Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-07-14
Addressing National Fertilizer
Association, He Condemns
Government Aid.
AMERICAN FARMERS THE
MOST CAPABLE IN WORLD
Explains Cooperative Organization
Abroad and Urges a Like System
for the United States.

address on The Need of Rural Cred
its before the National Fertilizer AS
ISOLATION convention here today, Myron
L. Herrick. former bassador to
france. urged. as a remedy for what
ever trouble exists in rural communi-
ties. the establishment of cooperative
organizations Of farmers. He asserted
that not one of the successful systems
in operation in this country or in Eu-
rope owed its existence to the inter-
Vention OF the government. and that
agricultural progress was not keeping
pace with the expansion Of industry and
population. A cooperative system, to
b. successful, according to Mr.. Her
rick, must be built up by the farmers
themselves without outside assistance
Of any sort.
Mr.. Herrick began his address by
sketching the development of the west,
ana declaring that the American farm
ers. having awaited themselves Of in
formation and education. had become
the most capable in the world. He
then continued. in part. as follows:
The troubles with American agri-
culture are not so much Of pressing,
immediate Importance as they are
fraught with grave consequences for
the future. Europe's problem was to
remove troubles which actually existed:
3.
Agricultural progress here Is not keep
ing pace with the expansion of indus
try and the growth Of population. I'm
less Its progress be accelerated the
shortcomings of agriculture amid the
rapid advance Of all things else will
sooner or later be detrimental to the
country's welfare.
The causes of these shortcomings
are manifold. The want of good roads
Is one and the absence of social pleas
a M D,.A
est OF al! is In my opinion the lack of
organized selling and purchasing
power.
German Cooperative Organization.
"Organized selling and purchasing
power is best attained through cooper
alton. Cooperative organization OF
farmers was so remarkably successful
from its start over fifty years ago in
Germany that bankers. merchants
statesmen and students soon acknowl-
edged its wonderful benefits Cooper
alton means mutual self-help. 1t spurn.
charity and subsidy, state aid, special
privileges and class legislation. 1t
rests entirely upon itself. gives full
play to individualism. private initiative
and private enterprise. and for this
reason it is the strongest opponent and
=
ever devised against socialism.
Cooperation must be built up by
the farmers themselves by starting at
the grass roots and depending on their
own resources and efforts. first as
sembled and combined in basic units or
cieties.
You perhaps have been led to believe
that these basic local units are merely
little savings-and-loan associations in
which the farmers make small loans to
one another from their savings. This
mistaken notion has been written into
the Massachusetts. New York, Wiscon-
sin, Texas and other state laws on the
enormously so-called credit unions,
and it has made those laws worthless
1t had beclouded the minds of the pub
lie about cooperative banking. AL
these laws will have to be recast.
7 The Rural Cooperative Bank.
"A rural cooperative bank is exactly
what It's name signifies, and something
more, because 1t takes the place to
some extent Of the country store. 1t
possesses general banking powers. but
delimits its area. restricts its opera
tions to agricultural projects. confines
its credit facilities to members and
borrows, II possible, from or through
the system to which 1t belongs. Thus
1t devotes its resources exclusively to
the agricultural good Of its immediate
neighborhood. and-provided the laws
are properly drawn-it is protected
from speculative ventures and from
becoming excessively a debtor to the
outside world. 1t may be either a joint
stock company or a pure association
like a savings bank.
The real cooperative bank works
for the individual good through the
common good of It's members The
main use of the funds is to buy farm
supplies in bulk at wholesale to retail
to members at lower price or on bet
ter terms than they could obtain for
themselves il each were standing
alone. The banks grand object is to
assemble the individual resources of
it's members and organize and
strengthen the purchasing and selling
power.
The Service the Bank Renders.
The rural cooperative bank ex-