1260 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
October  G,  1923 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BUSINESS  FARMER'S  TAPER 
A  Nntlonnl  Weekly  Journal  lor  Country  and  Siilturhuu  Home* * 
Established  mao 
rublltbni  nnhlj  by  the  Rural  I’liltlifthine  Company,  313  Hut  30th  Street,  -New  York 
Herbert  W.  Colling  wood,  President  and  Editor. 
John  J.  Dillon,  Treasurer  and  General  Manager. 
Wm.  F.  Dillon.  Secretary.  Mrs.  E.  T.  Hoyle,  Associate  Editor. 
L.  H.  Murphy,  Circulation  .Manager. 
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“A  SQUARE  DEAL” 
We  believe  that  every  advertisement  in  this  paper  is  backed  by  a  respon¬ 
sible  person.  We  use  every  possible  precaution  and  admit  the  advertising  of 
reliable  houses  only.  But  to  make  doubly  sure,  we  will  make  good  any  loss 
to  paid  subscribers  sustained  by  trusting  any  deliberate  swindler,  irrespon¬ 
sible  advertisers  or  misleading  advertisements  in  our  columns,  ami  any 
such  swindler  will  be  publicly  exposed.  We  are  also  often  called  upon 
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responsible  houses,  whether  advertisers  or  not.  We  willingly  use  our  good 
offices  to  this  end,  but  such  cases  should  not  be  confused  with  dishonest 
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Notice  of  the  complaint  must  be  sent  to  us  within  one  month  of  the  time  of 
the  transaction,  and  to  identify  it,  you  should  mention  The  Rural  New- 
Yorker  when  writing  the  advertiser. 
The  Rural  New-Yorker  irili  support  us  strongly 
ns  it  can  any  school  hill  irhich  has  the  support,  of  a 
majority  of  Neic  York  country  people.  1TY  hold  as 
a  fundamental  principle  that  these  country  people 
should  have  most  to  say  about  educating  their  chil¬ 
dren.  TFe  think  they  have  enough  intelligence  to 
determine  what  they  want,  and  no  hill  should  he 
forced  upon  them  without  their  full  understanding 
and  consent. 
* 
It  is  always  tho  sound  instinct  of  the  so-called  classes 
to  favor  a  government  strong  enough  to  maintain  order 
and  to  protect  liberty  to  the  full,  including  that  at¬ 
tribute  of  liberty  which  is  property.  Similarly  it  is  the 
equally  sound  instinct  of  the  so-called  masses  to  oppose 
the  formation  of  any  government  that  might  shelter  and 
protect  privilege,  or  that  might  use  its  powers  for  the 
restriction  and  oppression  of  the  great  body  of  the 
people.  Both  instincts  are  natural  and  defensible. 
HAT  is  taken  from  a  new  book  on  American  his¬ 
tory  by  Nicholas  Murray  Butler.  We  think  it 
carries  some  application  to  the  present  contest  in 
New  York  State  over  the  proposed  school  law.  Un¬ 
fortunately,  or  otherwise,  this  has  narrowed  down 
to  what  may  be  called  the  organizations,  or  their 
representatives,  on  one  side,  and  the  great  unorgan¬ 
ized  masc  of  country  people  on  the  other.  We  add 
the  words  “or  otherwise”  above,  because  we  think 
such  contests  are  not  always  unfortunate.  All 
through  history  they  have  been  the  means  of  stimu¬ 
lating  thought,  and  the  results  of  the  usual  com¬ 
promise  have  been  better  than  any  unchecked  suc¬ 
cess  of  either  side.  In  this  school  contest  one 
side  tells  us  that  the  plain  farmers  are  incapable  of 
deciding  for  themselves.  They  do  not  know  what 
they  want,  and  therefore  stronger  and  better  trained 
people  should  act  fo-  them.  On  the  other  hand, 
these  plain  farmers  say  the  school  hill  is  the  product 
of  "highbrows."  theoretical  people  who  do  not  know 
real  country  conditions,  and  who  are  trying  to  force 
an  experiment  in  education  upon  rural  people.  Thus, 
as  we  see,  there  enters  into  this  school  discussion  the 
two  opposing  instincts  which  Dr.  Butler  refers  to. 
The  hackers  of  the  hill  seem  disposed  to  jam  the 
legislation  through  if  they  can.  This  can  only  lead 
to  opposition  to  any  school  law  whatever  from  the 
other  side.  There  should  be  a  fair  spirit  of  com¬ 
promise.  One  side  ought  to  know  that  reforms  can¬ 
not  safely  move  faster  than  the  mind  and  opinion  of 
the  average  man.  The  other  side  should  remember 
that  education  must  move  and  grow  like  everything 
else.  It  cannot  stand  still. 
