962 
The  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
July  14,  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. 
What  is  your  opinion  of  the  offerings 
of  the  Mutual  Benefit  League  124  Pearl 
St.,  Buffalo?  They  have  two  very  slick 
salesmen  in  this  vicinity  holding  out  al¬ 
luring  offers  of  profits  of  as  high  as 
$13.80  on  every  $10  invested  in  their 
mortgage  contracts.  There  must,  be  some 
hole  in  their  proposition.  I  am  enclosing 
one  of  their  circulars.  I,.  M.  c. 
New  York. 
The  Mutual  Benefit  League  is  one  of 
the  organizations  which  proposes  to  loan 
money  at  3  per  cent  for  home  building 
to  those  entering  into  a  contract  with  the 
so-called  league  to  pay  in  1  per  cent  of 
the  contract  monthly  or  12  per  cent  of 
the  amount  to  be  loaned  yearly.  The 
representations  of  the  salesmen  of  this 
class  of  concerns  are  very  misleading.  The 
prospective  home  builder  is  led  to  believe 
that  the  loan  will  be  forthcoming  within 
10  months.  There  is  no  definite  date  set 
for  the  loan  in  the  contract.  Subscribers 
have  to  wait  their  turn  and  the  average 
time  seems  to  be  from  22  to  24  months. 
The  large  profit  represented  to  be  made 
on  the  contracts  is  supposed  to  be  made 
by  selling  the  contracts  to  others  when 
the  loan  is  available.  This  may  be  pos¬ 
sible  in  isolated  cases  but  on  the  whole 
our  experience  with  cheap  rate  loaning 
concerns  has  been  unsatisfactory  when 
not  disastrous  and  our  advice  to  farmers 
is  to  give  all  such  propositions  a  wide 
berth.  The  regular  building  and  loan  as¬ 
sociations  which  are  subject  to  inspection 
of  the  State  banking  department  can 
render  much  better  and  safer  service  to 
home  builders.  The  Mutual  Benefit 
League  is  under  no  such  supervision. 
In  reference  to  inclosed  bulletin  and 
advertisement  in  county  newspaper  of 
New  York  State  Farm  Sales  Company, 
Utica,  N.  Y.,  a  representative  of  the  con- 
corn  called  on  me  today.  He  said  they 
charged  9  per  cent  as  commission  and  i 
per  cent  for  advertising ;  the  latter  is 
paid  in  advance,  or  will  take  it  in  install¬ 
ments.  They  have  quite  an  attractive 
catalogue  and  monthly  bulletin.  1  agree 
that  advertising  is  the  way  to  reach  a 
buyer.  He  adds  the  9  per  cent  and  1  per 
cent  to  net  price  of  farm.  He  noticed 
The  R.  N.-Y.  on  table  and  showed  me  a 
letter  of  R.  N.-Y.  quoting  on  advertising 
and  other  quotations.  Not  in  their  cat¬ 
alogue  or  other  literature  is  any  name  of 
official  of  the  concern.  The  name  implies 
State  organization,  but  hardly  think  it  is 
part  of  Bureau  of  Farms  and  Markets, 
Albany.  The  salesman’s  name  is  Mr. 
After.  He  had  two  contracts  for  the  day 
and  two  checks,  one  $15  and  one  $30.  I 
did  not  sign  contract  or  give  any  check, 
preferring  to  communicate  with  you  to  as¬ 
certain  if  responsible.  It  occurred  to  me 
it  may  be  another  name  for  real  estate 
operators  you  have  exposed,  but  hope  not. 
New  York.  J.  h.  w. 
The  terms  of  the  New  Y’ork  State 
Farm  Sales  Company  in  listing  property 
are  9  per  cent  upon  selling  the  property 
and  1  per  cent  to  be  paid  at  time  of  list¬ 
ing.  for  advertising  purposes.  This  real 
estate  concern  claims  to  publish  a  maga¬ 
zine  in  which  farm  property  listed  with 
the  agency  is  advertised ;  also  in  foreign 
language  papers.  If  you  list  a  farm  worth 
$10,000  with  this  agency  you  are  required 
to  pay  $100  in  advance  for  advertising 
purposes.  This  smacks  of  the  Ostrander 
scheme,  which  has  more  recently  been 
perpetuated  by  Cornell.  No  doubt  if 
New  Y"ork  State  Farm  Sales  Company 
can  list  enough  farms  on  these  terms  it 
will  be  a  matter  of  indifference  whether 
any  farms  are  sold  under  the  plan  or  not. 
