Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1917-03-22
FARM LOAN ACT.
VI. Its Social and eeenomie
Effect.


The main points Of the federal farm
loan act have been set forth In the
preceding installments. The reader
will readily see that this act Is a new
thing in this country, and Is liable to
have an important effect on our social
and financial life.
Let US briefly suggest some Of its
possible effects:
The rapidly increasing cost of living
has of late given American thinkers
a great deal Of uneasiness. The fact
is everywhere recognized that u city
| population has been increasing more
rapidly than the rural population. Ev-
cry day there are some more mouths
to feed, but there is only Il slowly in
creased acreage upon which this food
is produced. Two important facts are
therefore patent:
First. more farms must be established
to provide homes for more producers.
and, second, the land under cultivation
must be farIned more carefully and
with more and better equipment TO
meet the growing demand for food.
The farm loan act will have Il strong
influence toward q realization of both
of these ideals.
Will Reduce Tenantry.
Farm %tenantry Is u curse whose
worst effects are lowered fertility and
inefficient farm methods. The tenant
is not a normal farmer. The transient
nature of his living makes maximum
production impossible. He is often
no Il meat producer, because he is
not on n farm long enough to build
up a herd of live stock. He is ii grain
farmer, and a grain farmer is Il sappcr
of fertility. He is engaged in the past
time of hauling the fertility of his land
lords soil TO market. With approx
mately one-half of the farm lands of
the country in the hands of tenants,
America is casiing in her land fertil-
ity at an amazing rate.
The farm loan act has for n OF
its important purposes the placing OF
land into the hands of owners who
will farm it with the inspiration that
comes from ownership. The owner OF
land treats it SO as TO conserve its fer
tility. He is a permanent fixture In
the neighborhood. He markets his crop
through his live stock, returning the
fertility to the soil. A nation Of land
owners means q nation with Il con-
stantly increasing capacity to produce
food for its people.
But the farm loan act will do more
for agriculture than merely supply.
ing cheap money. The act actually
specifies how the money borrowed
!: shall be spent. 1t says that unless
: used to pay debts, it shall be spent OF
things that will contribute to more
production on the SAINT acreage. 50
the farm loan act means a higher a'ld
better type of agriculture.
VIII Stimulate Cooperation.
But some students of the act be
lieye its greatest contribution will bt
the stimulation to the practice or GO
operation. Cooperation is its basic
fact. Farmers are required to get to
\ : EctIlGI lltu SloilIS w ENNbiS T. '''+'
4 fits. When they put their mortgages
I together for the sake Of getting cheap
4 or money, they will also form the habi
\ of cooperating in other problems OF
! common interest. Who knows but tina
4 these cooperative associations may be
q come the business and social units o
farm society?
4 The financial saving to the farmer
q of America would alone be enougl
8 to justify this enactment. On IL vol
q ume of four billion dollars our farm
n ers are paying now nearly 8 per cen
q annually, all of which is a tax on al
q the people because it limits consuml
n ton by handicapping the producer.
this rate should be reduced by 4 pc
n cent 1t would mean an actual annua
q saving of G0,o0O,O00. But this est
, mate of the money TO be saved doe
not take into consideration the fa(
that the normal volume Of farm loa
business will greatly increase with u
n. advantageous interest rate.
The success of the farm loan banl
ing system Is now up to the farmer
themselves. They have been give
the cooperative machinery to finane
themselvs without profit to any indi'
Io iduals. They have been given the iii
chinery for governing their own final
a., cial institutions and maintaining COZ
nj troll Of them. So carefully Is the
i. ownership guarded, no matter VIII
No buys stock in the federal land bank
that eventually none but the farmer
may have voting power.
=, Yes, the federal farm loan act
somewhat revolutionary. 1t upsets a
past practices In farm finance. 1t pu'
the interests Of the majority above Il
interest Of the few. 1t gives the und'
'v dog a chance. 1t writes "Humani,
les First" across the ledger Of .model