The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1913-12-05
use. It is to this we should

must use 1t is to this we should
now address ourselves.
Ii has, singularly enough, come to
pass that we have allowed the indus
try of our farmers to lag behind the
other activities of the country in It's
development. l need not stop to tell
you how fundamental to the life of
the nation is the production of its
food. Our thoughts may ordinarily
be concentrated upon the cities and
the lives of industry, upon the cries
of the crowded market place ana the
Clamor of the factory, but 1T is from
the quiet interSpaces OF the open
valleys and the free hillsides that we
draw the sources of life and or pros
perity, from the farm and the ranch,
/ from the forest and the mine. With
\ out these every street would be silent,
every office deserted, every factory
| fallen into dispair. And yet the far
mer does not stand upon the same
footing with the forester and the
miner in the market of credit. He
! is the servant of the seasons. Nature
determines how long he must wait
for his crops and will not be hurried
in her processes. He may give his
note, but the season of its maturity
depends upon the season when his
! crop natures, lies at the gates of the
market where his products are sold.
/ And the security he gives is of
character not known in the brokers'
office or as familiarly as it might be
on the counter of the banker.
HELPING THE FARMER.
The agricultural department of the
government is seeking to assist as
never before to make farming an etli-
cient business. Of wide cooperative
effort, in quick touch with the mar
liets for foodstuffs. The farmers and
the government will henceforth work
together as real partners in this
field, where we now begin to see our
way very clearly and where many
intelligent plans are already being
put into execution. The treasury of
the United States has, by a timely
and well-considered distribution Of
it's deposits, facilitated the moving
OF the crops in the present season and
prevented the scarcity Of available
funds too often experienced at such
times. But we must not allow our
selves to depend upon extraordinary
eXpedientS We must add the means
by which the farmer may make his
credit constantly and easily available
and command when he will the cap
ital by which to support and expand
his business. We lag behind many
other great countries of the modern
! world in attempting to do this. Sys-
tens of rural credit have been stud
led and developed on the other side
of the water while we left our farm
ers to shift for themselves in the or
: dinary money market. You have but
to look about you in any rural dis
trict to see the result, the handicap
/ and embarrassment which have been
/ put upon those who produce our food.
Conscious of this backwardness
and neglect on our part, the Congress
recently authorized the creation Of a
special commission to study the var
iOus systems OF rural credit which
have been put into operation in Eu-
rope, and this commission is already
prepared to report. Its report ought
to make it easier for us to determine
what methods will be best suited to
our own farmers. / hope and believe
that the committees of the senate and
house will address themselves to this
matter with the most fruitful results,
and 1 believe that the studies and re