The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-26
SPEAKERS FROM
 WEST AND SOUTH Often Figure in Northern Political Banquets AND STATE" DINNERS Are All the Rage at This Time of Year-J. H. R. Parsons Talks
 on the Opportunities of
 the South
AND "STATE" DINNERS

up the west and the south these days 1t
 will not be for lack of opportunity. It is
 getting to be quite the fashion at ban
 ouets and other functions where the ora
 tor has a chance to shine to have men
 from these. virile strong-thnking, Ameri-
 can sections, as the chief attractions.
 For example at the Lincoln dinner given this week by the Union League club of Brooklyn the principal speakers ] were Senator Cunmins of Iowa and l former Representative Bede of Mime sota Hardly week passes that some noted men from the west or south does not address an audience of interested
 New Workers and these men from what
 the native New Workers likes to think of as ''the provinces" know how to talk,
 too. More than this, they have ideas
 which they are neither ashamed to ex- press nor incompetent to defend.
 | This is the open season for state soei- ety dinners. Pretty nearly every state in
 the union has fourlshing society of it's native sons in the city, and at least once
 year. they like to get together call some | Of the homefolks to meet with them, and make themselves homesick, with talk of the old times, back in the old state
  | ners of dozen or more of these state dinners Among those which have been | held within the past few weeks I can recall California. Minnesota, Colorado, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wis consin. Michigan, Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky. Of course there have been others There are few more enjoyable
 affairs in New York.
 J. H. R. Parsons of New Orleans, gen. eral passenger agent of the Southern Pa cifc railroad system, in speaking of op-
 pcrtunities in the south, says:
 q am continually in receipt of letters from those who want advice as to how to get cheap lands in the south, where they can make their homes. Many peo- ple of this class have, gone to Canada, but we can offer opportunities that are infinitely better We have a growing
 season that lasts practically the year round. The settler who is at all atten- tive to his place can raise one crop after
 another and If he studies the market he can obtain top prices. 1t is an easy mat
 ter down in Louisiana to send early gar
 den truck, berries and fruits to the Chi cago market far in advance of other To-
 calities not so highly favored. Every one
 who tills the soil knows that it means
 to beat the other fellows to the market,
 fer the first offers invariably bring the
 '~' N'->
 best returns.
 Tn addition to considerations of profit,
 it means a great deal to live where con-
 ditions are so pleasant. During the last
 few years reports from Chicago and Vi
 cinity tell of a temperature that has gone
 below zero. It is hard for us to believe
 this while we are walking about in the
 sunshine without overcoats. One trouNe
 with us is that climatic conditions are so
 C., ,Ia i- ea n live from
 the products of the soil, that people on
 the farms usually acquire leisurely hab-
 it's Besides this, they lack knowledge
 of modern methods. And right here is a
 chance for a wideawake northerner who
 knows what he is doing to make his win
 ming I do not consider 1t an overstate-
 ment to say that fortunes are waiting for
 ali of this class who will come to us.
 President S. B. Tanner of the Hen
 rietta Mills of Henrietta, N. C., gives some interesting views on the cotton and cloth situation. He says:
 'There has been considerable improve ment in the cotton goods business. but the prices are too low Buyers of cotton goods generally lay great stress upon the high price of cotton, while the price of cotton really nas nothing to do with the prices of goods, nor has it had since the panic of 1907. The fact is that cotton
 goods sold generally, year in and year out at prices equal to, if not better than present prices when cotton ruled at g cents to Il cents per pound, and if mer- chants generally were to undertake to
 supply their wants today for three to four months ahead, as they did before the panic of 1907, it would advance goods to level with the cotton market imme- diately, as the voluntary curtailment has reduced the stocks of goods materially and it is still going on. Instead of taking a reasonable view of the situation and endeavoring to obtain a fair advance upon the cotton goods in proportion to the advance in the raw material and labor, the merchants generally argue that cot ton goods prices 'are fixed" on basis of very low priced cotton and that the down on this basis, instead of advancing prices of goods in accordance with the ruling prices of cotton and labor. A case in point is the price of standard sheet irgs, which we were told a short time lago was fixed at cents
 ..The mills of course, were forced to abandon the manufacture of this goods. Now they are offered 8 cents to S1s cents for this goods, but there are no goods to be found and the mills cannot afford to begin making them unless they get or
 
 | ing up again. This shows that the price | of cotton goods must be fixed eventually the same as any other merchandise, by the producer, based on the cost of raw
 material. labor. etc.
 q really think the cotton planters have been very modest in their demands un- | der the circumstances, as they could have obtained more by holding, but the price seemed good in comparison with former years and they sold freely. I be- lieve that if the northern or western l farmers had such monopoly that they would have demanded and obtained at
 least 20 cents to 25 cents per pound for a
 crop as moderate as either of the last | two cotton crops, for the reason that they have been accustomed to living bet
 ter and their requirements are greater than those of the southern planter. and
 they are in position to grasp situations and take advantage of same more readily
 than the southern planter.
 | Ut is fortunate for the entire world | that cotton is produced in the South. | where the people are accustomed to | 'hard times on account of a most dis
 astrous war, but it is safe to say that | the people of new generations are be-
 ginning to consider themselves citizens
 of the United States, and that they will
 expect equal rights, conrports and op- portunities with other sections of the ] country, and if others think that cottor l can be produced at profit under Il | oensed with the increased costs of lands labor, mules and farm supplies, and talk | ing chances on destruction by boil wee. wills, worms. droughts, storms and floods | the cotton fields are absolutely wide oper
 for all of such faith to invest freely ana get the actual experience When cotton l oiQbf oautS. western miles I(l