242 
Th,  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
February  17,  1923 
EVENTS  OF  THE  WEEK 
3 
The  most  important  subject,  so  far  as 
farmers  are  concerned,  which  will  be 
brought  to  the  attention  of  our  legislators 
during  the  present  session,  deals  with 
proposed  changes  in  our  rural  education 
law, 
A  measure  is  to  be  introduced  based  on 
the  recommendations  of  the  Committee 
of  Twenty-one.  Under  this  plan  a  large 
number  of  districts  are  to  be  grouped  into 
a  community  unit,  which  is  to  serve  as 
the  unit  of  taxation  and  administration. 
A  further  important  recommendation 
specilies  that  each  community  unit  shall 
provide  for  four  years  of  high  school  in¬ 
struction,  either  within  or  without  its 
bounds,  and  for  transportation,  except 
when  exempted  by  superior  school  author¬ 
ity.  The  ultimate  aim  of  the  committee’s 
program  is  to  bring  about  consolidation. 
Dr.  Frank  P.  Graves,  Commissioner  of 
Education,  has  gone  on  record  in  favor  of 
the  above  report,  except  that  he  strongly 
desires  to  substitute  the  county  as  the 
unit  in  place  of  the  community.  The 
commissioner  spoke  at  length  in  support 
of  his  contentions  before  the  recent  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  New  York  Agricultural  Society. 
In  accordance  with  the  commissioner’s 
views  a  separate  bill  may  be  introduced, 
designed  to  substitute  the  county  as  the 
unit  of  administration  and  taxation.  Dr. 
Graves  is  a  staunch  supporter  of  consoli¬ 
dation,  Here,  unfortunately,  his  interest 
seems  to  end,  except  that  he  desires  State 
aid  to  assist  in  establishing  the  proposed 
system.  Apparently  he  is  not^  concerned 
with  the  farmer’s  economic  position.  The 
purchasing  power  of  the  farmer’s  dollar 
or  the  average  net  income  of  the  farmer 
and  his  family  are  not  even  treated  as  a 
remote  element  in  any  way  to  be  associ¬ 
ated  with  the  greatly  increased  taxation 
which  will  be  necessary  to  establish  a 
system  of  consolidation.  Farmers  in  gen¬ 
eral  fear  that  if  a  consolidated  program 
were  placed  in  the  hands  of  our  present 
educational  authorities  they  would  dis¬ 
play  a  heart  of  steel  in  the  execution  of 
their  mandate  when  the  farmer’s  heart 
was  in  need  of  sympathy.  We  have  not 
forgotten  how,  during  the  operation  of 
the  township  school  law,  our  Department 
of  Education  insisted  on  the  execution  of 
a  program  which  increased  our  school 
taxes  ‘100  per  cent  in  one  year. 
Governor  Smith  has  recently  #  assumed 
the  leadership  of  consolidationists,  and 
has  suggested  tluit  a  bill  be  introduced 
which  would  make  consolidation  compul¬ 
sory  at  once.  In  an  interview  with  The 
Knickerbocker  Press,  Dr.  Graves  quotes 
Governor  Smith  as  stating  that  in  a  com¬ 
munity  unit  where  the  family  most  dis¬ 
tant  from  the  central  point  is  not  more 
than  eight  miles  away,  the  transportation 
might  cost  $2,000  a  year.  Governor 
Smith’s  figures  would  be  more  applicable 
for  a  consolidated  unit  on  Palm  Peach, 
but  so  far  as  their  application  to  the  hills 
of  New  York  is  concerned,  I  am  convinced 
that  the  Governor’s  survey  lias  not  pene¬ 
trated  beyond  the  bounds  of  New  York 
City.  During  a  Winter,  such  as  we  are 
now  experiencing,  $2,000  wouldn’t  pay 
the  snow  bill  for  keeping  the  roads  open. 
Horses  would  have  to  be  depended  upon 
for  transportation,  and  how  many  teams 
would  be  necessary  to  get  the  children  to 
school  on  time?  What  portion  of  $100  a 
day — just  for  team  hire — would  it  cost 
to'  transport  the  children  from  20  rural 
schools  to  a  consolidated  school,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  plan  which  the  Governor  has 
suggested?  •  , 
There  would  be  encouragement  for  the 
development  of  a  uniform  plan  of  con¬ 
solidation  were  it  not  for  our  rigorous 
Winters.  We  have  had  nearly  50  inches  of 
snow  (Saratoga  County  63  inches)  since 
December  1.  At  this  writing  the  roads 
are  dangerous  for  big  loads  of  children 
to  be  transported  over.  It  is  frequently  a 
half-day’s  job  for  the  milk  farmer  to  de¬ 
liver  his  milk  when  he  is  located  five 
miles  from  the  station.  Wouldn’t  it  be  a 
fine  display  of  mercy  to  compel  many  of 
our  youngsters  to  walk  a  mile  or  more  to 
the  present  school  site  or  main  road,  when 
snows  are  deep  and  weather  frigid,  and 
there  wait  to  be  picked  up  and  trans¬ 
ported  several  miles  further  to  the  con¬ 
solidated  school? 
