The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-03
Tcrtunss Coming 1rsm the ssii ia Every Section of : the
 canntry.
eranTx OF. seoN1x TO INVEST
New Bureau of Corporations VIII In spire Confidence in Stable ot-
 ganixations.
HeFatd HNfeau, No. 7s4 Fifteenth Street. N. w,

No. TS4 Fifteenth Street. N. w.,
 Washington. D. C., Friday.
 Mfr. James Wilson, Secretary of Agri- culture. was asked by the Herald for his views as to the sustaining power of . the American farmer in the face of great #buHinees depression caused by the de- ApFeciation of securities in Wall street.
 TO one familiar with the situation" replied MT. Wilson. 'ft must appear that there will be no panic in this country now, 50 long as the farmer of the United States Is able to produce sced and sal- able crops. The American farmer sus- tains the country and feeds . great DOT tion of the world. He is virtually irds- s pendent of any other class.
 Let me premise by giving a few fig ures from my annual report just issued Fsern 1880 to isso the average of exports of farm products was more than s7os. .oOo.- 2 900. Tn 1901 they were ss62. 900 ,eoo, In 1908 5 the surplus, which we did not need in <this country and was sold abroad. tamounted to $s7A0o0.o0o
 ''It was the farmer who kept the bal anee of trade with the United States Ex- cluding the products of the farm there was during the period from 1890 to 1909 an annual adverse balance of trade amounting to ss2.o0o,0O0. Including the farm products this balance is wiped out and we had left $275, 900 to the credit of this country. During 1903 there was an unfavorable balance of trade in ex- ports and imports other than those of the farm, which amounted to S66.o0Q.00o. but s when the farmers part in the tnterna- tioral commerce is included the balance &in our favor is just about as7,00oo0e.
 Independent of the Banks. r Here you have the tremendous reserve Sustaining power of the farmers of this f country, They are the people who pay k the foreign bondholders.
 T will tell you that the farmers are independent of the banks. the money lenders or anybody else. They are prosper ous. In the East anybody can see it for himself. They are getting good prices for their grain, hay. milk. butter. cheese, fruits and other produce. Think of the prices for eggs and poultry! Then they have the advantage over their Western brethren in not having the long haul and heavy freight rates.
 'sThe farmers of the West were never in such easy circumstances. Their crops \ have been good, and the demand from | abroad has been such as to keep the prices at a comfortable figure, This is true of everything the farmer raises to sell. hogs. cattle. wool. etc.
 On the Pacific coast the story Is the same. There the trade is opening with the Orient. and there the farmers have tho advantage of a soil which will raise raImost everything. including fruits which outsell the tropical fruits and which can be sent across the country and shipped to Europe at profit. They are doing splendidly.
 Prosperity in the South.
 Tn the South the farmer who raises seven a small crop of cotton has provided for himself. Tobacco was never in greater &sstnand. The South Is rapidly becoming as prosperous aa those other sections of the country which escaped the devastations of civil war;
 'But many men are predicting hard times for next year. What Is your vieY of that as one acquainted with farm con ditions?" MT. Wilson was asked.
 There can be no hard times, such as Wall street predicts" he renlied. 'so long as the crops do not fail. The Amer ican farmer is an optimist. In the West the banks are bursting with farmers money. The farmer has luxuries such as one would not have dreamed of seeing m in a farm house twenty years ago. The \ <farmer often has a telephone in his ' house His daughter has a piano, and goes to boarding school. The children have bicycles.
 'T am told that there is between $t00,- 100000 and $500 OO0. O00o of farmers money in New York banks or on loan. From Iowa alone somewhere in tho neighbor- hood of $e0, ,0OO0O0 has been sent to Canada to purchase grazing and farming lands. The Western farmer Is looking for good investments,
 Assurance of Investors.
 And let me tell my views about another thing. There is much talk in your Wall street about the timidity of investors. . Money is scarce at times. and the mar let sags. There is 8 difficulty about get- ting money to float this and that great enterprise. Men will not so into them because they have been humhugged be- fore. So the cause of fiotati6n languishea and the promoters look to foreign inves- tors. but of recent date with indifferent success.
 "The point want to bring out is this If the Bureau of Corporations of the De. partment of Commerce and Labor had been organized long enough to give to the public an idea of the stability of corpor. ations which are seeking for the conn. dence of the investing public. long enough