Semi-weekly herald., 1913-12-25

NHN PHniS justly complains oil tha
ieost of living, yet the return for farm
labor has not sufficiently increased
the income to induce that development
of agriculture which the country
ought to have. Indeed ws are con-
fronted by the problem of how to keep
the farmers boys on the farm, az well
as by the problem of attracting new
hands to the farm. And all this has
an important bearing on the high
cost Of living. The future of our
country depends largely upon devsl-
oplng large number of independent
farmers, owning the land which they
work; but unfortunately there is q
present tendency toward tenent farm
ing, as well as a tendency for farm
ers' boys to leave the farms for the
great cities.
These tendencies must be met by
making farm life more attractive,
and in order that this may be ac-
complished farm labor must be made
more profitable. To increase the
y 1Acdit iatiihlC6 dIu W IN
duce the rate of interest paid by him
will make farming more profitable,
not only by direct savings in interest
charges, but also indirectly by afford
ing the farmer the means by which
to develop his land in such a manner
as to obtain the best results from it.
And if we can make the owner Of u
mortgaged farm feel more secure Il
his position, We shall increase not on
ly the care and attention that he will
give to the land. but also increase
his measure of satisfaction N his
work.
In Europe, the farmers have bet
ter credit facilities and pay lower
rates Of interest than our farmers.
This may be partly due To the more
developed condition of their eoun-
tries, but it is, without doubt, large
ly due to their cooperative efforts,
and to legislation favoring rural
credits.
Generally speaking, loans to farm
ers must be far longer periods than
loans to merchants and manufactur-
ers; and banks when loaning TO farm
ers must take into consideration that
the farmer will not be able to pay his
note until his crops are harvested and
sold. National banks, which must
keep their resources ever ready for
the active needs of their depositors,
necessarily, therefore, fell some en-
barrassment in lending to farmers,
except within rather conservative
limits. 1t is noe easy for the Amer
lean farmer to reach the investor who
can readily carry him through the
season without demanding the return
Of the money loaned. The farmers Of
Germany and other European coun-
tries have their cooperative credit ss-
sociations, which meet this need
| In practically all countries of Eur
ope there are land mortgage associs-
tions and cooperative societies deal
ing in short time credits. Ordinarily
these organizations are associations
Of borrowers absolutely controlled by
the borrowers themselves. In this
country we have numerous building
and loan associations similar in many
respects TO the European land mort
gage associations, but the work Of
these associations has been rather in
the cities than in the rural districts,
though some of them are making
loans on farm lands.
Figures now being gathered by the
department of agriculture show that
the problem of adequate credit faciii-
ties at reasonable rates of interest 10
one which demands serious attention
. in this country. 1t is to be noted that
each of the European countries that
has worked out AN advanced system
of rural credits has been obliged TO
adapt the system to its own peculiar
national conditions. In other words,
while we may say that Europe gen.
orally has advanced far ahead Of us
p in it's treatment of this problem, We
can not fail to notice that each soun-
try has developed it's own national
system of rural credits.
And the preliminary study has con-
vinced the rural credit sub commit
tee on banking and currency that it
will be necessary for Us to develop
an American national system, ~ it
will not be possible to find ready
l. made suited system to our nesds.
Much may be learned from study
Of the several European systems and
our own building and loan associations
0 and the committee is now hard 1t
work considering conditions and look
ing for facts without any prsconsslv-
u cd notion a. to what plan \ may
1 L nruNx. xx,aut ,rriuo T. = dexf --------