Ostrander  and  Cornell  made  no  serious 
attempt  to  sell  'farm  property.  The  ad¬ 
vance  fees  proved  easier  money.  J.  ,T. 
Black,  Chippewa  Falls,  Wis.,  is  working 
the  same  game.  The  efforts  of  The  R. 
N.-Y".  for  20  years  have  been  to  stamp  out 
the  nefarious  schemes.  The  1  per  cent 
for  advertising  is  only  a  cloak  for  the  old 
fraud.  The  R.  N.-Y".  may  have  innocently 
quoted  advertising  rates  before  being 
aware  of  the  scheme. 
My  daughter  has  taught  the  last  two 
years  in  district  schools.  In  April  a  book 
agent.  P.  G.  Darwin,  Owego.  N.  Y".  (al¬ 
though  he  once  gave  his  address  as  Buf¬ 
falo.  N.  Y".)  came  to  her  school  represent¬ 
ing  himself  to  be  from  the  education  de¬ 
partment  at  Albany,  and  asked  if  she 
were  having  any  trouble  teaching  nature 
study.  Now  it  is  such  a  common  thing 
for  the  department  to  make  new  rulings 
and  change  the  requirements  in  these, 
newer  subjects  that  it  is  hard  to  keep  up 
to  date  in  them,  and  helps,  or  explana¬ 
tions  coming  from  headquarters  did  not 
look  suspicious.  He  was  selling  “Public 
School  Methods”  project  edition,  at 
$37.25  cash  or  $38.75  with  time  for  seven 
books  which  of  course  contained  the  latest 
and  best  method  of  teaching  and  were 
recommended  by  Dr.  Buck  and  others 
from  Geneseo,  showing  her  a  long  list 
of  names  of  teachers  she  knew  who  had 
signed  for  them.  The  price  was  so  pro¬ 
hibitive  that  finally  in  desperation  she 
asked  him  if  she  were  obliged  to  buy 
them.  He  admitted  that  she  was  not 
obliged  to,  but,  and  the  but  carried  with 
it  the  awful  consequences  of  not  taking 
advantage  of  the  best  approved  and  rec¬ 
ommended  methods  that  he  frightened 
her  into  thinking  that  she  could  not 
compete  with  the  other  teachers  if  she 
did  not  have  them.  The  threat  would 
not  have  meant  anything  to  her  if  he 
had  not  been  sent  by  the  department.  She 
thought  she  would  at  least  take  advant¬ 
age  of  the  cash  price  and  gave  him  her 
check  for  $37.25.  It  was  simply  a  case 
of  an  old  agent  being  too  much  for  a 
young  teacher  who  is  trying  to  do  good 
work  in  the  required  way.  She  was 
saving  her  money  for  a  normal  course, 
which  she  expects  to  begin  in  September. 
Our  district  superintendent  has  had  a 
great  many  complaints  about  this  man, 
but  has  got  no  satisfaction  from  him  so 
far.  If  he  will  not  refund  the  money . 
and  allow  us  to  return  the  books  to  him 
or  the  publishers  in  Chicago,  I  shall  con¬ 
tinue  to  notify  the  district  superintend¬ 
ents  of  his  way  of  doing  business. 
New  York.  mbs.  w.  c.  m. 
There  is  no  possibility  of  getting  a  re¬ 
fund  of  any  money  from  this  class  of 
book-agent  pirates.  We  had  another 
complaint  recently  where  a  young  girl 
was  induced  by  another  agent  of  School 
Methods  Publishing  Co.,  Chicago,  to  sign 
for  a  set  of  books,  and  fortunately  in 
this  case,  payment  was  not  made  in  ad¬ 
vance.  We  advised  the  parents  of  the 
young  girl  to  resist  all  efforts  of  the 
book  concern  to  collect  on  the  contract. 
