240 
Editorial Page of the American 
American 
Agriculturist 
Founded 1842 
Henry Morgenthatt, 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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Published Weekly by 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, INC. 
Address all correspondence for editorial, advertising, or subscription de¬ 
partments to i 
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. 
Subscription price, payable in advance, $1 a year. Canadian 
and foreign, $2 a year. 
VOL. 113 March 8, 1924 No. 10 
Copy of Open Letter to Governor 
Smith 
VERY farmer will be intensely interested in 
the letter from Governor Alfred E. Smith 
printed on the opposite page. You will be inter¬ 
ested in the Governor’s plans for better State 
Government and you will be especially interested 
in the fact that the American Agriculturist 
tax-reduction program for farmers is receiving 
consideration by the highest officers in our State 
Government. 
A copy of our reply to Governor Smith’s letter 
follows: 
Hon. Alfred E. Smith, 
Governor of the State of New York, 
Executive Chamber, 
Albany, New York. 
My dear Governor Smith: 
We are glad to acknowledge receipt of 
your letter enclosing copy of open letter ad¬ 
dressed to Mr. Adelbert Hall, of Hannibal, 
New York, who is one of our subscribers. 
We will be pleased to comply with your 
request to publish your open letter to Mr. 
Hall in American Agriculturist and are 
doing so in our issue of March 8th. 
The petition, a signed copy of which you 
received from Mr. Hall, is being published 
in American Agriculturist to give farm 
people the opportunity to express them¬ 
selves on this great problem of better, simpler 
and cheaper government. Because farm 
people are so busy trying to make both ends 
meet, and because they are comparatively 
poorly organized, they have little opportunity 
to register their needs and their problems 
with men in high places whose business it is 
to direct and administer the powers of 
government. The result is that government 
officials hear more frequently and more 
emphatically from other classes in the com¬ 
munity and as a natural result, pay too little 
attention to farm problems which are also 
the problems of the whole country because all 
of us must eat and use the products of the 
farm. 
We believe that your tax-reduction pro¬ 
gram is an instance in point. It may help 
city taxpayers. It will not help farmers. 
We believe that you are perfectly sincere in 
feeling that you are doing much to relieve 
the people’s burdens by advocating the 
reduction of income taxes and consolidation 
of State departments and bureaus. But few 
farmers have taxable income, and farmers 
are in dire need of tax relief. 
Farmers are the holders of large amounts of 
real estate, in the form of land and buildings. 
Often these holdings are heavily mortgaged. 
As you know, none of them, at the present 
time particularly, are paying anywhere near 
fair returns on interest and investment, nor 
for the labor of working them. Yet under our 
present system of direct State property tax 
all of them have to bear this heavy unfair 
tax burden just the same, and this burden is 
constantly and rapidly increasing. We are 
sure that you would be interested in looking 
over some of the many letters and petitions 
which are coming into the American Agri¬ 
culturist editorial office at the present time 
from all over the State asking almost piteous¬ 
ly that something be done to relieve the 
farmer’s great tax burden so that he can stay 
on the farm and keep his young people 
there, and continue to raise food. 
The problem is not only one of the State 
government, but of every county, town and 
municipality. In fact, some of our worst 
situations of government inefficiency and 
high cost are in the local administration of 
affairs nearest to the people. While we 
knew that these unfair conditions existed, 
we have been tremendously surprised and 
impressed with the intensity and unanimity 
of farm opinion in regard to extravagant 
government and high taxes. One farmer told 
us a few days ago that it would be impossible 
for him to rent his farm of one hundred acres 
for the coming season for $100 cash rent, and 
yet last year his taxes were over $60. Letter 
after letter tells a similar story. 
Because farmers are by nature individual 
workers and thinkers, they are slow to get 
together and to agree on important issues, but 
there is now every indication that never 
before, at least in a quarter century, have 
farm people almost to the last individual, 
been so aroused, determined and united over 
any problem as they are now on this matter 
of lower farm taxes and simpler, cheaper 
government, all the way from the nation 
to the school district. Out of literally thou¬ 
sands of letters received by us from farmers 
within the last few days there has not been a 
single dissenting voice. 
This is not a question of selfishness on their 
part, it is a fundamental principle of justice, 
the settlement of which will go a long ways 
to determine the ultimate prosperity of the 
whole State and nation. 
