The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1451 
Tuesday,  December  4,  1923 
THAT  date  may  become  noted  in  the  school  his¬ 
tory  of  New  York  State.  Last  week  Mr.  J. 
Judson  Swift,  of  Middleport,  suggests  the  plan  of 
holding  meetings  in  every  rural  school  district  in  the 
State,  to  take  put) lie  action  regarding  the  proposed 
school  bill.  He  asked  us  to  decide  the  date,  and  we 
suggest  December  4.  That  will  give  time  for  prepa¬ 
ration,  and  also  time  for  tabulating  and  presenting 
the  results  to  the  Legislature.  We  regard  this  sug¬ 
gestion  as  the  most  important  one  yet  made  in  the 
school  campaign.  No  law  should  be  forced  upon  an 
unwilling  people.  We  regard  it  as  an  economic  a  ml 
social  crime  to  attempt  to  jam  through  the  Legisla¬ 
ture  a  rural  educational  bill  which  is  not  wanted  by 
a  large  majority  of  our  country  people.  No  revolu¬ 
tionary  change  should  be  put  in  operation  until  a 
fair  majority  of  rural  citizens  understand  and  en¬ 
dorse  it.  Yet  we  may  solemnly  assure  our  country 
readers  that  this  law  will  be  forced  upon  them  unless 
they  protest  in  such  a  way  that  the  Legislature  will 
be  forced  to  listen.  We  are  denied  the  right  to  vote 
in  a  State  referendum  on  the  subject — now,  let’s  do 
it  ourselves!  The  proposed  school  meetings  will  give 
us  the  chance  we  need.  Volunteers  are  wanted. 
Will  you  act  in  your  district,  or  get  the  trustee  to 
act?  Call  a  meeting  for  December  4,  and  get  oiCt 
every  votei’.  Put  the  question  of  the  proposed  school 
law  squarely  up  to  the  meeting  and  take  a  vote  on 
it.  Elect  a  representative,  who  will  send  a  report  of 
the  meeting  to  your  Assemblyman,  and  another  re¬ 
port  to  The  R.  N.-Y.  We  will  see  that  the  reports 
are  collated  and  put  in  shape. 
Now  then,  let’s  have  action  and  plenty  of  it.  This 
is  the  greatest  opportunity  the  country  people  of 
New  York  ever  had  to  express  themselves  freely  on 
a  great  question  without  any  political  bit  in  their 
mouth,  or  any  party  harness  on  their  backs.  It  will 
lead  to  still  greater  things. 
Can  we  depend  on  you -  to  help? 
The  Drop  in  Milk  Prices 
LAST  week  the  Dairymen’s  League  Co-operative 
Association  announced  a  reduction  of  05  cents 
1  er  100  lbs.  to  producei's  in  the  price  of  milk,  to  take 
effect  November  12.  This  is  the  third  change  of 
price  within  a  month.  The  price  of  fluid  milk  was 
increased,  November  1.  20  cents  per  100  lbs.  Class  3 
which  includes  coifdensed  and  evaporated  milk  was 
reduced  five  cents,  leaving  this  class  at  $2.20  per 
100  lbs.  The  other  classes  remained  as  for  October, 
Class  2A,  $2.05;  2B,  $2.40;  2C.  $2.35.  These  prices 
are  not  changed. 
The  other  dairy  groups  and  units  promptly  ad¬ 
justed  their  prices  to  the  new  order  of  things. -The 
Sheffield  Farms  group  reduced  their  price  47  cents 
per  100  lbs.,  and  the  company  made  a  corresponding 
reduction  of  one  cent  a  quart  to  consumers.  The 
Non-pool  Association  reduced  the  flat  price  from 
$3.05  to  $2.55  per  100  lbs.  The  Borden  Company 
cut  the  price  one  cent  a  quart  to  consumers,  leaving 
one-half  cent  extra  for  themselves. 
Just  'why  this  unexpected  and  drastic  cut  was 
made  at  this  time  of  generally  rising  prices  and  no 
over-production  of  milk  is  a  subject  of  speculation 
in  the  trade.  No  one  seemed  to  know  just  why  the 
cut  was  made.  The  business  was  running  smoothly. 
