Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-01-30
Two New Attacks
 Made On Federal Farm Loan Measure

Washington, Jan. %. Farm mort, gage brokers and other opponents of the federal farm loan act struck two blows at the fundamentals of tn, law this week thru the United States supreme court and thru legislative channels in congress.
 Opposition to the Smoot bill pro. posing removal of the tax exemption feature from bonds issued by iand banks, was solid at hearing on the bill held by the senate committee or banking and currency. A number of bankers and farmers appeared before the committee opposing any attemp. to tax these bonds and term ing such a proposal as q menace te the very life of the act itselr.
 Several days prior to this hear ing Former Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Former Attorney General George w. Wick erHkam argued the constitutionali ty of the act in the interests of the federal land and the joint stock lant banks respectively. Suit to annu the tax exemption feature in the f;ria loan act had been brought by farm mortgage brokers.
 Ire Shoot bill has been reported favorably for passage by the com r.itttc The purpose of the inform al hearing was to enable joint stocl land bankers to present their argu mtn1s against the bill. President. Of tie l2 federal land banks appear ed before the house committee re crntly. Both at the supreme cour nearing and at the senate committed leaIlng, the real question at issue was to whether the land banks wer, funct;oning to provide capital fo agricultural development as the ac clearly intends; and that if the! were so functioning, could they con tinue to operate without the privil ege of issuing tax-exempt bonds.
 Dwelling on the constitutionalit, of the act and the right of congress to promote and develop agricultur, by financing farmers thru loans a low rates, Former Justice Hughe pointed to 60 years of constant ac tivity by the government in agricul tural fields. The endowment O agricultural schools; the establish ment of husbandry bureaus allie, to farming; the distribution O seeds, analysis of soils and such ac tivities, he said, pointed conclusive ly not only to the unassailable pow CT tf congress to so promote foot production but to the emphatic necessity for it.
 MT. Wickersham, appearing fo1 the joint land banks, reiterated thu arguments of MT. Hughes. The ac was national in scope, he said; was helpful to all classes and not ont class alone and as evidence that tho dual banking system of administer ing the federal loan act was neces eary, sa,d that $15O,000,000 in loan had been applied for by farmers fol use this spring and that the legality and heiofulness of these loans wa: nullified by existing litigation.
 Evans Woollen, president of tn, Fletcher Savings and Trust compa ny and of the Fletcher Joint Stocl Land bank of Indianapolis, answered the question of whether the join stock land banks were functionint as helpful agencies when he ap peared before the senate committee
 "Loans by joint stock land banks the month before last were 38 pc, cent of the total loaned under th' system," he said. "These banks lent only for agricultural purposes am per cent of the lenders capital stool nor more than $50,000. The maxi mum rate is per cent and no com mission. Banks are functioning il such states as Virginia, West Vir ginia, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mime sota, Montana, Texas and Californi, and in the corn belt.
 Mrs. N. A. Taylor, president O. the First Trust an.l Savings banl of Cl icago, H., told the committe' tta, if the removal of this class 0 securities from the tax exemption privilege would result in Legislation by states to establish land bank with the privilege of issuing stat securities free of all tax, as Soul nakcta and other westa,n states hat already done. He said that clearly the remedy proposed in the bil would not and could not reach tn tax exemption evil.
 J. B. Finley of the Union Join Stock Land bank of Richmond, Va speaking to the committee.
 "You will not restrict our activi ties by taxing these bonds," h warned the committee, "you will ter minate them. We cannot now unde the law make a turnover exceedin 15 times our capital. It would b impossible to sell these bonds i taxable and still lend to the farm CT at 6 per cent, which is the maxi