Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1915-02-18

Vi ulle NouILIlIt'SS
of the 4Sth General Assembly
l am deeply grateful to you
for your kindness in extending
to me an invitation to meet with
you this day. I should hesitate
very much to take any part of
your valuable time, realizing that
you have before you for consid-
Grafton many bills Of great i'm
portance, did l not believe. and
was l not thoroughly and firmly
convinced from my experience
as a business man and a farmer
as we'll, and from my personal
observation of the benefits de
rived from the land bank sys-
TEN in operation in other nations
that it is a question of para.
mount importance to all of our
people today.
The American farmer is pro.
ducing 1e billion dollars of
wealth annually. He is borrow.
ing 61a billion dollars; and, &c.
cording to the official statement
of President Taft, he is paying
Counting commissions So per
cent interest. This statement
proves two things:
(a) That this production is
the basis of all prosperity. And
vet, after creating this vast
wealth, the farmer has not only
been denied the opportunity of
financing himself from its first
use, but he has been placed at
the bottom of the list so far as
the rate of interest he pays for
money is concerned.
~ The fundamental priuci
pie of economics is that a dollar
spent which could be saved is
not only a direct waste to the liz.
dustry itself, but it is a tax on
every other industry. There
fore, if the agricultural class is
paying So % interest on 61a bill.
lion dollars which by proper
financial machinery could be re-
duced to, say, ) per cent, then
there is a money waste of some
200 million dollars annually to
the nation.
At the outset it must be borne
in mind, broadly speaking, that
credit is divided into two parts.
Real, or mortgage loans on real
estate, and personal or short
time loans. The real loan is the
one secured by mortgage on
real estate. The personal loan
is the enc usually obtained by
note, and the note is sometimes
secured by endorsements or the
deposit of bonds or other per-
sonal property. There is a dis
tinct difference between banks
which handle these two kinds of
loans and they should be treated
accordingly. | will discuss with
you only the mortgage loans.
Our system of 3 to ) year
loans is discredited and archaic.
1t is inevitable that these loans
must be renewed with the usual
commissions, or that the farmer
must sell part of his investment.
That is t. say, his capital must
be reduced il the loans are to be
paid in bulk, according to our
system. Neither is desirable
nor should be necessary. All
other nations of the world have
discredited this 3 to 5 year loan
plan that we use in America, and
it should have been discarded by
US many years ago. The maxi.
mum time allowed for paying of
loans for such purposes is 80
years in Finland, 80 years in
Chill, 36I years in New Yea.
land, AZ years in Australia, so
years in Italy and Japan, 54T
years in Austria, 55I years in
Russia, 5619 years in Germany
and Sweden, 81 years in Swift
zerland, 60 years in Denmark
SO years in Hungary, 63N years
in Ireland, and Is years in
France.
1t is stated on authority that
there is a total of % billion dol.
lars being utilized by the farmer
in the above named countries on
this long time bond issue plan at