The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1343 
You  Must  Tell  Them  What 
I  would  suggest  that  you  issue  a  warning  in  the  next 
copy  of  your  paper  that  the  people  demand  from  their 
candidates  for  tne  Assembly  that  they  come  out  flat- 
footed  with  an  answer  “Yes”  or  “No”  to  the  question, 
“Are  you  in  favor  of  the  new  school  bill?”  w.  H.  H. 
Schuyler  Co.,  N.  Y. 
A 
GOOD  idea.  We  think  most  members  of  the  As¬ 
sembly  will  vote  as  their  people  ask  them  to. 
There  may  be  a  few  who  will  refuse  to  do  so,  but 
the  great  majority  will  represent  their  people.  The 
point  is  to  make  them  understand  what  is  wanted.  A 
big  meeting  of  voters  in  every  school  district  with  a 
set  of  rousing  and  emphatic  resolutions,  and  a  good 
many  straight  individual  letters,  will  make  the  issue 
clear.  Farmers  must  understand  that  in  this  case 
they  have  got  to  do  it  themselves.  Most  of  the  lead¬ 
ers  in  farm  organizations  are  in  favor  of  the  school 
bill,  and  will  try  to  make  it  appear  that  they  repre¬ 
sent  the  membership,  or  plain  farmers.  That  makes 
the  job  harder,  but  the  result  will  be  all  the  more 
convincing  if  farmers  will  unite  and  make  their 
wishes  known.  The  time  has  come  for  them  to  do 
this,  or  stand  by  and  see  the  last  of  their  power  over 
school  matters  taken  from  them. 
The  problem  of  reaching  the  State  Senators  is 
harder  and  more  complicated.  The  map  shown  on 
this  page  will  indicate  the  distribution  of  the  51 
Senate  districts  in  New  York.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  Senators  do  not  come  as  close  to  the  voters, 
since  they  represent  a  large  territory,  and  they  are 
elected  for  a  two-year  term.  Our  present  State 
Senators  do  not  come  up  for  election  this  year,  so 
there  is  no  way  of  directly  reaching  them  now  on 
this  school  bill.  Last  Winter  the  State 
Senate  voted  42  to  8  in  favor  of  the 
new  bill,  and  we  have  been  asked  by 
many  readers  to  state  just  how  this 
vote  was  divided.  We,  therefore,  give 
the  names  of  the  Senators  and  the  dis¬ 
tricts  which  they  represent. 
A  study  of  the  map  will  show  who 
represents  your  district,  so  that  you 
may  know  just  how  these  men  voted. 
First  comes  the  list  of  those  who 
voted  in  favor  of  the  bill,  the  members 
representing  the  districts : 
Mark  W.  Allen .  24 
D.  II.  Ames . 51 
Benj.  Antin  .  22 
W.  S.  Augsbury .  37 
Wm.  T.  B  yne .  30 
Wm.  W.  Campbell .  47 
Daniel  J.  Carroll . .  11 
Ernest  E.  Cole .  43 
S.  H.  Cotillo .  18 
Fredk.  M.  Davenport .  36 
Bernard  Downing .  14 
John  J.  Donegan .  -3 
B.  F.  Farrell .  5 
M.  Y.  Ferris .  33 
L.  W.  Gibbs .  50 
Frank  Giorgio  .  £ 
J.  A.  Hastings . 
Chas.'  J,  Hewett.  .  . . 
James  A.  Higgins... 
F.  W.  Kavanaugh.. 
P.  M.  Kleinfeld . 
John  Knight .  44 
R.  C.  Lacey . 
Meyer  Levy  .  17 
>W.  L.  Love . 
Seymour  Lovvman...  41 
S.  E.  Mastick . 
E  J.  MoGarry .  3 
D‘.  T.  O’Brien .  19 
E.  M.  Rabenold .  13 
That  makes  a  to 
bill. 
The  Senators  who  voted  against  the  bill  are  named 
as  follows : 
and  for  certificates  10  cents,  or  a  total  of  20  cents, 
leaving  the  price  net  to  the  producer  $2.10  per 
100  lbs. 
The  Non-pool  flat  price  for  all  milk  for  September 
was  $2.78.  The  small  sales  on  a  classified  basis, 
which  have  not  been  reported,  would  reduce  this  a 
little  in  an  average  of  the  whole.  In  the  Buffalo 
and  Rochester  districts  an  exception  is  made  by 
both  associations,  the  pool  Class  I  price  being  $2.64, 
and  the  Non-pool  $2.65. 
