902 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
June  30,  1923 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BUSINESS  FARMER’S  PAPER 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  lor  Country  and  Suburban  Home* * 
Established  !8S0 
PnblUht-d  nrcklj  by  the  Rural  Publishing  Company.  3113  West  80th  Street,  New  Fork 
Herbert  W.  Colling  wood,  President  and  Editor. 
John  J.  Dillon,  Treasurer  and  General  Manager. 
'Via.  V.  Dillon,  Secretary.  Mrs.  E.  T.  Hoyle,  Associate  Editor. 
L.  H.  Murphy,  Circulation  Manager. 
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the  transaction,  and  to  identify  it,  you  should  mention  The  Rural  New- 
Forker  when  writing  the  advertiser. 
AT  Syracuse  University  last  week  Senator  Cope¬ 
land  of  New  York  attacked  our  present  immi¬ 
gration  laws: 
He  declared  that  to  permit  aliens  to  come  lo  t lie 
United  States  only  to  find  they  were  barred  because  tbe 
quotas  for  their  nations  were  filled  was  “cruel  and 
heartless.”  He  urged  that  selection  of  aliens  for  im¬ 
migration  be  conducted  by  the  United  States  officials 
abroad. 
We  do  not  quite  see  the  force  of  this  criticism. 
It  is  quite  easy  to  learn  when  the  quota  of  immi¬ 
grants  from  any  country  is  filled.  The  immigrant 
may  learn  before  lie  leaves  Europe  whether  the  per¬ 
mitted  number  lias  been  completed.  We  think  the 
present  restriction  a  good  thing,  at  least  from  the 
standpoint  of  a  farmer.  Most  of  those  who  are  now 
coming  rarely  if  ever  work  away  from  the  city  and 
town.  Europe  is  not  sending  us  the  high-class  farm 
labor  which  formerly  came,  and  which  did  so  much 
to  develop  this  country.  We  now  have  more  of  the 
poorer  class  of  immigrants  than  we  can  well  assim¬ 
ilate.  Better  “eat  light”  for  a  while  and  try  to 
digest  what  we  have. 
* 
WE  commend  to  your  attention  Mrs.  Green¬ 
wood's  “Notes  from  a  Sagebrush  Farmer’s 
Wife,”  this  week.  There  is  sound  sense  on  the 
school  question.  How  it  would  hurt  the  feelings  of 
some  mothers  if  they  were  told  that  their  children 
would  be  better  off  without  the  modern  high  school 
course!  l~et  it  might  he  the  plain  truth.  And  Mrs. 
Greenwood  writes  in  a  personal  letter: 
The  farmer’s  lack  of  “get-up”  and  fight  is  the  real 
cause  of  our  trouble.  They  are  the  patient  Griseldas 
of  this  world’s  workers — and  they  get  what  is  coming 
to  them.  But  the  injustice  of  it  is  that  when  the  over¬ 
patient  sink  we  kickers  are  eomi>elled  to  sink  with  them. 
We  are  so  few  comparatively  that  when  the  politicians 
upset  our  raft,  allowing  the  patient  to  sink  without  a 
struggle,  we  are  not  strong  enough  to  save  even  our¬ 
selves,  not  to  speak  of  the  great  mass  of  drowning. 
The  usual  reaction  of  the  “kicker”  is  a  case  of  sore 
feet,  hut  once  born  to  kick  he  will  keep  at  it.  Very 
likely  it  is  a  good  thing  for  the  world  that  kickers 
rarely  if  ever  get  control  of  things.  .They  would 
probably  keep  on  kicking  when  they  should  stop  to 
take  breath  and  stamp  down  a  good  place  to  stand. 
The  world  needs  them  in  the  ranks — not  so  much 
at  the  head  of  the  line.  And  the  tme  kicker  never 
sinks,  for  the  action  of  his  legs  and  feet  will  keep 
him  afloat  like  a  swimmer. 
Outside  of  making  a  living  the  proposed  school  legis¬ 
lation  is  without  doubt  the  most  serious  question  con¬ 
fronting  New  York  State  farmers.  This  campaign  will 
be  of  inestimable  value  if  you  can  force  farmers  to 
think  serious'v.  and  I  believe  you  can.  In  the  last 
analysis  I  believe  farmers  will  prefer  to  work  out  their 
own  desrinv.  They  have  taken  every  description  of 
tonic  which  has  been  offered  them  in  a  spoon,  and 
have  wriggled  out  of  all  sorts  of  doses  which  have  been 
forced  down  their  throats.  They  are  about  tired  of  this 
sort  of  thing.  I  believe  they  are  about  ready  to  take 
a  more  prominent  hand  in  preparing  their  own  prescrip¬ 
tions.  D-  B. 