The  opinion  is  sometimes  expressed  that 
the  farmer  is  indifferent  to  the  quality 
and  quantity  of  education  his  children 
receive.  My  experience  gives  me  absolute 
conviction  that  such  a  statement  should 
be  roundly'  condemned.  I  believe  that  a 
true  revelation  of  facts  would  show’  that 
the  percentage  of  parents  who  are  indif¬ 
ferent  concerning  the  education  .of  their 
children  is  far  greater  in  the  city  than 
it  is  in  the  country. 
We  w’ant  improvements.  Help  boost 
the  farm  up  to  the  same  economic  plane 
that  is  enjoyed  by  other  industry,  and  we 
soil-tillers  will  show  you  how’  to  make  a 
country  beautiful.  We  will  outbid  the 
cities  for  teachers  of  quality.  Our  school- 
houses  and  our  school  grounds  will  match 
DOMESTIC — February  1  the  explo¬ 
sion  of  the  gas-purifying  plant  of  the 
Springfield,  Mass.,  Gas  Light  Company 
killed  three  persons,  injured  many  more, 
and  caused  a  property  loss  of  over  $300,- 
000. 
United  States  District  Judge  J.  J. 
Banks  February  3  overruled  the  demurrer 
filed  by  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  to  the 
injunetion  obtained  by  the  Japanese-lan- 
guage  schools  restraining  the  School  De¬ 
partment  from  enforcing  the  regulations 
providing  for  the  elimination  of  foreign 
languages  from  the  first  and  second  grades 
and  the  substitution  of  English.  The 
court  modified  the  injunction,  how’ever, 
and  held  that  the  school  law  was  consti¬ 
tutional  and  not  a  violation  of  the  treaty 
between  the  United  States  and  Japan. 
The  Story  of  the  McIntosh  Apple 
Tf  there  be  anything  in  the  slogan  “Slow  and  sure  wins  the  race,” 
the  McIntosh  has  victory  ahead — whatever  that  may  mean — for  the  Mc¬ 
Intosh  apple  tree  was  in  existence  several  years  before  the  originator  of 
the  Wealthy  apple  was  born. 
Now  in  the  Mohawk  Valley  in  New  York  there  farmed  a  man  whose 
surname  was  McIntosh.  In  1811,  at  the  age  of  18,  his  son  left  home  and 
journeyed  to  Canada,  settling  in  Matilda  Township,  Dundas  County,  On¬ 
tario,  Canada,  not  over  40  or  50  miles  south  of  Ottawa.  In  clearing  away 
the  second  growth  for  a  building  place,  he  came  across  some  young  apple 
trees.  Fortunately,  he  spared  them.  Had  he  cut  a  little  mox*e  vigorously 
with  his  scythe,  or  been  in  too  great  a  hurry,  the  McIntosh  would  never 
have  been  named.  As  it  was,  one  of  the  seedlings  grew. 
On  August  24,  1815,  a  sou,  Allan,  was  bom  to  the  family  in  Canada. 
To  this  boy  credit  is  given,  for  having  “originated”  the  McIntosh  apple. 
Had  the  tree  been  on  the  land  of  a  nurseryman  or  a  fruit  man  we  can 
imagine  that  it  would  soon  have  come  to  the  front.  Unfortunately,  it  bore 
unheralded  for  years,  until,  about  1870,  Allan  McIntosh  began  its  propa¬ 
gation.  We  owe  much  to  this  son  who  brought  the  variety  to  notice,  but 
we  ought  not  to  forget  the  father,  through  whose  thoughtfulness  the  tree 
was  spared.  Fortune  has  dealt  justly  in  bequeathing  both  the  name  of  the 
father  and  the  son  upon  this  meritorious  fruit.  Since  its  introduction  it 
has  spread  rapidly. 
