The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-24
BANKERS GIVE
 FARM NEEDS AID


 farm. farmer and farmers family In Illinois are going to have active aid from the bankers both to conserve soil fertility before it Is too late and to make conditions of farm life more at- tractive. The ideas advanced by B. F. Harris, chairman of the executive coun- ci1s of the Bankers association .of' H. linois during the association's last con- vehtion, are being developed actively by the committee chosen to do 1t. '+ The education in agriculture in the schools of Wisconsin and Minnesota under compulsory laws are among the things being investigated. Wisconsin has held the lead in state efforts to encourage agriculture and cause it to be regarded as an interesting science and not drudgery. .Ns
 The bankers concern was aroused particularly by pr. Cyril G. Hopkins of the. University of Illinois in an address in which he roundly criticised the Uni ted States department of agriculture for the teachings of the bureau of soils, declaring that soil exhaustion was inevitable, if the prevailing sys- tenn of soil robbery was continued, that much higher costs of living would inevitably result.
 "Traditionally. American farming is in effect 8 mining .enterprise,p he said. "in which the fertility of the soil is converted Into crops and animal products, sold for a profit, on the labor involved. and carried off to the great population centers in this and other countries, leaving the soil that much poorer. To break this'tradftid dnal prac- tice before it is forever too late will require a great organized movement even if there were other obstacles to be overcome. 3@
 "A second powerful factor operating against the taking of proper and timely steps for the preservation of our fertil- ity Is the plainly erroneous teaching of the United States bureau of soils backed by the prestige of the national government. to the effect that the sup ply of plant food in the soil Is perma- nently maintained by natural processes without the intervention of man, and that the restoration of the fertility re- moved by crops is never necessary.
 If the farmers of the great corn and wheat belts are ever to adopt sys- tems Of permanent agriculture, 1t must be done in the near future, or they, too will awake to find their lands im- poverished past the point of possible Delf-redemption. The boastful state hnent sometimes made that the Ameri- san landowner has already become a scientific farmer is as erroneous as it b optimistic. -.-.-s se.
 ''The cost of living is not high in this country. but 1t will be high in the near future if we permit a continua lion of the present tendencies. There is no need to remind you that agri- culture is the basic support of Ameri- can industry and prosperity. and that the fertility of the soil is the absolute support of every form of agriculture but there is need to remind you of what agriculture has done and Is doing for the soils of America.
 "No greater problem ever confronted .iny nation than now confronts tho United States but the solution is plain
 "The rapid investigation of the farm lands in every state should be inaugur- lted. and this should be followed by the wide dissemination of information re- lating to practical methods for their Improvement and permanent preserva- tion."
 The limitations and deprivations which sti1l surround farm life in spite of the improved conditions of recent years will have especial attention at the hands of the bankers's committee pf which MT. Harris is chairman, be- cause of the tendency. shown by cen- tus figures. to leave the farm for town md city life. The needs pointed out by the Rural Life commission ana taken up for betterment by the League For Rural Welfare. the president of which. John M. Stahl, is an officer of the Farmers National congress. will be considered and encouragement be given buch efforts to make the farmhouse more generally modern in its ap- pointment and the home life less cir 2 eumscribed. e~