N  the  discussion  of  this  school  hill  we  intend  to 
get  down  to  the  bottom  of  things  if  there  is  any 
approachable  bottom*  For  once  let  us  see  just  what 
there  is  “inside  of  the  cup.”  We  think  this  corre¬ 
spondent  is  right  in  saying  that  the  proposed  school 
legislation  is.  next  to  making  a  living,  the  most  im¬ 
portant  thing  now  before  our  rural  people.  Not 
only  is  the  future  of  our  children,  and  hence  the 
future  of  our  nation  involved,  but  there  is  another 
great  question  which  looms  large  behind  it  all.  Are 
our  farmers  capable  of  managing  and  conducting  the 
local  schools?  When  you  come  to  consider  that  ques¬ 
tion  you  find  it  enlarging  and  reaching  out  to  other 
public  duties.  As  we  study  the  proposed  school  bill 
it  becomes  more  and  more  apparent  that  the  real 
object  is  to  transfer  power  over  the  home  schools 
from  local  farmers  to  a  sort  of  graduated  system  of 
boards  and  officials.  Under  the  proposed  plan,  as 
we  see  it,  there  is  likely  to  be  developed  a  political 
machine  which  will  within  a  few  years  have  a  far 
more  despotic  control  over  our  rural  schools  than 
the  present  department  at  Albany  now  enjoys— and 
that  will  he  “going  some,”  as  our  boys  would  say. 
It  may  he  possible  that  under  such  a  proposed  sys¬ 
tem  the  rural  schools  will  be  more  “efficient”  and 
stronger,  hut  they  will  no  longer  he  rural  schools, 
but  simply  a  part  of  an  educational  system  based  on 
the  supposed  needs  of  city  civilization.  We  might 
as  well  get  right  down  to  the  heart  of  this  subject 
with  a  broad  ax  while  we  are  at  it.  Far  better  do 
it  now,  before  the  bill  becomes  a  law.  It  seems  to  us 
that  this  Committee  of  Twenty-one  was  purposely 
made  up  of  men  and  women  who  favored  the  old 
township  law,  and  who  started  out  to  frame  a  new 
law  as  close  to  that  as  possible.  Under  the  circum¬ 
stances  it  Avas  their  full  privilege  to  do  that.  We 
have  no  doubt  they  honestly  believe  that  power  must 
be  taken  from  the  local  district  and  centralized  in 
larger  communities  before  our  rural  schools  can  be 
improved.  Be  that  as  it  may,  we  intend  to  make  it 
clear  that  the  fundamental  issue  oATer  this  proposed 
bill  is  the  old  question  of  individual  or  local  power 
as  against  centralized  power.  We  can  readily  see 
arguments  on  both  sides,  hut  that  is  the  issue  back 
of  it  all,  and  Ave  must  sift  it  out  before  the  Legis¬ 
lature  meets  again. 
* 
HAVE  you  ever  seen  a  so-called  "self-made'’  man 
lecturing  his  children  about  the  extravagances 
and  folly  of  modern  education?  It  is  an  interesting 
incident.  You  take  a  man  who  in  early  life  Avas 
denied  Avhat  Ave  usually  call  “opportunity.”  lie  Avas 
put  out  to  labor  early,  and  had  no  chance  to  attend 
college  or  to  enjoy  the  happy  play  which  is  the 
right  of  all  children.  He  conquers  a  place  in  the 
Avorld  by  bulldog  courage  and  superior  natural  abil¬ 
ity.  Such  a  man  is  likely  to  have  a  form  of  con¬ 
tempt,  or  at  least  a  low  opinion,  of  the  modern  col¬ 
lege  course.  “That's  not  the  Avay  to  bring  up  chil¬ 
dren,'’  he  says  when  mother  talks  college  for  John 
or  Mary  or  Susan.  “Look  at  me!  I  had  no  college 
training.  Let  them  go  into  practical  work  and  sup¬ 
port  themselves!'’  The  man  usually  talks  that  Avay, 
hut  he  doesn't  usually  practice  his  own  preaching. 
As  a  case  in  point,  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison  may  surely 
he  called  a  “self-made  man.”  He  is  constantly  hit¬ 
ting  at  colloge  education  and  commenting  on  the  low 
quality  of  college  graduates.  The  New  York  Times 
sizes  it  up  about  right  in  the  following: 
In  scorning  collegiate  education,  yet  giving  it  to  his 
own  son,  Mr.  Edison  is  inconsistent  in  exactly  the  same 
way  as  are  he  and  the  many  other  fathers  who  began  as 
poor  boys  when  they  say  such  a  start  in  life  as  theirs 
is  the  best  of  all  and  then  give  to  their  oavu  sons  all 
the  “advantages”  that  their  financial  resources  permit. 