* 
ONE  of  our  readers  is  a  man  now  more  than  60 
years  old.  He  was  born  in  New  England,  but 
has  spent  most  of  his  life  in  the  West.  He  has  been 
for  many  years  a  judge  in  the  Middle  West.  We 
have  this  note  from  him: 
1  have  just  cut  out  your  front  page  of  Sept.  15.  and 
intend  ro  have  if  framed  for  my  office.  It  seems  to  me 
the  best  picture  of  the  splendid  women  who  have  been 
such  an  enormous  factor  in  agriculture,  who  are  still 
doing  their  work  quietly  and  unostentatiously,  and  have 
received,  on  the  whole,  mighty  little  credit  and  mighty 
little  recognition. 
The  picture  shows  an  elderly  woman  preparing  a 
pan  of  apples  for  cooking.  Her  hands  are  busy,  and 
so  are  her  thoughts.  We  know  that  her  mind  is 
busy  with  scenes  of  the  past — old  incidents  of  girl- 
hood — old  days  that  come  smilingly  up  from  a  happy 
past.  She  seems  just  like  your  mother  and  mine — 
only  we  did  not  fully  appreciate  her — did  not  know 
what  her  life  meant  to  us  in  those  old  days.  Most 
of  the  papers  seem  to  scour  the  earth  and  rack,  if 
net  wreck,  their  brains  trying  to  imagine  new  forms 
of  pretty  girls  or  clever  young  women  for  pictures. 
These  youngsters  may  till  the  eye,  hut  the  real  grat¬ 
itude  of  the  world  is  due  the  worn  and  toil-marked 
women  who  have  worked  on  through  the  years  un¬ 
noticed.  and  with  scant  reward  for  their  long  season 
of  toil.  We  like  to  honor  them. 
* 
I  am  living  in  the  country,  and  my  child  is  going  to 
school.  I  learn  that  the  teachers  in  this  school  are 
whipping  the  children.  I  had  an  interview  with  the 
principal  and  school  superintendent,  who  tell  me  the 
law  gives  them  a  perfect  right  in  the  country  schools 
to  do  so.  I  can  hardly  believe  this,  and  before  I  go  in 
further  details  about  it  I  will  ask  you  if  this  is  true. 
o.  s. 
E  have  printed  the  law  several  times.  Here 
it  is  again : 
To  use  or  attempt,  or  offer  ro  use.  force  or  violence 
upon  or  toward  the  person  of  another  is  not  unlawful  in 
the  following  eases: 
When  committed  by  a  parent  or  the  authorized  agent 
of  any  parent,  or  by  any  guardian,  master  or  teacher,  in 
the  exercise  of  ;i  lawful  authority  to  restrain  or  correct 
his  child,  ward,  apprentice  or  scholar,  and  the  force  of 
violence  used  is  reasonable  in  manner  and  moderate  in 
degree. 
Why  not  go  to  the  school  and  find  out  for  yourself 
just  what  is  being  done  there?  It  is  a  mistake  to 
act  on  hearsay  evidence  in  such  matters.  The  rural 
school  teacher  has  a  hard  job  at  best,  and  there  are 
often  unruly  children  who  are  not  disciplined  at 
home.  In  many  cases  the  teacher  could  not  keep 
the  school  under  control  without  full  authority  to 
punish  the  offenders.  If  our  own  children  came 
home  and  reported  such  punishment  we  should  go 
right  to  the  teacher  about  it.  If  she  was  not  reason- 
aide.  we  should  go  to  the  trustee,  hut  we  know  our 
own  children  well  enough  to  realize  that  they  may 
fully  deserve  the  application  of  a  stick  or  a  rubber 
belt. 
i 
* 
I  was  very  happy  to  find  by  your  editorials  that  you 
oppose  the  consolidation  of  country  schools.  I  had 
feared  that  no  paper  had  the  courage  to  do  this.  Many 
editors  to  whom  I  sent  articles  on  the  opposition  wrote 
that  they  could  not  publish  anything  except  the  favor¬ 
able  side  of  this  question.  ellen  Frances  lynch. 
