Arizona republican., 1913-05-24

EEA Italian farmers from pahf<rnpeS to bankers has now been seen by the members of the American Commission on Agricultural Co-opera- tion with their own eyes The Com mission has completed the first lap ot its tour through fourteen European countries which 1t Is taking under the auspices of the Southern Commercial Congress to investigate the cO-opera- tive systems v-hich have welded the millions of Eur Jpean peasant farmers into organizati ms yielding incredible power.
 Italy is the first country visited by the Commission. The landing was made at Naples, that mystifying city which hides so much poverty under the inspiring beauty of Its white shore line streaked between the ultramarine of the Mediterranean and the blue of the south Italian skies. From Naples the Commission journeyed north to Rome and there was welcomed by the King and Queen of Italy and the h. ternatfonal Institute of Agriculture 4 number of the delegates left the ship at Genoa in order to hasten to Rome. Then going north from Rome. through the central Italian provinces and pie turesque Tuscany. the Commission ended it's Italian trip in the northern province of Lombardy.
 Surely it was a test to have made the country about Naples the starting point for the study of this Commis- siOn for 1t was not easy for the Amer lean delegates to realize that the ragged Italian peasants who stood by the roadside gazing at them. or as frequently begging from them. as they drove to Campagra and who made their homes in the one-storied thatched-roofed huts nearby could possess a business system" worthy the study of American farmers.
 But the worst jolt which these Yan- kee commissioners received was their first introduction to 8 cooperative bank. IL was located in q little village near Rome. Several Of the Commis- sioners JOurneyed there by street car. or tramway, as they are now saying. and by hack. They were escorted to wine shop, the prototype of a score of such shops passed by the tourist in a days tramp. The bill stjckers art has not swamped Europe as it has the United States, and the impression of the average American tourist is that the shOpkeepers are trying their
 durndest" to keep the location Of their shops an unfathomed secret. There was no outward indication of the building which the Commissioners entered being a bank. Inside were placed a half dozen deal tables worn black with age and polished with the rubbtngs of countless elbows At sew eral of the tables sat groups of peas ants sipping wine and gossiping At one man scribbled figures into a well worn note book. That was the bank Could such an institution be a power in the 1and-a force for progress and the uplift of thousands of farmers? But the first lesson that the delegates had to learn was that they must keep eternally on their guard against snap Judgments.
 Italy represents the supreme test of the soundness of principle of theco-op- erative banking societies which 1t Is hoped to spreadamong Am eri can farm CTS as means to better their credit ia cilities increase their production and lower their Oxpenses. The whole plan rests upon the theory that a society of farmers can be trusted with the savings of the community wherein they reside or with loans from outside sources. and can safely be depended upon to distribute those funds among themselves in such ways that they will be profltably invested in their farms and returned to the lenders with reasonable interest. Now if the farmers of Italy who are poor for the most part according to American standards. who are little educate ted, and have few opportunities to gain busi- ness experience can conduct such lit he banking soc4et without logs. how can 1t be contended that American farmers could not be .depended upon to succeed in similar undeftakingsq fTherefore. though 1t may at first have seemed unWise ito take ;fhe American Cona mission to Italy at the start, as a IrlAttsr of fact tho !. Com misshnners have seen Hath stheir town eyes skhe very sevenest teet to which these :so- caedeS, could be put. And they have tssen these faTrnhrs' banks tconducted without loss; they have seen villages entrusting their sayings sto shear cus- tooy because they knew them to be safe; they hgve Seen farzness, without treentieth part of the advantages that perhaps g. majority of<the .Amer- tean farmers have, improve their stock zs1noreese the yield of their farms decrease their expenses and bring a acountfy+not over stif essed with Fertility to. 8 strong position among nations as producer of agricultural products The entire plan in Italy Is on an shnnib1e scale bat, even so, Italy ss pr1gr casing 1ors~rapidly~ agTisul-