The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1912-09-26

tate only within given radius of the /
location OF each bank: such banks
not TO be allowed to engage In COM !
mercial banking. Object: 10 utilize !
the capital Teach community in IA I.
cilitating loans, bringing land into
the market as collateral. and employ
through the medium of the bank the /
savings Of the people TO the advance /.
of their own community"
Is there need for such a system OF !
banks? Will IL advantage TIE farm
er? The farmer hnas ii difficult In
this State TO borrow money, either 10
put in his crop or TO improve his
farm; and, in great measure, he has
to resort to the crop lien by which TO
obtain his supplies He pays there
by excess prices and interest on the
aggregate amount. This is quite gen.
orally estimated at twenty-five to
thirty per cent above what he could
buy his supplies at, If buying for
cash. If he mortgages his farm, in
! order to make permanent improve
ments, he pays in addition to direct
interest, lawyers fees for drawing
papers, often commission to obtain
the loan, registration fees, and, af-
ter all is paid, particularly If the
loan is small, it will be found he has
paid from ten to fifteen per cent in
terest. But the small farmer would
find it practically impossible to make
a small loan of one or two hundred
dollars, unless some friend accommo-
dates him, and even then he will have
paid in charges and interest an alb
normally high price to obtain the
loan. Now farming, like every other
) business, requires capital to conduct
, it; and, if this capital were available
to farmers at reasOna Die rates of in
J terest, there would be more improv-
ed, well equipped farms, and young
men encouraged to engage in the oc-
= cupation. | have known young men,
2 some of them with small land hold
ings, who preferred the farm to bust
ness, but, without capital or means
10 obtain it, so as to get start, aban-
dOned their preference and engaged
, in clerkships
1t is estimated by Mr.. B. F. Yoak-
UNI, a prominent Western railroad
manager, who has made a study of
the subject and writes in the World s
Work, that the American farmer pays
annually an undue interest of two
: hundred and ten million dollars
that is, in excess of what merchants
and manufacturers on loans for bust
ness purposes would have to pay 1t
costs in interest, he points out, to
5 borrow $1,000, the United States
Government, $40, or per cent; on
: New York call loans, $24.60, or FAC
4 100 per cent; on commercial paper,
e $41.1O, or All 100 per cent; on
French farms, s43, or 4-3 10 per
cent; on German farms, S44, or Al
10 per cent; on railroad bonds, $46
q or 4-6 10 per cent; on public utility
: securities and New York mortgages
5 $50, or per cent; on industrial Sc
: curities, s55 to s65, or from 5 " to
i II per cent; on Arab farms in
e Egypt, $50, or 8 per cent; but or
e American farms, $85, Or So pei
cent. Thus it will be seen that the
: American farm is paying higher rates
t of interest on the average than here
g or in foreign countries. Of course, il
L will be understood that the figures
e given above are the average rate pai(
. on the aggregate sums borrowed i
= may differ in localities, but / venture
't the assertion that the North Caro-
: Ina farmer will find, after paying
OF Sc IN
Il Guiding lawyers fees, probate AND
registration, that he has paid the
y equivalent Of from ten to twelve PEI
:, cent interest. The facts given b!
u Mr.. Yoakum were drawn from tn,
Ie Government census reports and from
L opinions collected by him from tn,
IS we'll informed. He declares in hi
II article that: Cheaper money TO
IS the farmer is the first of our agricul
le statement l am not thinking of tn,
sc bonanza farmer, or Of the owner of :
'e few thousand acres of highly devel
N oped and carefully cultivated land
Ii He borrows on business basis. Of
IS ten the large planter borrows to NEE
d his current needs from a couple o
s. nearby banks in which he owns larg
te interests His business has NOTHING
N to do with the agricultural prosper
Dc ity, or the reverse, of the averag
+ American farmer" He estimates tn
o. farmers debts on farm mortgages
he tenant farms and on current loans a
six billion, forty-six million dollars
De He then says:
% "This estimate shows that tn
farmers debt is about half on &C
10 count of fixed capital-mostly mort
gage loans-and half on account O
current loans. The total number Q
~ farms in the country is about 5000
- 900. Therefore, the average farI