The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-10-11
sMAKETH THE HEART SICK.c
Hape Deferred = Only Faith Is the
Shadowy Substance Of Things Hoped
For That Smart Carpetbagger Asks
MISUNDERSTANDING the Titles.

over your dismay (as | saw you in my
visions of Rural Credits) when you dis
cover that all three farmers of your
each appraisal, not by a majority, but
unanimously. Farmers have hard
work TO get together, but mutual in
terest will FINALLY get all the apprais-
ais fiXd up somehow.
| So you hold a meeting Of your Credit
Union, and all ten appraisals are ap-
proved and lot of blanks are mailed
to the Federal Land Bank. These are
1.-THE applications for your loans, duly
approved and endorsed by your Ma
tional Farm Loan Association. 1t
took lot of talking to show the fell
lows about why they had to buy STOCK,
and it was a tremendous job to fill out
all those blanks, but you Clipped in
and paid Squire Brown $25 to fill them
all out, shipshape. He spent two days
on the job and charged $25-the old
hog. So that cost you $3.50 apiece.
But it is all done now and the papers
are mailed to the bank, and you ten
farmers and Squire Brown sit around
for two hours swapping stories of
your early pioneer days, until it is
way past feedin' time before you get
started for home. You have calculat-
ed that the bank ought to get your
papers next day, and, allowing whole
day for the banker to read your papers
Cf he doesn't just o. K. them without
| hot 20 'c han
writing) you ought to get the cash
at the end of the week at the latest
That will come just right-between
the haying and cultivating the corn
and you lay your plans to go right to
work with some help, ditching that
swamp, as soon as the money is here
/ Well, in about ten days, the secre-
tary of your National Farm Loan ASS
ociation calls you up by phone and
notifies you that there is to be meet
ing Of the Association next day. He
says he has heard from the bank, but
the pesky phone buzzes so you can't
understand clearly just what he said
the banker wrote. Anyhow, the mon
ey must have come, SO you will knock
off work and go to the meeting and get
that money and put it into the bank
where it will be safe until you use it
When you get to the meeting you
find that there is just a short letter
from the banker, saying he has receiv-
ed your ten applications for loans
together with your appraisals, and that
as early as possible a Federal apprais-
er will be assigned to visit your local
ity, and pass on the appraiSals, and
if he certifies them as satisfactory, a
charter will be issued to your Nation
al Farm Loan Association and the
loans be made.
None of you understood about this
carpetbagger' coming to do the ap-
praising. Why didn't they tell you
before, instead of your spending all
that time appraising each others
farms? Both appraisals necessary
Bosh-why, that's foolish, for when
Ben Sampson put a mortgage on his
farm he went to Squire Brown and
filled out a statement which Squire
signed under Ben's name, and the
Squire sent it to the insurance com
pany he was agent for, and inside of q
week Ben had his money. There was
not all this appraising and double ap-
praising.
When is that carpetbagger coming
The banker says there has been such
a flood of applications that there ap-
praisers are unable to keep up with
the calls on them, and there is none
within three hundred miles of you
it will perhaps be some months be-
fore any appraisers will reach you
In the meanwhile the banker hopes the
delay will not inconvience any of the
members. OF course not. When a
farmer sets out to borrow money, any
old time will do-if he is in no hurry
But that puts off the improvement
you intended, until harvest and then
threshing, are upon you-in fact you
decide not to start the improvement
until next season Any old time will
debut if you get your money this
season, the interest begins right away
you know.
About months later a certified chap
steps off the train, takes the bus to the
hotel and after registering and getting
a lot of mail, he inquiries for Bill Davis
the secretary of your local National
Farm Loan Association, and introduc-
es himself with a letter of credentials
as the Federal Land Bank appraiser
the "carpetbagger," as Bill calls him
Next day he gets livery team and
driver and starts to visit your ten
farms. He can't inspect over two
farms a day for they are scattered all
over two townships and so it takes
him nearly a week to get around your
ten, and you can see how it is going to
take a long time for the carpetbaggers
to appraise all the farms to be mort
gage in America.
This chap takes lot of notes in
his book and asks you all a lot Of ques-
tons about what you raised each year
for the last five years, and how much
stock you kept-not double liability
stock but ZEAL four-footed critters
and a string of fool questions about
rotation and fertilizer and deep plow-
ing, just as if he knew how to farm
better than you did. He doesn't tell
you what he is going to appraise your
farm at. and that's all you want to
know from him Why, he wouldn' t
know q Poland China hen from a