The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-10-18
RURAL CREDITS IN A VISION
COUSIN BEN TO FARMER NED
COUSIN BEN TO FARMER NED


ported he sent their reports to every
governor of America, with a personal
letter, urging the Governors to give
the subject serious study and be pre-
pard to discuss it at the next meeting
of the House Of Governors, which
was held in December, 1912 About
that time farmers began agitating
the subject in farm meetings. Lead
ers of agriculture made speeches
upon the subject more or less hazy
and in many instances unsound, be-
cause the subject was not understood
| clearly even by economists. 1t was
discussed by the National Grange, then
by the Farmers Union and by the
| Southern Congress- non-political
farm organization of the south. So
much were they impressed in the
Southern Congress that they appointed
an American Commission of 100 rep
resentative farmers to go to Europe.
at their own expense, to study the sub
ject in company with the official
| United States Commission.
| Prior to that, President Taft had
! secured from Congress an act appoint
ing United States Commission to
go to Europe for the same purpose, as
an official body representing the
United States Government So these
two commissions went together. and
as a result they urged the passage
OF Rural Credits Law, based upon
cooperation of farmers.
But | want to emphasize to you the
fact that not one step of this prepara-
tory work is to be credited to the
| democrats, it was all done during the
Roosevelt and Taft administration
President Taft signed the law author
'izing the United States Commission
just before he went out of office. The
only thing that can be credited to the
Democrats is the BUNGLING LAW
WHICH THEY HAVE PASSED which
you will find absolutely imperative,
because its makers don't know farmers
nor farm conditions, and refused to
take any advice from the Roosevelt
Farm Life Commission or from the
real farmers who investigated the sub
| ject in Europe, unless they happened
to be Democrats. They were so eager
to make political capital that they for
got to study real farm conditions.
Just as an illustration of the polit-
ical pOppycock of this Democratic
measure, look how it's expensive Fed
eral Loan Board started work With
out even waiting to establish head
quarters, the first thing the Board
did with salaries of over $1,000 a
week. was to junket up to Maine
What for? They had no power to
/ change the law and no intentions to
establish one of the twelve land banks
in Maine. All they could do was to go
up there and make a noise like
hearings before farmers, for its
effect on the political campaign. So
Maine turned in whooping majority
against the Democratic senators and
representatives. g Remember the
Maine!" Ned, Remember the Maine!"
The cooperative part of the system
| is loaded with the local National Farm
Loan Association of ten or more neigh
Dor farmers, who won't work together,
because they do not want to consult
each other about their intimate affairs.
| The Democrats have also in the same
law set up a rival system. which
assures the failure of the cooperative
system. 1t would have been almost
impossible to establish the co-opefat-
i've system anyhow, along the plan
proposed, but to place this extra OBJ
stacle in the form of a joint stock
bank-a profit making concern, to be
owned by it's investors and not by
farmers-is simple numbering their
own child. The complicated plan
(their child would probably have died
anyhow, choled as it is, but one would
expect its parents to have done all
they could to have saved it from death,
| instead of taking such a club and
| beating out it's brains as the Joint
| Stock Profit-Taking Bank is bound
to do with the struggling co-opera-
| tives.
The characteristic difference be-
| tween Republicans and Democrats Is
that Republicans protect their infant
industries; the Democrats give theirs
infantiIe PARALYSIS Your COuSin