Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-07-15

supervision OF Federal Farm Loan
| Board. and here will center the general
administration of the system The
board VIII consist OF five members, ono
.. oi "hon VIII be the secretary Of the
treasury. and the other four appoints,
| by the President, with the advice ava
consent OF the Senate. Not more than
TWO OF these four men may belong Ia
me same political party. Each OF them
VIII receive manual salary OF tl0
900.
Federal I.nnd Hanks Formed.
Besides the board. the ac, create.
system O: Federal land banks. which
arc expected to bear somewhat, the
same relation OF agriculture that N.
regional banks created by the Federal
reserve act bear 10 commerce and in
dustry The continental United States
and Alaska will be divided into ,w,,v.
Federal land bank districts. and IN
each district the Federal Farm, Loan
Board Will establish "a Federal Land
bahk' 10 handle the farm loan business
or that district insofar rs II is trans
acted under the provisions of the new
act Such Federal land banks may be
designated by the Secretary OF the
treasury as government depositor!es.
but their scope OF business is ou!,e
sharply limited by restrictions On.
bodied in the act.
Provision is also made for tho cs
adjustment o. joint stock land banks
'or the business Of lending on farm
mortsases. and for the issuing OF farm
! roam bonds The working details o.
the system viii. Of course raujdlv hA
come familiar through use In It's
! bfoid outlines. the structure stands
OUT ciearlE Its purpose is to secure
'or the farmer long time loans a, a
moderate interest rate, 10 help the
.ehan, In buying the land ne works
on, to encourage the city man who
hears the call of the soil to return
10 a little land and comfortable liv-
ing
point worth noting in connection
with this legislation Is the rapid!tv
with which tho evidence in its favor
was gathered and acted upon. Four
years aGo tho meaning Of the term
rural credits" was hardly understood
In the United States When the South
ern Commercial Congress met in Nash
vile In lsl2 10 discuss the problem.
their proceedings seemed TO nave A
purely academic interest
Commission Studied Problem
BUT as result Of that particular
meeting. an American commission was
sent abroad by tho Commercial Con-
sress to study the problem in Euro7e
armed with a joint congressional reso-
luton recommending il TO the dip!o-
matte courtcsies OF tho several Euro
pean governments. The American COM
mission made AN extended and inten-
Si'c 9huHS VI al inc various E.UrOpedn
systems OF dealing with the problem
and II was largely on the voluminous
mass Of evidence that they collected
and the conclusions that they arrived
AT. that the plans for the new American
system are based. In n period of about
four years We have accomplished what
took Germany fifty years.
Germany. however. has a rural popu-
laion in which S6 per cent Of the
people who live on the farms own
the farms, In the United States. 81
per cent Of the farming population
owns Its own land In England, only
10 per cent of the farms are the prop
crty OF the men who work them. And
AS one man puts it-Mr. Clarence j.
Owens. who has worked for four years
on the problem. and who drew up the
rural credits plank In the Democratic
platform-perhaps the difference in in
ternal productive efficiency between
England and Germany to-day has
something to do with the difference
between ten and ciEhty-six. The larger
that significant percentage figure
climbs in the United States. the bet
ter for all concerned.