762 
<Iht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
May  19,  1923 
PUBLISHER’S  DESK 
All  letters  to  Publisher’s  Desk  depart¬ 
ment  must  be  signed  with  writer’s  full 
name  and  address  given.  Many  inquiries 
are  answered  by  mail  instead  of  printing 
inquiry  and  answer,  hence  unsigned  let¬ 
ters  receive  no  consideration. 
I  will  keep  The  It.  N.-Y.  in  my  home 
as  long  as  I  can  because  the  paper  saves 
me  from  those  “heavenly  birds”  who  don’t 
plow,  don’t  sow,  don’t  plant,  but  they 
gather  up  in  their  barn  ( pockets )  more 
than  we  farmers  can  do.  Publisher's 
Desk  saves  lots  of  money  for  us  farmers. 
Pennsylvania.  *’•  S- 
I  take  pleasure  in  sending  a  check  for 
two  years’  subscription  to  your  valuable 
paper.  It  is  worth  twice  the  price  in 
valuable  information.  Publisher's  Desk 
is  a  wonder,  and  I  have  no  doubt  saved 
many  dollars  to  those  who  read  it.  There 
is  so  much  sucker  bait  set  for  the  unwary 
that  by  reading  Publisher’s  Desk  and 
profiting  by  others’  experience  they  will 
readily  detect  the  bait.  Wishing -you  con¬ 
tinued  success,  I  remain  a  sure  reader. 
New  York.  w.  p. 
The  above  letters  both  express  the 
same  sentiments,  each  in  its  own  way. 
This  testimony  shows  that  Publisher’s 
Desk  is  accomplishing  the  purpose  for 
which  the  department  was  established  and 
for  which  it  is  being  maintained. 
I  am  a  young  man,  married,  27  years 
old,  and  very  desirous  of  learning  the 
real  estate  business,  so  I  wrote  to  the 
American  Business  Builders,  Inc.,  113d 
Broadway,  New  York,  whose  manager 
is  J.  Moroney.  He  offers  a  course  for 
$15,  claiming  to  teach  one  of  the  funda¬ 
mental  principles  of  real  estate.  I  feel 
sure  you  will  give  me  good  advice  con¬ 
cerning  this  proposition,  as  to  whether 
it  would  be  advisable  to  take  this  course. 
This  course  is  known  as  the  Ostrander 
system,  by  W.  M.  Ostrander.  w.  R.  L. 
New  York. 
W.  M.  Ostrander  originated  the  most 
crooked  system  of  conducting  a  real  es¬ 
tate  business  that  we  have  yet  known. 
It  consisted  of  advertising  in  a  large  way 
to  sell  farms,  and  inducing  farmers  to 
pay  him  an  advance  fee  for  listing  the 
farm  on  the  pretense  that  he  had  a  pros¬ 
pective  customer  for  the  farm.  Prac¬ 
tically  he  made  no  attempt  to  sell  farms, 
but  devoted  all  his  efforts  to  the  collec¬ 
tion  of  the  advance  fee,  the  size  of  which 
depended  on  the  value  of  the  farm.  Os¬ 
trander  worked  the  game  “for  all  the 
traffic  would  bear.”  When  The  R.  N.-Y. 
shamed  other  publishers  into  refusing 
his  full-page  advertisements  he  went  into 
the  fake  stock  promotions  and  suburban 
real  estate  exchanges. 
There  are  many  small  imitators  of  Os¬ 
trander  now  in  the  real  estate  field,  but 
none  that  pushed  it  to  the  extent  that  he 
did.  The  only  strength  to  his  system 
was  the  credence  and  respectability  that 
he  bought  of  publishers  through  his  de¬ 
ceptive  advertising.  If  our  young  friend 
wants  to  learn  the  crooked  principles  of 
advertising,  he  is.  in  our  judgment,  going 
to  the  right  place  to  get  them.  If,  how¬ 
ever,  he  wants  to  learn  how  to  conduct 
an  honest  real  estate  business,  we  would 
advise  him  to  seek  another  source  of 
tuition. 
