The Glenwood post., 1920-07-10
PLANS FOR sTAKrNa


lem of maintaining the high standard
of rural living and rural citizenship
in the face of the almost irresistible
economic "pull' to the eties-was
livered at the Colorado Agricultural
college last week under the auspices
of the summer school, by Dean Eugene
Davenport of the department Of agri-
culture of the University of Illinois.
Dean Davenport's IS solution, in brief,
is the formation in each community
of an Improvement association for the
purpose of buying farms in the com
munity as they change hands, AMI
grub stalking upon them young
couples known to the members of the
association who want to stay on the
farm.
This would not only solve the land
problem, said Dean Davenport, but 1t
would put within the control of the
community itself the future citizen
ship of the community.
Conditions, he pointed out have
changed. Now he said, suppose
the young couple has been graduated
from one of our colleges, the young
man from an agricultural course and
the young woman from domestic
science course, and they wish to cs-
tablish rural home. What can they
do! They can't buy farm at sev,
eral hundred dollars an acre. They
haven t any security with which to
get loan.
Zone thing many of them do is to
90 into other occupations to earn the
money with which to buy farms. But
before they are able to accumulate
the needed capital, they are in middle
LIE and already have family, and
they are so well established in some
business somewhere that they can o.
afford to give it up and start all over
again.
In connection with the problem.
''''hI'it It's extent
by citing cases wherein one or more
children had inherited farms and still
the difficulties could not be worked
out satisfactorily. If there is only
one son, lie said, he will be at a point
where he viii want to establish him
self on a farm of his own and raise
a family while his father is lust in
his prime. In many cases the father
retires long before he otherwise would
Just to give his son Il chance, but this,
he SAID was wrong and was unsatis-
factory. sometimes the father Will
take the son in partnership, but even
then 1t means another house has to be
built on the farm, two families must
be supported, and other problems
arise.
Dean Davenport said that loans bv
the government or the state were an
impractical solution of the land prob
lem, since the loans needed are per
soma loans, and the government or
state has no personal knowledge OF
those who want the loans upon which
to base them.
- What is needed, - he said, SIS the
financing OF farming ON the same
basis a. great deal of the financ-
ing OF lndustry-on Il personal basis.
The farmer shoud have personal credit
The personal loan may be risky if one
couple alone is considered, but with a
thousand couples it would not be at
all risky.
Each community should form an
Improvement association to hold ia
the community those young people
that the community wants TO stay on
the FARMS the dean said. THE as
soclation, which is composed of the
citizens of the community, would have
personal knowledge of the young peo-
pie and would know whom to place
on farms, and any state or govern
hent assistance could be given them
through the associations -
The couples should be encoura ged
TO pay for the farms as soon as pos
sIbl", aud the interest charged on the
investment should be low, s,id Dean
Davenport. Any citizen should be
willing to accept a small return on
his investment in such an undcrtal,
ing in return for the opportunity it
would give him Of helping choose his
neighbors and helping to maintain
the standards of the community, he
said.