The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-06
ISSUES AN ADDRESS
 OFARMERS' UNION
President Barrett Writes on Much Discussed Subject,
 Rural Credits"

| President Charles s. Barrett of the Farm
 CTS union today issued the following:
 ITO the officers and Members of the 1 Farmers Union:
 i "Discussion the country over is raging
 around the subject of rural credits. Al
 the outset.sI want to say I have made some investigation of the matter, that believe a modified system of rural credits feasible in America, that am convinced l the time has come for action and not
 merely talk. and that rural credits may ba used to stem the tendency toward landlordsm, which know to be one Of the gravest menaces facing this nation.
 There is little use for me to dwell upon the various plans offered whereby some system of rural credits can be made ef- l fectual. It is only essential to say that the Raiffoisen and other plans have been followed in Germany and other old world
 countries with signal success for more I than a century. It is possible, under one | of these plans, for number of farmers I In given community to become mutual
 ly responsible for loans extended to their respective members. It is also possible I for rural credits to be materialized by
 constituting the land itself the basis or i ioans-and that plan is mefitofious and 1 economically sound for the simple reason that in the last analysis the soil is the
 source of all wealth.
 "The International Institute of Agricul- ture in Rome, under the direction of
 David Lubn, has made thorough inquiry rto all these plans and if any Ameri- 1 can farmer desires detailed information
 MT. Lubin will be glad to furnish it. l "I want to stress right now to every farmer in this country who is talking
 exctedly about plans and who thinks 1 that all that is necessary to succeed with rural credits or anything else is to find I 'plans'-that there are plans galore. What is needed right now is men bold enough
 and with sufficient initiative in every community to carry these plans into exc cution, and to do it in the face of dis cnura cement, difficulties and sacrifice of time and health. if that is necessary. "It is just as we'll therefore. to stop
 worrying so much about plans and think more about how we are going to find
 the men to execute the plans, not just for
 one week. but right on to the end of
 the chapter.
 'Tt is necessary to remember, however, I tbat Germany is a country of thickly
 settled, small communities and that the I plans which have proved advisable there
 may have to be altered to take into &C., count separation of agricultural units in America. This process resolves itself, however, into matter of detail and the main portion of the task Is, as I have | stated. the locating and training of the men to carry into effect any system of rural credits that may be devised, whether under governmental or private supor- vision.
 Now, to the second feature; that of l landlordism in America. believe that a perfected system of rural credits can do
 much to overcome or at least lessen this evil. If you doubt that it exists l only ask that you investigate in your own
 neighborhood as to the number of men who own their farms, and as to the num-
 her of acres, wild or cultivated, owned by an absentee landlord.
 "After all is said, it remains that Amer
 lea Is land the prosperity and progress of which are founded on agriculture. If
 we allow to form in this country a class of controlling landowners and cor re spending class of tenants subject to | these landlords, we create a system that | is the direct opposite of democratic gov- ernment and that will eventually lead l to a condition of land monopoly beside which the problems of the so-called high l cost of living and other muchly agitated l issues will dwindle to insignificanee.
 was astonished when, in conversation re- l gently with Prof. E. c. Branson of Attn cns, Ga, he gave me figures relating to i Georgia alone of absentee ownership
 which are almost incredible. Had not the | figures been based on conditions ot which am personally aware, I would
 have doubted them.
 Unless it is checked, ownership ot | the land by few in each community is going to strangle individual initiative ana collective prosperity in America. If every l farmer, every American, who reads these | lines and who is genuinely concerned for
 his individual welfare and that of the country will deliberately study these con-
 ditions I have outlined. he will be con- yinced as to the need and the duty of l securing leaders who will materialize rural credits or any other sound, proven agency that will prove q remedy for the drift toward landordism.
 l Finally, don't fret so eternally about l che plans. The men to execute them
 constitute the real problem-the men and
 the spirit of co-opere-Gn in every com
 munity"
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