In the name of these farmers, therefore, 
we are taking the liberty of bringing these 
facts to your attention, believing that in 
your sincere desire to serve the whole State, 
you will give them careful consideration. 
Very truly yours, 
American Agriculturist. 
Do Away With Daylight Saving 
BILL has just been introduced by Assembly- 
man Smith of Orange County in the New 
York State Assembly, and by Senator Bouten in 
the Senate, repealing the State law giving cities 
and villages the right to pass ordinances for day¬ 
light saving time. Should this bill pass, the 
daylight saving nuisance in New York State 
would be at an end. 
It goes without saying that farm people are 
unanimous in their opposition to daylight saving, 
and their opposition is based upon sound economic 
facts. It is not a question with them of more or 
less pleasure, but an actual matter affecting the 
production of food products. There is probably 
not much likelihood that this bill can be passed 
because of the active opposition of people in the 
cities. There are thousands of city people who 
American Agriculturist, March 8, 1924 
Agriculturist 
are opposed to daylight saving but those who arc 
for it are much more active. 
However, there is some chance to pass the bill 
and this chance could be greatly increased if ® 
farmers would write or telegraph their legislators 
immediately, particularly their Senators, asking 
for support of the bill repealing daylight saving. 
The Courage of Their Convictions 
A ssemblyman j. Arthur brooks of 
L Madison County and Fred L. Porter of 
Essex County, together with several others have 
not hesitated from their first study of the Rural 
School Bill now in the New York State Legislature, 
to state their belief in its principles and their de¬ 
sire to support it. Because of this, efforts have 
been made by opponents of the bill to discredit 
these Assemblymen among the people in their 
home counties. 
These men are friendly to the bill because they 
understand it and know what it will do for their 
people, and because they have the facts they are 
able to very quickly justify their attitude with 
most of their own people. For instance, Assembly- 
man Porter showed that in his county of Essex, 
the School Bill would bring $130,000 more public 
money; and Mr. Brooks has obtained final figures 
for all the towns in Madison County, which in¬ 
dicate that the county would get $142,383.05 
more public money under the new School Bill than 
it does now. This would mean that a great 
majority of the school districts would have then- 
taxes reduced. 
The question is often asked, where does this 
extra public money come from? The answer is 
that under our present tax system the cities pay 
over 88 per cent, of all State taxes. This does not 
mean that the tax burden is higher in the cities 
than in the country, but it does mean that the 
cities contain mcfce taxable property and incomes. 
We believe that an Assemblyman or representa¬ 
tive should represent his people. We believe also 
that it is a duty of a representative to study new 
suggestions and to furnish his constituents with 
the results of this study, and his recommenda¬ 
tions. These Assemblymen have not hesitated to 
do this, in spite of the misunderstanding that has 
existed about this bill, and in spite of what their 
attitude might do to them politically. They have 
put statesmanship and service before politics, 
and in the end they will have the very highest 
respect of all who know them, because they stood 
squarely for what they thought was right. 
Eastman’s Chestnuts 
M R. A. L. MILKS, director of the Dairymen’s 
League Cooperative Association from Cat¬ 
taraugus County, tells a good joke which happened 
recently to him while speaking at a dairy meeting 
in Oneida County. 
His subject for discussion was “The Milk 
Situation.” In the audience was a farmer who 
somehow had managed to save something from 
the last milk check to buy enough bootleg booze 
to get very happy on it. 
Soon after Mr. Milks was well started, the 
drunk began interrupting him. 
“M-m-mishter sh-peaker! M-mishter sh- 
peaker!” 
“Don’t pay any attention to him,” said the 
chairman of the meeting to Mr. Milks in an under¬ 
tone, “the man is drunk. Go right on with your 
talk.” 
So Mr. Milks tried to go on. But every few 
minutes the drunk scrambled uncertainly to his 
eet and clamored to be heard. 
“M-m-mishter sh-peaker! M-m-mishter sh- 
peaker!” 
Finally in desperation, the speaker stopped and 
said: “Well, what is it?” 
“C-c-an—I—ask—a q-q-quesshun?” 
“Certainly,” said Mr. Milks. “What is it?” 
“ W-w-what d-do you th-ink ’bout m-milk 
situ-a-shun anyway?” 
He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds 
peace in his home,—Goethe. 