The  Sheffield  Farms  group  report  a  flat  price  for 
all  milk  of  $2.75  to  producers. 
The  Eastern  States  Producers  have  not  completed 
their  average  returns  from  all  jdants,  but  estimate 
an  average  of  approximately  $2.57.  The  highest  net 
return  by  a  unit  of  this  group  to  its  producers  was 
$2.64. 
The  Twin  City  Milk  Producers’  Association  of  St. 
Paul,  Minn.,  which  supplies  St.  Paul  and  Minneapo¬ 
lis,  paid  its  producers  $2.75  per  100  lbs.  for  August 
in  a  territory  in  which  only  about  one-third  of  the 
production  is  used  for  liquid  consumption.  The  cost 
of  delivering  the  milk  of  the  association  is  28  cents 
per  100  lbs. 
Following  is  the  report  of  the  United  States  De¬ 
partment  of  Agriculture  for  prices  to  producers  in 
Eastern  territory,  reduced  to  the  3  per  cent  basis : 
about  50  cents  a  can.  so  that  the  annual  railroad  milk 
freight  bill  is  more  than  $17,000,000.  This  would  pay 
5  per  cent  interest  on  $340,000,000.  I  think  it  an  exor¬ 
bitant  freight  charge,  yet  the  railroads  say  they  can  do 
it  for  no  less,  and  farmers  have  to  pay  it. 
Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.  t.  f.  howeix. 
Baltimore,  Md. 
$2.36 
Buffalo,  N.  Y  .  .  . . 
2.55 
Cleveland,  O.  .  .  . 
.  .  2.67 
1.72 
Cincinnati,  O.  .  . 
.  2.00 
3.06 
Philadelphia,  Pa.. 
..  2.86 
2.94 
Harrisburg,  Pa.  . 
.  .  2.15 
1.90 
2.89 
Scranton,  Pa.  .  .  . 
.  .  2.95 
Another  View  of  the  School  Problem 
HERE  is  a  new  side  to  the  school  discussion.  We 
are  willing  to  present  them  all.  This  is  taken 
from  an  address  made  by  Wm.  Truman  of  Ulster 
Co.,  N.  Y. : 
The  problem  of  the  rural  school  lies  largely  in  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  last  human  activity  to  fall  a  victim  to 
the  efficiency  expert. 
Our  rural  schools  have  a  record  of  over  a  hundred 
years’  service  practically  unblemished,  during  which  a 
wonderful  work  has  been  performed,  the  result  of  which 
has  been  apparent  in  every  walk  of  life.  During  all  this 
time  the  responsibility  for  the  details  of  the  rural 
schools  has  rested  on  the  rural  people  who  have  built  the 
schoolhouse,  hired  the  teachers,  collected  the  taxes  and 
paid  the  bills  without  recompense  or  reward.  The  very 
fact  of  there  being  no  money  in  it  has  kept  it  free  from 
the  grasp  of  the  politicians,  and  for  the  same  reason  the 
experts  have  left  it  severely  alone. 
Now,  however,  we  are  faced  with  a  new  situation,  and 
the  patrons  of  the  rural  schools  find  themselves  between 
the  devil  of  the  efficiency  expert  and  the  deep  sea  of  the 
politician. 
Having  reached  a  point  in  our  history  where  one  in 
every  60  is  an  office-holder,  and  every  available  avenue 
for  creating  more  has  reached  the  saturation  point,  it 
has  been  found  necessary  to  discover  fresh  fields  and 
pastures  new  to  take  care  of  the  annual  output  of  our 
colleges  and  universities.  To  further  this  highly  laud¬ 
able  and  ingenious  arrangement  it  has  been  found  nec¬ 
essary  to  condemn  our  rural  school  system,  which  by  the 
aid  of  efficiency  experts  has  been  done  through  the  ac¬ 
tivities  of  the  Committee  of  Twenty-one,  who  in  their 
turn  have  now  placed  the  whole  matter  in  the  hands  of 
the  politicians,  to  whom  they  are  now  pleading  and 
promising  in  an  effort  to  get  the  entire  management  of 
the  rural  schools  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
rural  people,  at  least  so  far  as  the  man¬ 
agement  is  concerned,  for  they  will  gra¬ 
ciously  allow  us  to  pay  for  it  all  in  future 
as  we  have  done  in  the  past. 
