The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-01

spoon of vanilla when cold. Put the 1 is a principal in natural science known | as the flaw of squares" As, for ex-
 ample, if A stands one foot and two
 feet from a lighted candle the intensity at A Is four times that at B. I opine that when Birmingham has a population
 of 100000, compared with the 200, 600 she has today, the relative worth of the | town to herself and the world will be
 at least auadrupled England proper has 20 times more people than Alabama. Who
 doubts that she has 400 times the wealth
 and relative advantage in the world and then some? Illinois has about three times and New York perhaps about five times as many people as Alabama. Is there any doubt that their relative stand ing falls short of the squares of these numbers? That they lead Alabama far more than population alone indicates? l say this not by way of disparagement
 but to illustrate what I hold to be truth. It has been said that it ought to be no disparagement to a star that it is not a sun. Alabama is now only
 one of a group of smaller stars. but it ought to grow to be a scintillating sun. It has been pointed out that we need no immigrants because we are raising more cotton than We can sell. Ay, there's the rub. The larger farms of Alabama and the southland are titled by the .ne- gro. He grew up In the cotton field and
 is by nature and training wholly un- fitted for diversified farming. He is slow at learning, and generations will be re- quired to pound into his head ideas of scientific farming.
 The Alabama banks have wisely decreed the reduction of cotton acreage. What is the result? Idle lands to produce noth- ing for the human family's needs. Would not few thousand frugal, thrifty intel
 igent truck farmers from Europe or somewhere else fill in pretty convenient ly? Would not a few intelligent white men who could cause these idle lands to produce hay, grains, cattle, sheep etc. make Alabama a more prosperous and happy state? And after all, would not such character of farmer make more desirable citizen than Mir "Cuffy"?
 But it has been suggested by Mir. Burnett that we induce the young farmer of the northern part of coun- try to come south. Is this not being done? After all this is like borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Again, 1t is pointed out in answer to this that great many of the boys from the north and northwest are crossing over into Canada and buying cheap lands. This
 is only another argument that we must draw In part on the Germanic countries, Scandinavia, France and the English speaking nations.
 I am not prepared to believe for one minute that Belgian or German will become a public burden. The Germans modest part in Alabama history is not
 without it's object lesson. As rule,
 he came without money or influential
 friends, but he knew how to face hard
 ships and how to adapt himself to new surroundings. His training has
 Deen that of thrift and frugality. He has never been an object of charity nor
 q burden on the public. He has settled
 on the less productive lands and has given us natives lessons in truck farm ing, fruit and vegetable growing and
 diversified farming. When he has sought the factory for employment he
 finds something at his hands to do when the factory shuts down."
 When the European war is over and the attempted readjustment among the warning nations takes place, thousands of thrifty, energetic. Intelligent Ger mans and Belgians, homeless and dis satisfied with their surrounding con- ditions, will seek America They will bring with them new ideas and new
 methods. With plenty of elbow room left in the south, fields, forests and mines untouched, resources undevel- oped, a new era of farming forcing it. SCH upon US, WatcT pOWeT lO -oc iidl
 ressed and utilized, the southland above all sections should bid for this class of
 immi grants. We are in need of more
 people. This country has developed
 because Of imm grafton. In the last
 century the United States has out stripped all the dominent nations of
 the world in population except Rus , sia. But the rate of increase of pop
 ulation Is important less In itself than for what it signifies. Germany and England are not self-sustaining in food products and can never become so. They must depend on the United States and South America. This country
 has, therefore. the prodigious economic
 advantage of supplying It's own food, of helping to feed Europe and at the same time sharing with England and Germany the worlds trade In nanu- factured wares-certainiy an ecor omic advantage that will be one of the chief factors in determining the relative na- tional power of the several nations. Germany, which has already outgrown the agricultural possibility of main taining It's population, will develop, as has England. more and more as man. ufacturing, food-importing country. advantage that We have nor the in- dependent position as far as economics look.
 Moreover. the south is destined to become a great manufacturing center One of these bright mornings Congress
 will pass bill to develop the Muscle Shoals right here in north Alabama This will furnish untold cheap power for manufacturing purposes and the , factory will of necessity come to this power. With the Panama canal con structed Asia and South America are tho goals to which the south's cornmer- cial activity will sooner or later tend The south could fashion the master
 key that would turn us into, the mar kets of the world and makes us com mercially supreme. Therefore I say we should go to our own northern states and to such countries as Belgium.
 Germany at the close of the war and similar countries and import immi- grants to assist us in the development of the south's resources l FRED WALL
 Athens. December 2s. 1914