No  one  seemed  to  be  complaining  of  a  surplus;  and 
practically  all  agree  that  the  cut  serves  only  to 
disturb  the  business  and  reduce  the  return  to  the 
producer.  The  trade  generally  feels  that  the  cut 
was  unwarranted  and  ill-advised.  Prices  in  neigh¬ 
boring  cities  remain  undisturbed  for  the  month  ex¬ 
cept  where  affected  by  this  reduction,  and  a  cut  in 
November  has  heretofore  been  unknown  in  the  busi¬ 
ness.  The  echo  from  producers  is  naturally  one  of 
disappointment,  but  no  one  seems  alble  to  account 
for  the  drop. 
The  truth  is  the  sale  of  milk  in  classes  is  not 
adapted  to  existing  conditions.  I*t  is  a  dealer’s 
measure.  It  does  not  serve  the  producer.  If  sub¬ 
stantially  all  of  the  milk  were  sold  through  the 
League  the  classification  policy  might  work,  but 
under  the  present  condition  it  is  a  failure.  Where 
there  is  a  large  surplus  of  milk  and  fluid  prices 
are  down  to  the  basis  of  manufacturing  values,  the 
effect  of  classified  prices  is  not  material  one  way  or 
the  other.  When  production  is  short,  however,  and 
fluid  prices  should  be  sharply  advanced  not  only  to 
meet  market  conditions,  but  also  to  compensate  in 
some  measure  for  the  low  price  in  the  season  of 
large  production,  the  classified  prices  tend  to  drag 
the  fluid  price  down  to  the  level'  of  the  by-product 
value,  and  the  producer  is  denied  his  opportunity 
to  even  up  on  a  favorable  market.  This  must  be 
plain  to  dairymen  without  the  necessity  of  stating 
it.  When  the  indpendent  groups  and  units  are  sell¬ 
ing  substantially  all  their  milk  at  fluid  prices,  and 
the  League  disposes  of  48  per  cent  of  its  milk  in  the 
lower-priced  classes,  the  independent  groups  and 
units  will  be  favored  by  a  high  Class  1  price.  The 
higher  the  Class  1  price,  the  greater  will  be  the  dif¬ 
ference  between  the  pool  price  and  the  return  to 
non-poolers  of  all  groups  and  units.  The  manage¬ 
ment  of  the  League  will  naturally  always  wish  to 
reduce  the  margin  between  the  return  to  producers 
in  the  independent  groups,"  and  the  lesser  returns 
to  their  own  members.  This  purpose  will  always 
tend  to  gravitate  the  price  to  the  low  class  level. 
The  present  reduction  will  probably  carry  through 
now  until  January  1.  Every  producer  can  figure 
the  effect  on  himself  in  dollars  and  cents.  Whatever 
the  reason  for  it,  the  change  means  substantially 
$2,000,000  less  in  returns  to  producers  for  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  the  year.  It  would  be  idle  to  attempt  to 
find  the  exact  reason  for  all  this,  or  to  place  re¬ 
sponsibility  for  it.  The  class-price  scheme  cannot 
be  held  responsible  for  all  of  it.  The  one  underlying 
cause  is  an  industry  divided  against  itself.  There 
would  be  no  good  now  to  trace  responsibility  for 
the  present  group  divisions  in  the  industry.  The 
important  thing  is  to  get  them  all  together  under 
one  head,  not  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  mono¬ 
poly  in  milk,  nor  to  coerce  anyone  in  it  or  out  of 
it,  but  to  conduct  an  orderly,  efficient  and  econo¬ 
mic  management  of  the  producers  and  of  the  milk 
business. 
The  Country  Boy  and  His  Education 
I  am  inclosing  clipping  taken  from  Rochester  Demo¬ 
crat  and  Chronicle  of  November  9.  We  farmers  are 
glad  to  read  of  educators  holding  views  like  these.  This 
is  the  underlying  principle  in  our  minds  when  we  oppose 
the  proposed  rural  school  bill,  and  the  majority  do  op¬ 
pose  it.  We  appreciate  what  your  paper  is  standing  for. 
Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y.  A.  s. 
