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The Commoner.
ii
Rural Independence.
To show the modern organization of
agriculture under the "best conditions
in a well-developed community in one
of the central states, I take the actual
instance of Mr. Bussell. Mr. Russell is
a farmer who owns eighty acres of
land and makes a specialty of dairying
and fruit raising. Of course he hires
a man and his wife by the year; gives
them a neat, separate tenant-house,
and pays them $300 a year in cash for
their services. An electric car line
runs past the farm to a good market
town, about four miles away. A
creamery and canning factory is
reached by this same trolley route.
At 5 o'clock in the morning, whir-r,
whir-r goes an automatic electric
alarm in the tenant house. The hired
man gets up and hurries to the big
barn. He feeds and grooms the cowa
and cleans out the stalls. Then the
proprietor arrives in time to help at
the milking. Both men -wash their
hands and put on clean -white duck
BUits used only -when they milk.
The milk goes to a neat milk-room
adjoining the barn and is fed into a
centrifugal cream separator operated
by electric power derived from the
trolley line. A touch on a lever and
the. little motor hums merrily. Almost
before you know it tVe separator has
whirled all the cream out of the fresh
milk into the shipping cans; while
the skim milk still warm and appe
tizing is ready for feeding to calves
and pigs.
The filled cream cans are hooked to
a wire carrier, which spins them, by
force of gravity, direct to the trolley
platform on the road. In a few min
utes a trolley car comes along, with a
freight car attached, stops at the plat
form, takes the cans on board, and
then whirls away with them to the
creamery. The freight charges are but
a few cents (which are collected week
ly) and the empty cana are returned
later in the day free of charge. Mr.
Russell is credited by the creamery
with so much cream and on settlement
day he receives a check in payment.
Thus the milking is done and the
cream is on its way to market before
Mrs. Russell is out of bed. She does
not have to bother with "setting" the
milk in pans, or with ripening or
churning the cream. She is no longer
a slave to milk-pans and churns; and
the old unsatisfactory way of "trad
ing out" the butter at a local grocery
store is done away with entirely. But
ter or cream now means cash.
The cows, instead of picking a poor
living from uncertain pastures, are
stabled in clean stalls, cool in summer,
warm in winter, and always well ven
tilated. Instead of "guess-work feed
ing," they are given a scientific ration
exactly adapted to their needs.
A windmill, a tubular well, and a
tank supplies ' pure water for barn,
house, lawn and milk-room. The
windmill has an automatic governor
which stops or starts pumping accord
ing to the needs of the big storage
tank. There is fresh water before
each cow constantly, regulated by an
automatic watering device. The sta
ble floor is of cement, and is flushed
clean with the hose twice a day. The
stable walls glisten with whitewash,
and everything is as neat and clean as
it once was dirty and untidy. Dairy
ing is now a science.
The cows are fed various grains
and large quantities of ensilage the
latter from a big rbund silo holding
200 or more tons of succulent, pre
served corn-fodder. Corn is planted
and fertilized with the aid of special
machinery, worked with a "riding"
cultivator, and cut by horse-power.
Not a single clip from an old-fashioned
hoe is required, and the operator rides
comfortably at his work with a sun
awning rigged up over his head. One
man and team can now do the work of
many men, "and do it better. The man
with the hoe has become the man with
the horses.
And it is much the same with fruit
or other farm products. The ground
is plowed with a sulky plow, or torn
to pieces with a sharp disc harrow.
"Whether plowing or harrowing, the
Operator rides or walks as he chooses;
machine and team do the work.
The trees are systematically sprayed
by a system of compressed air oper
ated by power obtained from a wa
gon's moving wheels. One man drives
the team, and two other men hold the
nozzles and send the fine spray exactly
where needed. The proportions and
ingredients of the various spraying
mixtures have been exactly determined
by scientific experiment. Injurious in
sects and fungus diseases are thus
combated rapidly and successfully.
When the fruit is ready to market it
is taken to Mr. Russell's packing
house, and there "sorted" by an ingen
ious machine grader into three or four
grades or sizes. After being carefully
packed, the various grades are sten
ciled for shipment. Toward night a
trolley-car takes the day's gathering
direct to its destination canning fac
tory, steamboat dock, or commission
man. Checks for sales come back
promptly by mail.
There is a telephone in the barn
and in both houses, connecting the
farm with town and neighbors. Mr.
Russell, like any other merchant, has
an "office" of his own at his place of
business the farm. He takes one or
two daily newspapers, which reach
him promptly by rural mail carrier,
and he keeps constantly informed on
market conditions. Every day he
telephones to his commission man, or
to private customers, or to the can
ning factory, and he makes definite
arrangements .about shipments and
sales. Each day's business is regulated
according to the prevailing conditions;
not a single consignment is sent off
blindly. You will find no suspicion of
"pig In a poke" about Mr. Russell's
methods.
He keeps a simple set of books, and
he knows at the end of each year just
how he stands. He works hard, but
not in the way his father worked. He
directs the machinery, whereas his
father was the machinery itself; he
farms with brains instead of hands;
he rides a good saddle-horse about his
place, whereas his father was ridden
by his work.
Now take a look into the snug farm
house and what do you see? There
are new books and magazines, pictures,
and dainty furnishings. There is a
piano in the parlor, and a bicycle or
two on the back porch. Everything
looks comfortable, cozy and attractive
without attempt at style or show. The
chairs are intended to sit on, and the
old hair-cloth sofa is now a genuine
lounging place.
In winter the house Is heated by a
hot-water furnace in the cellar; and
ventilation is insured by open fire
places. In the kitchen there Is a mod
ern range; and in the cellar you will
find a refrigerator. Electric lights are
everywhere in the house, on the
porch, in the barn. The trolley line
furnishes the current, of course.
