The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-29

COmer's Address
 Former Governor Conner, an early apostle of diversification preached that dogma again at the Friday morning session of the American Cot ton association. Cotton is king, he said, and the southerners its ser wants. They get good or evil out of the relation according as they serve.
 Prior to the Civil war cotton planting was profitable, and prior to the war the southern planter raised everything on the farm. The cloth was made on the farm, and so were the shoes. Even leather was tanned on the farm. Every farmer raised every home supply.
 The Civil war undid all that. By abolishing slavery it abolished cheap labor. Cheap cotton means slavery, and still the world demands cheap cotton, while the southern farmer hangs back from organization and diversification and that which will make him independent and cotton bring q higher price. said the speaker.
 Looked Like Golden Age
 Then came the World war, asking for 500 pounds of cotton in the mak- ing of one charge of powder. It looked for awhile as If the golden age had again returned. Yet less than two years after the war had been won, said the speaker, there came 8 deflation of farm products urged by a southern administration, and banks calling frozen loans, forced the sale of hundreds of thou sands of bales at 5, 6 and cents, and this, too, in face of the fact that there was no legitimate market, and all that was asked was that the law of supply and demand should be given time to function, and that sales should not be forced on the most unnatural condrtions.
 Of the present, the speaker said that the size of the present crop, re- duced by acreage control and weevil damage, has doubled the price of cotton. The momentum imparted by this rise in cotton values had coursed to all lines of business in every state, showing that fair price for cotton is good for the na- tion.
 The speaker then dwe1t again on dlversificatioh as the method of be- coming independent He said that critics had asked why should the south try and control cotton so as to enforce a good price? His reply was that the Southern farmer. with money in his pocket, has always been the best customer in the world" Sec tions standing against a fair price for cotton stand in their own light.
 The Ideal Farmer
 In conclusion the speaker painted picture of the ideal farmer, who, he said, would quit the crop lien. would quit the credit system, would quit the crop and stock mortgage, would own his own crop before 1t is planted and during cultivation. and always would be in a position to sell when 1t suited him" If this Is done. he declared, in less than five years the southern cotton farmers would be u-- most independent, most progress sive and most prosperous farmers of all lands" His final slogan was thus stated: Economy. diversification, wise marketing"
 Hoke smith's Address
 Former Senator Hoke Smith of Georgia made . ringing address, in the course of which he masterfully handled several interrogations that were directed from the floor He paid a high tribute to Eugene Meyer, head of theewar finance corporation, as man of patriotism and ability, who deserved commendation. He has uelpeu put wheat, cotton ana copper abroad. Authority for protection of the cotton surplus was accorded in August. It is not the province of the government to purchase the products of the farm, but it is a function of the government to aid ex- ports and protect the surplus of a crop, and this the finance corpora tion has helped do.
 The speaker said that the federal reserve board was doing better now than 1t did in 1920, but he roundly criticised certain of it's acts of 1920 He especially alluded to the restric- tion of five billions of dollars of cred its That" he said, struck down credits in that amount, and it struck down the power of merchants to buy your products. I urged the federal reserve board to encourage credits. Instead, the board put up discount