Editorial Page of the American 
American 
Agriculturist 
Founded 1842 
Henry Morgenthau, Jr .. Publisher 
E. R. Eastman . Editor 
Fred W. Ohm . Associate Editor 
Gabrielle Elliot .Household Editor 
Birge Kinne .Advertising Manager 
E. C. Weatherby .Circulation Manager 
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Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., H. H. Jones, 
G. T. Hughes, H. E. Babcock 
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Published Weekly by 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, INC. 
Address all correspondence for editorial, advertising, or subscription de¬ 
partments to 
461 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y. 
Entered as Second-Class Matter, December 15, 1922, at the Post Office 
at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March S, 1879. 
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and foreign, $2 a year. 
VOL. 113 January 5, 1924 No. 1 
The New Year 
“I I 7E cannot but congratulate our readers on the change 
V V of times which has taken place within one short year. 
There is no doubt in our mind, however, that agricultural 
products will gradually advance, and upon the opening of 
spring and next summer, rule higher than they now do. 
A general revival of business has also taken place. Let 
everyone, then, be industrious and frugal, keep out of debt, 
look forward to the future with renewed hope, trust in Provi¬ 
dence and be assured that the country has again entered upon 
a bright and prosperous career.” 
The above was written by the editor of 
American Agriculturist in 1843, many years 
before the great Civil War, before the great West 
was developed or even known to any extent, and 
while our grandfathers and grandmothers were 
still little children. Yet it applies as well to-day 
as it did so long ago. 
“Thankful for the Past; hopeful for the Future. This is our 
feeling in commencing the first number of the new volume of 
the American Agriculturist for the year 1873. There is at 
the present time a widespread dissatisfaction among farmers in 
regard to the condition and prospects of our agriculture. High 
wages, exorbitant freights, and low prices for our products 
have a depressing effect. Many farmers think we shall never 
see good times again. All sorts of remedies, some good and 
some bad,' are proposed. What we propose to do and recom¬ 
mend the farmer readers of the American Agriculturist 
to do is to stick to the farm. The darkest hour of the night 
is often just before daybreak. Agriculture will be just as 
profitable in the future as in the past, and we believe more so. 
Let us keep at work.” 
Leave the date from the above and no one could 
tell that the above was not written in 1924 instead 
of 1873. History is but a series of repeating 
events, that which has been will to a large extent 
be again. Hard times on the farm will be followed 
by good times and good times by bad. During 
the past year, we have had many evidences that 
agriculture is slowly getting on its feet again and 
that good times are again in sight. We believe 
that 1924 will be a pretty fair year for farmers, 
and we sincerely hope and wish that it may be 
truly a Happy New Year for you. 
We Indict the Swindlers 
T HERE is always a time when words should 
cease and action begin. American Agricul¬ 
turist has come to that stage with some of the 
fakirs who are constantly swindling farm people 
out of their savings. In former issues we have 
exposed the swindling operations of the Standard 
Food and Fur Association. Now we have gone 
further. On the feature page of this issue, read 
how we have followed this matter until we have 
obtained an indictment. Note what the district 
attorney has to say about American Agricul¬ 
turist service in bringing these criminals to 
justice. 
Other publications have talked for years about 
this and other unreliable concerns with the only 
result that they have either gone right on doing 
business at the old stand or closed up their busi¬ 
ness in one place and reopened under a different 
name in another. But we are not satisfied with 
merely talking. We are going to continue to make 
it decidedly unhealthy for the swindlers in this 
section. 
Gains and Losses in 1923 
I T is customary with all good business to look 
back over the past year, taking note of the 
situation, the good results and the failures, and 
then to make plans on that past experience for the 
future. On the opposite page is a summary of 
market conditions during the past year for our 
leading farm products. A careful study of that 
summary may save you a lot of money. In an 
early issue we will publish another article trying 
to give you some hints as to what you may expect 
and plan for to meet 1924 market conditions. 
An Inventory and a Budget 
T HE best kind of a New Year’s resolution on 
the farm is a farm inventory at the barn, and 
a family budget at the house. Making the inven¬ 
tory is a simple and quick way of sizing up the 
present status of your business, and laying the 
foundation for 1924. The family budget will put 
your household on a business basis. Information 
and simple instructions for starting a budget or 
making an inventory can be obtained from your 
county farm or home bureau agent, or from your 
State College of Agriculture. 
The Standard Time 
T gives us pleasure to print on another page 
the article by Mr. T. J. Owens, Secretaiy of the 
Empire State Anti-Daylight Saving Association. 
