Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1918-12-13

OS"A AOiAuS, pay Tor
postage the same as any other busl-
ness concern, pay office rentals and
Tor legal and clerical helm. and e.
may be no harm to say that we know
nothing, and care less, of the polit-
zeal affiliations of our EMPLOYEES.
fhey are expected to work hard and
lull time, and results only count.
For all we furnish and for all the
work we do as aforesaid, we get not
dollar until after the loan has been
out six months, and then, if the bor-
rover pays, We get one-half of one
per cent per annum profits. That on
a loan of $1,000 would be $3.50. Op-
Grating under those conditions and
on those terms, and with no other
source OF revenue, we have met all
the organization expenses, all the
cost of examining and considering
thousands of applications from which
no results were had, and have been
on paying basis since early in this
year, and gradually accommodating a
surplus, which, by the way, will make
dividends for no one but the farmer
borrower.
we ask only OF all friends of the
system that they be fair and con-
structiye in their criticism, not de-
structive; not joining those who at
tack us, for the very good reason
that their profits have been affected.
Tell us of the things that will enable
US to give better services, and we
will endeavor to measure up to the
expectations if they are reasonable
and right.
Many wise persons sagely shook
their heads in derision at the idea
that the Farmers Bank would OPP
crate at any reasonable cost; they
said politics would get into it and
chair warmers" would get jobs;
that common persons without fees or
big profits could not deal with fin
ancial matters through farmers or
CARNATIONS; that farmers would not
pay and politicians would not make
them pay; that the placing of mort
gage loans is an abstruse and won
derful mystery to be approached only
by select and chosen class.
Bless them, there is an institu-
ton now being developed that even
on the small margin it charges, If
permitted to work out it's own des-
TIMES, will within few years ac-
cumulate a surplus that will be sur
prising; that will pay dividends to
the farm loan associations; that will
afford safety and economies to the
farmers of the Northwest to the end
that they can become financially In
dependent; an institution the securi-
ties of which are already so we'll es-
tablished that it's bonds, even in
these times, are already selling in the
open market at a substantial pre-
MUM.
''The Federal Land Bank has no
demand obligations; 1t will have no
unsecured loans; properly conducted,
it's financial position will become I'M
assailable. The first year is its time
of trial and stress, and those who are
not with it are naturally opposed.
Its mission is to afford economies.
We're it to employ sufficient persons
to reach every farmer who called on
it during the first season at one time,
it would have accumulated an ex-
pense account before 1t had made any
earnings that would have exhausted
its resources, and then 1t would stop
1T has endeavored to render i'm
partial service, as it properly should,
to each of the states of Its district,
and in so doing 1t has organized more
farm loan associations In Montana
and completed more loans there than
In any other state of the district. 1t
loans money to the farmers OF the
Northwest, who In the past paid
higher interest rates than would any
other business, at lower rates than
can now be secured even by the most
favored husinegses
at has loaned and is today making
loans to farmers at lower interest
rates than your counties can secure
on the sale of their bonds. 1t asks
from the farmer only security and
the payment of the amortization In
stallments provided by law.
ut has materially benefited even
those whom It has not directly served
by bringing about more favorable
conditions for those persons to &C.
cure loans elsewhere. One may be
pardoned for asking what rate OF In
terest and what commission the
farmers may be forced to pay during
1918 were 1t not for the levelins
Influence of the Federal Land Bank.
=. e. aaaRi