The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1913-12-04
WATCHFUL WAITING IS Mexican POLICY
President Wilson Says Huerta's Prestige Is Fast CrumbInu-
Message Asks Legislation for Facilitating Credits Needed by
Farmers-Urges Presidential Primaries.

ence' as for something fundamental
10 us whole business life and neces-
sary to set credit free from arbitrary
and artificial restraints. | need not say
now earnestly | hope for its early en-
actment into law.
present to you, in addition, the
urgent necessity hat special provision
De made also for facilitating the cred
It's needed by the farmers of the cou
try. The pending currency bill does
the farmers a great service. 1t puts
them upon an equal footing with 9TH
er business men and masters of en-
terprise, as it should; and upon its
passage they will find themselves quit
or many of the difficulties which now
hamper them in the field of credit.
The farmers, of course, ask and
should be given no special privilege,
such as extending to them the credit
Of the government itself. What they
need and should obtain is legislation
which will make their own abundant
and substantial credit resources avail
able as a foundation for joint, con-
certed local action in their own be-
half in getting the capital they must
use. 1t is to this we should now ad-
dress ourselves.
Allowed to Lag.
1t has, singularly enough, come to
pass that we have allowed the indus
try Of our farms to lag behind the
other activities of the country in its
development. / need not stop to tell
you how fundamental to the life of
the Nation is the production of its
food. Our thoughts may ordinarily
be concentrated upon the cities and
the hives of industry, upon the cries
of the crowded market place and the
clangor of the factory. but it is from
the quiet interspaces of the open val
leys and the free hillsides that we
draw the sources of life and of pros
perity, from the farm and the ranch,
from the forest and the mine. With
out these every street would be ST.
lent, every office deserted, every fac
tory fallen into d~isrepair. And yet
the farmer does not stand upon the
same footing with the forester and the
miner in the market of credit. He is
the servant Of the seasons. Nature
determines how long he must wait for
his crops, and will o be hurried in
her processes. He may give his note,
but the season of its maturity depends
upon the season when his crop ma
lures, lies at the gates of the market
where his products are sold. And the
security he gives is of a character not
known in the brokers' office or as ia
miliarly as it might be on the counter
of the banker.
Efficiency in Farming.
The agricultural department of the
government is seeking to assist as
never before to make farming an eff
cient business, of wide cooperative ef-
fort, in quick touch with the markets
for foodstuffs. The farmers and the
government will h~enceforth work to-
gether as real partners in this field,
where we now begin to see our way
very clearly and where many intelli.
gent plans are already being put into
execution. The treasury of the Uni
ted States has, by a timely and we'll
considered distribution of its depos-
its, facilitated the moving of the crops
in the present season and prevented
the scarcity of available funds too oft
en- experienced at such times. But
we must not allow ourselves to de-
pend Upon extraordinary expedients.
We must add the means by which the
farmer may make his credit constant
ly and easily available and command
when he will the capital by which to
support and expand his business. We
lag behind many other great countries
of the modern world in attempting to
do this. Systems of rural credit have
other side of the water while we left
our farmers to shift for themselves in
the ordinary money market. You
have but to look about you in any
rural district to see the result, the
handicap and embarrassment which
have beer put upon these who pro.
duce our food.
Study Rural Credit.
Conscious of this backwardness and
neglect on our part, the ongreS re-
Gently authorized the creation of a
special commission to study the vari
Gus systems of rural credit which
have been put into operation in Eur
ope, and this commission is already
prepared to report. Its report ought
to make ii easier for us to determine
what methods will be best suited to
our own farmers.
Let Sherman Law Stand.
Turn from the farm to the world of
business which centers in the city and
in the factory, and ! think that all
thoughtful observers will agree that
the immediate service we W the
business communities of the country
is to prevent private monopoly more
effectually than it has yet been pre-
vented. l think 1t will be easily agreed
that we should let the Sherman anti
trust law stand, unaltered, as it is,
with its debatable ground about 1t,