What  can  vou  tell  me  of  the  Rogers 
Milk  Products  Corporation?  They  are 
asking  stockholders  of  the  Rogers  Milk 
Corporation  to  exchange  10  per  cent  pre¬ 
ferred  stock  for  8  per  cent  preferred 
stock  of  the  Rogers  Milk  Products  Cor- 
paration,  and  they  are  offering  for  sale 
stock  of  the  Rogers  Milk  Products  Cor¬ 
poration.  As  security  for  this  stock  they 
have  deposited  with  a  trustee  bonds  of 
the  Rogers  Milk  Corporation.  What  do 
you  think  of  such  a  proposition?  J.  b. 
New  York. 
We  find  it  difficult  to  follow  the  vari¬ 
ous  changes  in  the  Charles  Rogers'  cor¬ 
porations  and  business  activities.  He 
was  formerly  president  of  the  Rogers 
Milk  Products  Corporation,  and  is  now 
vice-president,  Charles  C.  Neidner.  for¬ 
merly  of  the  Empire  State  Dairy  Com¬ 
pany,  having  succeeded  him  as  president. 
For  several  years  dairymen  have  had  de¬ 
lays  and  trouble  at  times  in  getting  their 
money  from  the  Rogers  concern.  They  are 
having  that  trouble  just  now.  It  is  re¬ 
ported  that  the  company  is  in  the  hands 
of  a  receiver,  and  dairymen  know  from 
experience  what  receivers  are  to  milk 
bills. 
This  particular  company  was  organ¬ 
ized  about  two  years  ago  as  a  holding 
company  of  some  of  the  Rogers  milk  cor¬ 
porations  and  Boonville  Creamery  &  Cold 
Storage  Company.  Its  charter  author¬ 
ized  a  capital  stock  issue  of  $4,000,000, 
of  which  $1,000,000  is  preferred.  It  re¬ 
fuses  to  give  statement  of  its  financial 
condition,  but  says  it  is  not  asking  credit. 
Evidently  it  does  not  regard  the  buying 
of  milk  on  time  from  farmers  as  a  credit 
transaction.  As  to  the  exchange  of  one 
stock  for  another,  we  should  say  there 
was  little  choice ;  but  if  it  be  a  matter  of 
exchanging  cash  for  either  stock  or  notes 
or  bonds,  we  would  say  emphatically 
“don’t.”  There  is  nothing  in  the  history 
of  the  company  or  in  its  present  prospects 
to  justify  an  investment  by  farmers. 
Previously  Mr.  Neidner  has  been  well 
connected,  and  he  has  been  personally  fa¬ 
vorably  regarded,  but  his  connection  with 
this  stock-promoting  proposition  has  not 
been  explained.  If  he  succeeds  in  devel¬ 
oping  capital  so  as  to  show  a  fair  secur¬ 
ity  for  milk  credits,  well  and  good,  but 
no  farmer  has  any  business  with  the  se¬ 
curities  of  any  milk  company  that  farm¬ 
ers  themselves  do  not  fully  control.  To 
invest  money  in  the  Rogers  type  of  cor¬ 
poration  is  madness. 
This  country  is  afire  with  the  spirit  of 
co-operation.  The  future  of  the  move¬ 
ment  must  depend  on  the  organization 
and  management  of  this  new  development 
in  agriculture;  and  this  will  all  depend 
on  the  part  taken  in  the  work  by  farmers 
themselves.  If  it  is  left  to  others,  the  new 
system  will  be  worse  than  the  one  it  aims 
to  replace.  C'o-operation  will  succeed  if 
farmers  control  it  and  direct  it  them¬ 
selves.  For  this  they  need  the  informa¬ 
tion  furnished  in  the  new  book,  “Or¬ 
ganized  Co-operation.”  It  has  been  pre¬ 
pared  for  their  use. 
