1h* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1517 
Ideas About Auto Laws 
Referring to the letter of C. F. on page 
1413, I wish to say that I do not believe 
anyone has a constitutional right to say 
that he shall not run his flivver. He has 
proven by four years of driving that he is 
no great menace to the safety of others. I 
believe this man could continue to drive 
his car and the constitution will bear him 
him out. The glaring headlights are still 
used by the thousands, and no license 
should be issued to these drivers until 
they are removed from their cars. In re¬ 
gard to boys under 18 driving to school 
with a car, I have known of them swal¬ 
lowing their dinners at about three 
“gulps” and then load the cars with 
pupils and spend the noon hour joy-rid¬ 
ing and showing the pupils some of the 
daredevil stunts they are capable of. If I 
had a boy going to a village school I 
think I would prefer to take him there 
and get him again at night. I would 
wager that there are as many fathers 
who are pleased with -the age limit as are 
not. L. P. 
That Divining Rod 
“That electric conductor finding wa¬ 
ter—subconscious mentality.” More than 
half a century ago I investigated forked 
stick finding water. Subconscious men¬ 
tality has nothing to do with it. Con¬ 
scious mentality may have much to do 
with it. For you will find, if you sit 
down and spend an evening at it, you are 
able to control the movement of the 
stick. But a man with stiff arms soon 
tires and as there is a little let-up on 
the unnatural position the stick may go 
down without his intention. 
Position for Holding Divining Rod 
It is all done with the pronator and 
supinator muscles. Our arms and hands 
are prone when the back is turned for¬ 
ward. That is the position of a horse’s 
foreleg, but we can by effort make our 
hands supine. You can do it without a 
stick. Turn the thumbs outward, palms 
forward. That is the position of a man’s 
hands walking about Hying the stick. 
Hold them forcibly there. The pron¬ 
ator quadratus muscle soon tires, and the 
supinators, and involuntarily the fore¬ 
arms take the position of pronation. And 
down points the stick. The picture shows 
position required. • reader. 
The Post Office and the 
Farmer 
The parcel post system is continually 
exhibited to both the producer and con¬ 
sumer as a means whereby the farmer 
and his products can be brought to the 
door of the consumer. Excellent in The¬ 
ory—with a capital T. Only those who 
have tried, and tried in vain, to use the 
parcel post, can best describe how the 
parcel post has benefited (?) them. 
Did you ever witness the handling of 
good, fresh, wholesome eggs (worth in 
the city at present S5c per dozen) by the 
men who handle the farmers’ precious 
stock? They leave the post office, as the 
local postmaster says, with infinite care. 
They are placed on a truck for the sta¬ 
tion. They are handled “first” because 
they are “breakable.” Then, if there are 
20 bags of mail to go on the same train, 
they are thrown on top of a good egg 
container (containing the farmers’ pre¬ 
cious stock), probably to “preserve” the 
eggs from the cold. The station handler, 
to “speed up,” throws the container to 
the railway mail clerk ; he in turn throws 
or kicks it aside to get his mail bags 
aboard. At the point of destination the 
mode of procedure is reversed. 
Presto! The person to whom the eggs 
are consigned receives them all ready for 
the table—one beautiful omelet, and the 
container invariably fit for the junkman! 
A claim on insured packages you surely 
have—but go and collect. That’s all the 
producer has to do. 
The writer is just in receipt of a letter 
from a gentleman in Philadelphia who 
used a new container for a few months, 
and in a complaint to his postmaster in 
Philadelphia concludes : 
“Please do not come back and tell me 
the carrier is old; I know that, and also 
know that it reached a premature old age 
from the treatment it has had from your 
department.” 
This epitomizes the true situation. 
Eggs are handled like horseshoes. Might 
the Post Office Department commend 
itself to the shipper of eggs by having 
placards attached to the container, read¬ 
ing, “Use no hooks”? The department 
might thereby save itself quite some 
trouble in listening to complaints. 
The writer has been trying to build up 
a trade both in Philadelphia and New 
York, shipping eggs in containers accept¬ 
ed and approved by the Post Office De¬ 
partment, each egg carefully wrapped. I 
am compelled to quit. The life of a new 
container holding two or four dozen eggs 
is about four shipments via parcel post, 
either insured or uninsured. Surely the 
consumer cannot afford that price! So 
the producer must do the best he can, the 
same as the farmer did before the intro¬ 
duction of the parcel post, and take his 
produce to his nearest country store and 
“trade” his eggs for a blanket or a can of 
sardines—and at what a sacrifice! And 
the parcel post was presumed to help the 
farmer! What will the Post Office De¬ 
partment do to remedy such abominable 
and intolerable conditions—or don’t they 
care? E. W. 
