Cut Bank pioneer press. [volume] (Cut Bank, Mont.) 1909-current, 1916-09-29
FAVOR
RURAL CREDITS
JOURNEY OF FARM LOAN
BOARD ACROSS CONTINENT
ENLIGHTENING
Even Bankers Are Friendly To It and
Show Willingness to Aid in Making
1t Effective; Say 1t Will Benefit
Them.

Portland, 0re.-After a journey
from the Atlantic to the Pacific
through the choicest agricultural
sections of the country the FEEDER
al Farm Loan Board has reached
here with abundant proof that
the farmers of at least fifteen
states r ready and anxious to
take advantage of the benefits
which are theirs under the pro-
visions of the Federal Farm Loan
Act.
Seldom if ever has so much inter-
est been shown by the people of the
country in any legislative measure as
that shown by the thousands who at
tended the sessions of the Farm Loan
Board held in the northern tier of
states from Maine to Washington.
Archbishop Ireland spoke at a din
ner rendered the board following an
enthusiastic meeting, attended by
large delegations of farmers from all
points of Minnesota, and his utter
ance was typical of those made by
other leading men at the various
places where meetings were held.
Bankers Friendly.
The journey of the Farm Loan
Board demonstrated that a large ma
jority of the bankers of the territory
visited are in favor of the law and
have expressed willingness to aid in
putting its provisions into effect.
This is particularly true Of such
states as Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa,
the Dakotas, Montana and Washing
ton. Bankers who have made profits
in the shape of commissions and
bonuses on loans are ready to sacri-
flee the income they have derived
from this source and let the farm
loan business be done by the Federal
Land Banks soon to be established.
They say it will hasten the develop
ment of their respective sections and
increase their general business to an
extent which will more than make up
their losses in commissions.
A group of Montana financiers
signed a petition that a Land Bank
be located in the town where their
own institutions are located. These
bankers have been receiving interest
rates never lower than s per cent, or
10 per cent, and frequently consider
ably higher. Yet the bankers of the
city of Billings unanimously petit
toned the Board at its hearing in
Helena to locate the bank in their
city.
Some Montana Gases
Many pathetic cases Of farmers who
have been burdened with debt almost
their entire life as the result of falling
into the clutches of INSCRIPTIONS
money lenders were unearthed by the
Farm Land Board. In many instances
not only farms, but stock, homes and
next years crops are mortgaged. This
is particularly true of the homestead
ers in Montana. Men who came west
to take up lands were unable to get
ahead because of the exorbitant rates
of interest they were obliged to pay.
This situation is duplicated to some
extent in northern Michigan and the
two Dakotas. The Farm Loan Act
will permit them to obtain money for
a long period at not o than 6 per
cent and possibly less. They may en-
joy its use for a period Of from 5 to
40 years, and return it in small an
nual installments, and if they pay but
l per cent Of the loan a year their
entire obligation will be liquidated in
33 years. And if they care to have
the loan for 40 years it will amount to
less than l per cent yearly.