all 
its backers if they will make their representatives 
understand what they want. We welcome this op¬ 
portunity to give the people a real chance to line up 
against the politicians. The other important ques¬ 
tion put to the candidates referred to the rural 
school question. It was put diplomatically about 
“equal chance for rural children,” but we all know 
that it was designed to put the candidates on record 
regarding the rural school bill. Gov. Smith and Mr. 
Thomas answer “Yes,” which means that they favor 
the bill and will urge its passage if elected. Col. 
Roosevelt does not answer “Yes” or “No,” but says 
he will give an extended answer later. If we under¬ 
stand his personal feeing, Col. Roosevelt will be 
guided largely by the desires of country people. If 
also we understand Gov. Smith’s position he favors 
the bill and would force it upon the country people 
even if they objected to it. He is on record as say¬ 
ing that he would like to abolish every one-room 
selioolhouse in the State. We do not believe that 
either Gov. Smith or Col. Roosevelt know anything 
about the rural district school except what the au¬ 
thorities tell them. Neither of them ever attended 
such a school; neither by education or early training 
can realize how our country people regard the dis¬ 
trict school, and the efforts to experiment with it as 
the school authorities want to do. The only point of 
difference seems to be that there is no political rea¬ 
son why Gov. Smith should consider the protests of 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
country people on this matter. His chief backing 
does not come from them. Col. Roosevelt must do 
so, since such protest will come from his chief army 
of supporters. In the meantime, we will serve notice 
that our country people are prepared if need be to 
put up another battle for the rural school which 
will make last year’s performance look like a picnic. 
The Change in Political Campaigns 
T HE election campaign this year has been unusu¬ 
ally free from personalities and personal abuse. 
Senator Wheeler as a candidate for Vice-president 
has indulged in some lively rhetoric, but even that 
has been quite tame compared with what many of us 
remember in the past. The famous Blaine campaign 
and the contest between Grant and Greeley were 
occasions when most men laid reasoning and logic 
aside, and simply attempted to outdo one another in 
blackening personal character. And even these nasty 
campaigns were dignified, compared to electioneer¬ 
ing in the early days of the Republic. The hideous 
assaults upon Lincoln would frighten and disgust 
most of our present voters. Washington is rightly 
called the “Father of his Country,” and most people 
of this generation seem to think the Americans of 
his time held him in veneration and awe. The truth 
is that Washington was abused in the most shame¬ 
ful manner by those who opposed him, and it is 
probable that he never could have been elected for 
a third term, so bitter was the feeling against the 
Federalist party to which he belonged. Down from 
the beginning of the Republic there has been a polit¬ 
ical difference between the conservatives or money 
and land-holding power, and the radical element. 
There have been outside issue like slavery, the tariff, 
finance and others, to dominate at times, but the 
primary struggle all through the years has been be¬ 
tween the well-to-do conservatives and the radicals, 
who aim to compel the conservatives to give up part 
of their power or pay a larger share of the taxes and 
public expenses. Through incomes taxes and welfare 
legislation the radicals have quietly obtained far 
more than Jefferson and his party friends ever ex¬ 
pected. In the usual political campaign both of the 
extreme elements demand far more than they ever 
expect to get. Each serves as a check upon the other. 
Both know that the result will be a form of com¬ 
promise. At times a wave of radicalism seems about 
to sweep over the country. Then it will recede, but 
through it all it never goes back to where it started 
from. There is always in the end some slight gain 
in human progress. The truth is that in this Re¬ 
public the politicians and so-called public leaders do 
not, after all, determine the issues or decide them. 
The people finally do that. They may go this way or 
that for a time, but ih the end their sober judgment 
will prevail. At one time Washington lost all faith 
in the political sense of the common people. He 
thought them incapable of self-government without 
strong rulers with stern power—like the general of 
an army. In Washington’s day people lived far apart. 
It was impossible to fuse their individual opinion 
into common judgment. Since that time this com¬ 
mon judgment has developed as men have been 
brought closer together. The car, the telephone, 
good roads, the radio, have all worked to bring 
people unconsciously into a sort of co-operation of 
thought and interests, such as was impossible in 
earlier days. And this is doing more for country 
people than any other class. Farmers have always 
been the most dependable class in America. When¬ 
ever they understand a proposition they will surely 
take the right side of it. We think the absence of 
personal abuse and general hysterics in this cam¬ 
paign is most encouraging. The politicians have 
found that'the great middle classes, and especially 
the farmers, understand more of •political economy 
than ever before. When the entire family sit at home 
around the radio and listen to some distant speaker 
there is a sober judgment invoked which cannot be 
found at the old-time “rally.” There will be a larger 
vote cast this year than ever before, and it will come 
nearer to being based on sober judgment rather than 
on prejudice. For, in spite of what the alarmists tell 
us, the plain people are growing wiser and sounder 
in their judgments. Whoever is elected this year, 
he will be held more directly responsible to the peo¬ 
ple than any President before him. 
The Hunting and Trespass Laws 
Living in the “wilds” of Sullivan County, and in a 
fairly good section for gunning, we naturally are pes¬ 
tered by city and other outside hunters, who think they 
own the game, and also our lands. We want to put a 
stop to this, and would appreciate a little advice and 
information. 