T  seems  to  be  true  that  some  of  the  farm  papers 
assume  that  attitude.  We  think  both  sides  should 
l*e  given.  We  are  not  opposed  to  every  attempt  to 
consolidate  schools.  There  are  some  eases  where 
tliis  is  a  wise  policy.  Where  the  patrons  desire  it, 
we  favor  it.  What  we  oppose  is  any  attempt  to 
force  the  system  upon  the  people,  or  any  legislation 
that  will  compel  them  to  adopt  it  before  they  are 
prepared  for  it. 
* 
ON  page  1261  Mr.  Horton  speaks  of  the  difference 
between  real  estate  and  personal  property  for 
taxation  purposes  in  New  York  State.  The  follow¬ 
ing  figures,  taken  from  the  report  of  the  State  Tax 
Commission,  show  how  such  property  compares  in 
a  dozen  rural  counties : 
r 
*  »  «ii  lie 
Personal 
Real  Estate 
Property 
Tioga  County  . . 
$15,817,811 
$113,600 
Cattaraugus  County  . 
48.731.73.8 
600.470 
Clinton  County  . 
14.174.591 
147.540 
Cortland  County  . 
22.383,059 
63.425 
Fulton  County  . 
34.656.751 
398.525 
Lewis  County  . 
16.749.969 
385.080 
Chenango  County  . 
20.714.311 
313,780 
Delaware  County  . 
31.381.096 
397.646 
Schuyler  County  . 
9.325.812 
182.140 
Wayne  County  . 
41.398.509 
307.190 
Yates  County  . 
13.322.382 
201.600 
With  this  wide  difference  between  real  estate  and 
personal  property  assessments  it  is  clear  that  the 
former  would  pay  most  of  any  increased  taxation, 
ar.d  the  farmer’s  chief  property  is  in  real  estate. 
* 
EARLIER  in  the  season  we  showed  a  tuber  of 
the  "Northern  Spy”  potato,  claimed  to  he 
“blight-proof,”  or  nearly  so.  We  dislike  to  print 
sueli  claims;  the  scientific  men  tell  us  there  can  be 
no  such  thing  as  a  potato  immune  to  blight.  \ret 
on  September  26  we  had  vines  of  this  Northern  Spy 
fully  green — without  a  trace  of  blight — when  all 
other  potato  varieties  on  the  farm  had  long  been 
dead  from  the  disease.  Others  who  tried  the  variety 
this  year  give  much  the  same  report.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  this  potato  is  surprisingly  immune  to  dis¬ 
ease. 
* 
IN  its  effect  upon  dairying  the  milking  machine 
ranks  with  the  cotton  gin  in  its  influence  upon 
cotton  growing.  With  our  present  labor  troubles  the 
development  of  dairying  would  have  been  impossible 
without  the  mechanical  milker.  Many  of  us  can  re¬ 
member  the  first  attempts  to  put  rubber  and  metal 
together  in  imitation  of  the  human  hand.  That  was 
the  time  when  the  cream  separator  was  considered 
only  a  promising  experiment.  It  was  claimed  at  the 
beginning  that  anything  like  a  satisfactory  milker 
was  impossible.  The  human  hand  held  a  monopoly 
of  the  work  of  extracting  milk  from  the  cow,  and 
there  was  no  substitute  for  it.  That  was  the  way 
they  argued,  but  the  inventors  kept  at  it.  and  finally 
worked  out  an  imitation  of  the  human  hand  and 
the  calf's  mouth  combined  that  did  the  work.  Then 
it  was  said  that  the  successful  milking  machine 
would  drive  the  hired  man  out  of  business  and  ruin 
the  small  dairymen,  because  the  machine  would  give 
the  large  dairymen  just  such  an  advantage  as  the 
big  mill  has  over  the  small  old-time  factory.  The 
exact  reverse  of  that  has  happened.  The  hired  man 
lias  not  been  driven  away — he  has  walked  away  of 
his  own  accord  for  what  he  thought  was  larger  op¬ 
portunity.  Instead  of  ruining  the  small  dairyman, 
the  milking  machine  has  proved  his  salvation.  He 
is  now  able  to  care  for  a  small  herd  of  good  cows 
with  the  labor  of  his  own  family — a  thing  he  could 
not  have  done  had  he  been  forced  to  milk  by  hand. 
While  the  machine  has  been  a  great  benefit  to  larger 
dairymen  by  helping  settle  the  milking  problem,  its 
greatest  industrial  effect  has  been  found  in  the 
smaller  herds.  This  will  continue  in  the  future,  and 
will  enable  many  a  farm  of  moderate  capacity  to 
remain  in  the  business  by  adjusting  the  work  to  the 
family  labor  supply.  In  New  York  State  this  is  one 
of  the  most  encouraging  things  about  the  business. 