I  am  sending  you  herewith  the  stock 
literature  of  Costikyan  Carpet  Company, 
West  Hoboken,  N.  J.,  which  I  thought 
you  might  be  interested  in.  The  sales¬ 
men  for  this  proposition  are  working  this 
section  hard,  selling  stock  to  the  farmers, 
and  1  would  thank  you  very  much  for 
any  information  you  can  give  me  about 
the  promoters  of  this  company.  I  am 
writing  you  at  the  request  of  several  of 
my  neighbors  who  are  subscribers  to  your 
paper,  and  who  have  either  purchased  or 
are  contemplating  buying  some  of  this 
stock.  w.  H.  M. 
New  Jersey. 
From  the  prospectus  we  learn  that  the 
principal  appeal  is  based  on  a  new  loom 
of  recent  invention,  that  will  tveave  true 
knotted  Persian  rugs,  doing  away  with 
the  slow  process  of  hand  knotting.  We 
do  not  pretend  to  know  whether  this  loom 
is  the  valuable  invention  it  is  represented 
to  be  ;  but  assuming  that  it  is,  it  should 
not  be  necessary  to  finance  such  a  patent 
designed  to  revolutionize  the  Oriental 
rug  business  by  selling  stock  to  farmers. 
There  is  plenty  of  money  in  the  rug  in¬ 
dustry,  and  there  is  reason  to  look  with 
suspicion  on  any  security  peddled  aroirnd 
by  stock  salesmen  to  farm  people.  The 
Costikyan  Carpet  Company  is  given  no 
financial  rating  in  the  commercial  agency 
books.  This  fact  is  significant,  while  not 
conclusive.  Our  advice  to  farmers  is  to 
let  the  carpet  and  rug  industry  finance 
the  project. 
Here  is  a  short  letter  from  the  World 
Seed  Company  of  Chicago,  Ill.,  and  a 
price  list,  so  you  will  see  the  same  bunch 
are  trying  to  do  business  again.  They 
are  sending  out  price  lists  to  all  my  cus¬ 
tomers  to  whom  they  sold  seed  last  year. 
Have  you  given  up  getting  anything  on 
my  account  which  I  left  for  you  to  col¬ 
lect  against  them?  Please  have  your  at¬ 
torney  try  again.  c.  s.  D. 
Ohio. 
The  World  Seed  Company’s  advertising 
was  offered  to  The  R.  N.-Y.  by  a  respon¬ 
sible  advertising  agency  during  January, 
1922.  We  refused  to  publish  the  adver¬ 
tising  because  we  could  not  find  that  the 
World  Seed  Company  had  any  standing 
or  reputation  that  would  warrant  us  in 
recommending  the  house  for  the  con¬ 
fidence  or  trade  of  our  subscribers.  Many 
publications  carried  the  business  during 
the  season,  and  later  on  we  began  to  re¬ 
ceive  complaints  from  those  who  had  act¬ 
ed  as  agents  in  selling  seeds  for  the 
World  Seed  Company  that  they  were  un¬ 
able  to  collect  their  commissions.  Our 
efforts  in  the  subscribers’  behalf  proved 
of  no  avail,  and  the  claims  have  been 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  collection  attor¬ 
ney.  who  up  to  this  time  has  been  un¬ 
able  to  realize  on  the  claims  either. 
As  it  appears  from  the  above  letter, 
the  World  Seed  Company  is  now  sending 
out  price  lists  to  farmers  offering  seeds  at 
what  are  stated  as  wholesale  prices.  It 
is  needless  to  say  that  we  do  not  advise 
farmers  to  favor  such  a  seed  house  with 
their  patronage. 
KSs  8  ! 
How  much  lead  do  you  wear  ? 
PEOPLE  no  longer  wear 
steel  armor.  Lead  now  helps 
to  provide  a  defense;  but 
it  is  against  the  attacks  of 
weather.  United  with  other 
materials,  it  goes  into  the  soft, 
flexible  rubber  used  in  making 
waterproof  clothing  and  rubber 
footwear. 
When  the  rain  descends 
Your  raincoat  protects  your 
clothing  and  your  health.  A 
waterproof  helmet  will  help  you 
disregard  the  weather.  Rubber 
overshoes,  sandals,  and  arctics 
protect  your  leather  shoes  and 
enable  you  to  obey  the  old  in¬ 
junction  to  keep  your  head  cool 
and  your  feet  warm  and  dry.  In 
the  country  and  often  in  the  city, 
mud  and  slush  make  necessary 
the  use  of  rubber  boots. 
