The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-11-13
MARKETING PRODUCTS

|
MARKETING PRODUCTS.
| The subject assigned to me here is a
| very broad one indeed, and one very diff
| ficult to handle, as il covers such a range
| of thought. 1t really appears to me an
educational problem. This being true. It
seems to me that this whole matter rests
first in educating the farmer to feel the
need of assistance from the Farmers IN
stitute The average farmer. according
to my observation and experience in in
| stitute work, needs yet to be educated to
| know that it is only through education
| that he can ever protect his own inter-
| ests. Here is where most of the far
mers organizations in this country have
| failed. They commence at the top of the
ladder to build but usually try to climb
! by pulling some one else down. They
i should be educated to understand that
no illiterate man or body of men is ever
| capable of protecting and promoting their
| best interests, and that education Is The
! first step toward protection and the
| farmers institute is the best medium
now offered them for obtaining such edu-
cation as will lead to protection and pros
| perity.
Nearly all educational movements are
slow, and it requires time to work out
! great problems. This is particularly true
| ms regards educating the farmers aions
such lines as will be to their best inter
ests or in other words the case may be
stated this way: 1t is almost Impossible
to educate a certain class of our farmers
to realize that it is through organiza-
! tfon, cooperation and cducation-and edu-
cation is the most important and most
needed of all-that they win ever be re-
warded for their labor on the farms
Another Serious Problem.
! This brings us face TO face with another
! serious problem which always has, and
| still continues to handicap the farmers
! institute in its work and this is the
prejudice which farmers hold against what
! they call book farming. There is no use
| in Disgusting facts. We had better take
/ conditions as we find them and try rs
| far as possible to correct the many er-
| roneous impressions. 1t is a iamentable
| tact nevertheless a true one, that we
vet have in this country of ours, a class
J of farmers who are not at all In SYM
/ patty with agricultural education, or
what they term book farming. rms
! class OF farmers look with suspicion ana
! uistrust upon every movement Whlcn Oh
/ fers them any assistance. In their Hitter
acy they question the motives of the in
stitltte, or any relief which it may have
! to offer. This being true we are forced TO
| face another serious problem and That Is,
| how is this condition to be best corrected.
| The farmer has some grounds or some eN-
| cuse at least for this prejudice. lie mas
| been deceived and imposed upon so often
! that he has been made to lose confidence
! in himself everyone else, and in almost
everything. This condition takes us back
J again to the question of education, for II
the farmer was educated to the point
/ where he would be able to discern Ior
! himself between that which is Tor ms
best interests and that which is not, his
suspicious and prejudices would oe re-
moved. What we mean here by TINS KIM
| of education, is that when the. FARMER
| is approached with any kind of propo-
sition, he should be so well informed as
to be able to tell whether or not SUCH q
proposition is for his best interest. Again
4 the farmer should be so well mtormeu
as to be able to discern at once whether
! a speaker who is talking knows WHEREOF
ne speaks or whether the advice given by
the speaker would be of any benent TO
him or not.
But the question of removing inns
! prejudice from the mind of the farmer Is
a hard one to answer. Should the farm
ers' institute wish to gain and hold the
i confidence of the farmer. 1t must WASH
! its hands clean and keep them clear OIL
everything that is of trade, advertis-
ing, or political tendency me WORK Oh
the farmers institute should be strlctiy
/ not be too careful in our selection OF edu-
Gators for this work. poor or unwise
| selection of speakers for farmers insti-
| tutes is one of the causes for the prejudice
against the work, and l do not know put
that we are safe in assuming that TINS
one thing has done more to retard the IN
fluences of the institute than any other.
This proposition brings us to the fact
that there are many fads today in agri-
cultural teaching, and much of what we
find in print today on various agrleul-
tural and horticultural teaching Is not
worth the paper it is printed on. Whlle
the average farmer may be dull in many
things pertaining to his best interests
still it is not safe to presume too much
on his want of information, for many OF
them are shrewder thinkers than they
are actors, and, as a rule. they are pretty
fair Judges of human nature. and have
the faculty of sizing a man up pretty
well who gets up to talk to them. ihus
it is not wise thing to have some TEL
low who has some political scheme or
some advertising sfor some line which
he may be interested in, to go out in this
educational work. The institute should
, steer clear of such workers.
Fair Dealing Necessary.
| These are some OF the means by which
we can gradually gain and hold the es-
TEEN and confidence of the farmer A
few others are honesty and fair dealing,
and truthful and conservative statements.
After we have won the confidence of
the farmer, then the work of education
may commence, and it is a good plan to
have as many representative farmers in
every community as possible to assist IN
this educational work Here again we
must use Judgment and use Tor teachers
only such farmers as stand beyond re-
proach and are making success in what
ever line of farming they are undertake
ing. Whenever a farmer who has made
a failure of his calling attempts to teach
others how to farm, it casts damper
on the work of the institute and brings
our efforts into disrepute.
Another thing which becomes absolutely
necessary in attempting to cooperate
with the farmer along any line, is that
the institute must study and become
fully acquainted with conditions or needs
of the farmers whom we expect to as
sist. When we come to consider this
part of the work, we find the conditions
vary so greatly that a line of teaching
that would be of benefit to one COM
munity might not be worth anything to
another AS an illustration of this in
connection with my work. frequently
when reach a town with my educational
car, find several hundred people waiting
anxiolfsly for me and there is no trouble
in having a good, rousing meeting. Per-
haps at the next town. a dozen miles
away we are unable to rally a dozen
farmers These sections need different
teaching Tn the first case there is usual
~ some good business man who owns a
farm and takes an interest in everything
that will benefit the community. In the
IN "a my in