Here is something that we can all rally around. 
Each year has seen more people grow disgusted 
with the confusion of time caused by the so-called 
daylight saving. We believe there are enough 
such people to put a stop to it, providing they act 
in cooperation. With Mr. Owens’s article we are 
publishing a form for drawing up a petition. Sign 
this, get all of your neighbors to sign it, and send 
it to American Agriculturist, and we in turn 
will forward it to Mr. Owens of the Empire State 
Anti-Daylight Saving Association. If you don’t 
like two kinds of time help work for universal 
standard time. 
Tax Exemption Increases Farmers’ 
Burden 
E VERY farmer in the United States ought to 
frequently and emphatically express himself 
to his representatives in the State legislatures and 
in Congress, against the absolute unfairness of tax 
exemptions. The present tax system is utterly 
unfair to farmers. The farmers’ tax bill in 1913 
was 10.6% of his income; it is now 16.6%. For 
the other economic classes not farmers, the tax 
bill of 1913 was 4.1% of their income; it is 
now 11.9%. 
It will be seen, therefore, that the farmer’s 
taxes in relation to his income have not increased 
as rapidly since 1913 as have the taxes of other 
classes; but it will be also noted that the farmer 
still pays a much larger part of his income. One 
of the chief reasons for this is the tremendous 
amount of property which is exempt from taxa¬ 
tion. Such property is now estimated to amount 
American Agriculturist, January 5, 1924 
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Agriculturist 
to at least $54,000,000,000. If this great total of 
exempt property paid its proper share, it would 
greatly relieve the tax burden for everybody, and 
do much to increase business prosperity both in 
town and city. _ 
Too Much Milk 
OR the past several years many farm papery 
and others have been encouraging farmers to 
increase dairying. We are already beginning to 
see the effects of this in the over-production of 
dairy products, particularly market milk. Those 
who constantly swing from one type of farming to 
the other in response to advice of those who do not 
know what they are talking about, usually find 
that by the time they have made the change, the 
pendulujn has already begun to swing back again. 
Over-production of wheat and the disaster it is 
causing should be a warning to go slow in increas¬ 
ing dairying. 
Get Your Ice 
HERE is every indication that we will have 
a very mild winter. This may mean very 
serious difficulties for dairymen in getting a needed 
supply of ice. The city health authorities have 
stated through rulings that every dairyman ship¬ 
ping milk to cities, particularly to New York 
City, must put up ice. Because of this and the 
mild season, we suggest that everything should 
be in readiness to take advantage of the very first 
opportunity to harvest the needed supply. 
The Purchasing Power of Farmers 
HE value of farm property, or, in other 
words, the capital employed in the business 
of farming, exceeds the capital employed in all 
the manufacturing establishments of the United 
States, plus the capital of the railroads, plus all 
that invested in mines and quarries. The total 
value of farm property in the United States, 
according to the 1920 Census was $77,924,100,338. 
The total value of farm buildings was $11,484,- 
988,322; of farm machinery, $3,594,668,676; of 
live stock, $4,779,902,000. This is an average 
per farm of $12,084. The average wealth of the 
farm families of the United States is given in the 
Census reports as $14,346. These figures con¬ 
clusively prove that our business is the greatest 
one in the world, and show why the city news¬ 
papers and thinking men everywhere are giving 
serious thought to the hard times which the 
farmers are now facing. The only wonder is that 
more attention has not been paid to the problem 
before. 
Eastman’s Chestnuts 
FARM speaker, nationally known, has a 
reputation of converting unanimously almost 
any audience he addresses to cooperative organiza¬ 
tion. Not long ago, this speaker addressed a large 
meeting of farmers in Monroe County, New 
York, and by his great enthusiasm and oratory 
obtained many new converts to the cooperative 
idea. 
Some days after his visit, one of the farmers 
who had heard him rushed into town and inquired 
of the first man he met where he could find an 
undertaker. 
“An undertaker,” the man asked solicitously, 
“is there some one dead at your place?” 
“No,” replied the farmer, “but my wife is 
mighty sick.” 
“Well, then,” the man advised, “what you 
want is a physician, not an undertaker.” 
“No,” said the farmer, “what I want is an 
undertaker. You know I’ve joined the coopera¬ 
tive and we’ve cut out these middlemen!” 
Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and 
Friday, at 11:50 A.M., American Agriculturist, 
in cooperation with the New York State Depart¬ 
ment of Farms and Markets, broadcasts daily 
market reports from WEAF. “Tune in” and 
keep posted on the progress of the market. 