In  all  of  these  things  you  are 
wearing  lead.  Manufacturers  use 
anywhere  from  10%  to  15%  of 
this  metal  in  some  form  in  mak¬ 
ing  them. 
How  lead  gets  into  rubber 
Soft  and  semi-plastic  crude  rubber 
lacks  toughness,  elasticity,  and  resil¬ 
iency.  It  is  cured  or  vulcanized  by 
combining  the  heated  rubber  with 
sulphur  and  other  materials,  among 
them  litharge,  basic  lead  sulphates 
(blue  and  white)  and  white-lead,  all 
derived  from  ordinary  gray  metallic 
lead. 
Lead  in  your  heels 
You  walk  on  lead  as  well  as  wear 
it.  Rubber  heels  and  soles  on  tennis, 
golf  and  ordinary  walking  shoes  con¬ 
tain  this  metal  of  many  uses.  On 
golf  shoes,  rubber  cleats  containing 
lead  are  often  worn. 
At  the  .seashore  girls  and  women 
protect  their  hair  with  brightly 
colored  bathing  caps  made  of  rubber 
in  which  there  is  lead.  And  firemen 
wear  helmets  of  hard  rubber  con¬ 
taining  lead,  to  guard  their  heads 
against  falling  glass  and  similar 
dangers  in  fire-fighting. 
Lead  in  dresses 
Lead  is  worn  for  one  purpose 
which  does  not  require  any  change 
from  the  metallic  state.  Women  use 
disks  of  the  metal  as  weights  in 
panels  of  dresses  and  in  the  hems  of 
coats  to  make  them  hang  straight. 
Where  lead  is  most  important 
These  uses  of  lead  are  important, 
but  there  is  one  use  which  is  more 
important  than  any  other.  White - 
lead  is  the  principal  ingredient  of  all 
good  paints.  There  is  no  adequate 
substitute  for  it. 
White-lead  makes  a  paint  that 
interposes  a  protective  film  between 
the  surface  covered  and  air  and 
moisture.  Rot  and  decay  cannot 
work  their  harm  if  the  surface  is 
properly  painted.  Thatjs  the  reason 
why  painters  who  take  pride  in 
doing  a  satisfactory  job  use  lead-and- 
oil,  a  mixture  of  pure  white-lead  and 
pure  linseed  oil. 
A  few  years  ago  “Save  the  sur¬ 
face  and  you  save  all”  was  merely 
a  phrase.  Few  people  realized  its 
meaning.  Now  house  owners  know 
that  they  can  save  their  property  and 
their  money  invested  in  it  by  pro¬ 
tecting  the  surfaces  of  their  houses 
with  white-lead  paint. 
Look  for  the  Dutch  Boy 
National  Lead  Company  makes 
white-lead  of  the  highest  quality  and 
sells  it,  mixed  with  pure  linseed  oil, 
under  the  name  and  trade-mark  of 
Dutch  Boy  White- 
Lead.  The  figure  of 
the  Dutch  Boy  is  re¬ 
produced  on  every  keg 
of  white- lead  and  is  a 
guarantee  of  excep¬ 
tional  purity. 
Dutch  Boy  products 
also  include  red-lead, 
linseed  oil,  flatting  oil, 
babbitt  metals,  and 
solder. 
Among  other  prod¬ 
ucts  manufactured  by  National  Lead 
Company  are  needle  metal,  orange  min¬ 
eral,  sash  weights,  lead  wedges,  im¬ 
pression  lead,  and  lead  gaskets. 
More  about  lead 
If  you  use  lead,  or  think  you  might 
use  it  in  any  form,  write  to  us  for 
specific  information. 
NATIONAL  LEAD  COMPANY 
New  York  Boston  Cincinnati  San  Francisco 
Cleveland  Buffalo  Chicago  St.  Louis 
JOHN  T.  LEWIS  &  BROS.  CO.,  Philadelphia 
NATIONAL  LEAD  &  OIL  CO.,  Pittsburgh 