The  clipping  contains  a  report  of  an  address  de¬ 
livered  by  Dr.  George  B.  Cutten  of  Colgate  Univer¬ 
sity.  He  said,  among  other  things  that : 
Eighty  per  cent  of  the  leading  business  men  of  this 
country  were  brought  up  in  rural  communities  and  owe 
their  subsequent  success  to  the  thoroughness  of  the  fun¬ 
damental  training  they  received  in  the  farm  homes  of 
their  boyhood. 
“The  scientists,”  said  the  speaker,  “have  a  theory 
which  they  call  the  theory  of  recapitulation — the  theory 
that  each  individual  during  the  pre-natal  period  and 
during  the  years  prior  to  adolescence,  recapitulates  the 
entire  history  of  the  human  race.  The  farm  environ¬ 
ment  offers  a  boy  better  opportunity  for  this  recapitula¬ 
tion.  It  fits  him  physically  and  makes  him  a  better 
animal. 
“The  boy  gets  a  better  education  on  L,e  farm.  You 
hear  of  the  country  boy  being  called  ‘green’  in  the  city, 
but  he  is  not  a  circumstance  to  the  ‘greenness’  of  the 
city  boy  in  the  country.  The  farm  boy  perforce  learns 
much  of  nature,  of  handcraft,  of  manual  labor,  after 
he  has  done  his  work  in  school. 
“The  boy  brought  up  on  the  farm  learns  to  conserve 
his  time.  lie  has  so  many  chores  and  errands  to  do 
that  he  must  learn  to  make  every  moment  count  if  he  is 
to  have  any  leisure  at  all.  When  such  a  boy  comes  to 
the  city,  he  is  able  to  do  not  only  all  the  work  his  em¬ 
ployer  gives  him.  but  also  to  find  time  for  other  tasks, 
too.  And  the  employer  soon  finds  that  he  can’t  get 
along  without  him.” 
Dr.  Cutten  then  spoke  in  praise  of  the  “little  red 
sehoolhouse,”  with  all  classes  in  a  single  room.  There, 
he  pointed  out,  the  exceptional  student  is  able  to  com¬ 
plete  the  grammar  school  work  in  two  or  three  years 
less  than  the  allotted  time  by  listening  to  advanced 
classes  in  recitation. 
“The  country  boy,”  continued  Dr.  Cutten,  “is  long  in 
initiative.  The  great  criticism  I  would  make  of  our 
school  and  college  system  is  that  we  are  killing  initia¬ 
tive.  We  are  told  that  our  extra-curricular  activities 
develop  this  trait.  Bosh  !  Take  football  !  Your  player 
is  given  no  opportunity  for  initiative.  He  is  even  told 
just  where  he  must  put  his  foot  at  every  step.  It’s  a 
wonder  we  get  as  much  initiative  as  we  do  under  pres¬ 
ent  conditions.  The  country  boy  has  to  make  his  own 
toys,  to  do  things  for  himself.  He  is  thrown  on  his  own 
resources  and  develops  self-reliance. 
“The  country  boy  has  the  correct  attitude  of  mind. 
All  the  newspapers  he  gets  are  filled  with  things  he  has 
never  seen.  He  is  hungry  to  see  and  know  about  these 
things.  He  leaves  the  farm  with  an  open  mind  and  a 
hunger  for  knowledge.  There  is  nothing  better  in  the 
world  for  a  boy  to  have  than  that.” 
Otsego  Co.  Grange  and  the  School  Bill 
I  have  been  reading  the  articles  on  the  school  bill 
which  have  appeared  in  The  R.  N.-Y.  from  time  to  time, 
with  much  interest,  so  I  am  sending  the  following  reso¬ 
lutions  taken  from  the  Otsego  Farmer,  which  were 
adopted  at  the  Otsego  County  Pomona  Grange  last 
ihonth.  I  think  this  resolution  sets  forth  the  feeling 
of  rural  Otsego  nearly  100  per  cent. 
As  you  probably  know  this  county  (Otsego)  is  one 
of  the  best  agricultural  counties  in  the  United  States. 
It  has  held  its  own  first  as  a  hop  county,  now  as  a 
dairy  county,  and  is  noted  for  its  purebred  stock  of  all 
kinds.  DANIEL  I.  WICKHAM. 
