HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
Home and Farm Magazine Section Editorial Page
Suggestions Fsom Our Associate Editors, Allowing for an Interchange of Views, Written by Men of Experience on Topics With
Which They Axe Fully Acquainted Hints Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought.
WE HEED EXPERTS.
SLOWLY, perhaps, we are com
ing to the realization that wo
, need experts to manage our
eitiea.
There seems no argument.
If it pays the big and little cor
' porations, why not the big and
little cities, which are nothing but
corporations only on a larger
scale!
Jn a recent booklet by the Uni
versity if Oregon called "Choos
ing a Calling," the management of
cities is outlined as !V new profes
sion and one (net awaits the college-educated
student along special
lines.
, Many of our cities have come to
tho commission plan, but it Deems
likely that tho commission will be
come eventually a jjoverning body
an;', that a trained expert of execu
tive powers will be engaged to do
the actual management and super
vision. In the smaller cities this plan
seems ideal. Tho only, question is
whether in the larger cities such an
executive would have the power to
"hire and fire" that the cor
poration executive possesses. Of
course, until we decide to banish
politics from our city administra
tions that would be impossible.
Smalle: cities have come to the
front alraady with evidence of the
value of a city manager.
At the last Convention of North
west Municipalities experts spoke
glowingly ef the work of thj man
ager of the little country town of
Milton, OregoB. This man appears
to be a j radical engineer. Un
doubtedly .uch training is valuable.
La Grando, Oregon, is another
town that seems to bo finding suc
cess wit'i the City Manager.
Up in Alberta there is the town
of Red Deer. The City Manager
there ib called tho Commissioner,
lie is appointed by the Mayor and
Council.
Hero wo havo another type. Com
missioner Stevenson of Kcd Deer is
a trained executive. lie is more or
less ignorant of practical work. But
( he has employed those who know.
Subject only to the Council, he has
full charge, of affairs.
t The result ia remarkable. While
other towns in Western Canada are
suffering from extortionate taxes
and general uial administration,
Bed Deer's levy is but 15 mills. It
has parked streets, city parks, good
soworage and water systems.
All over Canada the work of
Commissioner Stevenson has boon
lauded. Now his daily duties are
impeded regularly by delegations
from other cities who "want slice
whoels s wound"; who wish to
know if they can't go and do like
wise. The city managor idea originated
in Germany. There it has boon a
marked success. Germans judge by
results and pay by results. Tho man
who makes a success in a small city
is certain to receive a call to a
larger municipality. If he has the
right qualities, he will be pr'aioted
from city to city, adding as he goes,
increasod remuneration and in
creased honor.
Discussing the city manager, Pro
fessor Sowers, the University of
Oregon municipal experts, ays:
"He cannot succeed if he ex
i poets political heelers to do high
. class work. A glance into the fu
'iure reveals a calling hore which"
!.the young man of the present day
lias still a chance to enter on the
, ground floor and which will lead -I
to positions of dignity and honor.
"Courses of training suggested
I for oity managerships are eco
nomics, political science, sociology,
( history, commerce, English and
Journalism."
Bat It is a matter for doubt If
he young man who prepares him
elf. for the calling of city man
I agar will find bis reward for many
jears in America,
True, the spirit of change teems
1 1 be In the air,
s ' Tt looked at commercially it ia
questionable whether the young
wan who is trained as a city man
ager will have many cities clamor
ing for his services.
But, in another sense, men
trained to be city managers will
be our most valuable citizens.
They will be the men to check up
on dishonest or ignorant munici
pal governments.
Ft it is well to say that in these
days of much cries of "graft,"
"graft" is merely often ignorance.
And the man trained as a city
executive has the training to teach
our cities a better way.
4 $
TIKE CLOCKS TOR HORSES.
IT IS interesting to compare the
treatment of city, horses with
those 'in the country.
The country horse is treated just
as any other worker, with care and
consideration.
The city horse is a piece of
abused machinery.
'the country Aorse, the farm
horse, is rarely,, if ever, over
worked. . . .. '
The city horse is ever over
worked. In spite of the passing of mini
mum wage laws and maximum
hour laws, the city horse at times
still has its 30-hour shift.
The tired cab horse dozes sleep- .
ily on its stand.
