The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1913-01-22
FARMERS CARRY
UNJUST HANDICAP
Terms on Which They 3or.
row Money too High.
RURAL CREDIT
BANKS URGED
Insurance Company's Experience
Shows SOundness of Farm
Mortgages.

securing Teiueulal laws Tor the farm
ers of the country President Taft said:
! The twelve million farmers in the
United States add each year to the Ma
tional wealth $4,000 ,OO0 OOO They are
doing this on borrowed capital of
S6,040 100000. On this sum they pay
annually interest charges Of $51O,OOO,-
600. Counting commissions and re-
newal charges, the interest rate paid
by the farmers of this country is 1-2
per cent. as sompared to a rate of
IL per cent. paid by the farmer, for
instance, of France and Germany.
-
The subject of rural credits was the
most important discussion at the re-
cent conference Of the governors at
Richmond; but on account of the fire.
quent eruptions of Gov Blease of
South Carolina and the valuable time
wasted on him it failed of that care
ful consideration it deserved. What is
needed is system of agricultural CO.
! operative credit in this country. There
appears to be general agreement upon
this point. 1t is needed in all the
States, adapted to the varying condi-
tlons obtaining in the several States
1t Is particularly needed in the South,
as Gov. O'Neal of Alabama showed in
MS exhaustive paper on the subject.
Notwithstanding the fact that the crop
W.
the South Atlantic States, as compared
with an increase of Sc per cent in the
central Western States, the farmer i'm
that part Of the country is "still con-
fronted with the old problem of agri-
cultural credits" and is still paying
enormous tribute to the agencies which
control the money or credit of the ma
tion. In Alabama, and in the South
generally, the farmer of limited
means is forced to resort to crop liens
or chattel mortgages to obtain the
credit necessary for the prosecution of
his work, with the result that his nose
is always to the grindstone, although
as the result of his labors under these
distressing conditions he adds yearly
to the productive wealth of the coun-
try in one crop alone well above ST.
coo, 100000. AS it is with the cotton
growers Of the South, so it also is with
the wheat and corn growers of the
West. There is the same cry and the
same necessity all around for the
means with which to do business.
-
Yet such have been the conditions
under which the farmers have been
compelled to do business that they
have had to pay enormous interest
charges. With property worth three
times Its mortgagen indebtedness
some way ought to be found for the
deliverance Of the farmers Of Alabama
and all other similarly situated farm
ers from the exactions of the usurers
and that way 1t is believed the rural
credit banks would provide No 9th
CT business In the world could have
stood the strain that has been plac-
ed upon the farmers OF this country
who feed US all. The objection to land
mortgages as security for loans made
from the banks is not in respect of
value, but in respect of their imme-
diately realizable quality or liquid
ity. They are worth the loans made
upon them, but they are not readily
convertible into cash, and, lacking this
negotiable quality, they have not been
sought generally by the institutions
which arc required by the nature of
their business to made rapid changes
OF their securities into cash. This
diffculty 1t Is expected to overcome by
the establishment OF rural credit
banks and as the security will be good
there Is little doubt that the plan will
be worked out in this country as it
has been worked out in other lands to
the advantage of the farmers and with
out injury to the bankers.-New York
Times.
A Hero In Lighthouse.
For years j. s. DOnahue So Haven