Many  of  our  farms  are  naturally  adapted  to  dairy¬ 
ing.  and  should  not  he  changed.  Their  owners  know 
how  to  take  care  of  cows  and  are  equipped  for  the 
work.  They  serve  the  State  better  in  the  dairy  barn 
than  they  ever  can  elsewhere,  and  the  milking  ma¬ 
chine  is  enabling  them  to  do  the  work. 
* 
RESIDENT  COOLIDGE  is  making  a  study  of  the 
agricultural  situation  in  the  West,  trying  to 
find  some  practical  suggestions  for  help  which  may 
I  e  presented  to  Congress.  The  new  President  is  a 
worker  rather  than  a  talker  and  he  fully  recognizes 
the  size  of  the  job  which  has  fallen  to  him.  We 
think  he  wants  to  lie  helpful  and  fair  but  he  re¬ 
alizes.  as  all  of  U3  must,  the  complications  which 
have  arisen.  A  large  share  of  our  present  farm 
troubles  date  back  to  the  war  and  the  deliberate 
1  bins  then  made  to  put  agriculture  at  a  disadvantage 
as  compared  with  other  industries.  Farmers  were 
expected  to  carry  the  butt  end  of  the  war  burden 
and  they  have  received  less  material  help  than  any 
other  class.  Their  buying  power  has  been  reduced 
while  the  prices  of  their  necessities  have  been  in¬ 
creased.  The  short  hours  of  labor  and  high  wages 
enjoyed  by  workers  in  other  industries  have  dis¬ 
organized  farm  labor  and  made  it  almost  impossible 
to  do  farm  work  properly.  And  many  Western  farm¬ 
ers  have  not  been  wise  in  handling  money  and  credit, 
and  have  continued  growing  grain  exclusively  when 
they  knew  it  was  being  done  at  a  loss.  All  these 
things  complicate  the  situation  by  making  country 
people  discontented  and  nervous.  Many  of  them 
are  in  an  ugly  mood  and  ready  to  demand  and  try 
almost  any  radical  experiment.  It  is  the  time  in 
farm  history,  if  ever,  for  cool  judgment  and 
courageous  leadership.  One  trouble  is  that  many 
(f  the  men  who  pose  as  farm  leaders  lack  the’ 
courage  to  stand  up  against  a  demand  for  temporary 
makeshifts  in  legislation  which  they  know  cannot 
bring  permanent  relief.  We  hope  President  Coolidge 
will  get  honest  opinion  direct  from  farmers 
themselves  and  not  rely  entirely  upon  official  agri¬ 
culture.  Something  must  be  done  at  once  to  relieve 
the  wheat  growers  in  addition  to  what  they  must  do 
themselves.  We  shall  all  find,  East,  West,  North  and 
South,  that  while  the  government  can  help  to  some 
extent  we  shall,  sooner  or  later,  be  obliged  to  take 
tilings  into  our  own  hands  and  do  it  ourselves. 
Brevities 
Far  better  see  the  fence  viewers  rather  than  fight 
over  a  line  fence. 
Before  you  condemn  the  local  district  school,  let  us 
ask  how  hard  you  have  tried  to  improve  it. 
Knowledge  is  power,  but  of  what  use  until  it  is 
belted  to  some  practical  or  productive  purpose? 
Why  should  the  farmer  be  expected  to  post  his  farm 
in  order  to  keep  trespassers  away,  any  more  than  a 
town  man  in  his  garden? 
We  should  have  laws  compelling  dealers  in  “soft 
drinks”  to  display  signs  stating  that  they  use  chemical 
flavors  when  that  is  the  case. 
At  a  recent  baseball  game  we  figured  that  15.000 
bottles  of  “pop”  were  sold.  The  redeeming  feature, 
however,  was  the  sale  of  10.000  cones  of  ice  cream. 
That’s  something  for  dairying,  at  least. 
Talk  about  the  spread  of  dairying,  a  ear  containing 
over  .30  tons  of  butter  was  recently  shipped  from  Moose 
Jaw.  Sask.  All  over  the  Northwest  history  is  repeating 
itself,  and  wheat  growers  are  turning  to  dairying. 
Is  a  teacher  in  New  York  justified  in  keeping  chil¬ 
dren  after  school?  Not  against  the  objection  of  the 
parent.  The  law  holds  that  the  parents  are  entitled 
to  i  lie  custody  of  their  children  when  school  session 
is  closed. 
