The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1913-12-05
VIEWS ON CURRENCY BILL.
Urqes Measure That Will Prove Bene-
fit to Farmers-Hopes For Quick 40


Urges Measure That Will Prove Bene-
fit to Farmers-Hopes For Quick 40
tion.
turn to matters of domestic con-
Germ. You already have under consid-
Grafton q bill for the reform of our
system of banking and currency, for
which the country waits with impa-
thence, as for something fundamental
to its whole business life and necessa-
~ to set credit free from arbitrary
and artificial restraints. / need not
say how earnestly hope for its early
enactment into law. l. take leave to
beg that the whole energy and atten-
ton of the senate be concentrated
upon it till the matter is successfully
disposed of. And yet I feel that the
request is not needed-that the men,
bers of that great house need no urg-
ing in this service to the country.
l present to you in addition the ur-
gent necessity that special provision
be made also for facilitating the credits
needed by the farmers of the country.
The pending currency bill does the
farmers a great service 1t puts them
upon an equal footing with other bust
ness men and masters of enterprise, as
it should, and upon it's passage they
will find themselves quit of many OF
the difficulties which now hamper them
in the field of credit. The farmers of
course ask and should be given no spe-
cial privilege. such as extending to
them the credit of the government
itself What they need and should OBJ
tain is legislation which will make
their own abundant and substantial
credit resources available as foun-
dation for joint, concerted, local ac-
ton in their own behalf in getting the
capital they must use. 1t Is to this we
should now address ourselves.
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. l need not stop 10 tell
you how fundameD d to the life of the
nation is the production of its food.
Our thoughts may ordinarily be con
centrated upon the cities and the hives
If industry. upon the cries of the
crowded market place and the clangOr
Of the factory, but it is from the quiet
lnterspaces of the open valleys and the
| free hillsides that we draw the sources
of life and of prosperity, from the
farm and the ranch, from the forest
and the mine. Without these every
street would be silent, every office de-
serted, every factory fallen into disre-
pair.
And yet the farmer does not stand
upon the same footing with the fores-
ter and the miner in the market of
credit. He is the servant of the sea-
sons. Nature determines how long he
must wait for his crops and will not
be hurried in her processes. He may
give his note. but the season Of its
maturity depends upon the season
when his crop natures and lies at the
gates of the market where his prod
ucts are sold. And the security he
gives is of character not known in
the brokers' Office or as Familiarity as
it might be on the counter of the
banker.
The agricultural department of the
government is seeking to assist as
never before to make farming an eff
cient business, of wide cooperative eff
fort. in quick touch with the markets
for foodstuffs. The farmers and the
government will henceforth work to-
gether as real partners in this field,
WHARF Un nONV hapiO m coa orr NOV
very clearly and where many intelli-
gent plans are already being put into
execution.
The treasury Of the United States
has by timely and well considered
distribution of its deposits facilitated
the moving Of the crops in the present
season and prevented the scarcity of
available funds too often experienced
at such times. But we must not allow
ourselves to depend upon extraordi-
nary expedients. We must add the
means by which the farmer may make
his credit constantly al easily avail
able and command VIII N he will the
capital by which to support and ex-
pand his business. We lag behind
many other great countries of the mod
ern world in attempting to do this.
Systems of rural credit have been
studied and developed on the 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 dis
trict to see the result, the handicap
and embarrassment which have been
put upon those who produce our food.
Conscious of thi' ackwardness and
neglect on our pa.C [. the congress re-
Gently authorized the creation OF
special commission TO study the varl-
Gus systems of rural credit which have
been put into operation in Europe, and
this commission is already prepared
TO report. Its report ought to make 1t
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