“The  Otsego  County  Grange  held  a  most  enjoyable 
session  with  the  Fly  Creek  Valley  Grange  last  month 
where  they  were  fed  sumptuously  and  entertained 
royally.  The  Valley  Grange  Hall  is  located  far  back 
in  the  country  but  it  drew  one  of  the  largest  Grange 
meetings  held  in  the  county  in  a  number  of  years. 
“In  spite  of  the  growing  tendency  of  late  of  people 
in  high  plains  to  decide  all  questions  for  the  rank  and 
file  the  Grangers  took  it  upon  themselves  to  relieve 
some  of  the  higher  officials  of  this  responsibility  by  de¬ 
ciding  the  school  question  on  the  floor  of  the  Grange. 
“After  a  preliminary  skirmish  the  following  resolu¬ 
tion  was  adopted  with  only  two  or  three  dissenting 
votes : 
“Whereas,  Statistics  show  that  the  one-room  rural 
schools  have  in  the  past  and  are  still  sending  out  stu¬ 
dents  who  take  their  places  with  the  honor  pupils  of 
the  high  schools  which  they  enter,  and 
“W  hereas,  We  are  in  favor  of  continuing  and  im¬ 
proving  these  one-room  schools  rather  than  sending  the 
small  children  to  neighboring  villages  for  what  they  are 
receiving  and  can  continue  to  secure  within  walking 
distance  of  their  homes,  be  it 
“Resolved,  That  the  Otsego  County  Grange  in  ses¬ 
sion  this  9th  day  of  October,  1923,  register  its  opposi¬ 
tion  to  the  bill  introduced  in  the  State  Legislature,  last 
Winter,  commonly  known  as  the  Rural  School  Bill,  and 
that  we  ask  our  representatives  in  Senate  and  Assembly 
to  use  all  fair  and  honorable  means  to  prevent  the 
passage  of  this  measure.” 
R.  N.-Y. — Every  Grange  in  the  State  ought>»to  dis¬ 
cuss  the  matter  fairly  and  take  action.  Then  the 
State  Grange  will  be  obliged  to  declare  itself. 
Poultry  Demonstration  Car  on  the  Erie 
A  poultry  demonstration  car  will  again  start  out  over 
the  Erie  Railroad  lines.  The  object  is  to  give  a  prac¬ 
tical  demonstration  to  show  how  the  poultry  business 
can  be  madeimore  profitable  for  New  York  State.  There 
will  be  exhibits  and  short  talks  on  same  as  follows : 
Packing  eggs  to  prevent  breakage  in  transit;  grading 
eggs  for  New  York  market;  why  the  eggs  do  not  reach 
the  market  in  condition  to  bring  top  prices;  how  to 
care  for  eggs  to  make  them  bring  the  best  price  ;  sec¬ 
tion  of  Cornell  laying-house  and  purebred  hens ;  ra¬ 
tions  to  use  for  best  results  ;  what  certification  means. 
It  is  said  that  eggs  packed  with  new  flats  and  fillers 
will  bring  6c  a  dozen  or  $1.80  a  case  more  than  those 
packed  with  old  fiHers  and  flats.  One  of  the  main 
difficulties  seems  to  he  that  the  large  eggs  placed  in 
an  ordinary  case  do  not  fit,  and  the  ends  are  crushed 
in;  eggs  are  smeared,  broken  and  dirty,  and  bring  a 
low  price  and  claim  for  damage.  Egg  cases  are  built 
to  carry  eggs  measuring  2%  in.  in  length,  and  special 
cases  should  be  used  for  the  longer  eggs. 
^  Any  poultrymen  who  are  on  the  line  of  the  Erie 
Railroad  should  visit  the  car  and  look  over  the  ex¬ 
hibit.  The  route  is  as  follows:  Addison,  Nov.  7; 
Bath,  Nov.  8;  Prattsburg,  Nov.  8;  Wallace,  Nov.  9; 
Wayland,  Nov.  9;  Avon,  Nov.  10;  Wellsburg,  Nov.  12; 
Owego,  Nov.  13;  Deposit,  Nov.  14;  Hancock,  Nov.  15; 
Hankins,  Nov.  16;  Callicoon,  Nov.  17;  Cochecton,  Nov. 