The  McIntosh  unquestionably  has  in  its  veins  the  blood  of  the  Fameuse, 
or  Snow  apple.  The  clear,  juicy,  white  flesh,  crisp,  tender  and  fine-grained, 
mild,  yet  with  a  pleasing  and  characteristic  aroma,  is  familiar  to  all  who 
have  eaten  of  this  fruit.  The  color  is  beautiful.  In  highly  colored  speci¬ 
mens  from  Lake  Champlain  or  the  Hudson  Valley  the  coloring  is  a  solid 
red,  almost  a  blackish-red,  with  a  conspicuous  bluish  bloom.  Ordinarily 
the  greenish-yellow  ground  color  is  washed  and  blushed  with  attractive 
red,  and  striped  and  splashed  with  carmine.  Among  dessert  apples  the 
McIntosh  is  one  of  the  best.  To  some  the  rather  thick,  tough  skin  is 
objectionable;  yet,  once  beneath  it,  the  partaker  soon  forgets  this  demerit. 
No  matter  how  good  the  fruit  of  a  variety  may  be,  if  the  tree  is 
inferior  it  cannot  be  grown  successfully  commercially.  In  the  McIntosh 
we  have  an  unusually  strong  and  hardy  tree.  It  comes  into  bearing  young 
and  bears  well,  though  it  is  inclined  to  be  biennial.  Unfortunately,  the 
fruit  does  not  ripen  evenly,  and  it  does  not  hang  especially  well,  so  that  it 
is  best  harvested  in  more  than  one  picking.  It  is  in  season  in  September 
or  October,  but  may  be  held  in  cold  storage  until  January. 
This  matter  of  season  is  truly  serious.  Were  the  McIntosh  a  Winter 
apple  it  would  stand  supreme  as  a  dessert  sort,  but  it  is  a  Fall  apple,  and 
its  season  is  short  at  that.  This,  added  to  the  extensive  plantings  that 
have  been  made,  has  given  some  to  question  whether  the  market  can  handle 
the  quantity  that  a  few  years  more  will  see.  So  far  McIntosh  has  topped 
the  markets  in  the  Eastern  States,  and  it  is  yet  not  well  enough  known  to 
be  demanded  by  the  consumer.  Time  alone  can  answer  whether  McIntosh 
can  be  overplanted. 
Both  in  Canada  and  in  New  York  State  the  McIntosh  is  being  used 
extensively  as  one  of  the  parents  in  the  development  of  a  notable  race  of 
seedlings  with  the  good  quality  of  McIntosh.  Already  varieties  both 
earlier  and  later  than  the  McIntosh  have  been  produced,  and  it  is  not  too 
much  to  expect  that  the  near  future  will  see  a  long-keeping  sort  to  further 
extend  the  season  of  this  delicious  variety.  h.  b.  t. 
We  are  well  fed  on  oroposals  and  their 
attendant  theories.  We  understand  and 
appreciate  the  benefits  which  are  expected 
to  result.  But  why  should  the  disad¬ 
vantages  of  consolidation  in  our  climate 
be  carefully  left  out  from  the  public  utter¬ 
ances  of  our  educational  authorities?  The 
question  should  be  propounded  :  Can  the 
average  farmer  stand  a  dollar  an  acre 
school  tax?  Or.  eventually,  can  he  stand 
a  school  tax  which  will  approach  two  dol¬ 
lars  an  acx-e?  The  construction  of  con¬ 
solidated  schools  with  their  equipments, 
teacberages.  improvement  of  necessary 
roads  and  transportation  will  cost  enor¬ 
mous  sums  of  money.  In  this  Connection 
we  should  not*  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that 
the  average  farm  is  assessed  for  pretty 
near  what  it  is  worth,  while,  compara¬ 
tively  speaking,  manufacturing  establish¬ 
ments  and  city  and  village  real  estate  in 
general  is  assessed  at  a  much  lower  rate. 
My  attention  has  just  been  called  to.  fig¬ 
ures  relative  to  the  sale  of  a  house  in  a 
neighboring  town  which  was  assessed  for 
$2,900  and  sold  for  over  $6,000.  What 
influence  do  our  educational  authorities 
suppose  this  inequality  has  on  the  farm¬ 
er’s  net  income,  and  on  his  ability  to  pay 
taxes? 
up  to  the  last  letter  of  efficiency  and 
beauty.  Our  homes  and  premises  will  im¬ 
prove  in  the  same  way.  Our  roadsides 
will  be  beautiful.  Young  forests  will  be 
planted  to  shield  and  protect  the  rough 
and  windy  portions  of  our  highways  so 
that  travel  in  Winter  will  become  more 
possible  and  much  more  enjoyable.  Com¬ 
munity  forests  will  become  commonplace. 
