The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-30
Foreign Comment

| Commenting on this passage a for | eign observer has written, The truth is | that when judged by the standard of | liYing in European peasantries. the farmers of the United States are pros perous but in comparison with the other citizens of the most progressive country in the world they are not well off Their accumulation of material wealth is un- naturally and unnecessarily restricted i; their social life is relatively barren their political influence Is relatively small. Amercan farmers have been used by pol iticians, but have still to learn how to use them
 the country life commission and in the foreign writer's pregnant criticism of it, we are brought face to face with the fact that the farmers of the United States have not enjoyed their due share of the progress and prosperity of this God pros pered country. I want to say to you that there is no more urgent problem before the people of the United States today than that of endowing the coentry side of our civilization with economic oppor- tunites, educational facilities, social ad- vantages and political recognition more nearly approXimating to those to which
 our city population has attained. And I shall show that the cities are just as much concerned as is the country pop.
 
 Something Wrong in Country That something is wrong with rural communities, as the country life commits sion insists, is only too well known. There Is not in this country, as in the older settled parts of Europe. the same | rural depopulation and agricultural de- | pression which widely prevails in the | old world. Our happier condition in his | regard is, however, due to the crcurn-
 stance that we are blessed by Providence
 with an abundance of fertile land upon
 whose resources our population does not | yet press. But even now we have in l one sense a serious rural exodus There
 is growing tendency for all the bright. | est and most enterprising youth of the
 country to prefer the chances of a tow n | career.
 Beyond question the growing cost of
 the necessaries of life is in no small | measure due to two economic facts. | Firstly. the farm lands of the United
 States do not produce nearly as much | food as they might produce under con ditions more favorable to the farmer | Secondly. owing to the lack of organiza
 tion among farmers, the marketing Of | their products is controlled by middle l interests which lower the price to the l producer and at the same time increase
 the cost to the consumer
 Now this is a serious state of facts | It arises out of wrong attitude Df
 public opinion toward the most important | body Of wealthy producers in the coun. | try and general tendency to subordinate te
 the interests of the rural to those of the | urban populations,
 l Should Be Co-Operative ''As I have often stated, I believe that l 1t is essential to the welfare of the Amer
 ican farmers that they should adopt gen- | erally the cooperative system. which al
 ready has proved highly advantageous in | a few instances. In many of the states | of the union there are gratifying examples 1 of associated effort by communities of | farmers to improve their economic condi- 1 tions and to increase the opportunities and | means for social satisfaction The good points of the systems and methods as re- | vealed by experience in different localities | could become hopefully known to all by systematic assistance in the initial sta ses | of organization. An immense impulse 10
 the movement would result from the ex-
 tenson of recognized leadership and sym l pathy from the chief executive of the l government.
 'l sec no reason why the depar tme mt | of agriculture should not stand at the 1 head of and foster the movement for tn ase | great and far-reaching agricultural re- l forms. In that department we have one ] of the largest if not the largest, civil ad- 1 ministrative branch of government in the world The progressiyes demand that it's utilities should be far more widely extend ed and one of their first objects when | they come into power will be to see That | the department sets itself to work out a ] broader scheme than has yet been at tempted for the uplifting, technically,