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American Agriculturist, May 17, 1924 
Editorial Page of the American Agriculturist 
American 
Agriculturist 
Founded 1842 
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VOL. 113_May 17, 1924_No. 20 
Is Prohibition a Menace? 
R. NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, Pres¬ 
ident of Columbia University, has been fig¬ 
uring largely in the newspapers of late because he 
has publicly stated that he believes the eighteenth 
amendment is a failure and its lack of enforce¬ 
ment a menace to the country. Since making this 
speech he has received a large number of protests 
from religious organizations and from some of the 
parents of students who are now attending Co¬ 
lumbia University; but on the other hand the 
trustees of the University are supporting him as 
are many other prominent individuals. 
The vote taken by American Agricultural¬ 
ist last year on prohibition shows that over 88% 
of farmers favor the eighteenth amendment and 
practically all the farm people are in favor of its 
enforcement so long as it is on the statute books. 
However, notwithstanding that the majority of 
farmers are in favor of prohibition they are very 
likely to lose this law within the next few years 
simply because even our good citizens are be¬ 
coming disgusted with its lack of enforcement. 
This failure is not confined to the city. Stories 
are coming from many country communities of 
hidden stills and of illegal booze being sold in the 
small towns. Only a few days ago we heard a 
story where public officers were actually staying 
at a hotel where booze was openly sold. 
There is just one remedy for this disgraceful 
condition, and that is aroused public opinion. 
If you do not want the prohibition amendment, 
let’s get rid of it. If you do want it, for the sake 
of everything we hold dear, see that it is enforced. 
What are the conditions in your community? 
Write us freely and frankly, and be sure to stick 
to facts that you actually know. There is a lot 
of hearsay going around that is not reliable. Your 
name will be kept absolutely confidential. 
Superintendents Consolidating 
Schools 
T IME and again during the past two years 
American Agriculturalist has called at¬ 
tention to the fact that rural people would have 
much more local control over their schools under 
the provisions set forth in the proposed Downing- 
Porter bill which was before the last Legislature 
than they had under the present law. Owing to 
the misleading propaganda which was circulated 
against the proposed bill there were many who 
could not be told that the State Department and 
district superintendents have much more arbi¬ 
trary power under the present law and some of 
our folks have criticized us for giving the facts as 
we saw them. Time takes care of a lot of things 
and we predict that time will show that we knew 
what we were talking about. In fact, time is al¬ 
ready proving this, as you will see if you read the 
following .correspondence; 
“Enclosed find self-explanatory letter from 
School District Superintendent of number three— 
Oneida County. The entire district wishes to re¬ 
tain the school. Please advise me by return mail 
if anything can be done to prevent this move. 
S. V. H.—Vernon Center, New York." 
The order from the District Superintendent 
read as follows;— 
“It seems advisable and for the best interest 
of education that School District No. 2, town of 
Vernon, be dissolved and said territory annexed 
to and become a part of Union School District 
No. 3 of the town of Vernon, 
Therefore; 
I. William J. Lewis, district superintendent 
for the Third Supervisory District of Oneida 
County, in which supervisory district the above 
named districts are situated, pursuant to Chap¬ 
ter 16, Article 5, Section 129 of the Consolidated 
School Law, do hereby dissolve School District 
No. 2 of the town of Vernon and annex the ter¬ 
ritory of said district to Union School District 
No. 3 of the town of Vernon, Oneida County, New 
York, said Union School District boundaries not 
being coterminous with the boundaries of an in¬ 
corporated village or city. 
The district so formed shall be known as Union 
Free School District No. 3, Town of Vernon, New 
York. 
This order shall take effect immediately. 
Given under my hand this twenty-sixth day of 
April, Nineteen Hundred Twenty-four. 
WM. J. LEWIS, Superintendent. 
Clinton, New York, April 26, 1924.” 
Our letter answering S. H. V. follows: 
“If your superintendent insists on consolidat¬ 
ing your schools, we do not know of anything ef¬ 
fective that the voters of your district can do to 
prevent such consolidation. 
“Situations like these were one of the chief 
reasons why American Agriculturalist fav¬ 
ored the Downing-Porter Rural School Bill, which 
was up for consideration before the New York 
State Legislature this year. Had this bill passed, 
it would have been absolutely impossible for any 
superintendent or other official to have closed or 
consolidated your school or any other district 
school except by a majority vote of the voters in 
that district. Under the present law the district 
superintendent can close any school in the State, 
or consolidate it with other districts. 
