1504 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 6, 1924 
Radio Department 
Radio Suggestions 
At this time of year, when radio recep¬ 
tion is getting better and better, all deal¬ 
ers in radio sets are doing their best to 
make sales, and it is with a very friendly 
intent toward the farmer, the rural dwell¬ 
er and the radio dealer that the follow¬ 
ing paragraphs are written. It is also 
with the hope that it will save the unwise 
spending of the farmer’s hard-earned dol¬ 
lars on worthless or unworkable radio 
sets, thus spoiling for you that which 
might be a bringer of pleasure, profit and 
education into your home. 
Fai.se or Misleading Claims. —Many 
makers claim for their radio sets the im¬ 
possible, and by shrewd talk on the part 
of the dealer, backed by extravagant 
claims, a sale is made and the buyer dis¬ 
appointed. You know that when you are 
going to spend from $25 to .$200 on any 
farm tool, you make every effort to find 
out if it will save you time, trouble, and 
if it will do that which is claimed for it. 
Do the same when buying your radio 
sets, or parts. 
Paying for Looks. —The fancy strip- 
your set the more battery current you 
must use, and the more batteries cr 
more current that you use the more it 
will cost you to run your set. 
Cost of Operating Radio Sets. —No 
definite figures can be given for the actual 
cost of operating a radio unless the type 
of set is known and the exact number of 
hours a day you are going to use your 
set is known, but an approximate cost 
can be figured upon. An estimate is not 
not more than .$1 a month ! This is not 
much, and in many instances does not 
amount to 50 cents a month. At $1 a 
month you can have three hours of en¬ 
joyment, instruction and profit, either by 
listening to music, talks or statistics or 
market reports, each day or night. This 
is less than one good concert or lecture 
would cost you if you took your whole 
family to such a concert or lecture only 
once a month, and the small cost monthly 
will help you to many better things that 
you never would or could get otherwise 
than through radio. This monthly ex¬ 
pense does not mean that you pay out .$1 
each month, but that the average cost 
ing on a plow, or a lot of extras on a ma¬ 
nure spreader, do not add a bit to the 
value to you, nor would you buy a ma¬ 
nure spreader because the wagon box was 
made of walnut or mahogany, or buy a 
harness because the buckles were all gold- 
plated. Yet the radio dealer in most in¬ 
stances can sell you a fancy cabinet, if 
you are willing, which will not contain 
any better set than a cheaper cabinet, the 
price of the cabinet adding double price 
to the set. The fact that a radio set 
looks good does not mean that it is good. 
Many makers are putting very inferior 
parts into sets, and clothing them in a 
handsome exterior. 
'Guarantees. —Reputable dealers, and 
this includes the large mail-order houses, 
guarantee that their sets will do all they 
claim for them. Buy only from someone 
whom you know, and whose guarantee 
you can be sure of being fulfilled. If you 
can get the dealer to install your set. and 
after trying it out, pay for it, you will be 
better off. The better dealers are doing 
this. 
Numrer of Tubes. —'Nearly all radio 
sets now use vacuum tubes in their make¬ 
up. (We will discuss this in later ar¬ 
ticles.) Bear in mind that a good one- 
tube set will reach almost as great dis¬ 
tances as a three or four-tube set. The 
more tubes the louder the music or voice. 
To buy a set that uses more than four 
tubes is throwing money away in the ma¬ 
jority of instances. A good three or four- 
tube set will give you all the volume nec¬ 
essary to be heard all over a small house, 
or in a large room, depending upon the 
kind of “loud speaker” that you get with 
the set. The more tubes you have in 
spread over the year comes to that 
amount. If you have a home lighting 
plant your expense will be less than if 
you have to buy new dry batteries every 
two or three months, or have a storage 
battery charged once or twice a month. 
The different types of batteries used will 
be spoken of in later articles. 
When in Doubt—Wjiat? —Ask some¬ 
one who knows what he is talking about 
and has made a little study of this sub¬ 
ject. There is lots of free advice floating 
around ; some of it is good and much is 
poor because it is given by those who do 
not know or have had very little experi¬ 
ence. Just as you go to your farm paper 
for information along agricultural lines, 
because you have confidence in their 
knowledge, just so with radio ; ask them 
and they will get for you the information 
you wish, if possible. Technical knowl¬ 
edge can be secured from books and tech¬ 
nical magazines, but the average farmer 
wants practical advice that he can under¬ 
stand. 