The  Department  of  Education,  Albany, 
has  advised  district  superintendents  to 
warn  teachers  against  buying  books 
from  canvassing  agents.  Young  girls  are 
an  easy  prey  to  these  oily-tongued  book 
agents. 
I  see  where  you  are  helping  other  peo¬ 
ple  to  keep  from  the  clutches  of  frauds. 
I  wonder  if  you  could  give  me  some  infor¬ 
mation  about  this?  'What  is  the  stand¬ 
ing  of  the  United  American  Auto  Own¬ 
ers’  Association,  1045  Broadway,  New 
York  City,  as  an  insurance  company.  My 
husband  had  both  truck  and  car  insured 
by  them  and  paid  $30  down  and  the 
rest  is  to  be  paid  in  00  days.  Quite  a 
few  people  have  insured  around  here.  If 
a  fraud,  can  they  collect  the  balance  due 
them?  I  think  it  is  about  $29  or  830. 
New  York.  jibs.  j.  t.  w. 
There  is  no  such  thing  in  fact  as  the 
United  American  Auto  Owners’  Associa¬ 
tion.  but  there  is  apparently  a  concern 
by  this  name  at  the  address  given  which 
is  not  an  insurance  company  at  all,  but 
is  selling  a  “service  contract.”  The  con¬ 
tract  specifies  on  the  face  of  it  that  it  is 
not  a  policy  of  insurance.  Like  other  con¬ 
cerns  of  this  kind,  there  is  a  provision 
for  towing  the  automobile,  if  disabled 
within  10  miles  of  one  of  the  official 
stations  of  the  company.  We  have  no 
knowledge  where  these  stations  may  be 
located,  or  if  there  are  any  such  stations 
at  all.  The  contract  further  provides  for  j 
representing  the  owners  in  claims  for 
damages,  purchasing  accessories,  selling 
the  automobile  when  desired,  securing 
loans  on  it.  etc.  For  ourselves  we  would 
not  be  inclined  to  invest  25  cents  for  a 
service  contract  of  this  kind,  and  how 
any  person  who  has  attained  the  age  of 
reason  can  be  induced  to  sign  such  a 
contract  and  agree  to  pay  $29.50  for 
such  service,  is  more  than  we  can  un¬ 
derstand.  We  know  in  many  eases  peo¬ 
ple  have  been  induced  to  sign  these  con¬ 
tracts  believing  that  they  were  purchas¬ 
ing  automobile  insurance,  while  the  con¬ 
tract  states  clearly  that  it  is  not  an  in¬ 
surance  policy,  being  a  service  contract.  1 
Years  ago  we  heard  of  a  delightful 
New  England  woman  who  received  her 
first  telegram.  Her  husband  had  gone 
down  to  the  city,  and  had  promised  to 
send  her  a  telegram  as  soon  as  he  ar¬ 
rived.  He  did  so,  and  the  message  was 
delivered  in  order.  The  woman  opened 
the  yellow  envelope,  glanced  at  the  mes¬ 
sage.  and  then  with  fire  in  her  eye 
handed  it  back  to  the  messenger.  “Y"ou 
take  that  right  back  to  the  man  that 
gave  it  to  ye.”  she  said.  “It  ain’t  right. 
That  ain't  Abner’s  handwritin’.” — Bos¬ 
ton  Herald. 
■■  "  '  ■ .  ^ 
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and  longer  Service 
Owning  a  Case  Silo  filler  means  better  silage,  because: 
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feeding  or  milk  producing  value. 
You  can  cut  the  silage  evenly  and  of  the  best  length  for  packing,  keeping 
and  feeding. 
You  can  allow  time  for  shrinkage  and  fill  your  silo  full. 
These  advantages  represent  a  yearly  cash  saving  often  equal  to  the  first 
cost  of  a  Case  Silo  Filler. 
A  Case  Silo  Filler  gives  you  longer  service,  because: 
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All  bearings  have  large  surfaces  and  are  well  lubricated  by  compression 
grease  cups  conveniently  located. 
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Case  Silo  Fillers,  properly  cared  for,  last  through  many  years  of  strenuous 
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THE 
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Box  11  HUDSON  FALLS,  N.  V. 
A 
for 
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YOUR  dollars  buy  more  when  invested  in  the  1923 
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With  present  high-priced  materials  and  labor,  these 
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