The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-04-01

Berlin, Germany.-"Some Of US
rubes are laughing a little at the
bankers" said a successful farmer to
US before we left the states. I'VE
have actually farmed successfully for
years, have studied farming In agr1-
cultural colleges. We think we know
our business fairly well. It's certain
ly funny to read speeches by bank
ers telling US how to farm. I have
come to the conclusion that the bank
ers know so little about farm loans
that they would do better to study
and discuss their own business than
to try to teach US ours" And we
have concluded that there Is some
force in what the farmer says.
The American Bankers associa-
ton and thirty state bank associa-
tons r actively promoting agricul-
tural advancement. The work under
taken by them includes soil surveys,
experiments with fertilizers, hiring ex-
perts to make practical demonstration
upon the farm, education in road mat
tiers, and so on Indefinitely. The bank
ers are duplicating what the federal
agricultural department f doing,
what every agricultural college Is do
ing, and what every farmers institute
is doing. They are going into the
field Of production which is important
but which after all is n in which
the farmer remarked, zone is led to-
think that the bankers Of the country
have unanimously concluded that they
know their own business 80 thor
oughly that their e~levating educa-
tional instincts can get opportunity
for expression only by doing mission
airy work among us lowly farmers and
elevating this ignorant class to their
own high plane of intelligence"
Worst Banking for Farmers.
We have been going through Eur
ope accompanied by agricultural ex-
perts. We have talked with leaders
in agriculture in several countries.
have read bulletins and books ga.
lore on agricultural methods abroad.
We consulted government specialists.
W. have seen and heard and studied
about all the most scientific upto-
date farming methods. But neither
the experts with us nor we ourselves
have been able to recall a single idea
on agricultural production that Is not
being more or less widely worked out
in America by these lowly farmers
whom the bankers are 80 benevolent
ly and condescendingly instructing.
On the other hand so far Is we can
discover the United States is the only
country in the civilized world where
banking methods have not been in
any degree adjusted to the needs OF
the farmer. Sometimes over here in
Europe the joint stock bank does the
work. More often it is a cooperative
credit bank that loans to farmers.
But some bank stands ready to
meet the farmers needs everywhere,
except In the United States. In
America, as nowhere else, the banker
takes sthe terms calculated to accom-
modate the city merchant and fnan-
ciers and inficts them upon the pro-
testing farmer. Sixty and ninety day
loans are just what are needed in the
city, but they are of no possible use to
the farmer. A merchant or commits
sion man gets his returns promptly
and can meet ninety day paper at
maturity. But the farmer cannot buy
calves or pigs and fatten them, mar
ket them. and get returns short OF a
much longer period. The rural Dor
rover VINO invests the borrowed
money In seeds or fertilizers cannot
hope to realize upon his investment
short of six or eight months. 1t is
not so much a question Of interest
as of terms and methods. In many
localities interest rates are fair. In
some places interest on farm loans IS
too high. But it is true everywhere
in America that the bankers stub
bornly refuse to the farmer the sort
Of .oans which he needs. And the
banker who sits behind the cashiers
desk writing speeches about better
farming drops his facile pen Ions
enough to crowd down the throat OF
some farmer patron who should have
an eight months loan, a three months
loan, which is as apt to cripple as
to helm him.