“The farm people of this State have had.a great 
wrong put over on them by the propaganda that 
was circulated in regard to the Downing-Porter 
Bill. Instead of taking away their power it gave 
local people much more power and control over 
their schools. Instead of increasing their taxa¬ 
tion, it would have decreased taxation in most 
districts. It would have enabled them to keep 
their local schools and gradually improve them. 
“Your superintendent probably will give you 
a chance to be heard on the proposed consolida¬ 
tion, and after his decision is made you can still 
appeal to matter to the State Department of Edu¬ 
cation, but under the present law you have no 
actual power in the matter, and if the superin¬ 
tendent and the Department insist, they have the 
power by law to close and consolidate your 
school.” 
We might add that under the present law any 
superintendent can close any district school at 
any time, without a vote of the people and have 
done so in many instances. 
Important Change in Milk Buying 
Plan 
VERY dairyman will be interested in the 
news article on page 476, relating to the New 
York Milk Conference Board’s recommendation 
to all of its members that they buy milk only on 
the multiple price plan. In order to understand 
what this announcement means, you wall have to 
recall how the various buyers purchase milk at 
the present time. Those dealers who buy pooled 
milk pay for it under the multiple price or class 
plan whereby the price varies according to the 
use that is made of the milk. Most of the dealers 
who do not purchase pooled milk have bought 
up to now on a flat price basis. The Sheffield 
Producers Association sell their milk on a flat 
price basis, and each month a conference is held 
Ijy the Non-Pool Association and the Milk Con¬ 
ference Board when a flat price is determined for 
other non-pool milk. 
At the last meeting on May 7, between the 
Non-Pool Association and the Conference Board, 
it was decided to recommend the purchase of all 
milk on the multiple price plan. It seems to us 
that this is a remarkable concession to the League’s 
plan. Whether you think this plan is right or 
wrong, you will agree that almost any plan on 
which all, or nearly all, of the milk is purchased 
is better for both buyers and producers than half a 
dozen different buying schemes in the same 
territory. The present system, whereby some 
use the multiple price plan and others use various 
flat price schemes, results in general confusion, 
price wars, and ruinous prices, with everybody 
for himself and the devil for the hindmost—and 
generally the hindmost is the producer. 
It is possible of course that the independent 
dealers will not follow the recommendations of 
the Conference Board, and that they will con¬ 
tinue to hold to the flat price basis. It is also 
possible that even if they do accept the recom¬ 
mendation that it will not bring about improve¬ 
ment. Only time will tell. But certainly condi¬ 
tions in the milk business in this section for both 
the poolers and the independent dairymen can¬ 
not be much worse than they have been in the 
last few months under the present different 
schemes and price plans for marketing milk. 
Want to Hire a Man on This Plan? 
“We had a little argument here this evening. Suppose a 
man went to a farmer and wanted to hire out to him for one 
month, working the first day for one cent, the second day for 
two cents, the third day for four cents, and so on doubling the 
wages for thirty days. How much money would be due the 
hired man at the end of the thirty days? Please give me this 
solution as early as you can as I am anxious to solve this 
problem.” 
T HIS is an old, old joke which has been laughed 
about for generations. It is reported that 
there have been two or three cases where an em¬ 
ployer was actually fooled into hiring a man on 
this basis, for like many another shady proposi¬ 
tion, it looks good on the surface. It is quite a job 
to figure it out, and we have done so hastily, but 
according to our figures, if a man was to get paid 
this way for all of the thirty days of a month, he 
would receive something like $5,368,709.12. 
Therefore, if any good farmer wants to hire a 
man very familiar with farm work and willing to 
work on this basis, just please send word immedi¬ 
ately to the editor! 
Eastman’s Chestnuts 
HEN I was a small boy I knew an old lady 
who ran and hid under the bed every time 
there was a thunder storm. There are many peo¬ 
ple who are otherwise very calm and have courage 
enough in an emergency but who are driven into 
a panic by an electric storm. Such people are en¬ 
titled to consideration and sympathy, but some¬ 
times it is a little difficult not to laugh. 
I have a reader, also in the “Finger Valve Coun¬ 
try,” whom I am beginning to suspect of being a 
better chestnut teller than I am. The following 
is the second one of his stories that I have passed 
on to you. 
An old farmer and his wife who lived near Tru- 
mansburg a number of years ago were a good old 
pair, but the wife was very much afraid of thun¬ 
der storms. One night after a hard day’s work 
they had retired and about midnight a terrific 
storm came up. Through it all the old man lay 
peacefully snoring. But not so the old lady. 
“John!—John!—wake up!” No answer. 
“John!—Jjphn!—I believe the Day of Judgment 
has come!” 
“Oh, stop your devilish noise!” said the poor 
tired man. “HOW IN THUNDER COULD 
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT COME IN THE 
MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?” 
