The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-03-11
{ BILLIONS YEARLY
Is FARMERS Loss
NiddIemen and Expensive
Credit the Causes
POOR FARMING METHODS
Sixteenth Conference For Educa-
ton in the South Will Take
These Problems Up

IHH Nt< Va diA - OAI
~, south amounts to two and a half
h,iars of dollars U2,500, 0O0,O00) a
,.,r TO the farmers, but they cost
-. consumers five billions G5,0O0,-
OpO.900). i
TN, farmers of the South spend
mos, of their two and a half billions
Isg. 500. 900, 0OO) each year largely for
farm supplies. food, clothing, etc,
This goes each year into the hands
al al classes Of middlemen.
southern farmers lose an addition
al two and a half billions ($2,5O0,-
100000 each year because of poor
farming methods. They could dOu-
BE their yield by crop Investigation
ami other improvements if it were
not for the advance SYSTEM" un-
der which the creditor forces the
farmer To- plant cash crops" such
as cotton and corn, year in and year
out.
Southern farmers borrow immense
amounts of money or secure credit
at great loss. The estimated loss to
them because Of excessive interest
rates amounts to about one hundred
and sixty-three millions of dollars
Cs163, 900, OO0) a year.
So, all told, the farmers are out six
billion, one hundred and sixty-three
million dollars $6,163,00O,00 O a
year much of which they might get
If they controlled their w systems
OF credit, marketing and buying.
These are the figures of Prof. John
Ice Coulter. expert special agent for
agriculture in the Census Bureau.
He arrives at his conclusion after
years of study. which have made him
a leading scientific authority in farm
economies.
However. plans are now matured to
a cut which from the very first will
amount to hundreds upon hundreds of
millions Of dollars In the enormous
discrepancy between the prices the
farmer receives for his produce and
the prices which the consumer has
70 pay.
These plans are to be taken up a
ton in the South, to be held at Rich.
the Sixteenth Conference for Educa'
mond, Va, April 1918; and 50 epoch.
making in their results of Southern
prosperity are they considered to be
that thousands Of Southern farmer
aud business men Will unite in theil
consideration with schoOlmen, edi
tors and publicists.
tn brief the common remedy t,
De proposed at the Conference 70
N'i1 AIlCA - AiS Ao Ol6dA
2atloh and cooperation. 1t is prOpos
"a mat he market his crops coop
crauvely; buy his goods in the SAM
manner. and borrow his money fror
cooperative credit societies. Such
pan 1t is commended, would harm n
one and in the long run wOule bene
III all classes. BY thus adding t
tne farmers income, he will be en-
"o'ed TO spend more on the pieasar
aS WRII Nc ON E ~r
ne; To build better oa1s; to nlair
,1ln better schools and to make cour
u! hVlng more pleasant ~ali-"O2nd.
rms IN turn would have the effet
VI checking the exodus from farm I
wy and with the increase in til
proportion of country pOpl;Gtion. wi
'ohe IN time an increase in tf
amount of food raised, together wit
d corresponding decrease in the CO
lVlng. If the farmer produce
more and spends more, the railroad
Will have a lerger tonnage to ha'
anu consequently larger incomes, bot
sioSS and net. The bankers will benz
~ because prosperous farmers haV
money to deposit or invest; the ma
uIdcturers, because the Southern a;
.ituIturist will furnish more materi
pe worked up into finished good
anu VIII consume more; while tt
SSnSliess man will prosper as tt
talmer become better and steadi
customers. r.
Experts in every form of cooper
ION nave been called upon to tt
ne conference precisely how to sta
1niS movement throughout the Sout
d. I. Caldwell. who is one of t
srta' leaders in cooperative ente
Uses IN this country, will tell he
inc agriculturists about his hor
own of L.akefield, Mimi, have su
sesSiuily managed a cooperati
a1ofe' creamery. grain elevator. a
a. y. Nelson, of Svea, will desert
,He operations of similar enterpris
"a ms community. while f.. NJ. TOT
rs VIII show the effects Of cooper
ron upon farm communities. and
~ tatcker. Of the sa me- state. "