Semi-weekly herald., 1913-12-04

trcssed Mexico by the concert and
, energy Of such OF her leaders as pre-
fer the liberty of their people to their
own ambitions.
Currency Measure.
i turn to matters of domestic con-
Germ. You already have under con-
sideration q bill for the reform of
] our system of banking and currency,
for which the country waits with i'm
patience, as for something funda-
mental to it's whole business life and
I necessary to set credit free from ar
! bitrary and artificial restraints. l
need not say how earnestly l hope
for its early enactment into law. l
1 take leave to beg that the whole en-
! ergy and attention of the senate be
concentrated upon it till the matter
is successfully disposed Of. And yet
/ feel that the request is not needed
that the members of that great house
need no urging in this service to the
country.
l present to you, in addition, the
urgent necessity that special provis-
ion be made also for facilitating the
credits needed by the farmers of the
country The pending currency bill
does the farmers great service. 1t
puts them upon an equal footing with
other business men and masters of
enterprise, as it should; and upon its
passage they will find themselves
quit of many of the difficulties which
now hamper them in the field of cred
it. The farmers, Of course, ask and
should be given no special privilege,
such as extending to them the credit
of the government itself. What they
need and should obtain is legislation
which will make their own abundant
and substantial credit resources avail
able as a foundation for joint, con-
certed local action in their own be-
half in getting the capital they must
use 1t is to this we should now ad-
! dress ourselves.
1t has, singularly enough, come to
pass that we have allowed the in
dustry of our farms to lag behind
the other activities of the country in
its development | 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 concerted upon the cities and the
hives of industry, upon the cries of
the crowded market place and the
clangor OF the factory, but it is from
the quiet interspaces Of the open val
leys and the free hillsides that we
draw the sources of life and of 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 disrepair And yet the
farmer 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 de-
pends upon the season when his crop
natures, lies at the gates of the mar
ket where his products are sold. And
the security he gives is of charac-
ter not known in the brokers' office or
as Familiarity as it might be on the
counter of the banker.
Agricultural Department.
The agricultural department of the
government is seeking to assist as
never before to make farming an eff
ficient business, of wide cooperative
} effort, in quick touch with the mar
kets of 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 intel
, ligent plans are already being put
into execution. The treasury of the
| United States has, by timely and
weil-considered distribution of it's de-
posits, facilitated the moving of the
; crops in the present season and pre-
. vented the scarcity of available funds
: too often experienced at such times.
, But we must not allow ourselves to
, depend upon extraordinary exped-
tents. We must add the means by
which the farmer may make his cred
. it constantly and easily available and
. command when he will the capital by
which to support and expand his bus
! mess. We lag behind many other
/ great countries of the modern world
in attempting to do this. Systems
of rural credit have been studied and
developed on the other side of the
water while we left our farmers to
shift for themselves in the ordinary
. money market. You have but to look
J about you in any rural district to see
J the result, the handicap and embar-
rassment which have been put upon
|, those who produce our food.