1. A copy of .Section 362 of the Conservation Law. 
2. How to form a sporting or preserve club, and in¬ 
corporate same. 
3. How must land be posted to comply with the law? 
4. After club is formed, and lands legally posted, 
and a man is caught hunting on posted land, what steps 
must be taken to prosecute the trespasser? 
•5. How to lease lands legally for hunting and fishing 
purposes. " f. ii. d. 
Sections 361 and 362 of the conservation law, which 
relate to the posting of private property, require that 
notices or signboards not less than one foot square shall 
be conspicuously posted not more than 40 rods apart, 
close to and along the entire boundary of the posted 
lands, that at least one notice or signboard shall be 
posted on each side and one on each corner of the posted 
lands, and that posting of such notices shall be sufficient, 
provided the illegible or destroyed signs be replaced 
once each year during the months of March, July, August 
or September. These notices should read as follows: 
“All persons are warned against hunting or 
fishing hereon or trespassing hereon for these 
pui-poses.” 
They must also bear the name and address of the 
party posting. 
Any person trespassing upon premises so posted, hav¬ 
ing in his possession a fishing rod, gun or any imple¬ 
ment or means by which fish, game or fur-bearing ani¬ 
mals may be destroyed, taken or killed, is guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and in addition thereto is liable for a pen¬ 
alty of from $10 to $50. 
Any person in whose presence the offence is commit¬ 
ted may make an arrest and deliver the prisoner without 
delay to the nearest magistrate. The better procedure, 
however, is to notify the State police, who will make the 
arrest and prosecute in the name of the State. 
If such trespasser shall cut, destroy or damage any 
bars, gates or fences, or shall leave open any bars or 
gates, resulting in damage to the owner or occupant, he 
is also guilty of a misdemeanor and liable for an addi¬ 
tional penalty of $50, one-half of which is payable to the 
owner of the property. 
F. H. D. also asks how to form a sporting or preserve 
club, and how to incorporate the same. A club may be 
formed without incorporation by adopting a constitution 
and by-laws which provide for the regulation of the club 
and the manner of admitting members, the amount of 
dues and for the regulation of its affairs, or it may be 
incorporated under the membership corporations law, 
which provides that five or more persons may become a 
membership corporation by making, acknowledging and 
filing a certificate stating (1) the objects for which the 
corporation is formed, (2) the name of the corporation, 
(3) the territory in which its operations are to be prin¬ 
cipally conducted, (4) the town, village or city in which 
its principal office is to be located, (5) the number of 
its directors, not less than three nor more than 40, and 
the names and places of residence of the persons to be 
its directors until its first annual meeting. Such cer¬ 
tificate should be filed in the office of the Secretary of 
State, and copy, certified by the Secretary of State, or a 
duplicate original of such certificate, filed and recorded 
in the office of the clerk of the county in which the office 
of the corporation is to be located. This certificate 
must be approved in writing by a Justice of the Su¬ 
preme Court before it can be filed. 
Such corporation should adopt by-laws suitable for 
the regulation of its affairs and the admission of mem¬ 
bers and dues. Leases running to the corporation or 
club should provide that the owner of the property gives 
and grants the exclusive right to shoot and fish over his 
property. Usually these leases are for the term of 
one year, with privilege of renewal annually for a term 
of years, with a clause providing that the lease shall 
immediately terminate in case of a sale of the property 
by the grantor, in order that the lease may not be a 
cloud upon the title. Unless the lease grants the ex¬ 
clusive right to hunt and fish over the property it can¬ 
not be legally posted. The owner of the property may 
still have the right to shoot over his land if he becomes 
a member of the club. h. m. mugiiam. 
Our Frightful Government Expenses 
OME astonishing figures are sent out by the Na¬ 
tional Industrial Conference Board, which 
claims to have made an accurate compilement of 
national statistics. 
It is claimed that the total expenses for govern¬ 
ment in 1923 were $10,045,000,000, this representing 
the sum of $91 for every man, woman and child in 
the United States. If the expenses of 1902 and 1860 
are compared with those of last year, we find that 
the total expense for each head of population is 8 y 2 
time greater than in 1902, and more than 5 y 2 times 
greater than in 1890. The Federal government spent 
$3,459,000,000. The State governments spent $1,450,- 
000,000, and local governments $5,136,000,000. It is 
said that the combined disbursements of all govern¬ 
ment units in this country for 1923 were equal to 
93 per cent of the total amount paid in wages and 
salaries in 1921 by all manufacturing plants 
In 1923 the sale of bonds for State and local gov¬ 
ernment aggregated $1,063,000,000; for the first seven 
months of this year these bonds have been sold to a 
total of $1,036,000,000, compared with $746,000,000 
for the same period in 1923. This gives us some¬ 
thing of an idea of where our public money is going. 
Many of these bonds are tax-exempt, and to a large 
extent the money spent for them would otherwise go 
into some regular line of business, either into indus¬ 
try or trade. When we come to think of spending 
$91 and more for each man, woman and child, merely 
to conduct our public business, it seems evident that 
this public business is being conducted in an extrava¬ 
gant way, and a halt should be called on this tre¬ 
mendous outpouring of public money. That is why 
our common people object seriously to heavy ex¬ 
penses in their town or locality. They know that 
general expenses must be cut down, and being un¬ 
able to touch the larger expenses they begin on those 
which are under their control. 
