Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1912-10-04


road mending, boundary wo,,.
"e M and the erection of stables
e'nel'ers) on the Alps. Wbenever a
larlher possesses land of which 49,
"'ue couIo be considerably Increased
through the improvement of tho coil
ou' can not afford the exnenses 20,
-" "orh' he can make application
lor contribution to the costs of sroh
unuerlaklng to the government of
us canton Nstate), and, through tho
latter 10 the federal government In
many cantons (states) the municina,
au'nofitles DO not contribute to an
Improvement of the soil if by sucb
Improvement only one individual
larhler would profit, whilst they con
tribute in those cases where q npm-
DER OF farmers or a corporation is
concerned.
1i'ef careful examination of the
pianS Tor Improvement, by technical
experts, the Swiss department of 40.
llculture presents the request with
i'S report, to the federal council: the
iatter then decides, on the basis of
the report from the agricultural de-
paFtment and the plans, whether a
contribution will be granted and fixes
'he amount of such contribution
WITHIN the limits in the federal law
maximum 40 per cent of the total
COSTS.
FOR example, a farmer who nos
sesses land of which the value could
De considerably raised by improve
ment, partly through drainage and
partly by clearance, but who has not
the money to pay the costs of such
Improvement, can apply in the above
prescribed manner direct to the can
tonal government, or, if he prefers
first to the municipal authorities If
may happen that the commune il
poor and, therefore, the local author.
tiles are unable to grant any contrl-
button at all; they will, however, re-
FER his request to the respective can
tonal government Government of the
state) recommending the request for
favorable consideration. The canton
al government, after examination of
the request and plans, decides to
grant contribution of 80 per cent
10 the estimated costs of improve
lnent and. at the same time-in com
pliance with the desire expressed b,
the proprietor of the farm-refers
the request to the federal govern
ment with its report and recon-
mendation. After due consideration
of all the facts, the federal council
may decide to grant a contribution,
similar to that of the canton, namely,
Of 80 per cent to the total costs Now.
since the cantonal governm ent has
decided to grant contribution of 80
per cent and the federal government
is granting one of 80 per cent (to-
gether 60 per cent? to the total
costs, there would remain a balance
to be paid by the farmer of only 40
per cent.
Let one assume that the farmer
has invested all his money in live
stock and has, at the time no cash to
pay his share of 40 per cent, but is
| obliged to borrow this amount from
third person. In such a case the
federal law makes it easy for him to
| find such loan at low rates, because
the new Swiss civil code provides:
Whenever farm property is raised
in value because of the improvement
of the soil, carried out with the fin
ancial aid from public authorities, the
proprietor can, for his share of con-
tribution to the said Improvement,
have recorded in the ground book
(record of land), for the security or
his creditor, a lien which comes first
of all other debts of record (mort-
gages)." such security, of course,
makes the mortgage a very attractive
investment.
In the year 1911 the federal gov
eminent contributed 1857 francs
to the costs of improvement of the
soil (311 cases.. In the federal bud
get for the year 1912 an appropria-
ton of 100000 francs is made for
that purpose.
For lack of statistics it is impos-
sible to give the amounts contributed
by the various cantonal (state) gov
ernments for the improvement of
farm land, but it is certain that the
total amount contributed by them
will be at least as high as the federal
contribution.
There are no provisions made
either in the federal or cantonal laws
by which farmers corporations would
be entitled to issue bonds in order to
secure money for the improvement of
IL IL 90