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Agriculturist 
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VOL. 114 November 29, 1924 No. 22 
They Will Be Judged as Women 
UNDREDS of offices were filled by the 
voters this year. Four elections are of 
special interest to women—to the whole country 
indeed. For the United States now has two 
women Governors, a woman in the House of 
Representatives and a woman Secretary of State. 
New York is one of the progressive states, for 
it elected Mrs. Florence Knapp, dean of the 
college of Economics at Syracuse, to serve with 
Governor Smith in Albany. The most satisfac¬ 
tory thing about these elections is that the women 
ran on their own merits, with no special organiza¬ 
tion to push them as women. They were recog¬ 
nized as able citizens, and their principles and 
character endorsed by the general vote they 
received. 
Mrs. Miriam A. Ferguson, because of the some¬ 
what sensational features of the Texas situation, 
attracted the most attention during pre-election 
days. She fought on an out-and-out anti-Klan 
issue and carried a southern state triumphantly. 
She is described as a sensible, efficient woman and 
has declared herself to be independent of any 
influence in shaping her policies as Governor. 
Mrs. Nellie T. Ross of Wyoming—one of the first 
States to recognize woman’s suffrage—is said to 
be the finest type of western woman, only a 
generation or so removed from the pioneers who 
knew no sex distinction in the hard labor of open¬ 
ing up a new and unfamiliar country. New Jersey 
has the distinction of being the first eastern state 
to send a woman—Mrs. Mary Hopkins Norton— 
to the House of Representatives. 
Of all the officers-elect, Mrs. Knapp is prob¬ 
ably most interesting to American Agriculturist 
readers. When interviewed in her demonstration 
kitchen at the Home Economics School, she 
spoke simply and directly of her political prin¬ 
ciples. Cooperation with her associates and a 
watchful eye to women’s interests in legislation 
were her main “planks.” She was quoted as say¬ 
ing that with straight-thinking many of the 
States’ problems could be solved and added, “I 
don’t see why I can’t conduct the affairs of state 
much on the plan of a giant school.” 
It is unfortunate that the strong light of pub¬ 
licity will beat with special intensity upon these 
women, for that means that their actions down 
to the most insignificant detail will be published 
and criticized by the whole country. If they 
succeed, feminine equality will be judged suc¬ 
cessful. If they fail, it will be imputed to them 
as women, not as individuals. They take office 
under conditions of peculiar difficulty and the 
good wishes of east, west and south—for the 
three great sections of the country are all repre¬ 
sented—go with them as they shoulder their new 
responsibility. 
Who Has the Answer? 
T HE other day we were poking a little fun 
at a friend because he was nearing thirty 
and had not yet married. He laughed a little, 
and then becoming serious, said: 
“Do you really want to know the chief reason 
why I do not marry?” 
We answered him that it really was none of our 
business, but perhaps if he would answer for him¬ 
self, the reply would be good for the thousands of 
other young people who seemed to be hesitating 
in these times to put on the double harness. 
“Well,” he said, “I will answer your question 
like a Yankee, by asking you a couple. How many 
are there in your family?” 
We told him that there were six, including 
Mrs. Eastman and myself. 
“Well,” he said, “that should be a good aver¬ 
age size for an American family. How much milk 
do you buy, and wdiat does it cost? ” 
We answered that we averaged about five 
quarts a day, and at present were paying fifteen 
cents a quart. 
“Seventy-five cents a day for milk alone!” was 
his comment. “That’s more clear profit than the 
average dairyman makes from his whole dairy. 
How many potatoes do you eat in a year? ” 
“Oh, twenty or twenty-five bushels.” 
“And the price?” 
“We are paying at present one dollar and a 
half a bushel, in spite of the fact that the farmer 
is glad to take about forty cents for them now.” 
“ And everything else you buy in the way of food 
or shelter or clothing comes at the same high 
prices?” 
We admitted that they did. 
“Well,” he said, “you have answered your own 
question. Under present conditions, there is a lot 
of us young fellows who simply do not dare to get 
married because it’s too expensive a luxury.” 
Then we changed the subject, but it still stuck 
in our minds. We do not believe in crying 
“calamity!” all of the time, but something cer¬ 
tainly is radically wrong in our present economic 
system when both farmers and consumers have so 
much difficulty in making both ends meet. A 
fair salary in the city does not amount to any¬ 
thing at all because none of it can be saved; and 
the hard work and the most careful management in 
the country brings little or no reward. 
