Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-11-07

short term. and commission fees ana
compulsory insurance on reneWalG
From all I have been able to gather
from the best available sources. I esti-
farmers is So per cent per annum.
which is a conservative estimate Of
the full cost paid on farm O used
in the financing and capitalization Of
the farms OF the United States"
The annual interest bill. therefore
pai by the farmers. is about $780,
crop OF the United States as of De-
cember 1. 1911, farm value. was $543.-
100000. Practically. the interest ac-
count OF the farmers ate up the total
wheat crop OF the entire country.
How much heavier this burden IA
than that which the European farmer
has to carry. Mr.. Yoakum explains by
pointing out that the German farmer
can borrow on mortgage from the
"L.andschaften" or "Ritterschaften."
associations of land credit, at an aver
age rate of 40 per cent.
Under these systems the farmers, in
a certln territory, form into
tive societies., syndicating their farm
lands under negotiable bonds, which
are offered Jointly as security for the
credit they need. The individual then
borrows from his cooperative society.
yN'S 0S SAAOu6Ib diA tlS St0all farms
In a Texas county. no one of which n
more than $50 acres, were pooled into
one great society which borrowed on
a single bond against all this property,
and then lent to any Individual farmers
money on mortgage. This system sh has
been IN general use in Germany for
more h 40 years and cannot be
regarded as an experiment."
The French farmer Ia equally for
tunate. for the Credit Foncier." with
per cent bonds tt the public, has lent
more than $4,000. 0oo. 900 at a rate which
is at present 4.30 per cent entirely on
farm lands.
y loans. moreover. are made from
~ to q years. and are retired in very
small installments year by year. II I
farmer prefers, however, he may bor-
row on short time loans running from
n to nine years without paying Off
any OF the principal year by year. If
2 farmer wishes to build on his lana,
cier a mortgage credit based on the
value of the land and the building to
be put up. This is temporary accom-
mediation. n when the building IL
completed. Its cost can be added to the
loan.
when 1t comes 10 borrowing money
for current needs. the European farmer
again has all the best Of It, according
to Mr.. Yoakum. through the system Of
rural credit banks. known in Germany
nator. and adopted In France, Italy and
other countries.
I'm the German empire, in 1909.
under the purely rural system, about
10000 little country banks did a BUSH
ness OF approximately 1854, 600, 900 at
an average interest rate Of less than s
per cent. A very large part Of his
ending was done on current account.
much OF 1t without m security except
the promise to pay.
system was founded. and in that time
there has not been q single instance
of n failure of q Raiffeisen bank. In
other words. through all kinds Of con-
ditions, including one tremendous In
ternational war-the Franco Prussian
war-theses little rural banks have zone
on performing their functions without
n such period or catastrophe as il
almost invariably predicted when .
new system Of banking is launched
Mr.. foakum declares that American
cannot reach its highest
development until some new system OF
farm finance Is adopted. This, HI be-
lieves. is sure to come.
"The rapidity of it's ~realization," he
concludes, depends upon the farmers
Of the United states. They are the
first to receive the benefits. If they do
not rouse themselves to wipe out this
terrific annual tax upon their indus
try no other man can accomplish the
purpose for them. If. on the contrary,
they. through their own organizations
and through their representatives in
congress. demand legislation to ac-
accomplish this purpose. l have no
hesitation in saying that the annual
interest saved 10 years from now will
be enough to pay the ruling rate at
that time on more than $4,000. 900. 900,
of additional money-enough to open
and cultivate every section of the
country to it's full capacity.
The great problem for the farmers
to settle is whether they will be salts
fled to fight other trusts or put them
selves on a strong financial basis and
operate their own trusts"