They  do  not  turn  their  boys  out  into  the  world  at  an 
early  age  to  fend  for  themselves ;  they  do  not  force 
them  to  earn  their  own  board  and  clothes  by  going  to 
work  as  soon  as  they  can  earn  a  few  dollars  a  week  ; 
they  support  them  year  after  year  Avhile  they  go  to 
schools,  common  and  high,  and  then  while  they  devote 
more  years  to  undergraduate  and  graduate  study  at  the 
best  university  they  can  find. 
But  the  truth  is  that  the  man  in  such  cases  sel¬ 
dom  decides  the  question  for  himself.  In  this  mat¬ 
ter  of  education — from  selecting  books  to  deciding 
about  college — the  mother  usually  gives  the  final 
judgment.  As  a  result  father's  desire  is  sometimes 
overruled,  and  strong  and  capable  boys  are  fired 
with  the  ambition  to  obtain  a  college  education.  And 
on  the  other  hand  it  must  he  said  that  now  and  then 
some  feeble,  lazy  ne’er-do-well,  Avho  should  be 
forced  to  labor,  is  trained  to  become  a  mere  literary 
drone  because  mother  thought  him  a  young  Daniel 
Webster  an  disguise.  The  average  self-made  man 
feels  that  he  must  keep  up  his  reputation,  and  it  is 
entirely  natural  for  him  to  glorify  his  own  struggles 
and  self-help.  Yet  all  the  time  he  knows  in  his  heart 
that  life  Avould  have  been  stronger  and  sweeter  if 
he  could  have  had  in  his  youth  the  best  that  college 
has  to  offer.  And,  in  like  manner,  the  man  “'born 
with  a  silver  spoon  in  his  mouth,”  avIio  has  found 
the  door  of  opportunity  opened  for  him  at  every  turn 
of  the  road,  envies  his  “self-made”  brother  the  joy 
of  victory  over  hard  conditions. 
A CURIOUS  Avill  case  has  just  been  decided  in 
this  city.  A  soldier  in  the  Great  War  told  his 
comrades  that  he  Avanted  his  property  to  go  to  the 
girl  to  Avhom  he  Avas  engaged.  He  was  captured 
shortly  after  and  is  supposed  to  have  died  a  pris¬ 
oner.  He  left  no  other  Avill  than  this  A’erbal  state¬ 
ment.  His  relatives  tried  to  secure  his  estate,  but 
the  judge  decided  that  it  should  go  to  the  girl.  It 
appears  that  a  soldier  or  a  sailor,  in  places  of  dan¬ 
ger,  may  make  such  a  verbal  will.  Of  course  in 
ordinary  eases  such  an  expressed  Avish,  without  a 
written  will,  would  have  no  legality.  We  refer  to 
this  because  during  the  year  there  are  dozens  of  let¬ 
ters  from  people  who  think  they  should  share  in 
some  estate  because  the  former  owner  befo're  death 
said  that  he  “expected  to  remember  them.-’  Such 
people  will  uot  share  in  the  property  unless  they  are 
relatives,  or  distinctly  mentioned  in  a  legal  will. 
OUR  old  friend,  J.  C.  Berrang,  conductor  of  the 
famous  ox-team  express,  comes  out  of  Winter 
quarters  this  Aveek,  and  starts  to  climb  the  moun¬ 
tains.  One  ox  committed  suicide  by  eating  too  much 
green  Alfalfa.  What  a  commentary  upon  present 
day  life  is  afforded  by  the  story  of  that  search  for 
a  neAAT  ox !  The  old  civilization  of  Colorado  Avas 
trodden  out  by  the  feet  of  oxen.  The  toiling  beasts 
Avhich  crawled  across  the  plains  through  Indians, 
buffalo  and  cactus  made  Colorado  possible  as  a  civil¬ 
ized  community.  Yet  when  that  Yankee  ox  died,  out 
of  the  million  and  a  half  of  Colorado  cattle  it  Avas 
difficult  to  find  a  substitute!  But  the  Berrangs  are 
on  their  way,  and  as  we  Avrite  this  they  must  he  at 
the  top  of  the  Great  Divide,  headed  down  the  Avest- 
ern  slope.  A  pleasant  journey  to  them.  See  page  014. 
