534 
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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Published Weekly by 
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Entered as Second-Class Matter, December 15, 1922, at the Post Office 
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VOL. 113 June 7, 1924 No. 23 
Dairymen Are Watching 
N OTHING in a long time has aroused interest 
and hope among dairymen as did the appoint¬ 
ment of the Conference Committee of Fifteen, 
representing all of the producers in the New York 
milk shed. This Committee held its first business 
meeting in Utica on Saturday, May 24th, and 
passed two important resolutions. It recom¬ 
mended, first, that all of the milk in the territory 
should be sold on one plan, the multiple price plan; 
and second, that the price of class one milk be 
put up where it belongs and kept there. The 
Committee suggested a price of $2.33 for all class 
one milk sold in this territory for June. 
These are real accomplishments and justify all 
that American Agriculturist has said during 
the past two years as to the need of a conference 
committee of this kind. Its members have a tre¬ 
mendous responsibility. Practically every dairy 
farmer'in this section is looking to the Committee 
of Fifteen for relief. To accomplish anything 
worth while there must be absolute sincerity, not 
only on the part of the Committee members them¬ 
selves, but by every cooperating organization and 
individual. Selfishness and foolish antagonism 
must be kept in the background. If the present 
deplorable milk situation is to be relieved, every 
farmer and every organization must forget their 
differences and work with a common purpose for 
the common good. 
Too much must not be expected of the Commit¬ 
tee at first. It will make a mistake if it tries to 
correct all of the trouble at one time. Time will 
be needed to smooth out antagonisms and to find 
a workable plan, and a little progress each month 
is all that can be hoped for. Some June prices had 
already been established for producers before the 
Committee of Fifteen announced its price of $2.33 
per hundred. Therefore, there may be some ex¬ 
cuse for different producers’ prices for the month 
of June. But there will be no excuse after June, 
and after that time PRICE-CUTTING IN THIS 
TERRITORY MUST CEASE v American Agri¬ 
culturist promises its readers that unless this 
foolish and ruinous milk-price war among pro¬ 
ducers and their organizations does stop, and 
unless the Committee of Fifteen does receive 
sincere support, then this paper will place the 
responsibility where it belongs and carry the 
issue directly to the farmers. 
The Dairy Situation 
S ELDOM have we seen an article that has so 
much information and so many up-to-date 
facts gotten into short space as the one on the 
dairy situation run as our feature this time. We 
hope you will not fail to read it. 
With facts like that before you, you do not need 
any advice. Advice is poor stuff, anyway. Farm¬ 
ers are perfectly capable of making their own 
judgments if they have correct information, and 
we are working very hard all of the time to get 
these facts and this information together on the 
different kinds of farm business, and put it in 
readable form for you. 
He Knew What If Not Why 
ID you as a boy serve your time working out 
by' day or month for neighbor farmers? If 
you did not, we think you missed something. 
Perhaps it was nothing but a rather hard, dull 
experience, but it was a worth-while one, neverthe¬ 
less. _ # . 
In reading an article on cultivation m a farm 
paper last night (an editor really does sometimes 
read other papers) we recalled a good old chap we 
used to work for who was a regular bug on cultiva¬ 
tion. Just as soon as the corn and ’taters began 
to peep above the ground, he would have us take 
old Dave, the one-horse cultivator, some grub in 
a pail for our luncheon, and some oats in a bag 
for Dave, and climb the big hill to the back lot. 
And there through the long summer days we 
would monotonously follow Dave and the cultiva¬ 
tor up one row and back the next, across the 
big field until we had finished the piece. Then 
when we enthusiastically reported that the job 
was done, the old farmer would dash our hopes 
by sending us back to do it all over again. 
For weeks at a time, except for rainy weather, he 
kept the cultivator going. It certainly seemed at 
times like a foolish waste of hard work, but the 
crops that the old chap grew always justified his 
faith in the cultivator. We do not know whether 
he knew anything about the conservation of mois¬ 
ture or the killing of weeds by constant cultivation, 
but he did know from a lifetime of experience that 
the steady use of the cultivator got results and 
that was enough for him. 
It Is June 
F ARMERS may not deserve the reputation that 
they have for being grumblers, but certainly 
they have much reason for grumbling, particu¬ 
larly lately. The weather is bad, help is scarce, 
and times are hard. But conditions in other 
walks of life are not all beds of ease, either. Even 
the apparently high wages in cities are not so 
much when all of them must be spent for the many 
high-priced necessities of life. The rent of a house 
in a large city which corresponds to an average 
farmhouse costs at least a hundred dollars a 
month; milk prices range from thirteen to seven¬ 
teen cents a quart; potatoes from two dollars a 
bushel up, mostly up; apples five cents apiece. 
Even the very water that is drunk must be paid 
for. When the long list is squared up at the end 
of the week it takes pretty careful figuring to save 
anything, even out of what looks like good v ages. 
The pasture over the other fellow’s fence always 
looks greener than ours. But let us not forget that 
our pasture also looks better to the other fellow. 