Do Not Tinker. —If you buy a set and 
it does not work right, do not tinker with 
it, but have the man who sold it to you fix 
it up, or someone who knows. A little 
mistake may cost you $5 to .$20 by the 
careless burning out of vacuum tubes 
(these same tubes wfill last for years if 
properly cared for.) If your tractor or 
car must be repaired you hire someone 
who knows how to do it. Your watch 
you take to a jeweler and not to a black¬ 
smith (some jewelers seem like black¬ 
smiths, at that), so do the same with 
your radio set; use care, and when re¬ 
pairing is needed, take it to a man who 
knows how to do that work. j. h. f. 
Legal Questions 
Public Officials and 
Contracts 
Under the laws and charter for second 
class cites, if a man holds the position 
of commissioner of public works, or in¬ 
spector of buildings, or fire marshal, can 
he bid on public work and accept the con¬ 
tract for same? Is such a proceeding 
illegal ? j. K . 
Troy, N. Y. 
We have not the charter of your city 
at hand, so are unable to examine that. 
The General City Law, however, pro¬ 
vides “No member of the common coun¬ 
cil of any city shall, during the period 
for which he was elected, be capable of 
holding under the appointment or elec¬ 
tion of the common council any office the 
emoluments of which are paid from the 
city treasury, or paid by fees or compen¬ 
sation directed to be paid by any act or 
ordinance of the common council, nor 
shall the mayor or alderman, school com¬ 
missioner or other public officer of any 
city be directly or indirectly interested, 
either as principal, surety or otherwise, 
in any contract, the expense or considera¬ 
tion whereof is payable out of the city 
treasury, but this section shall not affect 
the right to any fees or emoluments be¬ 
longing to any office. Any officer of any 
city who violates any provision of this 
section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor 
and on conviction thereof hie office shall 
be vacant.” 
In 1922 the court held: “Where a city 
charter provides that the superintendent 
of public works shall be ‘an officer of the 
board of public works and not a city of-, 
ficial,’ he is a public officer of the city 
and as such is prohibited by this section 
frm receiving money from the city for 
the hire of his automobile for use on of¬ 
ficial business.” It has also been ruled 
that a member of the city board of health 
is a city official within the meaning of the 
section above named. n. t. 
Right of Way in New Jersey 
What rights and what, obligations has 
the owner of property over which there is 
a right of way, and what rights and ob¬ 
ligations are the holders of this right of 
way entitled to and liable for? The 
principal point to be made clear is the 
maintenance of condition. Does the per¬ 
son giving a road over his property have 
any responsibility as to keeping it in re¬ 
pair and passable if he has furnished the 
best location that the land is capable? 
On first thought he would not, but I am 
more or less creditably informed that in 
New Jersey an owner is obliged not only 
to give right of way under certain condi¬ 
tions, but keep it passable. What fixes 
the property over which a right of way 
is directed over a certain holding when 
there are several ways to be selected? 
New Jersey. F. S. 
There is not, in the State of New Jer¬ 
sey, any obligation upon a person giving 
an easement to make repair on the ease¬ 
ment given as a general rule. Of course 
this rule can be changed, if the parties 
by a written agreement,—or if the party 
giving the easement has for a period of 
2*0 years made repairs—then in that 
case he must continue to do so. In other 
words, there is no obligation on the part 
of F. S., for instance, to make repairs on 
a right of way he would give to a neigh¬ 
bor unless he stipulates ho in his con¬ 
tract, deed, grant, or makes repairs for 
20 years on the right of way. Further¬ 
more, the person to whom he gave the 
right of way could prevent him from 
making repairs unless he reserves the 
right in his deed. The right of way must 
be fixed by the parties affected, and the 
person who gives the right of way must 
do so in writing or it is not good. R. 
Contract for Land 
We bought a farm February 2. 1920. 
and were to make monthly payments of 
.$S0 or more, except January and Febru¬ 
ary each year. The lawyer made out the 
papers, but failed to state that w’heri the 
mortgage is lifted, we were to make small 
yearly payments. We did not notice till 
of late that he did not mention the yearly 
payments in the writings, but says such 
payments are customary and thinks the 
former owner will make it all right. He 
(the first owner) has traded all papers 
in on another farm. Can either of them 
be expected to comply with the verbal 
contract, or should the lawyer change 
the writings? Some argue that I do not 
compute interest correctly. I divide in¬ 
terest for one year by 560 to get interest 
for one day and multiply that by number 
days in the various months. I get in¬ 
terest in dollars and cents, reduce the re¬ 
mainder and if it is less than five mills, 
I drop it. If I am wrong, will you please 
give me the correct method? j. M. 