42 
M.  E.  Reiburn . 
20 
6 
E.  M.  Robinson . 
35 
9 
32 
C.  E.  Russell . 
4 
.T.  T.  Ryan . 
31 
44 
II.  J  Schackno . 
21 
49 
T.  J.  Sheridan . 
15 
17 
Nathan  Straus,  Jr.. 
15 
8 
Parton  Swift . 
48 
41 
J.  F.  Twomey . 
10 
26 
.Tames  J.  Walker... 
12 
3 
,T.  J  Webb. . 
28 
19 
W.  W.  Westall - 
25 
13 
of  42  Senators  who  favored  the 
MAP  OF  THE  ^  - 
STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 
— £=*=*3t ST~  .  SHOWING  TH  E 
51  SENATORIAL  DISTRICTS 
-  *  -  L-i---  OF  THE.  STATE,-  &  — 
Js  ttf)j)nrli0netl!iyChitf/fer7(MJj,ins  of I&17. 
The  monthly  comparisons  with  the  1916  records 
are  given  in  the  following  table: 
- September - 
1917 
1922 
1928 
$2.55 
$1.85 
$2.10 
2.64 
2.55 
2.75 
2.35 
2.305 
2.38 
.4430 
.4099 
.45979 
.2525 
.2325 
.26067 
27  G.  R.  Fearon .  38 
39  W.  T.  Theyer .  34 
29  George  I,.  Thompson.  1 
46  James  J.  Whitley...  45 
As  will  be  seen,  practically  all  the  Senate  dis¬ 
tricts  above  No.  24  are  controlled  by  the  rural  coun¬ 
ties,  the  probable  exceptions  being  in  Monroe  and 
Caleb  II.  Baumes.  . 
A.  J.  Bloomfield... 
A.  F.  Bouton . 
H  E.  Dick. 
Milk  1916 
Borden’s  . $1.51 
League  . 
Co-op.  Unit,  high.  1.89 
Ind.  Group,  high. 
B.  and  C.  value..  1.73 
Butter,  c.  per  lb...  .3388 
Cheese,  c.  per  lb..  .1975 
In  comparing  prices  with  the  pre-war  record,  we 
must  take  into  consideration  the  purchasing  power 
of  the  dollar  now,  as  compared  with  then.  In  other 
words,  we  must  estimate  how  many  quarts  of  milk 
we  gave  then  for  the  things  we  had  to  buy,  and  how 
many  quarts  we  give  now  for  the  same  things.  No 
one  can  estimate  this  more  correctly  than  the  farmer 
himself.  Economists  estimate  the  purchasing  power 
of  the  dollar  now  from  55  to  65  per  cent  of  its  pre¬ 
war  value.  Taking  the  highest  estimate,  the  1923 
prices  in  the  table  would  be  equivalent  to  1916,  as 
The  Big  New  York  Apple  Show 
THE  great  apple  show  to  be  held  in 
New  York  Nov.  3-10  will  be  the 
greatest  event  of  its  kind  and  will 
make  a  new  era  in  the  fruit  business. 
It  will  be  a  spectacular  industrial  ex¬ 
hibition  with  new  features  that  will 
interest  and  hold  city  consumers.  The 
entire  agricultural  world  is  now  com¬ 
peting  for  a  chance  to  help  fill  the 
great  stomach  of  New  York  City.  The 
bread  and  meat  must  naturally  come 
from  a  distance,  but  there  is  no  good 
reason  why  the  milk  and  fruit  and 
vegetables  needed  by  the  great  city, 
should  not  be  produced  right  in  its 
own  backyard.  There  may  have  been 
a  time  when  the  apple  was  regarded 
as  a  luxury.  Now  it  is  properly  con¬ 
sidered  a  food,  and  must  be  discussed 
as  such.  Our  Eastern  growers  have  been  content 
to  produce  the  best  apples  in  the  world  without  try¬ 
ing  to  make  their  best  customers  realize  the  full 
quality.  They  have  lacked  teamwork  in  advertising 
and  selling  their  fruit.  As  a  result  other  sections, 
far  away,  have  come  into  this,  our  natural  market, 
and  well  nigh  monopolized  it.  This  great  fruit  ex¬ 
position  is  the  beginning  of  a  new  deal  for  Eastern 
apple  growers.  We  know  we  have  the  quality,  and 
we  propose  to  make  the  consuming  public  realize 
that  right  at  their  own  back  door  may  be  found  na¬ 
ture’s  original  package  of  pulp  and  juice,  as  hand¬ 
some  as  a  picture  and  the  healthiest  handful  of 
food  ever  presented  to  man.  Out  of  this  exhibition 
will  come  a  new  knowledge  of  Eastern  resources  and 
that  will  mean  new  business  for  fruit  growers.  It 
is  the  biggest  opportunity  we  have  ever  had  to  plant 
apple  trees  in  the  imagination  of  Broadway  and 
Riverside  Drive.  It  is  one  of  those  big  co-opera¬ 
tive  market  enterprises  which  so  often  change  the 
Erie  counties.  A  study  of  the  map  will  show  that 
many  of  these  up-State  Senators  voted  for  the  bill. 