Just at present, with the summer coming on, the 
farmer’s lot seems pretty good to the city man. 
When it comes right down to it, how many of you 
would change places with him; for that matter, 
how many of us w r ould go back to the olden times 
that seem good to talk or read about? Suppose 
we should remove from our country life to-day the 
farm machinery, the rural free delivery, the tele¬ 
phone, the good roads, the automobile, the radio, 
and a hundred and one other conveniences that 
make modern life pleasant? How we wrould long 
to have them back again! 
Certainly, the present times are pretty tough 
for farmers. No one says they are not. But in 
spite of the pessimists, things are not all bad in the 
country, and besides, times have a habit of chang¬ 
ing. We think they have already made a turn for 
the better in agriculture. In the meantime, some 
of us are going to get a little fun out of life in spite 
of the gloom and the gloomers, even while others 
do insist on being unhappy no matter what their 
external conditions are, no matter whether condi¬ 
tions are good or bad. 
Optimism is a disease or a talent, according to 
the way we look at it. If seeing nothing but the 
bright side leads us to over-invest, to over-pro¬ 
duce, to marry in haste, or to plunge without 
American Agriculturist, June 7, 1924 
Agriculturist 
judgment into any other venture in life, then op¬ 
timism is surely a curse. But if a happy outlook 
leads us to take the kinks out of our backs occa¬ 
sionally to enjoy the good things the Creator has 
given us, then surely it is a talent. 
Turn back to our cover picture on this issue, 
and notice the men with bent backs looking at the 
ground, while the old apple tree blooms unno¬ 
ticed overhead. Their attitude is perhaps typical 
of the pessimist’s outlook on life, so well expressed 
by the poet, Edwin Markham, in his piece called 
“The Man with the Hoe.” 
“Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans 
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground. 
The emptiness of ages in his face. 
And on his back the burden of the world. 
Who made him dead to rapture and despair, 
A thing that grieves not and that never hopes, 
Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox?” 
You can, if you wish, pitch your tent with those 
who believe in the sad picture painted by Mark¬ 
ham; but for us, even though we may be classed 
with the fool optimists, we shall straighten up 
occasionally as we hoe our row to enjoy the bloom 
in the apple tree, w r hile we agree with that other 
American poet, James Russell Lowell, in his poem 
called “June.” 
“Now is the high-tide of the year. 
And whatever of life hath ebbed away 
Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer. 
Into every bare inlet and creek and bay; 
Now the heart is so full that a drop oyerfills it. 
We are happy now because God wills it; 
No mattef how barren the past maj have been, 
’Tis enough for us now that the leaves are green; 
We sit in the warm shade and feel right well 
How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell; 
We may shut our eyes, but we cannot help knowing 
That skies are clear and grass js growing; 
The breeze comes whispering in our ear. 
That dandelions are blossoming near. 
That maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing. 
That the river is bluer than the sky. 
That the robin is plastering his house hard by; 
And if the breeze kept the good news back, 
For other couriers we should not lack; 
We could guess it all by yon heifer's lowing— 
And hark! how clear bold chanticleer. 
Warmed with the new wine of the year. 
Tells all in his lusty crowing!" 
Yes, it is June, June in the farm country. The 
grass is green again. The trees are in bloom and 
the birds sing. 
“No price is set on the lavish summer." 
' In spite of the pessimists, in spite of hard times, 
“June may be had by the poorest comer." 
Eastman’s Chestnut 
A VERY amusing and striking illustration of 
the low purchasing value of farm products 
was given a year or so ago by Senator McCumber 
in an address on the floor of the United States 
Senate* 
Senator McCumber was discussing the itemized 
expenses of another senator who had spent $19.75 
in one day in New Y ork City. Mr. McCumber 
translated the senator’s expenses all into terms 
of farm products, and this is the way he did it; 
“Without spying, Mr. President, I will ask per¬ 
mission to follow this senator from the time he 
leaves the train until he returns to it after a day s 
sojourn at the hotel. 
“As he leaves his cab he pays as fare for having 
been driven eight or ten blocks six bushels of oats, 
and as a compliment to the driver for his very 
moderate charge he gives a tip of fifteen heads o 
cabbage. He registers at the hotel and is shown by 
the bellboy to the elevator. As he nears the tenth 
story he responds to the expectant look of the 
elevator lad frith three dozen eggs. The bellboy 
lingers at the door of his room and is rewarded for 
his anxiety over the comfort of the gues^ with a | 
bushel and a half of barley. 
“ It takes a quarter of a ton of hay for this sena¬ 
tor’s breakfast. He gives the waiter two bushels of 
potatoes. His noon lunch is an average-sized 
sheep with a bushel and a half of carrots for tm 
waiter. In the evening he consumes four bushel" 
of rye and the waiter has a bushel of onions to 
dream on. When he settles for his room, the land¬ 
lord is the recipient of a half-carload of turnips. 
