Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-09-12
!. !: THE INTEREST TAX
!. ON OUR FARMERS
{saeE3CAN TILLERS OF SOIL AT
t6REAT DISADVANTAGE
Yoakum Shows One Cause Of
ligh Prices-0ur Farmers Pay
s. S51O.OOO,00 Yearly for Capital.
Germans Pay Half as Much.

t~s
The United States government can
borrow money at per cent annunal
interest; American business men can
borrow on commercial paper a. Al
per cent; loans on the mortgage Sc
curity Of city property cost only .
per cent, but the American farmer
has to pay an average rate Of 81
per cent for the money he needs to
operate his business.
Why is this so, and how he Euro
pean and even the Egyptian farmer
are able to borrow more cheaply than
their American competitor, is told
Interestingly by B. F. Yoakum, pres
ident of the st. Louis and San Fran
cisco railroad, in the first series Of
articles on The High Cost Of Living
in the Worlds Work.
Writing in the September number
of that magazine under the title
"The High Cost Of Farming" Mr.
Yoakum places this excessive bur
den borne by the agricultural pro-
ducers of this country first among
4 he causes of the high cost of living
"a problem that is more serious here
than abroad since, as he points out
the American dollar shrank thirty
per cent in purchasing power be-
tween 1897 and 1911, while the Eng
lish dollar only lost twenty-five pei
cent of it's value in the same period
and the German dollar still less.
Cheaper money for the farmer,
says Mr. Yoakum, "is the first OF
our agricultural problems. When
make this statement | am not think
ing of the bonanza farmer, or OF the
owner of a few thousand acres O.
highly developed and carefully cul-
tivated land. He borrows on a busi-
ness basis. Often the large planter
borrows to meet his current needs
from a couple of nearby banks In
which he owns large interests. His
business has nothing % do with the
agricultural prosperity, or the
reverse Of the average America
| farmer His problems are as differ
ent from the troubles of the average
farmer as are the troubles of the
United States steel corporation from
the trials of the local foundry in q
crossroads town.
! after all, when you come to talk
Of agricultural borrowing, you have
\ to come down to talk in terms o.
the 'one-bale farm The farm Of Sc
to 100 acres, titled and worked to
its limit, is the real agricultural
unit. The foundations of a perman-
ent agriculture in any country are
laid only when the land Is made to
support as many families ,ownine
their own land, as the land can prop
erly support Therefore, the funda-
mental question in farm money Is
the question whether the individual
farmer. owning and operating his
own land, is supplied with ample
IcaJital at reasonable rates or
whether he is stinted in capital and
gouged in his interest account"
Citing government statistics to
show that the total Indebtedness Of
American farmers is s6.O46, 100000,
Mr.. Yoakum continues:
"The farmers debt Is about half
on account of fixed capital-mostly
mortgage loans-and half on ac-
count of current loans. The total
number of farms in the country is
about 100000. Therefore, the
average farm has mortgage debt of
$500 and current debt of about the
same amount outstanding against 1t.
"The rate of interest paid on this
tremendous volume of borrowed cap
ital is, according to the best esti-
mates I can find, between and .
per cent per annum. The actual
rate of interest itself is only a part
of the burden of borrowing. To i
must be added the constant drain oi
renewal for mortgages on farms, o.
loans. fees for recording mortgages
land other loans to farmers. most o.
which are made on short terms, ant
commission fees and compulsory in
lsurance on renewals. From all
have been able to gather from tn
best available sources, ! estimat
that an average rate paid by ou
farmers is s IL per cent per annun
which is a conservative estimate 0
1.-The full cost paid on farm none
fused in the financing and capitalize
lt'on Of the United States"
The annual interest bill, therefor
paid BY rAe farmers, Il about 81
ln,ffffnn dollars The total value o