Bridgeton pioneer., 1913-09-11

settlement. He said homesteaders were
entitled to all possible aid from the
government and suggested that the
time for paying for water rights ought
to be extended.
The secretary said the government
already had expended $S0,0OO,OOO in
reclamation projects and should spend
like sum in the next ten years.
Rural Credits Discussed.
The report of the American commits
sion on rural credits was presented to
the conference by Gordon Jones of
Denver, in the absence of Senator
Fletcher Of Florida. its chairman. In
this the first general report upon the
extensive European investigation made
by the commission under joint author
ity of congress the governments of
twenty-nine states and the southern
commercial congress, Chairman Fletch-
er recommended increased activity by
the states in the extension of rural
credits and cooperative farming enter
prises. The report was in part as fol-
lows:
Agricultural interests of most of the
European countries are organized along
one or more of the following lines:
Credit, production, distribution and So
cial organization for the betterment of
country life.
Organizations for the provision of
credit facilities for European farmers
follow the natural division into short
time personal credit and long time
land mortgage credit The organiza-
tionsy for the provision of personal
credit facilities are as highly develop
ed asare} the. systems of commercial
banking. The prevailing rate Of inter
est paid by the farmers for short time
loans is from to 51a per cent. The
terms offered European farmers are
generally better designed to meet the
peculiar requirements of agriculturists
than are the terms obtainable today by
the American farmers.
Cooperative Societies.
The personal credit organizations
have the form Of cooperative societies
Often the members of these societies
assume unlimited liability for the debts
of the society. while in other cases the
societies take the form Of limited liza
bilitys These short time credit societies
furnish cheap. safe and elastic credit
to their members by reason of their
control by farmers and are organiza-
tions exclusively in the interest of
farmers who operate them at nominal
cost and without seeking dividend prof.
1t to such societies.
Land mortgage credit has been or
ganized so as to place a collective
security back on bonds issued by LAND
mortgage societies in contrast with th.
system of marketing individual loans
upon individual mortgages. These land
mortgage institutions bring to Euro
pean farmers low. interest rates, the
privileges of repaying loans in small
fixed = annual installments extending
over term of Nyears-in some cases as
long as seventy-five years under the
amortization plan. although provision
for earlier payment is made If the
borrower so desires: protection from
advance In interest rates and the
practical elimination of commission
charges. Many of these personal credit
societies and land mortgage associa
tions are fostered by government
grants, loans or special provisions OF
law. Mortgage bonds issued by com
mercial banks and by private joint
stock land mortgage banks sell sub
stantially on the same basis with like
securities issued by government favor
ed institutions. and both classes of
banks are recognized as needful in the
development and conservation of agri-
cultural resources EXnerience has