The' delivery horse drops from
the heat and exhaustion.
80 the Anti-Cruelty Society of
Chicago is taking action.
Of course, it won't actually in
stall tune docks for tones.
Yet, metaphorically, that is what
is being done.
A campaign is on to give the
horse a square deal, a fair share of
sleep, a fair share of rest.
Those who overwork their horses
wiil be prosecuted for cruelty to
animals.
Here's to that Anti-Cruelty So
ciety. May it win out!
TOWN, COUNTRY AND
HEALTH.
RECENTLY Collier's Weekly
asked this question:
"Is it much easier to be good
in tho country than in the city t ' '
In a later issue a letter was pub
lished from Mr. MacLevy, a teach
er of physical culture, who thus
answers in a decided affirmative:
"For years I have conducted a
gymnasium in the heart of New
York and a health-building physical-culture
plant in a Long Island
rural community, and I have had
abundant opportunity to compare
the effocts of city and country life
on the health and morals of men.
Health and morals they come to
pretty near being the same. The
invalid may be a near-angel, and
the strong, virile specimen of hu
manity a near-fiend, but they are
the exceptions that prove the rule.
"Most bad people aro sick peo
ple, and most sick people are sick
because they have neglected and
disregarded the laws of right liv
ing, such as exercise, fresh air, deep
breathing,' plain and nutritious
nourishment, regular hours, and
more exercise. The city man can,
if he wilts, observe all those laws,
and lire c long, happy, useful and
moral life, but he is not bo likely
to do so as the man who spends at
least a part of the time in the
country. On the other hand, an ex
clusively bucolie existence occa
sionally tonds to ignorance,
bigotry, and narrowness of vision,
and so may lead to ill-health and
viciousness. "
Of course, Mr. MacLevy is quite
right,
But we wonder where he got that
idea about the "exclusively bucolie
existence "f
There "ain't no sich thing" in
the Northwest.
Farmers out here, Mr. MacLevy,
are never exclusively bucolic.
Many of them have automobiles.
They visit thoir friends. They see
plays and motion pictures in the
city. They are regular visitors to
Portland, Seattle, Tacoma and Spo
kane for the annual city festivals.
They ' aro omnivorous readers.
They go to school at our agricul
tural colleges.
Why should men of that type
lead an "exclusively bucolic exist
ence"! They don't.
3o we can't admit Mr. Mac
Levy's exception.
Not only is it easier to be good
in the country but ier. and women
are better in the -ountry.
And why shouldn't they bet
Their interests are wider. They
have most of the advantages of the
city and mighty few of its dis
advantages. It's a realization of that which
started the "back to the farm"
movement.
But we thank Mr. MacLevy for
his remarks, anyway.
A STRONG CONTRAST.
FIFTEEN THOUSAND berry
pickers are required this year
to harvest the million-dollar
crop of the Puyallup and Sumner
Fruit Growers' Asosciations.
That is the organization Senator
Paulhamus built.
And built well.
Last year the Puyallup Valley
sold $1,000,000 worth of berries.
This year the crop will be $1,
125,000 in all probability.
Last year the hop fields of Cali
fornia were tied up with riots. The
pickers rioted because of grossly
unsanitary conditions, inadequate
water supply and bad living ar
rangements. Why, tho son of one of the hop
growers had the water privilege
and water was sold at five cents
a glass.
Do you blame those pickers for
riotingf
It's a different story at Puyal
lup. Arriving in Sumner or Puyallup,
the pickers find wagons waiting to
haul them and their camping out
fit bedding and cooking utensils
to the fields.
Arrived at the fields, the pickers
find cabins fitted with cooking
stoves and bunks. Water is conven
ient at hand and plentiful.
Representatives of the grocers
and meat dealers of tho nearest
town call for their orders and make
deliveries tho same day.
For their work of picking, 40
cents a crate is paid.
This season will see hundreds of
the same pickers alighting from
trains in Puyallup and Sumner that
alighted last year and the year be
fore. They expect to spend a profit
able season; to many of them it is a
holiday.
Thero will bo the same story to
tell in the Northwest next hop
picking season.
We are not fond of the California
way.
Incidentally, we wonder if the
way of the Northwest doesn't pay
better than the California plan.
MORE FIGURES.
