Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1917-02-06
TO keep MEN ON FARMS.
CHEAPER CREDIT WOULD STOP
TREND TOWARD. CITY.
Federal Farm Loan Expert Shows
How the Cost Of Living Would
Be Lowered.
(By Frank r. WiIson.)

good share OF the world, the granting
of cheaper credit to the farmer for
the purpose of enlarging his oppor-
tunities and cheapening his cost of
production is likely to have an i'm
portant part in the solution of the
great cost of living problem. The
records of the United States census
Office show constantly increasing
trend toward the cities. Each year
shows that there are more persons
to be fed, whereas the acreage that
has been producing food and the
number of hands to cultivate these
acres have not increased in the same
proportion. 1t is patent, therefore,
that to meet this increasing demand
for food, more farms must be estab-
lished to provide homes for more pro-
ducers and the land now under cul-
itvation must be farmed more care
fully and with more and better equip
ment. Provision of cheap capital for
land purchase and farm development
will mean at least a partial realiza-
tion of these ideals.
IF the farm loan act will reduce
she percentage of tenantry in the
United States it will have accomplish
ed great deal toward putting Amer
ican agriculture on more substan-
tial basis. More than half of the
farms of the United States are now
in the hands of tenants The tenant
is a transient farmer and the tenn
porary nature of his operations pre-
vents him from operating at maxi
mum capacity. Short leases make it
out of the question for tenants to be
large meat producers. The tenant
is usually a grain farmer, and in
many sections of the country a sim
gle cropper. He is engaged in haul
ing the fertility of his landlords
soil to market. The farm owner con-
serves the fertility Of his soil by mar
keting his crop through his live stock
and returning the fertility to the
land. A nation sof land owners means
n nation with a constantly increas-
ing capacity to produce food for its
people. A reduction of farm tenan-
try and a substitution of class OF
land owners means improved social
conditions in the country and a more
permanent form of country life.
Since the farm loan act provides
how the borrowed money shall be
spent and limits its use to purposes
that will make farms more produc-
tive, it is bound to have an elevating
influence on the standard Of agri-
culture in the United States. Every
borrower under the farm loan act
makes it a part of his contract that
he will use the money either to re-
duce existing Indebtedness or in some
way that will contribute to greater
production on the same number OF
acres. Since the formation of these
small groups of farmers is the toun-
dation upon which the farm loan sys-
TEN is built, it is apparent that this
legislation will foster the spirit of
cooperation among farmers. When
farmers put their mortgages toseth-
er for the sake of cheaper money 1t
is reasonable to presume that they
will form the habit of cooperation
in other problems of common inter
est.
The present farm loan Indebtedness
of the United States is probably APP
proximately $4,000,000,0OO, and the
average interest rate now charged Is
between S12 and 9 per cent. If the
farm loan act would reduce the in
terest rate of the United States by 4
per cent. it would mean financial
saving to the farmers of bteween l1u
and 200 millions per year, and tins
estimate of saving takes no account
of the fact that high interest rates
have reduced the volume of farm
loan indebtedness far below what II
will be when lower rate is estab-
hshed.
High interest rates and unfavor-
able terms of farm mortgages have
been a serious handicap to farm de-
velopment. Curtailing farm produe-
ton has taxed the consumer as well
as the producer, because the limited
production of food gave an increased
advantage to the food Spectator.
The farm loan act is, in measure,
revolutionary. 1t stands for equali-
ty of opportunity. 1t says that the
aggressive farmer who goes out into
new lands to enlarge the sphere of
production is entitled to the same OPP
portunities as the man who operates
in a territory already developed. 1t
puts the public interest above the in
terest of any individual. 1t takes in
dividual profit out of the business
of financing food production.
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