Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-04-26
OF
LIVING
J0L1ED
Commission Sails for Naples
to Help Devise New Sys'
tenn Of Banking
Especial to the Tribure)

jolt is to be given the high cost Of liv-
ing ii the delegation of 100 Americans
which sails from here for Naples to-
succeeds in its cndeavor to
devise a separate banking system for
American farmers. The official name
of the delegation is the American COM
mission OF Agricultural Cooperation.
The investigation is to be made under
the auspices Of the Southern Commerce
ial Congress. Its aim is to place cheap
money at the disposal Of American far
mcrs in order to increase agricultural
production and to lower the cost OF
producing food. .-G@~t .>.r
Secretary Of Agriculture Houston
will represent the administration at the
farewell to be given to the commission.
President Wilson takes a keen interest
in the undertaking and addressed the
delegates personally before they left
Washington. .'' H.
The commission is headed by seven
federal commissioners bearing the Gre
dentiaIs of President Wilson and Sec
rotary Of State Bryan. They will make
a report to Congress upon the prac-
ticability Of establishing farmers CO.
operative banks and a mortgage bank
system IN the United States, copied al
ter the agricultural credit systems Of
European countries. Besides the fed
cral commissioners there are delegates
representing about three iourths of the
states of the Union. who will make a
report to 4 committee of nine governors
appointed at the last conference Of the
state executives. In this way official
recommendations will he placed before
Congress and the state legislatures urg-
ing a consideration of the credit re-
Quircmcnts Of the farmers both as a
means of assisting the farmers and OF
relieving the consumers of the coun-
tfy OF atlc burden of the high cost OF
living. ylls. -,ry ,,
asPha work Of the commission is close
ly' cd nncctcd with the efforts Of the
banking and commercial interests to
secure currency reform. The princi-
pal claim Of those seeking currency
reform is that under the present bank
ing system which permits banks to
rcdcposit their funds with other banks
who in turn deposit them in Chicago
New York. the tendency is to col
lcct the surplus OF the nations .,inds
i'll the big speculative ccnters where
they stimulate stock gambling. The
currency rcformcrs want permission
extended the banks to lend more free
ly and with better returns to those
engaged in legitimate M and
manufacturing work. The American
on Agricultural Co-opcra-
Isimilarly wants a supplementary
banking, system built up, which will be
controlled by the farmers. and which
will divert a large portion { the say
of rural communities to the dcvcl-
opncnt OF the farms. 1t is claimed
that in Germany such Il system has been
able to supply as high as % per cent
Of all the money required by the Ger
farmers for their operating ex-
pcnscs from such deposits. Similar
systems are in operation in nearly cv-
cry country in Europe. 1t is to study
the operation OF these systems that the
commission is visiting those countries.
The second attempt Of the commits
sion will be to secure the establish
ncnt Of a mortgage banking system in
the United States. Such a system in
Germany has brought over s. ,0Vo, OGO,-
300 to the German landowners fol, the
development and improvement OF their
land. In France the mortgage bonds
the Credit Foncicr which are only
lie farmers mortgages under A" differ
emf form. sell at lower interest rates
than even first class industrial bonds.
1t is declared that ii a mortgage bank
ing system. could be established i'll the
States billions of dollars OF ad-
money could be secured for the
at much lower rates and OIL
better terms and that with the great
development i'll American farms which
This money would make possible, the
problem of food production in the
States, which is rapidly bccom-
ing worse, would be solved forever.
The federal commissioners appointed
~ the president are Senator Duncan y.
Fletcher, lawycr-farmcr, and president
If the Southern Commercial Congress;
Senator Thomas ?. Gore of Oklahoma.
chairman of the Senate Committee OIL
Agriculture; Representative Moss OF
Indiana, who was a farmer before he
Congress and is now chairman
If the House Committee on Expendi-
:,,rcs in the Department of Agriculture;
Col. Harvey Jordan, former president
If the Farmers Union, Kenyon L. But
a member Of President Roose-
;elt's Country Life Commission, and
president of Amherst College; John
Zee Coulter, the governments expert on
agricultural statistics, and Dr.. Clarence
Owens. managing director Of the
Southern Commercial Congress.
Tie state delegates include farmers,
bankers, lawyers, and economists. Vim
cent Astor was appointed a delegate
rom New York by Governor Sulzer,
and the Prime Minister Of Saskatche-
van heads a delegation of Canadians
representing four provinces of the Do
The Commission returns from
in August and will then pre-
oare its repor t toCongress and the
states.