Thanks to windmill and tank, good
water is on tap wherever needed hot
"or cold. And, if you fancy a bath, you
will find the Russell bathroom as con
venient as your own in the city.
The boys and girls of the family at
tend the high school in the town; the
trolley line making a special school
rate of two cents for the round trip.
Church and entertainments are liber
ally patronized, for modern farm life
thanks to the trolley is no longer
isolated!
Once each day (Sundays excepted),
Uncle Sam's rural carrier brings the
mail to the farm-house, and it is
hoped he will soon bring In addition
the latest government weather fore
cast. He sells stamps, money orders,
and takes letters and packages for
mailing. Often, too, he docs little er
rands for people who care to pay for
the favor.
Do the boys and girls leave this sort
of farm? No! They compare their
home comforts, and their parents' suc
cessful, peaceful life, with what they
see in town, and are contented.
To sum up, Mr. Russell is tho moot
independent man in tho world. He
has really achieved tho independence
that has so long been talked about in
connection with farming. Walter E.
Andrews, in tho World's Work.
Books Received.
Tarry Thou Till I Come, or Sala-
thiel, the Wandering Jew, by George
Croly, with Introductory letter by Gen.
Lewis Wallace; published by Funke
& Wagnall Co., New York.
The Children of the Nations, a study
of colonization and its problems, by
Poultney. Bigelow; published by Mc
Clure, Phillips & Co., New York.
The Coming Democracy, by Orlando
J. Smith; published by the Brandur
Co., 220 Broadway, New York.
The Book of Genesis, in tho Light of
Modern Knowledge, by Rev. Elwood
Worcester; published by McClure,
Philipps & Co., New York.
Five Years of My Life, 1894-1899, by
Alfred Dreyfus; published by McClure,
Phillips & Co., New York.
Politics of tho Nazarene, or What
Jesus Said to Dp, by O. D. Jones; pub
lished by the author at Edina, Mo.
Eight Hundred Test Questions and
Answers on the Bible and Bible Lands,
by Rev. Chas. C. Hembree; published,
by the author at No. 1423 Harrison st.,
Kansas City, Mo.
Imperialism and Asiatic Competition
with American Labor, by Frank H.
Wilcox; published by Economic Pub
lishing Co., Oelwine, la.
The Godly Seer, a True Story of Hia
watha, by Ellis Woodworth; published
by the Iraquois Press, Syracuse, N. Y.
The Procession of the Planets, by
Franklin H. Heald, published by the
author at Los Angeles, Cal.
The North Star and the Southern
Crdss, being the personal experiences,
impressions and observations of Mar
garetha Wappner, in a two years' jour
ney around the world, 2 volumes; pub
lished by Weed, Parsons & Co., Al
bany, N. Y.
Tho Rustle of His Robe, a vision of
the time of the end, by Margaret Inez
Katharine Kern; published by F. Ten
nison Neely Co., New York.
Lyre-Touches from the Hudson, by
Wm. Benignus; published by John
Oehler, 87 Frankfort St., New York.
A Gloomy Picture.
The following from the Eldorado
(Kas.) Republican, a republican paper,
does not read like a prosperity argu
ment: "When the cold wave comes and it
will come; when financial distress hits
every business man in the land and it
will hit; when the seven lean kine are
turned loose and they will be turned
all the blooming idiots who have
blown their millions and billions into
these balloon trusts will be annihilated
as quickly as. a doll paper house in a
Texas tornado; while the distress to be
brought upon the country will cause
if not a revolution something very
nearly approaching one. Judgment
day will come to all these billion dol
lar hot air schemes and it will come
with a force and power that will shake
the financial world from end to end;
and the fortunes that will be swal
lowed up will be counted by billions.
We have had panics before, but all pf
them combined will not be a patching
compared to the one that is bound to
follow this criminal inflation of every
thing on the earth; and it will call out
all the cold storage patriotism in the
country to save it from destruction.
Took Himself Seriously.
"What did Gobang do with the
money he earned by writing articles
showing how to get rich raising chick
ens?" , .
"He lost It running a chicken farm
in New Jersey." Town and Country.
Old Sayings.
As poor as a church mouse,
As thin as a rail,
As fat as a porpoise,
As rough as a gale.
As brave as a lion,
As spry as a cat,
As bright as a sixpence,
As weak as a rat.'
As proud as a peacock,
As sly as a fox.
As mad as a March- hare,
As strong as an ox,
As fair as a lily,
As empty as air,
As rich as was Croesus,
As cross as a bear.
As pure as an angel.
As neat as a pin,
As smart as a steel trap,
As ugly as sin,
As dead as a door nail,
As white as a sheet,
As flat as a pancake,
Act red as a beet.
As round as an apple,
As black as your hat,
As brown as a berry,
As blind as a bat,
As mean as a mlsor,
As full as a tick,
As plump as a partridgo,
As sharp as a stick.
As light as a feather,
As hard as a rock,
As stiff as a poker, r
As calm as a clock,
As green as a gosling,
As brisk as a beo,
And now let me stop,
Lest you weary of mo.
New Orleans Times-Democrat.
Mind aa( Minino Shlno&Sons, Investment
lUIUCb flUU mining uroerB, LoadYillo, Colo.
RlaWFR TWIUP Farmers wanted as agonta
DlrlUEli i ffinC AuocbtPobt.MouUod, la.
THE PILGRIM
Edited by
Willis J. Abbot.
A lavishly illustrated homo magazine
which together with descriptive arti
cles, fiction, domestic and literary arti
cles prints editorials and signed contri
butions from tho most eminent thinkers
of tho period on questions of tho day.
Published at Battle Creek, Michigan.
Subscription price one
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