The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-02
0U(TRy ExCEEDS PlG IRON IN qALUE|
i65 Per Cent Of Wealth Of State Represented In
 Farms
erArH CAPTTAL BUREAU , < THE A0E-HERALD nHnrkenunavv Ala. Ian |

z Farmers have eyer been a thoughtfui class of people but just now they are thinking mora than ever before and they are thinking along constructive lines." said B. A. CfNeal. president of the Alabama farm bureau Tuesday. Farmers are coming to regard the business of farming As . real business"
 The value of this realization on the part of the farmers was discuss ed furthed by Mir. o'Neal, who said that there- is . peculiar significance in, the fact that the president of American Bankers association. Wal ter ". Head of Omaha. Is himself .
 ;.The atmosphere is clearing. con tinued the Alabama farm bureau president. "and the magnitude of f&rmers' bl siness and the potent in- fluence which 1t has on ether indus portance makes it greater than that of any other one industry
 Poultry vaI.abie.
 Mr. o'Neal gave figures to show the place held in the financial world s by the business of agriculture. He showed that in recent year the Alabama did not equal that of the poultry business for that year in Alabama; that in the same year the milk alone in Alabama was worth lin dollars three times the value of the pig iron produced in that year in the state.
 aFarmers of Alabama should be proud of their industry and they may well look to the future with confidence when thought is given to 2 the improved conditions, increased facilities. such as credit facilities, marketing associations and co-opera- tion of allied interests" he continued. eff 1t, were possible to remove the s industry of farming from Alabama ! only 1i counties in the state could live at all; only 10 towns would be able to continue existence; 65 per cent of the wealth of the state Is in farms. The figures for 1920 showing l the value of investments for the state are responsible for the state state 00,000.000 was given as the value of farms of Alabama. Prop, Iems are moi. all solved, MT. O'Neal Admitted, nor will they be solved by Legislation simply.
 .The farmer himself. by his own efforts, will work out his problems. Ierislation has been of inestimable hein and will continue to help but intelligent direction ad co-operation are still necessary to the application of the measures for self help.
 rnler Of Soil No More.
 "The real solution must rest on the transformation of the farmer from a tiller of the soil into ad- yancement, a business man fitted 70 control his own industry as other men control theirs. With this must be a deeper realization upon the part of these not engaged in agriculture that the farmer is the most essential part of the country's economic ogan- ization. He is entitled to the treat ment of an equal in business affairs'
 AGreater control over the market as 5of his own products must come
 1@t farpasE esEts inly Son.ros sa,,esrs at at
 CT commodities in the markethe
 their isproducts. This is no easy
 sk Present < conditions would em to Keep 1t impossible Of accom- plishmeut to the same extent as m other Industries but it can pc achieved and it must be achieved to "a considerable degree.
 .sfhe success of the Alabama farm bureau cotton association in it's CO., operative marketing of cotton IS 2 striking example of how well ana