Pennsylvania. 
City Laundry Methods 
Some of our readers who come to New 
York are puzzled by the signs on laundry 
wagons. What does “wet wash,” or “dry 
wash,” mean, and how can laundry be 
fairly charged by the pound? The fol¬ 
lowing notes will explain something of 
this puzzle: 
In our business we offer to the public 
three distinct services: 
'Wet Wash.—Everything washed, re¬ 
turned damp, ready to hang up, 30 lbs. 
for ,$1.25, and 4 cents per additional 
pound. Minimum charge for wet wash is 
$1.25. Bundle is weighed before washing. 
Flat Work.—Contained in wet wash 
bundle ironed at 5 cents per pound, mini¬ 
mum charge 50 cents, excluding wet wash 
charge. 
Finished Work.—Everything ironed at 
10 cents per pound, minimum charge 
$1.50; shirts 5 cents extra each. Bundle 
weighed when it is all ironed. 
WET WASH RAUNDRY, INC. 
A Story of Tobacco 
Mrs. Unger, page 1242, tells about a 
little experiment in growing tobacco, and 
seems anxious to know how their manage¬ 
ment of the harvested product will affect 
the grade of the leaf. Tell her it will be 
all right. She should use a part of the 
leaves next Spring to line the corners of 
the nests for the setting hens. This will 
keep the lice away. Then she can boil 
the rest of the leaves and all the stems 
together in the soap kettle—out of doors 
of course—using enough water so that 
the finished product will be the color of 
medium strong coffee. This decoction 
will be good to dip the lambs in to kill 
the ticks. 
This reminds me of a tobacco story. In 
December, 1887, I attended a farmers’ 
institute at Syracuse, N. Y., and reported 
the proceedings for The R. N.-Y. At an 
evening session of the institute the sec¬ 
retary of the New England Tobacco 
Growers’ Association read a paper on 
the growing and curing of tobacco. At 
the conclusion of his paper, Mr. Wood¬ 
ward, who was conducting the institute, 
said the gentleman would be glad to 
answer any questions that anyone in the 
audience wished to ask about the subject. 
There was silence for perhaps a half 
minute, then a fine-looking old gentle¬ 
man toward the back of the hall arose 
and said he had one question he would 
like to ask. Said he: “In case a young 
man had never learned to use tobacco, at 
what age would you advise him to be¬ 
gin?” The tobacco man, who had stepped 
to the front of the platform as soon as he 
saw the old gentleman rise, seemed baf¬ 
fled for a moment, then he squared him¬ 
self and said : “I would advise him never 
to begin.” “That is just what I wanted 
to find out,” said the old gentleman. The 
old gentlleman in the above story was 
Mr. Smith, the senior member of the 
great firm of Holstein breeders, Smiths, 
Powell & Lamb. That night on the way 
to the hotel Mr. Woodward remarked 
to Prof. Roberts that he thought perhaps 
it would be as well to leave the subject 
of tobacco off the institute program. 
Minnesota. j. m. drew. 
Catering to Summer 
Tourists 
^ In one of the recent issues of The R. 
N.-Y. I saw an inquiry about the Sum¬ 
mer tourist trade from someone who 
wished 4o start in, but did not know just 
how. I bave been taking tourists into 
my home for two years now, and it pays 
exceedingly well for the amount of time 
and energy spent. I live on one of the 
well-traveled State roads, and so hung 
out my shingle, a sign about 3x4 ft., 
which reads “Rooms, Bath, Meals for 
Tourists.” My rooms are always made 
up and as clean as I can keep them. The 
beds must have good springs and mat¬ 
tresses. Very often my prospective guests 
give it a punch to determine how soft it 
is. Two bath towels and a face cloth 
are always in each room, and I keep 
bowls and pitchers of water in their 
rooms, even though the house is equipped 
with a bathroom, which, by the way, is a 
big drawing card for tourists if they can 
have all the hot water they want. 
I serve only supper and breakfast; no 
mid-day meal. Breakfast consists of 
fruit, cereal, bacon and eggs (or eggs in 
some other form), toast or muffins, and 
coffee. They like cream and fresh milk, 
and I always ask if they would like a 
glass of milk to drink besides their cof¬ 
fee. Supper has one hot dish at least, a 
salad, cold meat, some kind of relish or 
preserve, bread or rolls, tea and dessert 
(usually cake and fruit). Again they 
have all the milk and cream they wish. I 
often substitute an egg dish, or have 
baked beans, in place of the cold meat. 