THE CROP reports of tho Bureau
of Statistics (Crop Estimates)
of the TJ. .S. Department of
agriculture show the average prices
paid to the farmers in various states
for butter, eggs and chickens, on
May 1, 1914, and as compared with
tho similar estimates on May 1,
1913, Apparently farmers aro ob
taining on an average less for their
butter and slightly more for their
eggs and chickens.
The average price paid to the
farmer tor butter on May 1, 1914,
was 23.8 cents, or 3.2 cents less a
pound than the average prico paid
on May 1, 1913. In tho New Eng
land States farmers of Now Hamp
shire seem to have received on an
averago 33 cents or 1 cent more a
pound, while in Connecticut they
were paid 30 cents or 8 cents less a
pound; in Vermont 29 -cents and
Rhode Island 32 cents or 6 cents
less a pound, and in Massachusetts
83 cents or 3 cents loss a pound,
and in Maine 30 cents or 1 cent less.
In New York and Pennsylvania and
adjoining states the average price,
was 28 i 32 cents or from 7 to 4
cents less. On the coast from Mary-'
land to South Carolina the .price :
were either the same or 1 cent high-
er, ranging from 23 to -8 cents.
Georgia rarmers receiving 26 cents
seem to have gained 1 cent, while
the Florida farmers received 2 cents
a pound less or 33 cents. In the
balance of the states, with a few ex
ceptions where the price was stable, .
farmers apparently were receiving '.
from 1 cent to 5 cents less a pound,
except that in Montana the price
was 1 cent more, in Arizona 6 centa
less and in Oregon 7 cents less.
The farm prices for eggs on May
1 were 16.8 cents a dozen, or about .
.7 of a cent higher on an averago
for the country than on May 1,
1913, or an increase of about 4.3 per
cent. In most of the states the price
was the same, or varied only by j
1 cent one way or the other. In
Montana, however, eggs on May 1,
1914, were 18 eents or 4 cents
cheaper than the preceding year,
while in New Mexico they were 23
cents or 4 cents higher on an aver
age. The price paid to farmers for
chickens on May 1 was 12.5 cents
or about .7 of a cent a pound high
er in 1914 than in 1913, or an in
crease of about 5.9 per cent. Tho
variation in the price of chickens
was commonly less than 1 cent per
pound. The principal variations
from this were Delaware, where
there was a decrease of 1 cents a
pound to 14.5 cents, West Virginia
where there was an increase of 1.2
cents a pound to 13.4 cents, North
Carolina an increase of 1.5 cents to
12.5 cents and South Carolina an
increase of 2.3 cents to 15 cents.
x$
COUNTRY BOYS' CREED.
IN EVERY schoolhouse in Prince
Edward County, Va., a placard
containing a creed for the
American country boy and dedi
cated to the Boys' Corn Club of Vir
ginia has been posted. It reads:
"I believe that the country which
God made is more beautiful than
the city which man made; that life
out of doors and in touch with the
earth is the natural life of man. I
believe that work witn nature is
more inspiring than work with the
most intricate machinery. I believe
that the dignity of labor depends
not on what you do, but how you
do it; that opportunity comes to a
boy on the farm as often as to a boy
in the city; that life is larger and
freer and happier on the farm than
in the town; that my success de
pends not upon my location, but
upon myself; not upon my dreams,
but upon what I actually do; not
upon luck, but upon pluck. I be
lieve in working when you work and
in playing when you play, and in
giving and demanding a square deal
in every act of life."
$ ,
WHAT NEXT?
CCORMNG to the London
limes, an English chemist has
discovered a process of manu
facturing synthetically a pure and
wholesome milk of high nutritive
value from the soja or soy bean.
It is reported that excellent
cheese and bnetter have been manu
factured from this artificial milk.
These contentions may be true,
but it is questionable if the method
the good Lord devised, a dairy cow,
can't manufacture milk more eco
nomically, provided she is given the
right kind of raw materials.
A CHINA PERIL.
LONDON game buyers have been
warned that many of the part
ridges and pheasants shipped
there from China are killed in wood
and field by poisoned bait.
American egg buyers are hereby
warned that thousands of Chinese
eggs are being shipped to this coun
try and these antique, germ laden, '
yellow perils are likely to be sold at
the real American article. '