Our  poorer  districts  will  be  taught  to 
practice  scientific  tree  farming,  and, 
where  practicable,  to  set  aside  50  acres 
of  land  to  be  gradually  developed  into  a 
community  forest,  so  that  eventually  these 
districts  can  compare  with  the  best  in 
their  ability  to  be  self-supporting  and  the 
school  itself  leave  behind  it  a  legacy  which 
may  justly  be  envied.  A  sound  educa¬ 
tional  policy  will  beget  such  developments, 
and  we  still  will  be  back  among  the  hills, 
far  away  from  the  slums  and  the  white 
lights  of  the  city,  but  happy  and  useful 
in  our  pursuit  of  agriculture.  The  alter¬ 
native  to  this  is  to  load  our  backs  with 
taxes  without  any  sane  program  for  con¬ 
structive  development,  so  that  we  can 
pay  our  bills,  and  the  State  will  reap,  as 
a  heritage,  immense  areas  of  desolate 
country.  d.  boyd  pevexdorf. 
Fire  at  Roosevelt,  N.  J.,  February  3 
destroyed  a  two-story  frame  building 
owned  by  Armour  &  Co.,  with  a  loss  esti¬ 
mated  by  the  police  at  $75,000.  The 
building  was  300  ft.  long  and  150  ft. 
wide,  and  was  used  for  the  manufacture 
of  fertilizer. 
February  3  a  series  of  tidal  waves 
caused  by  ocean  earthquakes  resulted  in 
property  damage  amounting  to  $500,000 
in  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 
Benjamin  W.  Morse  and  Harry  F. 
Morse,  indicted  jointly  with  their  father, 
Charles  W.  Morse,  and  several  others  for 
alleged  conspiracy  to  defraud  investors 
through  sale  of  stock  in  the  United  States 
Steamship  Company,  were  arrested  Feb¬ 
ruary  6  at  the  Pennsylvania  Station,  New 
York  City,  aboard  a  Washington-bound 
Pullman  car.  Through  legal  action  in  Bos¬ 
ton  and  Bridgeport  they  have  thwarted 
efforts  of  Federal  officers  to  return  them 
to  New  York  to  plead  to  the  indictments. 
After  entering  tentative  pleas  of  not 
guilty  they  were  released  in  bail  of  $15.- 
000  each  pending  a  hearing  on  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus. 
Marooned  on  an  island  in  Northern 
Lake  Michigan,  his  skull  fractured  and 
aid  from  the  mainland  cut  off  by  ice  floes, 
Jesse  Cole  of  Chicago  lay  close  to  death 
February  6  while  airplanes  of  the  United 
States  Air  Service  sped  northward  to 
save  him.  Lieut.  A.  L.  Jewett,  acting  air 
officer  for  the  Chicago  district,  received 
an  appeal  from  Rudolph  Fick,  cousin  of 
young  Cole,  who  had  received  word  of 
the  accident.  The  youth,  he  said,  wai 
employed  at  a  lumber  camp  on  Beaver 
Island.  A  telephone  message  said  Cole’s 
head  had  been  caught  between  two  logs 
and  that  he  was  without  medical  aid. 
Lieutenant  Jewett  communicated  with 
Selfridge  Field  at  Mount  Clemens,  Mich., 
where  Major  Carl  Statz  dispatched  two 
fliers  as  a  rescue  expedition.  The  fliers 
plan  to  pick  up  a  physician  and  promised 
to  take  the  injured  man  to  a  Detroit  hos¬ 
pital  if  he  could  be  moved. 
FARM  AND  GARDEN  —  Chairman 
Daniel  P.  Witter  of  the  Assembly  Com¬ 
mittee  on  Agriculture  announced  at  Al¬ 
bany.  N.  Y.,  February  2  that  he  would 
introduce  in  the  lower  house  a  bill  de¬ 
signed  to  combine  the  State  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station  at  Geneva  with  the 
College  of  Agriculture  at  Ithaca,  both  to 
be  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the 
hoard  of  managers  of  Cornell  University. 
The  legislation,  Mr.  Witter  said,  was  the 
result  of  an  investigation  directed  by  ag¬ 
ricultural  experts,  with  the  view  to  en¬ 
larging  the  scope  of  the  research  work 
carried  on  at  both  places.  Duplication  of 
effort  will  be  avoided  and  a  consequent 
greater  realization  of  benefits  from  the 
work  of  both  institutions  would  be  en¬ 
joyed  through  enactment  of  the  measure, 
Mr.  Witter  explained. 
Skunk,  raccoon  and  opossum  skins 
were  from  10  to  20  per  cent  lower  at  the 
opening  sales  at  Montreal,  February  6, 
of  the  mid-Winter  fur  auction,  as  com¬ 
pared  with  the  prices  brought  last  Sep¬ 
tember.  Only  mole,  bear  and  squirrel 
skins  were  unchanged.  ’Total  sales 
brought  $350,000. 
