The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-05-05
THE FARMER MUST HAVE HELP
OR AGRICULTURE MUST PERISH
The Least Profitable Business In America, 1t PAYS The
Highest Rates OF lnterest-New Hope of a Credit Ma
chine-Congress Will Act

H. L-. 4
ne SnOuld have ample capital. Vet |
,he accommodation that he %grudging- |
~ gets is very much like the brand
once referred to by Louis XVI of
rance, who, commenting on the ru-
raj usurer, said: Credit supports
agriculture as the cords support the
hanged
The actual financial needs of the
farmer are of two kinds. One is what
might be called the fixed capital re-
Qulrement, by which l mean the mon
ey needed for a farm, additional land.
new buildings, or increased equip
ment. The funds for this loan must
be a permanent investment,
over a considerable period and secured
by mortgage. This is the so-called
"lOng-term' loan.
If this were the only kind of rural
borrowing the farmers troubles would
not be SO great. But he needs another
kind of credit to supply his seasonal
needs, such as seed or fertilizer. or a
morse or a COW, or to cultivate or har-
vest his crops. This is known as the
personal or 'short-term" borrowing.
1t is seldom secured by mortgage, and
! the security is either the personal note
of the borrower or his character.
Right here m an important dis
tinction between the short-term Dor
rowing .Of the farmer and the same
kind of borrowing by the merchant.
The latter may need accommodation
Tor thirty, Xty OF ninety days, but
during that period he can. to revert
again to the speech of commerce..
turn over his goods and pay the
loan. eHnce he is constantly in the
money market. The farmer who re-
quires this kind Of loan must wait
until his crops are harvested or on
the way to the consumer. His short
| tin1Q' NAV ramon from nirofV dove To
a year. By a curious and costly cir
cumstance the farmer usually needs
money most when it is highest, sue
as, for example, in the autumn, when
he must have actual cash to "move
the crops At such times the Wall
Street Golfers are strained, interest
rates soar, and who pays the freight :?
No one but the farmer, and yet he is
simply supplying a legitimate need.
At this point you are doubtless be-
ginning to wonder why the farmer,
in the. fac of the most favorable nat
ural credit conditions, with $4,000
OOO, 900 worth of equity behind him
American farms), and who pro
duces $1O,O 600 900, 900 worth of out
put each year, should have to stand,
hat in hand, and with his purse strings
hanging out, waiting the pleasure and
the convenience Of the lender.
mere are various lSdSOliS. L
first is hat the farmer, as q rule. is
not a business man; the second is that
the whole machinery of our money
and credit system is directed toward
the aid Of the city and not the country
Still a third is that our commercial
banks have had to supply most of the
rural credit, and they are not pri,
marily credit institutions. TO provide
such credit requires a special system
adapted to agricultural needs. In a
! dition to all this there is the natura
tendency of our capital, whether the
big stake of. the rich man or the nes'
egg Of the W~age-earner, to seek en-
ployment in commercial and indus
trial enterprises. In a word, our small
investors have not been educated VI
to putting their savings into the safes
$ thing in the world, which is a gOOc
mortgage or a bond secured by a first
: class land lien.
Take the case Of the farmer first
He began as a "clod-hopper" and till
ed the lane in a %haphazard way. Wher
you asked him why he planted corr
on a certain hill he replied: Goo
. only knows. do it because my faith
er before me did it,
UsuTy Oppressed Him.
e Then came the kindling era Of ag
ricultural enlightenment with it's mira
Gle of soil culture, diversified and 70
tated crops, dry farming, the use o
t the telephone on the farm, the adven
e of the AUTOMATICALLY the rest Of tina
wondrous and romantic awakening
: that gave us a New Land and
t "New Farmer In a word, farmin;
r became a science and took on a fresl
dignity.
t But what else also happened
d Though he emancipated himself from
e his almost primitive methods an
freed himself from the uncertainty Q
d crop production, the farmer chung t
his old financial ways He never an
e alyzed credit. He simply classed
e, with drought. bugs, crop failure. an
IS his other troubles. Debt he regarde
as a natural heritage, and the top
heavy mortgage brooded over his al
it fairs like an evil spirit. Like IN
> Southerner who thought that Dam
# nod Yankee was one word, he be
l. lieyed that borrowing and usury wer
Is the same thing. j.,
,e The very circumstances OF his cal
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