The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-18
Enthusiasm In a Great Movement

Enthusiasm In Great Movement
 No undertaking seeking the material welfare of the people of Alabama has ever aroused more enthusiasm than the crop diversification campaign which originated in the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. Montgomery S civic body has joined earnestly with the Birmingham organization, and Tuscaloosa, Gadsden, Jasper, Hunts vile and other progressive communi- ties are cooperating.
 The farm committee of the Bir- mingham Chamber of Commerce, which conceived the scope and worked out the details of the campaign pro gramme, has arranged to supply speakers and expert demonstrators to every county holding farm demon stration meeting within the next few weeks. The campaign begins Feb ruary l, and it is encouraging to know that the farmers of nearly every county are already arranging for demonstration meetings. Chairman William P. Redd states that scarcely a county will fail to participate in this movement.
 The Alabama Polytechnic Institute at Auburn is taking lively interest in the crop diversification campaign, and so is the United States agricul- tural department, and so too are the large fertilizer companies and the manufacturers of agricultural imple- ments. Something like 100 men who are known as specialists in intensive farming on it's scientific side as well as it's practical side have been enlisted in the work.
 A crop diversification campaign was conducted in Arkansas last year and in 40 counties of that state meet ings were held and addresses made by specialists to throngs aggregating 174,000 people. From the interest now manifested in Alabama in diver sified farming and in this particular campaign it may be assumed that a high record of attendance at county meetings will be made-a record that will surprise the farmers themselves.
 While everyone appreciates the fact that the success of crop diversification is of vital concern to the people of the rural districts the question may be asked what direct relation has it to business activities of the large cities? The prosperity of the farmer means much directly as we'll as indirectly not only to commercial centers but to manufacturing centers as well. As all wealth comes out of the ground the city is built upon it and lives upon the fruitfulness of the soil. The large cities draw from smaller towns, and these smaller towns get their support directly from the farmers.
 Had cotton market conditions been normal last fall the value of Ala bama's crops of 1914 would have to- tailed approximately $20O,O00, ,0O0. There has been some diversification in recent years.s but still an enormous sum of money has gone out of the state to pay for foodstuffs.
 In this diversification campaign every farmer who has any pride what ever will put forth an effort to raise all the corn and hay needed to feed his stock. He will raise hogs and cattle, and even if he doubles his corn acreage and has large surplus of corn he would not have to find a mar ket for it because he could realize a greater profit by feeding it to hogs. As was pointed out few days ago, a prominent and successful farmer of Sumter county estimated that he got at the rate of $1.50 bushel for corn by fattening hogs on it.
 But reverting to the interest which large cities have in the crop diversifi- cation campaign, when Alabama's