The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-08-13
M D N w c M E N
 A ND T H IN G s

l certainly am glad that the south has resented the way in which it was advertised by those who from one reason or another sought to make il appear that.it was being ravaged by pellagra and that many of it's people were at the point of starvation.
 
 The time has arrived when the south should show it's resentment against any such propaganda which seeks to show that it needs to hold out it's hands for aims. It may be that those who started the movement looking to the fight against pellagra were honest, but it is easy to see how politics could have been mixed up in it.
 Every time there has been an ef- fort to start farmers down this way there has been Influence at work to try and stop the influx by picturing the south as being unhealthy, or to claim that it is backward, or that the two races cannot live side by side without friction The truth Is that this part of the country has never had square deal in regard to getting immigrants.
 But in spite of the insidious cam pagn which has been waged against our climate and our people, more and more the white farmers of the north and the west are learning for them selves that the south offers great possibilities to those of them who are willing to come down here and buy judicious1y and farm on approved and tried methods. Just now am only thinking of the agricultural side of the question.
 It is a genuine joy as I go up and down Alabama to find many men who, coming from other states. have made it their home and have found out that 1t offers great chances in the way of making living. Down at Newberne I met farmers from the northwest who had come into the grass and cattle section who were more than pleased with the living conditions and the fertility of the soil.
 Limiting what I have to say to Alabama, as it is my native state, and because I know every section of it. I am confident that I but state the simple facts when I say that there is no place in all the land where a man who is willing to work can make a living easier or find pleasanter con- dtions in which to rear his family. Here in this state God has been good to us. Nature has poured out law ishly it's treasures of soil climate and water.
 The more I go up and down Ala bama the more I am struck with it's wonderful possibilities in every way It is a kingdom in itself It's people can find within it's borders every thing needed for a living. Start at the Tennessee line and come on down through the rich Tennessee valley to the mineral district in aNd around Birmingham and on through the black belt on down to the gulf and you have travelled through a wide and wa ried land.
 l have just ridden through won derfu1 valley stretching for many miles in the very heart of the state with towering mountains on either side and coal and iron beneath. The crops were abundant. the corn was waving it's tasselied head, the cotton was in bloom, the pea fields were green, potato beds were stored with succulent tubers, watermelons were loupes almost clogged the patches. Peaches, apples and pears were ripen- ing in the sun, while every kind of garden truck was scattered here and there in abundance.
 With my eyes filled with the rich treasures which old Mother Earth held on her vast bosom, l felt resent ment at those who tried to make it appear that Alabama was in bad way and could. not feed her sons and daughters. It's time to let the north and the west know that if the rigors of the winters become too severe that here in this blessed state of ours homes can be found where practically every month in the year crops can be grown out in the open. We are not pellagra ridden, we are not paupers. but we are healthy. happy and pros perous~people.
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