The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-30
FARMERS IN SOUTH
AR { PROSPEROUS
Bankers in This Section Relate
Marvellous Stories OF
Progress.
BIG INCREASE IN DEPOSITS
Outlook Is Even More Promis-
ing for Future Develop
ment.
Ispecial 10 TIE Times -Dispatch.l

Especial 10 The Times -Dispatch.l
Baltimore, January pa clear and
comprehensive survey OF the condition
of fc-mers sn the fourteen Southern
Staus and i'll Oklahoma and Missouri
is given in this weeks issue of the
Manufacturers Record in eight pages
OF brief letters from bankers, mainly
In county seats of those States. 1t is
a survey of progress. In close touch
with agricultural communities, and
vitality interested In all that concerns
their welfare. tho bankers are In an
excellent position to measure things
as they are. A sure index Is the
amount OF deposits belonging to the
farmers In the banks. Throughout the
South generally there has been
marked Increase OF money to the credit
OF farmers in the banks during the
past few years. For example, in ono
West Virginia city the deposits have
Increased In ten years from s225.000 in
two banks to s75o.0o0 in three banks.
They are SO per cent. greater at Char
lotte. ~ c.. than they We're five years
ago, and about 90 per cent. greater at
points In Missouri! a Mississippi
banker notes that the hetterment In
this respect has come to small far.
sners particularly. Danville, KY re-
ports the largest deposits in the his
tory of the five banks of the county,
the Virginia Peninsula about three
times what they were five years ago,
and the increase in Georgia ranges up
TO 100 per cent. In an Arkansas town
the deposits are ten times what they
were fifteen years ago
AT some points the increased cost OF
living and a part failure of the feed
crops have checked the tendency to an
Increase in deposits, but at other points
the very fact of higher prices has
more than compensated the farmers
for tho shortage due to drought or
other causes. Another cultlNator OF
. deposits is the increasing tendency on
tho part OF farmers to live at home."'
rs voluntarily. in realization of the
uncertainty OF single crop methors, or
through the species Of compulsion on
account Of the boil weevil in Texas
and louisiana especially. they nave
entered upon a period OF diversified
ton.
Hr,-ht Outionk for Future.
The prosperity OF Southern farmers
Is shown. however,, in other ways.
promising even greater things for the
future Old debts have been pald ORE,
mortgages have been lifted. and for
mer debtors are now creditors. some
times under the spur OF retail mer-
chants insisting upon a cash basis OF
trade, they arc becoming more eco-
Romical and more careful about ma
machinery and Implements. Those
with a surplus arc investing In other
! lands. in finer grades of stock. IN new
houses and barns, in improved ma
chlnery, in moro mules, in wire fenc-
ing. in clearing new lands, in local
building associations or county bonds.
| There Is comparatively little unwise
speculation save hero and there, as
In West Virginia, where some OF the
money derived from the sale OF coal
lands or fromithe granting of oil nna
gas privileges lis not only sending far
mera To h town, but making them
\ Tennessee and Oklahoma. whero tho
| run at soitc points seems to be to-
Continued on Las t page.)