The main thing is well-cooked food, 
served in an appetizing manner, in a cool 
dining room. Your silver and linen must 
be spotless. I try to be as friendly and 
cordial to them as though they were my 
friends visiting me, instead of paying 
guests. I always have a pitcher of ice 
cold drinking water ready for their rooms 
at night. It is a little service that they 
appreciate greatly. 
I charge $2 a night for a room and 75 
cents for each meal per person. We 
make no charge for the use of the garage, 
although a great many people do. Keep 
the outside of your house looking well. A 
little paint makes a big difference in your 
income. Try to keep the lawn mowed 
and raked, and if you have a knack with 
flowers have a gay flower bed or some at¬ 
tractive window boxes around your home. 
Just a word about the people you will 
have as guests. Most of them are very 
nice. Once in a while you will find a 
‘crab,” but keep your temper, no matter 
how provoking he or she may be, and re¬ 
member that the “crabs” are far in the 
minority. MARTHA L. DAY. 
DOMESTIC.—Fire destroyed the main 
hangar, four planes and a big stock of 
United States Army airplane repairs at 
Hatbox Flying Field, Muskogee, Okla., 
Nov. 10. Origin of the blaze is unde¬ 
termined. 
A resolution was passed by the Legis¬ 
lature of British Columbia Nov. 18, au¬ 
thorizing flogging for drug traffickers. 
A jury in the New York Supreme 
Court Nov. 21 gave a verdict for $30,000 
in favor of the estate of Soturios A. 
Touris, who was killed by an automobile 
owned by Brewster & Co., under unusual 
circumstances. The accident occurred in 
June, 1917, at the Harlem River Ship 
Canal. The defendant’s automobile was 
parked on a slope that led into a gully, 
the car standing at a 45-degree angle. 
Touris had stopped to drink at a spring 
below the car. The brakes, it was al¬ 
leged, were not set properly and the car 
slid down and ran over Touris. 
Mrs. Warren G. Harding died at White 
Oaks Farm, Marion, O., Nov. 21, after 
several weeks’ illness. Mrs. Harding was 
born in Marion Co., O., not far from the 
town of Marion, where she and the Presi¬ 
dent always lived except for the years of 
their official residence in Washington. 
She was the only daughter of Amos II. 
Kling. one of the pioneer farmers of Ma¬ 
rion County. It is related that when she 
was born her father was disappointed be¬ 
cause she was not a boy, and consoled 
himself by bringing her up more as a boy 
than a girl. She was fond of horses, 
dogs and outdoor life, and took much in¬ 
terest in her father’s business. She was 
the mother of one son, now dead, by a 
first marriage. There were no children 
by her second marriage. 
Capt. A. J. Wilson of Fairhaven, 
Mass., master of the schooner Ferry 
Setzer, was instantly killed early Nov. 
22 when his vessel was rammed and vir¬ 
tually cut in two by an unidentified 
steamer in a fog 30 miles south of Cape 
Hatteras. The eight members of (he 
crew of the Perry Setzer, after hanging 
to the rigging of the almost submerged 
schooner, were rescued by the oil tanker 
Solona 15 miles north of Cape Hatteras 
12 hours after the collision. 
Joseph R. Gant was arrested at Kan¬ 
sas City, Mo., Nov. 23 on charges of for¬ 
gery and of embezzling funds from the 
Centropolis Bank of Kansas City, of 
which he was president. Mr. Gant also 
is a member of the new Charter Commis¬ 
sion and of the Park Board. The bank 
doors were closed Nov. 14 after a week’s 
investigation by representatives of the 
State Finance Commissioner. The short¬ 
age is estimated to be in the neighborhood 
of $650,000. 
A southeast gale with a heavy rainfall, 
one of the severest storms recorded for 
years, caused heavy property and ship¬ 
ping losses at Belfast, Me., Nov. 23. Two 
barges, tied up at a dock, sank, and piers 
were awash. High seas pounded over the 
seawall along the shore of Penobscot Bay 
and river, sweeping up to rows of Sum¬ 
mer cottages and flooding cellars and 
storage places. 
Leo Ivoretz, alias Lou Iveyte, was ar¬ 
rested at a hotel at Halifax, N. S., Nov. 
23, on a charge of using the mails to de¬ 
fraud to the extent of $2,000,000, and 
was taken to Chicago. He waived extra¬ 
dition. The prisoner left Chicago nearly 
a year ago with $2,000,000 in cash, car¬ 
ried in a handbag. He posed in Chicago 
as a millionaire philanthropist and patron 
of grand opera, but disappeared from the 
St. Regis there on Dec. 6, 1923, after he 
had swindled relatives, friends and others 
in Chicago out of about $2,000,000 in 
connection with his so-called “Panama 
Bubble.” Numbered among his victims 
was his own mother, whom he swindled 
out of $45,000. He professed to have ac¬ 
quired oil-producing property in Panama, 
and sold interest in this non-existent land 
to all who could be induced to trust him. 
