Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-10-13
Dear Cousin Ned

Dear Cousin Ned:-
| have been chuckling for a week
over your dismay las | saw you in
my vision of Rural Credits) when
you discover that all three farmers
on your appraisal, not by majority,
but unanimously. Farmers have hard
work to get together, but mutual in
terest will finally get all the apprais-
ais fixed up somehow.
So you hold a meeting of your Gre
dit Union, and all ten appraisals are
approved and a lot of blanks are fill
ed out and mailed to the Federal Land
Bank. These are the applications for
your loans, duly approved and en-
dorsed by your National Farm Loan
Association. 1t took a lot of talking
to show the fellows about why they
had to buy stock, and it was tremen-
dous job to fill out all those blanks,
but you Clipped in and paid Squire
Brown S25 to fill them all out, ship
shape. He spent two days on the
job and charged $25-the old hog.
SO that cost you $3.50 apiede. But it
is all done now and the papers are
mailed to the bank, and you ten farm
ers 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 back home. You have calcu-
lated that the bank ought to get your
papers next day, and, allowing a
whole day for the banker to read your
papers Of he doesn't just o. X. them
without bothering to read Squire
Browns handwriting) you ought to
get the cash by the end of the week
at the latest. That will come just
right-between the haying and culti-
waiting 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
Association calls you up by phone
and notifies you that there is to be
n meeting 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 says the banker wrote. Any
how, the money must have come, so
you will knock off work and go to
the meeting and get that money and
put it into 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 re-
ceived your your ten applications for
loans, together with your appraisals,
and that as early as possible a Fed
eral appraiser will be assigned to
visit your locality, and pass on the
appraisals, and if he certifies them
as satisfactory, q charter will be is
sued to your National Farm Loan As
sociation and the loans be made.
None of you had understood about
this carpetbagger's coming to do the
appraising. 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 wher
Ben Samson put a mortgage on hi;
farm he went to Squire Brown anc
filed 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 ot
a week Ben had his money. There
wasn't all this appraising and double
appraising.
When is that carpetbagger com
ing? The banker says that there has
been such flood of applications tha'
their appraisers are unable to keeI
up with the calls on them, and al
there is none within three hundred
miles of you, it will perhaps be somt
months before any appraisers will
reach you. In the meanwhile th'
banker hopes the delay will not in
convenience any of the members. o
course not. When a farmer sets ou
to borrow money, any old time vii
do-if he is in no hurry.
But that puts off the improvement
you intended, until harvest and thel
threshing, are upon you-in fact yo1
decide not to start the improvement
until next season. Any old time will
do-but if you do get your money thi
season, the interest begins right ava,
you know.
About three months later a citifie
chap steps off the train, takes the bu
to the hotel and after registering an
getting a lot of mail, he inquiries fo