Discussing this situation with a farmer friend 
recently, he said that most of the trouble was due 
to too high-priced labor and then he went on to 
prove his statement by showing that every food 
product had to be handled several times under 
our present system before it reached the consumer 
and every time it is handled, the labor cost adds 
to it almost or as much as the price that the farmer 
receives for it in the first place. 
But on the other hand, unless the laborer gets 
high prices for his work, he simply cannot buy the 
high-priced food. So we have a vicious cycle. 
Whether we live in town or country, what we are 
most in need of to-day is a great genius who car 
come forward with a workable plan which wilt 
really solve this most serious problem of food 
distribution. 
Consumer Cooperation 
T HE great problem of production is not too 
much food, but too much in the same place 
at the same time; in other words, the glutted 
market. Inasmuch as the consumer suffers just 
as much from too high prices for food as the pro¬ 
ducer suffers from too low, we have wondered 
why more of an effort has not been made by con¬ 
sumers toward getting their supplies at more 
reasonable prices. The problem of marketing is 
only half solved by good farmer marketing or¬ 
ganizations. To do the job right, the farmer 
needs to be met half way by the consumer co¬ 
operation. 
American Agriculturist, November 29, 1924 
Agriculturist 
For instance, suppose there was an over-supply 
of potatoes or apples or any'other commodity, 
in some city, if there was a good consumer’s co¬ 
operative there with a secretary or manager who 
understood markets, he could inform his members 
of this over-supply and of the lower prices, and 
save them much in the course of the year. He 
could also do a lot in helping his members to a 
better knowledge of quality, grades and prices. 
And all of it could be done through a very simple 
informal organization, for about all that is neces¬ 
sary is to hire a manager who had a good under¬ 
standing of market conditions. 
The city-dwellers of Europe have realized the 
possibilities of consumers’ cooperatives and are 
working them out much faster and better than we 
here in America. 
The Effect of the Sire 
R. MERTON MOORE, writing in the 
Holstein-Friesian World of October 18th, 
tells a fascinating story of interest to every 
breeder. In India it has been impossible to im¬ 
port dairy cattle because they cannot stand the 
climate. The native cattle are very poor milk 
producers, the best of which produce less than 
two thousand pounds of milk in the year. There 
are several different breeds of these natives, but 
all of them are characterized by a hump behind 
the head. So well established is this hump, says 
Mr. Moore, that in the minds of the people of 
India it is as permanent as the Ganges River, or 
the mountain Dhaulgiri. 
That is, it was before the arrival of a purebred 
Holstein bull. “He came, he saw, he conquered,” 
with the result that not a one of his offspring has 
a hump, while every one has the [hardihood of 
her mother, and is thus enabled to stand the 
climate. 
The story is interesting because it shows the 
wonderful prepotency of a bull with long genera¬ 
tions of good breeding back of him, and also 
because it opens the possibilities for better dairy 
products in countries where conditions have been 
prohibitive heretofore. 
Paint and Farm Machinery 
O FF and on we have done a good many little 
odd jobs brightening up the house and 
furniture and the farm tools with paint, and never 
have we failed when finished to be surprised 
at what a little paint mixed with elbow grease 
will do. We do not believe that we exaggerate 
any when we state that paint properly applied 
to most farm machines will add 10 to 15 per cent, 
to their life, and it can be applied at the time of 
the year when a farmer is not rushed with work. 
There is a good deal of nonsense about the trade 
of painting. Anyone who will follow directions 
for using the standard ready-made paints and 
varnishes can do a nice job. 
Eastman’s Chestnuts 
I F ONE likes people and is interested in them, 
there are a good many laughs to be had every 
day from the funny things that they do when in 
public. I get a good deal of fun out of just 
watching folks. As some writer recently said, 
“Ain’t human nature human?” 
One of the things that never fails to amuse me 
is the critical way a woman will give another the 
“ once over ” on the street to see how she is dressed. 
She does it very quickly and out of the corner of 
her eye, but from that one coldly critical glance 
she can tell what the other wears and how badly 
she wears it, down to the last button. 
“Did you,” said the kind bystander, “get the 
number of the car that knocked you down, 
madam?” 
“No,” said the victim with emphasis,” but the 
hussy that was driving it wore a three-piece tweed 
suit lined with canton crepe and she had on a 
periwinkle hat with artificial cherries! i 
