The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-01-04
M E N, w 0 NJ EN
 A ND T H IN c s


 taken down with cattle fever Time was when the growing of the cocks or the cackling of the hens at
 the great poultry show had me going;
 but now they crow and cackle in vain, for the sweetest music to my ears is the believing of bulls or the lowing of cows.
 l used to pack my grip and make my annual pilgrimage to the great chicken show at Atlanta, and spent | happy days in wandering through the tremendous auditorium which had been l transformed into vast chicken ranch. never tired of watching the exhibi- tors and the exhibits. It was joy to stand before the coops and size up the various breeds.
 l was then Rhode Island Red fan cier, and could talk strains by the hour or listen to others as they expatiated
 on the virtues of the Reds" but alas my chicken croup was cured by some
 dusky individual who proved beyond all question that he was a greater fancier than I was and much more adept in raising them Golf their roosts). for he cleaned me out three times before I was willing to admit it. 
 It's strange how little bits of con- versation which at the time made lit- tie impression after years come back with fuller meaning. I recall ons l-;. chicken ranch of Asa Candler, Jr., with him, and one of the Haggins tribe, fresh from Harvard, and several other noted chicken experts. The talk, of course, was around the chicken show. After while one of the party cas- ually remarked to young Haggins: T believe dairy is operated on your farm" Yes" replied the young scion of the great family, but it's not run hing full tilt as we are only milking about 1900 cows at present" Then he added, and so far as I am concerned wish the whole outfit would burn up some night, for I do not care spe- cially for cattle.' At that time we all agreed that there wasn't much in them.
 I happened to mention this conversa- tion recently to Kentuckian, who told me that after the death of the head of the family, the dairy was allowed to run down more and more until at pres ent the buildings, equipment and grounds that cost about $1,00O, 900 v1yor but were being utilized as a tobacco barn. cite this merely to show that lit makes no difference how much wealth man may have he has small chance of making money in the cattle game unless he knows and loves stock. am sure that those who read this will be able to call to mind some rich man in their town or neighborhood who took a little flyer either in dairy ing. breeding, or grazing cattle; and being ignorant of the practical side of the industry just turned his affairs over to some hired man, and after several years of trial abandoned the effort and forever after went about saying there was no money to be made in cattle. Don't judge the worth of the cattle industry by the failures of
 amateurs, but watch the experts.
 
 the book end of it. or even those who go over the country to the shows talk ing learned1y about it; but I refer to the practical men who love cattle and l take the trouble to attend not merely | to them but to produce the foodstufr
 they eat at the least possible cost. The | ability to do the latter here in Ala
 bama makes it the best state in the Union to get into the game, provided ! that one uses judgment in selecting the right section in which to locate. 1 am a cattle booster in the face of I the depressed price, because facing the | facts as have gathered them on the ! spot or heard them from the lips of
 my good friends I believe that when 1 lined up beside cotton, cattle so far as returns this year are concerned are
 more than holding their own. There
 mas been a depreciation in all the
 other leading agricultural commodities. Cotton corn, wheat, tobacco, hay, pea
 nuts. potatoes. and the smaller crops 1 nave mad to share in the general de- cline. This being true, then why should
 the cattlemen wear crepe?
 l Along with others I preached diver
 sif1cation as will be remembered by those who heard Mrs. Mathis when
 was accompanying her over the state
 urging the farmers to raise food crops.
 For while the plea was listened to and followed. Then came the increased oemand for cotton and everybody quit
 diversification to try and get rich
 quick out of the fleecy staple which 1 always has had the power to delude
 the farmer and lead him at one time or another into the wilderness of
 bankruptcy, either through overpro- l auction or manipulation at the hands
 or the gamblers, or catastrophe world
 dislocations in trade.
 Alabama is my native state. I ex-
 pect to live and die in it. It's people
 are my people. My hopes are bound up 1 with them. My one aim is to try and
 ao my part in developing and conserv-
 ing US material and spiritual welfare.
 lms is Why l am preaching the gos- 1 pei or diversified farming. for I be- | iieve that it is the only way in which
 the boil weevil can be beaten. It may ne nara Tor many of my friends who ilVe Tn the country and get their liv-
 Ing out of the soil, and who find no markets close for their potatoes. pea nuts and other products to see the
 sanity of the advice. yet to raise
 enough to live at home, and sell the
 surplus, Is the bedrock of successful
 Having gone up and down the state
 ana talked with farmers, merchants, ma Hufacturers, bankers and others. I can figure a single factor all down
 tne me, from the producer to the con-
 sumins public, that would not receive
 some benefit from an increased pro- uuction of live stock: I say this be-
 cause the production of food animals is not keening pace with tho increase ynrr