The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-07
IN THE DRAG NET
BY THE OBSERVER.

The long, dusty lane down which the American farmer has been plodding for three centuries has turned. He is com ing Into his own at last.
 From time immemorial we have sung odes to the farmer who feeds the world" written epics to his sterling quail ities and paid literary tribute to his worth, but somehow the dollars were elusive and found their way to other channels. We were liberal in our praise but stingy with the coin.
 Today the American farmer Is coming into his rightful inheritance and no just man would deny him the prosperity that is pushing itself upon him-yes, literally forcing itself upon him.
 For the first time in the history of the world an industrial panic has not af- fected the farmer disastrously It often hits him first. but the one through which we are just passing has not only left him uninjured but leaves him with wealth and power of which he had never dreamed.
 The reason is inexplainable.
 The panic that set in iu the latter part of 1907 found the American farmer with a very fair start with an average run of good crops The year 1908 brought boun- tiful crops, the largest in the history of the country. According to the usual rule of calculation cheap prices were expected and the farmer feared the result of what was thought to be a disastrous over-pro- duction. Anywhere from 3.000,000 to 5,000, GOO people had been thrown out of em- ployment. Mills were closing down all over the country.
 It was to be expected that prices would decline with the barns and warehouses of the country bursting open with sur plus crops But not so. Prices already higher than ever before in the history of this government kept going up, climbing, climbing until the farmers bank account was almost bursting.
 Corn sold for almost double the price that obtained during the year just pre- vious to the panic. Wheat has advanced steadily for the past two years and the farmers have netted hundreds of thou sands of dollars more than during the prosperous times preceding the panic. The same can be said of oats rye, pota- toes, hay, hogs, beef cattle, butter, eggs and. indeed. every product of the farm.
 The steady and marvellous strength of prices for farm products in the midst of one of the most stubborn panics in the history of the country is the wonder of the age. The farmers themselves do not understand 1t. The buyer does not un- derstand 1t. It is not lack of production; the crops have all been larger than ever before. There is no apparent increase in demand. Rather a decrease would be ex- pected Millions of working people are going hungry.
 Hogs on foot in Chicago are selling at $17.25 per 100 pounds against an average of $4.50 a few years ago. The American farmer raised 35,000,000 hogs last year. the largest record by 100000 of any pre- vous year The advance in price is cer- tainly not due to lack of supply.
 Last years corn crop netted the far mers approximately s1.56OO00,0o0 This does not include corn fed to cattle and hogs and from which profits were secured from the packers. It does not include either the corn used in home consump- tion.
 Last years potato crop amounted to POS, ,o0o0 600 bushels and sold at about s1. against a prevailing price of TO cents to 80 cents before the panic.
 These are just a few of the actual fig ures that indicate the marvellous prosper fly of the American farmer In a season of dire panic among the industrial classes.
 Strange as this condition appears. be- ing contrary to all previous rules of pan ics. the thinking man recognizes the final and permanent salvation of the country. Agriculture Is the basis for American wealth. If the farmer Is pros porous and wealthy every other interest in the country Is certain to feel the good effects.
 James J. Hill. perhaps the wisest man in American industrial circles, has said that another crop will put the wheels of commerce and business to work as they never worked in this country before. There is reason for this belief.
 Money Is like blood and water. It must circulate. The return circulation will be- gin when another crop is ready for the market The railroads, the arteries of trade, must get busy with the transporta- ton and this will put every man back to -work even down to the man cutting bridge timbers on the mountain side.