The  United  States  Treasury  Depart¬ 
ment  has  i*evoked  its  former  ruling  that 
jule  bags  imported  in  bales  must  be  indi¬ 
vidually  marked.  It  was  found  that  the 
expense  of  individual  marking  was  greatly 
disproportionate  to  the  value  of  the 
goods,  and  the  Treasury  Department  re¬ 
versed  itself. 
WASHINGTON— Losses  sustained  by 
the  Government  from  wartime  operation 
of  railroads  and  its  aftermath  of  earning 
guarantees  and  damage  settlements  will 
total  approximately  $1,800,000,000,  ac¬ 
cording  to  data  made  available  February  3 
for  the  first  time  in  a  report  by  James  C. 
Davis,  Director  General  of  Railroads, 
sent  to  Congress  by  President  Harding. 
Not  only  does  the  amount  come  within 
Congressional  appropriations  already 
made,  but  there  will  be  a  return  to  the 
Treasury  of  about  $400,000,000  in  cash 
and  railroad  securities.  Mr.  Davis’s  esti¬ 
mates  are  based  on  the  showing  actually 
made  in  liquidation  of  the  accounts  be¬ 
tween  the  Government  and  corporate  own¬ 
ers  of  80  per  cent  of  the  railroad  mile¬ 
age  which  the  Government  took  over. 
Most  of  the  settlements  yet  to  be  made 
are  expected  to  result  in  payment  to  the 
Government  in  cash  or  securities. 
Exclusion  of  Japanese  immigrants  and 
a  reduction  in  the  percentage  of  aliens 
admissible  from  European  countries  would 
be  provided  for  by  sections  of  a  proposed 
permanent  immigration  restriction  act 
approved  February  5  by  the  House  Im- 
igration  Committee.  Japanese  exclusion 
would  be  made  possible,  under  a  general 
provision  of  the  bill,  which  sets  forth 
“that  an  immigrant  not  eligible  to  citi¬ 
zenship  shall  not  be  admitted  to  the 
United  States.”  To  meet  treaty  stipula¬ 
tions  exceptions  would  be  made  in  the 
cases  of  ministers  of  the  gospel,  professors 
of  colleges,  members  of  any  “learned  pro¬ 
fession”  and  bona  fide  students  “who  seek 
to  enter  the  United  States  solely  for  the 
purpose  of  study  at  an  educational  insti¬ 
tution  particularly  designated”  by  them. 
Such  students  who  marry  after  entering 
the  country  would  be  deported,  however. 
Under  the  agreement  concluded  in  prin¬ 
ciple  at  the  Treasury,  February  1,  for 
.  funding  Great  Britain’s  debt  to  the 
United  States,  Great  Britain  will  pay  to 
the  United  States  in  62  years  a  total  of 
$13,178.000, (XX)  to  wipe  out  or  liquidate 
the  $4,075,000,000  borrowed  by  her  during 
the  world  war.  The  agreement  provides 
for  flat  payments  averaging  $161,000.00(1 
a  year  for  the  next  10  years,  and  for  pay¬ 
ments  averaging  $184,000,000  a  year  for 
the  next  52  years,  at  the  end  of  which 
time  the  debt  will  be  wiped  out.  Pay¬ 
ments  are  to  be  made  on  the  basis  of  an 
accumulative  sinking  fund  system,  under 
which  payments  on  the  principal  or  the 
amount  funded  will  increase  as  the  inter¬ 
est  charges  decrease. 
Consideration  of  farm  credits  legislation 
was  concluded  by  the  Senate  February  2 
when  it  passed  the  Len root -Anderson  bill. 
The  measure  now  goes  to  the  House, 
where  the  Capper  co-operative  credits  bill 
is  under  study.  The  vote  on  passage  was 
unanimous,  69  members  voting,  the  meas¬ 
ure  going  through  without  materia) 
amendment.  The  Lenroot-Anderson  bill 
provides  for  a  maximum  eredit  of  $1,320,- 
000.000  for  agricultural  loans  through  the 
existing  farm  loan  system  by  establish¬ 
ment  of  12  agricultural  credit  depart¬ 
ments  in  the  12  bank  districts.  Each 
would  have  $5,000,000  capital  from  the 
Government,  with  authority  to  double  the 
entire  capital  of  $60,000,000.  Authority 
to  issue  $1,200,000,000  in  tax-free  deben¬ 
tures  to  provide  additional  loaning  cap¬ 
ital.  would  be  given,  subject  to  approval 
of  the  farm  loan  board. 