* 
FEW  Aveeks  ago  the  daily  papers  contained  a 
remarkable  story  of  an  effort  made  to  com¬ 
pensate  for  the  killing  of  a  little  child.  It  appears 
that  in  California  an  intoxicated  man,  while  driving 
a  car,  ran  over  and  killed  a  little  child  of  four. 
This  man  made  a  remarkable  proposition  to  the 
parents  of  this  little  one.  He  offered  to  give  them 
his  own  little  girl  of  about  "the  same  age  and, 
strange  to  say,  it  is  reported  that  his  Avife,  the 
mother  of  the  living  child,  agreed  to  the  plan.  We 
have  had  long  and  remarkable  experience  with 
little  children  and  their  relations  Avitli  parent  or 
guardian,  but  Ave  never  before  heard  of  such  a  pro¬ 
posal  among  civilized  people.  We  are  told  that  such 
offers  were  not  uncommon  among  the  Indians  or  In 
certain  savage  tribes.  There  are  two  extreme  mo¬ 
tives  possible  in  such  a  case.  Under  the  influence 
of  the  shock  and  horror  of  his  act,  this  man  Avho 
killed  the  child  may  have  gone  back  to  some  ele¬ 
mental  emotion — or  Ave  may  call  it  some  sub-con¬ 
scious  call  from  remote  ancestors  to  satisfy  a  sav¬ 
age  form  of  justice.  Or,  at  the  other  extreme,  ho 
may  be  Avilling  to  sacrifice  his  child  in  order  to 
escane  the  long  term  of  imprisonment  which  surely 
awaits  him  if  the  case  is  prosecuted.  Who  can  tell 7 
With  all  its  boasted  power  and  training,  the  mind 
of  man  still  carries  savage  instincts  and  barbaric 
desires  which  may  come  to  the  surface  in  times  of 
supreme  emotion.  Can  you  imagine  yourself  giving 
up  an  only  child  in  an  effort  to  make  reparation  for 
a  great  wrong? 
Brevities 
We  are  growing  a  small  plot  of  Darso — a  sorghum 
no*ed  for  its  seed  production. 
,  Sudan  grass  comes  from  Africa  —  it  is  one  of  the 
forage  plants  every,  stock  farmer  should  try. 
Has  anyone  ever  tried  the  plan  of  treating  buck¬ 
wheat  seed  with  formaldehyde,  as  is  done  with  oats 
and  wheat? 
“A  campaign  for  better  sires !”  We  see  considerable 
mention  of  that.  Some  children  look  across  the  table 
Avhile  father  is  scolding,  and  think  the  campaign  might 
beg.n  at  home. 
The  Pima  cotton  grown  in  Arizona  came  originally 
from  Egypt.  It  is  a  long  staple  variety  which  grows 
well  in  the  Southwest  and  has  given  a  profitable  agri¬ 
culture  to  a  neglected  country. 
Eleven  jurors  in  New  Jersey,  including  three  women, 
A\Tere  fined  $25  each  for  not  obeying  the  judge.  He  in¬ 
structed  them  to  bring  in  a  verdict  on  a  certain  point  of 
laAv.  They  refused  and  went  by  the  evidence ! 
Noav  tell  me  when,  to  spot  the  loafers  in  the  pen, 
the  drones  and  shirks,  the  poultry  dregs  who  laze  around 
but  lay  no  eggs.  The  glorious  Fourth  comes  in  July, 
and  avc  can  see  no  reason  Avhy  you  should  not  start  your 
culling  then, and  clean  out  every  loafing  hen. 
The  New  York  papers  tell  of  a-mau  who  attempted 
to  kill  his  wife  by  striking  her  with  an  ax.  She  did  not 
die,  but  lost  so  much  blood  that  it  was  necessary  to 
transfuse  blood  from  another  person.  They  selected  the 
murderous  husband  for  this  service,  strapped  him  down 
and  took  blood  from  his  veins  to  save  the  woman  he 
had  tried  to  kill. 
If  you  want  to  put  a  thing  over,  start  the  poets  after 
it.  A  poet  from  the  Ohio  College  starts  this  one :  “My 
skin  was  wan  and  buttery,  my  ears  were  full  of  buzz, 
my  heart  was  Aveak  and  muttery,  my  tongue  was  full  of 
fuzz.  Depression  weighed  upon  me,  but  now  I’m  feel¬ 
ing  fine.  My  blessings,  then,  upon  thee,  oh,  herds  of 
lowing  kine,  which  give  the  food  sustaining  that  keeps 
me  thisawav.  I’m  through  Avith  all  complaining.  I 
drink  a  quart  a  day  !” 