Ralph Hugh Jennison and Miss Ruth 
G. Wlilson, both of Pasadena, Cal., were 
about to land in their plane Nov. 23 when 
it collided with another machine piloted 
by Leslie K. Traughber, a lieutenant in 
the Army Air Service. Both were killed. 
The two airplanes fell 200 ft. with wings 
locked. 
Sixteen men had been killed and 52 
others wounded during the current hunt¬ 
ing season up to Nov. 15, the State Con¬ 
servation Commission announced recent¬ 
ly. In a majority of the casualties the 
shootings followed the accidental dis¬ 
charge of guns. Occasionally a hunter 
was mistaken for a deer and, in a few 
cases, stray bullets • proved fatal. The 
number of deer-hunting accidents was 
comparatively small this season, while 
pheasant-hunting mishaps were unusual¬ 
ly numerous. 
WASHINGTON.—President Ooolidge 
warned the nation Nov. 18 against the 
waste of forests; to a thousand delegates 
from the various States he urged a spe¬ 
cific program of saving. People were ad¬ 
vised to give up their Christmas trees to 
conserve the young growth. Mr. Coolidge 
was addressing the National Conference 
of Utilization of Forest Products. The 
President asserted that 745,000,000.000 
cu. ft. of timber is still standing in the 
United States, with an annual drain of 
25,000,000,000 cu. ft and a timber growth 
of 6.000,000,000 cu. ft. annually. He de¬ 
clared that to assure a future supply for¬ 
ests must be grown like other crops. 
t A ttorney General Stone announced 
Nov. 18 that instructions have been given 
United States attorneys in some six or 
eight States to institute prosecutions for 
the publication of income tax lists in 
newspapers. The Treasury has issued 
new regulations governing the inspection 
of income tax lists, limiting the time 
when they will be available, but making 
the procedure uniform for all revenue col¬ 
lectors. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The ninth 
annual Farm and Home Week of the 
New York State School of Agriculture at 
Coble,skill was held Dec. 2 to 5, inclusive. 
Working in co-operation with the Scho¬ 
harie County Farm Bureau, the State 
School set aside the first day of Farm 
and Home Week for the annual meeting 
of the Schoharie County Farm Bureau. 
There were features of special interest 
each day. 
The Indiana Horticultural Society and 
Indiana Vegetable Growers’ Association 
will hold a joint annual meeting at the 
Claypool Hotel, Indianapolis, Ind., Dec. 
10 - 11 . 
Large expenditures by the Federal gov¬ 
ernment for propaganda purposes and ac¬ 
tivities of government employes outside 
the legitimate functions of their depart¬ 
ments were condemned Nov. 18 by the 
National Grange, holding its fifty-eighth 
annual convention at Atlantic City, N. J. 
The delegates declare the widespread 
mailing of printed material of all sorts in 
favor of various government projects is 
unwarranted. The Grange, it is said, 
will support the Ketcham bill, which 
passed the House and is now in the Sen¬ 
ate, relative to the marketing of farm 
products. The delegates also favored 
laws against unfair competition with 
dairy products, particularly condemning 
the sale of oleo, or use of milk products 
to give butter substitutes the odor or taste 
of real butter. Government lands award¬ 
ed to private interests for development 
and speculative purposes should no longer 
be exempted from county and local taxa¬ 
tion, the Grange states. The incoming 
Congress will be asked to enact legisla¬ 
tion enabling fanners of the natiop to 
have co-operative production and market¬ 
ing, with adequate means of financing 
crops until the market is ready, according 
to decision here of the convention. 
Pitchforks were required Nov. 24 to 
subdue a pedigreed bull after it had gored 
to death Frank Goldman, 34 years old, 
on the estate of William Fahnestock, a 
New York banker, at Katonah, N. Y. 
When Goldman, who -was caretaker for 
the prize herds, went into a stall to groom 
the bull it attacked and killed him. The 
bellowing brought other employes to the 
stall, where they found Goldman’s body. 
A patrolman from Bedford, and farm 
hands, armed with pitchforks, subdued 
the bull and recovered the body. 
“Yes, it’s really remarkable. Bobby 
seems to eat twice as much chicken when 
we have visitors!” said the fond mother 
to her guests. “Really? And why is 
that, Bobby?” The query came in a 
chorus. Bobby’s reply was disconcerting. 
“Because,” he said, “that’s the only time 
we have it.”—Youth’s Companion. 
