The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-20
AGRICULTURAL
Stay By the Farms.


 sweeping over our country several weeks ago, l have thought quite a good deal of the advice that 1 have been giving to the young men as well as the older ones, both through the press and in all my lec- lures on the importance of not being in a hurry to get away from the farms. It is hardly fair when anything like this comes up to cry out 'I told you so," yet l have always felt that the farms were the safest places to invest both labor and capital.
 l now recall to mind and often think of a speech made in New York by Grover Cleveland during the panic of d few years ago, who said that the farm CTS were to be compimented upon the fact that among other things they had the consolation of knowing that the soil always remained in its place. This Is just as true today as 1t was then. The men of this country during the pres ent financial furry, who own their farms are out of debt and have their own help within their own family need not know or care very much about what is going on in the higher financial circles. If they have been wise, as they should have been. and have most of their surplus money in land and live stock, with a plenty around them to eat and wear, they need not give themselves very much concern as to whether banks are paying 50 cents or s1 on every $1OO. There Is this consolation for farmers, as we'll as the above, that we have a very large population and these people must all be fed and clothed by the farmers and from the farms of this country. Peo- pie will spend their last cent for some thing to eat and the only question that need trouble the farmer Is whether or not there will be enough of our popula- ton left with money to enable them to buy the necessaries of life. The indica- tions are that under the existing con- ditions that farm products will be the last and least affected by the present situation. Farmers, as a rule, are in d better financial condition today than they have been ever before and are better able to dictate prices for their crops As l look at the situation the farmer has but little In this financial furry to dis turb his mind or to interfere with his regular duties. The thing for the farmer to do Is to go right ahead in the prepara- tion of his soil and the planning of his crops for the next season, and to so plan that these crops may be produced on Q strictly cash basis. This is the only way by which the farmer may become inde- pendent and control markets for the prod ucts of his farm. The farmers are re- alizing this more and more every day and it is only question of time when the mortgage credit system of producing crops in this country will be thing of the past
 There Is another thing in connection With this that I am reminded of, that in all my lectures among the farmers throughout the country I have tried to impress the renters and the young men the importance of securing a few acres of land as soon as possible. We already see the wisdom of this advice Cor eli t1, the attention of great many labor CTS has been turned toward the farms. We are in a position to find this out perhaps as early as anyone. For the last week the demand for our litera- ture on agriculture has been very heavy. People from all parts of the country who have been employed in various manufacturing establishments as well as many day laborers are now writing to me for advice as to where they can procure farms as we'll as for full line of our agricultural bulle- tins that will enable them to succeed along agricultural lines.
 I have known for some time that change was coming, that conditions were such that they could not possibly last much longer. We have had too great a per cent of our labor and capital invested in manufacturing works and when this is the case in any country it is only a question of time until a collapse will come. There is an old saying that 1t is an i'll wind that blows no good to any one. This no doubt will all work out and the country will become settled down again on a frmer basis than before. This, perhaps, will solve the problem of labor which has been giving us so much trouble for the last two years. This labor question has affected farm ing interests in this country more than any other one question of public im- portance. In fact it has been impos- sible for farmers to secure the help necessary for the production of their crops for the last two years. Labor on the farms has not only been ad- vancing in price but has grown ire sponsible in proportion to the ad- vance in wages. Our readers will re- member that only a few weeks ago we had a very long article on this labor question which pretty well covered the situation and was given at that time as a warning of what we were com ing to.
 For the last few years we have been living too much in the air, there have been too many unwise speculations and too many hot air propositions which have failed to materialize. We must <- ~<b Qot