New York. 
We assume that you purchased your 
farm on a land contract, and after a cer¬ 
tain amount was paid you are to give 
a mortgage and receive a deed. If the 
contract is silent as to the method of pay¬ 
ment after the mortgage is given there 
will have to be an agreement made be¬ 
tween mortgagor and mortgagee. A verbal 
agreement cannot vary the terms of a 
written instrument. 
The common method of figuring in¬ 
terest is as follows: One year, six cents, 
one month, five mills, 1 day, one-sixth of 
a mill. There are interest tables which 
you can get which are better than any of 
the attempted short cuts. 
Roadside Drainage 
Question 
I he water on one side of the road has 
^ways been drained into one of my fields. 
1ms field is sloped in such a manner that 
it is impossible to ditch this water, so it 
soaks into the ground. A few years back 
the road was worked in such a manner 
that) the water (from both sides was 
thrown on me. I made no objection at 
the time; but during a very heavy snow¬ 
storm this past Winter, or rather the 
thaw that followed, the water backed up 
and became so deep in the road that men 
got out of their wagons and tried to open 
a passageway down the road, for they 
saw my field could not carry it all. All 
through the Spring rains this same con- 
dition has occurred. About a week ago I 
received a letter from the borough clerk 
stating that the waterway would be fixed 
as it had “always been” and that I was 
not to interfere with it in the future. Do 
I not have a right to know who placed 
this false accusation against me? And 
considering the borough itself changed 
the waterway in the first place, can I 
refuse to take it? I understand the wa¬ 
ter from this road should be drained into 
a creek which runs parallel with the road 
on the other side. Can I insist that the 
water be drained on the other side, as it 
did in the first place? c. E. 
New Jersey. 
C. E. has not any cause for action 
against the borough where he lives at this 
time. lie did have a cause of action at 
the time the grade of the road was 
changed, and could have asked to have 
the damage caused by the change of grade 
assessed. The time to have the damages 
assessed, however, expires 12 months after 
the repairs are made. The proper pro¬ 
cedure would be to petition or ask the 
mayor and borough council to construct 
a drain under the road so that the water 
might drain off to lower field and follow 
its natural course. 
The mayor and council have power to 
do this, and by showing them the condi¬ 
tion that had arisen from the change in 
the road they will probably give the mat¬ 
ter their attention. If this procedure 
does not bring the resul the might put 
the matter before the State Board of 
Health, as such a condition must cause a 
breeding place for mosquitoes and an un¬ 
healthful condition. 
Unless a complaint has been lodged 
against 0. E. it would not be of any ben¬ 
efit to find out who made the accusation, 
as it is not a criminal offeuse. 
Question of Property 
Possession 
I am sending you an agreement to 
look over. The farm is abandoned and 
many articles taken since I signed the 
agreement. Telling the agent about it, 
he said you can do nothing about it be¬ 
cause no owner is living there. The 
agent said that I cannot lock the build¬ 
ings, onlv to come harvest the crops and 
make repairs. The farm is about 50 
miles from my present home. When I 
went there to see if the eight acres of 
wheat were ready to cut there were 
eight head of cattle pasturing and four 
heifers roaming in the wheatfield. A 
person told me to whom they belonged 
and that this farmer has rented the 
meadow from the man who sold the farm 
to the party I bought from. Next time 
I come up I might find somebody pick¬ 
ing or moving something, telling me he 
rented it or bought it. h. S. 
New Jersey. 
The contract inclosed with th letter is 
legally drawn and can be enforced. Until 
H. S. takes possession on stated date 
he cannot maintain an action of trespass 
against anyone coming upon the premises. 
When he takes title to the property he 
should see that all the tools and articles 
listed are on the premises. Unless owner 
or agent are able to perform the condi¬ 
tions of the contract H. S. does not need 
to purchase the property and can recover 
the amount of the deposit. It is entirely 
up to the seller to see that every article 
listed remains on the premises. 
We should advise H. S. to have an at- 
tornev make a search of the property be¬ 
fore he buys it. It might be possible 
there are encumbrances against the 
property. His attorney might also in¬ 
vestigate as to whether there is any sec¬ 
tion of the farm rented out. In theevent 
any section has been rented he need not 
take title until the same are cleared up. 
He (ardently) : “Have you ever met 
a man whose touch seemed tee thrill every 
fiber of your being?” She: “Oh, yes, 
once—-a dentist.”—Bos-ton Transcript.' 