19;  Narrowsburg,  Nov.  20;  Middletown,  Nov.  21;  New¬ 
burgh,  Nov.  22  ;  Spring  Valley,  Nov.  23. 
Women  and  General  Farm  Work 
y°u  /ive  “e  an  idea  of  a  good  location  for  ar 
agi lewltural  Camp  for  women,  the  women  (about  10) 
experienced  and  trained  in  agriculture,  to  work  for  th< 
farmers  and  gardeners  and  to  purchase  a  plot  of  lan' 
aVVhnht-  t0  b,ul,(1,a  bungalow.  Did  the  farmers  find  ii 
diffieul t  to  get  help  last  year?  At  what  rate  per  daj 
are  the  men  paid?  m.  m  ii 
I  have  had  quite  an  opportunity  to  observe  this  sor 
of  thing  and  interpret  the  sentiment  of  farmers,  and  1 
can  say  that,  by  and  large,  farmers  do  not  take  an) 
•stock  in  the  idea  of  employing  women  and  girls  as  farn 
hands  under  ordinary  working  conditions  on  the  averagi 
farm. 
4  here  are  several  reasons  why  women  are  not  suecess 
ful  in  general  farm.  work.  One  is  the  natural  spirit  o 
chivalry  in  the  average  American  man.  He  does  not 
like  to  give  orders  to  a  woman,  telling  her  to  go  about 
the  usual  routine  of  farm  work,  as  he  would  to  a  man 
lie  senses  fully  that  there  is  much  work  on  the  farn 
hat  is  too  hard  for  a  woman,  and  much  that  is  more  oi 
less  disagreeable,  and  he  does  not  like  to  tell  a  wornat 
to  go  into  such  a  job. 
I  urthermore,  women  do  not  work  in  well  on  a  farir 
where  there  are  some  men  employed.  The  men  do  no 
like  to  have  women  around  for  several  reasons,  one  oi 
which  is  that  they  feel  a  certain  amount  of  restraint 
along  various  lines  in  knowing  that  there  are  womer 
around,  and  another  is  that  with  women  working  on  thi 
farm,  men  would  probably  be  called  upon  to  do  all  of  th( 
hardest  of  the  work  and  the  choice  of  jobs  would  go  tc 
the  women.  Then  a  woman  cannot  turn  off  enougl 
work  during  a  day  at  ordinary  farm  labor  to  make  it  de 
sirable  for  her  to  undertake  it.  I  am  speaking  as  the 
result  of  considerable  experience  and  observation  dur¬ 
ing  and  just  after  the  war. 
V  hen  it  comes  to  special  work  requiring  a  greal 
amount  of  hand  labor  it  is  a  different  matter,  and  i 
women  who  want  to  do  farm  work  would  onlV  recog 
mze  this  fact  and  be  content  to  do  he  work  for  which 
they  are  adapted  they  would  be  nuch  better  off  Ir 
this. territory  there  is  a  great  amount  of  work  in  berm 
picking  particularly  during  A  raw  berry  harvest  Apph 
lucking  again  furnishes  quite  a  lot  of  work  that  womer 
can  do  to  considerable  advantage. 
If  M.  M.  H.  will  limit  her  ambitions  to  these  lines 
of  work  which  women  can  reasonably  do,  I  think  thai 
her  venture  can  be  made  successful.  There  is  a  lot  ol 
work  in  strawberry  harvest,  followed  bv  more  limitei 
requirements  for  raspberries  and  cherries,  and  appl 
harvest,  running  from  the  last  of  August  until  the  firs: 
of  November. 
In  expressing  my  opinion  relative  to  the  usefulness  of 
women  on  farms  and  at  farm  work  I  am  not  overlooking 
the  fact  that  many  farm  women  do  a  great  deal  of  farm 
work  very  efficientlv  on  their  own  farms,  but  they  are 
trained  to  it.  In  the  main  they  do  the  relatively  easy 
work,  and  within  one’s  family  it  is  quite  different  from 
going  outside  for  work.  f.  h.  l. 
i 
8. 
