The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1915-10-22
STARTLING CONDITIONS ON
BINGHAM COUNTY FARMS

courage, out the Dank doesn't always
let out the information direct. Here
are some of the things a banker
wants to know before he stakes a
farmer even to buy good stock or
Ipure bred animals:
The Mans Rating
Is the applicant a careful farmer;
kind to his stock; are his animals
kept fat; has he suitable places to
keep them; are his wire fences kept
in good repair; does he let barbed
wire fences go in that condition that
cripples animals; does he understand
animals; is he steady in his habits;
! does he care for stock one day and
neglect them the next; is he a man
OF his word; does he pay his debts;
does he carry life insurance.; does he
have his buildings insured against
fire; does the barnyard drain toward
1.-THE we'll; is the well half open to
drip and filth; does he get along well
with his neighbors? These are some
of the things the banker would like
to know Of the applicant unless he
is offering ample security which in
itself is gilt edge.
Banks May Cooperate
If the banks of this county shall
arrange some basis of credit on which
men can secure money to buy stock,
or If they shall secure somebody to
act for them and ship in some pure
bred animals at certain intervals, to
be sold to farmers on their notes,
farmers who have proper rating,
then the man who is known to be a
good farmer, one who raises 18 or
20 tons of beets per acre, whose place
lis neat and well kept, who has not
lost any cows by choking on potatoes,
or by being slit in the barbed wire,
who has no horses showing wire cuts,
or pig pens uncleanly, the one who
can display an insurance policy on
his life, those are the fellows whose
applications for credit will receive
the most careful consideration by the
loan committee" at the local bank
Then if they loan him money they
will want security, and the better
security they can get, the more lee
way they can afford to give him in
managing his affairs to suit himself.
The man who gives little or poor Sc
curity takes the most risk of being
interrupted-called in to have a talk
with the cashier.
Value of Potato Clubs
Five years from now the banker,
when considering a loan to a young
farmer, will want to know if he was
member of potato club in 1915-16
and If his wife was a member of a
canning club or sewing club. That
will give him as much prestige at the
outset as 1t does for one man to
tell another nowadays what lodge he
belongs to, whether an Elk, Mason or
whatnot. If the young farmer and
his wife have good records in the po-
tato club or the pig club and the can
ming club and the sewing club, the
banker may not ask all the other
questions in the list
County Agriculturist Needed
If we hired county agriculturist
to visit every farm in the county as
they do in some places, to advise the
farmers and teach them, or the boys,
better ways of farming, and If he
were also the county rating agent to
the extent of entering in his report
the names of all who made certain
score in crop yield, sanitary condi-
tions, care of stock, arrangement for
economic operation, care of buildings
and machinery, elimination of weeds,
etc., and II such reports were pub
lished or otherwise made accessible
to all, all of the wide-awake, progress
sive folks would be interested in their
score within year, and in couple
of years lot of the others would
see where they could afford to wake
up and study methods. That would
lead to solution of some of our
worst troubles in Bingham county
but the bankers and farmers and
business men and publishers may not
cooperate in these things and one oi
the best counties in the state may