The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1913-03-05


This scheme has been worked sue
cessfully already in this country. On,
type of credit system to be outlined
at the coming conference is the so
called ,'Reiffeisenp plan, which
Originated in Germany. Under THU
plan, the farmers of given commu
nifty club their surplus moneys to
gether and make short loans to eact
other at rate which win pay the as
ISOLATION bank interest, plus cost o
management.
''For the large landholder thu
"Landschaftan" system will be sug,
gested. This plan was levised il
Prussia as result of the wars Of
Frederick the Great, which stripped
the great landed proprietors of every.
thing they had but their real estate
"a number of the proprietors
Jumped their lands and bonded them
each member of the syndicate being
Jointly and severally responsible for
the total Indebtedness, These bonds
being secured by an underlying lien
on the best security in the world
Mother Earth-had ready sale
even though they bore low rate OF
interest.
Then each proprietor borrowed,
according to his needs, from the com.
mon cash reservoir thus created, at
a rate which took care of the bond
interest and amortization, SO that, al
the end of a generation, they had
their lends free sRc clear, .with all
improvements.
Had these same estates been
pledged at the banks, the interest
charges would have been SO high tina,
the proprietors would have been
forclosed long ago, or else would still
be encountered with debt. Both the
Reiffeisen and the Landschaften sys-
tens of credit have been in success
full operation for period amply long
enough to prove their practicability;
the former for the last fifty years,
the latter since the eighteenth cen
fury
Thus, If only these last three CO.
operative systems, marketing, buying
and credit, were put into complete
operation in the South, it would add
almost from the outset not less than
'$7OO,O0O,OOO year to the income
of the farmers in that section.
"But it would do more than this.
1T would decrease the numbers Of TIL
tenant farmer class, which today is
ia blight on agriculture throughout
the South In some states sixty-six
per cent OF the farms are operated b.
tenants; ~ practically none. OF them
are less than thirty-three per cefe so
operated OF these tenants, from
thirty TO forty per cent are whites.
Rarely do they stay more than a
single year in one community; hencc
they have no local pride nor any in
terest in the farms on which they
live Their only object is to raise one
crop and get out. AS result they
rob the soil and when they depart
they leave the community poorer in
resources than when they came. Ii
farm life is made more attractive, a
better class will be drawn to the open
country, where they will stay geaer-
alton after generation, operating the
same farm, conserving instead of
impoverishing the land, and working
with all their might to develop the
communities in which they live"
The various cooperative enter
prises to be put into effect as a. re-
suit of the Richmond conference will
form part of combined effort for
farm development
Special conferences of working
farmers will decide on the marketing
and buying plans outlined by DR..
Coulter, and other special confer
ences of business men will work out
plans fer aid in developing the agri-
cultural resources of the surround
ing communities.
Workers N all branches of agri-
cultural education win get together
in still other separate conferences, as|
min also country preachers, editors,
ana scnoel men.
These special conferences viii,
last from two to three days. After