The  chances  are  that  they  did  not  realize  the  feeling 
among  their  country  people.  They  must  be  made  to 
understand  that  feeling  if  our  country  voters  ex¬ 
pect  to  influence  their  Senators  during  the  next  ses¬ 
sion,  as  they  are  not  up  for  re-election  this  year. 
Our  people  must  take  up  the  old  and  effective  plan  of 
“licking  a  stamp”  if  they  expect  to  influence  these 
men. 
Keep  this  list  and  map  for  reference;  you  will 
have  great  need  of  it  when  the  Legislature  meets  in 
January. 
A  Comparison  of  Milk  Prices 
THE  Dairymen’s  League  Co-operative  Association 
announces  the  pool  price  for  September  to  the 
association  as  $2.30  per  100  lbs.  for  3  per  cent  milk. 
From  this  there  is  deducted  for  expenses  10  cents, 
follows : 
League  . $1,365  B.  and  C.  value.  . $1,547 
Co-  op.  Unit,  high.  1.716  Butter  . 2988 
Ind.  Group,  high..  1.7S7  Cheese  . 1694 
This  indicates  a  lower  price  all  along  the  line  than 
the  low  prices  of  1916.  The  figures  serve  merely  to 
visualize  what  we  already  know.  They  confirm 
producers’  daily  experiences.  With  the  record  on  the 
table,  face  up,  we  should  be  able  to  find  an  equitable 
exchange  of  farm  products  in  the  markets  for  the 
goods  of  the  factory  and  shop. 
The  Railroads  and  Milk 
I  would  like  to  give  dairymen  an  intimation  of  what 
the  railroads  make  out  of  the  dairy  business.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  the  Milk  Reporter,  from  January  1.  1923.  to 
May  31  of  the  same  year,  they  hauled  11,315,558  cans 
of  milk  and  cream,  and  condensed  milk  to  make  the 
whole  equivalent  to  14.515.963  cans  of  plain  milk. 
This  would  give  a  total  of  substantially  35.000.000 
cans  3  year.  I  understand  the  rate  charged  averages 
character  of  the  business  done  by  an  entire  section. 
Everyone  should  have  a  share  in  this  enterprise.  It 
will  mean  something  to  you  whether  you  produce 
apples  or  simply  eat  them.  Come  if  you  can  and 
help  out. 
Improve  The  Present  School 
I  am  a  farmer’s  wife  and  mother  of  four  school  chil-  ’ 
dren,  and  I  do  occasionally  visit  our  school,  which  is 
more  than  the  majority  of  parents  do  in  this  section. 
There  are  about  30  children  and  desks  for  20.  The 
children  are  sitting  two  or  three  together  and  most  of 
the  desks  that  they  have  are  broken  and  unfit  for  any 
use  unless  it  is  to  tear  their  clothes. 
Why  these  conditions?  Simply  the  indifference  of 
the  parents  and  taxpayers  in  the  district.  At  our 
yearly  school  meeting  there  are  usually  four  or  five 
men  gathered,  and  they  proceed  in  the  shortest  time 
possible  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the  school  for  a 
year.  It  is  usually  a  fight  as  to  who  shall  be  the  un¬ 
fortunate  trustee,  and  the  man  who  is  most  easily  per¬ 
suaded,  gets  the  appointment  or,  as  has  happened  sev¬ 
eral  times,  it  is  given  to  some  one  who  is  not  present 
(Continued  on  Page  1351) 
