The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-07-06
PEOPLES FORUM
Up to the Extension Service

Up 10 the Extension Service
 To the Editor of The Age Herald: ::
 I notice that you approve ap- propriation by the legislature of money to purchase state experi- ment farms" and the maintenance of a number of experiment sta tions. We are now producing more than there Is a demand for, at a price above cost of produc- ton. Why create more soft snaps at the peoples expense for a lot | of so-called experts" who would starve to death in a short while if compelled to make a living un- der the conditions under which 75 per cent of the farmers have to labor7
 What the state needs Is sure
 nough experts, who will show the farmer how to market the products of hls farm. Thirty miles from Birmingham 90 per cent. of the farmers do not know
 what sort of package of cabbage the Birmingham trade is accus- toned to buy; nor do they know how to pack any perishable prod
 ucts In such a manner as to be | attractive to the buyer. l saw
 one day not long since in Bir- mingham two truck loads, hauled thirty miles that morning.; and yet | these good men knew not how to dispose of their product. all though 1t was of fine quality, nicely selected. Why did they not go to First avenue and Twenty INrf ctr ,r1-
 and there was no room for them. The demonstration agent told the writer that tomatoes one day
 would bring 75 cents per crate, and probably the next day tho price would be 35 cents and the day after possibly s1 per crate.
 Whose fault Is it that tho far mer is no better informed about mark eting? The extension ser vice receives annually hundreds of thousands of dollars of the peo- ple's tax money; and I am in- formed that Alabama has S9 men and women on the pay-rolls "as-
 sisting the farmers" and what does that Assistance" amount to? At the end of the month a report is made to the department of what farmers are doing in Ala bama-most of the information gotten by "hearsay;" and a bulle- tin is sent out that few farmers read. I know we have a few men in Alabama who have done splen- did work and their efforts have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the counties that are fortunate in getting the right man. But I have seen in Alabama little barefoot, thinly clad chill dren shivering around fire, who could not attend school be- cause the father could not sell his peas, potatoes, peanuts. corn, hay and syrup: when at that time 90 carloads of just the sort of pro- duce this man had was being sold in Birmingham each week-com- ing mostly from north of the Ohio river. One labor organization was paying out each week S50,0o0 in cash for food, and strange to say, Alabama had two marketing "ex- perts"-one at Auburn and one at Montgomery-getting out statis- tics for the bulletion.
 We need better price for farm products. and better marketing fa- cilities, and less price for fertil- izers, farm implements and trans portation to the markets of the state. We certainly do not need politicians at Auburn, or at any other educational institution in the state. If the politicians are cut out the legislature will do right by the Alabama Power Company by Auburn, by the university and every other interest in the state
 But for the sake of the now over burdened taxpayers, do not ap- propriate money for experiment stations that do not now and will