The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-02-04
EVER OF FEDERAL
FARM LOAN BOARD
GFERS SUGGESTIONS
TO ASSIST FARMERS

W ASSIST FARMERS
Madison, Wis, Feb. 4.-Federal re-
erve paper with a nine months or
felve months period Of maturity
oud greatly assist the farmer and
vercone to u great extent the pred
ament the toilers OF the soil finu
hemselves in at the present time,
ccocrding 10 A. F.. Lever, member
the Federal Farm Loan Board who
ddressed the Marketing Conference
ere today
The question upppermost in the
minds of the farmers is what hap
8ened to bring about the present
ituation," said Mr.. Lever. What has
Hccurred to justify a slump in prices
farm products, ranging from 80
Mer cent TO 100 per cent within a
Reriod of ~ months?
u Certainly there are no less mouths
40 be fed now. The field for 1920
mas not unusually large!
- "The starving children of Armenia
heed your wheat and corn and live
9ltock, but they have nothing with
which to pay for it. The domestic
Konsumer Of farm products is on a
buyers strike. He is refusing to buy
Wbt the exorbitant prices demanded
by some retailers, except as he must
1|o meet immediate needs.
IA "The domestic manufacturer, the
@Fholesller and the jobber, because OF
Eihe uncertainty of the price of the
Ltuw material and the demand for fin
EIshed product, are, as 1t were, dancing
Tlhe hesitation, and they too are in
*he market only 10 fill immediate
Demands.
THE underlying cause has been that
I'd farmer has been taught to walk the
Rurrow and produce and per capita
he is the best producer in the world.
RVe have taught him to become an
Nkxpert with his hands and have left
EhIm as q child in the use OF his head
T)n the management Of his affairs,
3bther than production.
III "FNor the great staple crops like
.HWheat, corn, cotton, wool and live
Hbtock, there is no existing machinery
Wor the orderly marketing of farm
1broducts. Agriculture is both under
Mkapitalized and Is without any ade-
Nhuate system of credits adapted to
Its peculiar needs.
"There is a terrific strain upon the
4kinances of the country at the crot
Wbmoving season. Also an inefficient
hnd expensive system of trunspora.
lion. There is an uneconomic and
binwise strain upon the buying and
Iabsorptive powers OF the purchaser:
Fbf farm products. Under this system
i've are asking the buyers OF farm
|products to meet their needs for G
period Of twelve months in a periot
Ffrom four to five monhs. with tht
Iinevtable result to the seller OF thes,
.Iproducts.
"The remedies which suggest them
f'selves to me are: The elimination
sIof all Unnecessary factors in the presen
fsystem Of distribution. The organiza
Jtion of commodity sales agencies. Th
Standardization of farm proudcts int,
IgVdes and classes. The warehousinI
of Nufficient quantities of products L
set up an even flow Of such pro
Iducts into the markets of the worl,
j4as the immmediate demands of IN
world call for them. The devisng o
lIsuSh credit machinery as will enabl
ths farmer TO market his products II
sane and orderly way.
"The banker thinks in the psychol
Xogy Of a quickly maturing paper
4 The turn over of the capital invest
ment of the farmer is once in 36
days. A paper, therefore. with
maturity Of only sixty or ninet
days. certainly, In times OF financia
Stress when money Is hard to get.
OF little value to him. II We are
rolve his credit problem. We mus
provide him with a paper which ha
a maturity period equal TO the tur
lover period Of his investment. and
paper of less time than nine or twelv
months maturity, better fifiee
months, can not be OF the creates
value TO him.
ITO my mind n system can be d,
vised which will meet this necesst!
This is predicated upon the poolln
OF the asses Of the concern and III
issuance against such pooled asse,
certificates OF Indebtedness or dcber
lures In varying denominations an
1periods OF maturity. What Is n Go,
ernment bond? A Government bond
the evidence of the fact that Congre:
j under the constitution has the pow,
J 10 tax all OF the 0ssets OF all III
people to make good the face of n
!, bond.
, "A piece OF farm land In itsel
VI no matter how valuable. will fail
II unlock the doors OF credit. a far
mortgage on the same piece OF lar
\ in itself would have no standing
,he money markets OF the world. bl
when under the farm loan act v
have set NJ four thousand association
nj OF faymers throughput every agricu
III tural county In the United state
~ and when these associations ha'
taken IN many farm mortgages-
the nelghborhooi OF le600o-and ha'
III placed these In Federal Land Banks
(, regional banks-ln the hands OF "A 90
III crnment nppointec known as far
loan registrar, and these banks ha'
ISSUED against this mortgage far
loan bonds. the Missouri farm HI
4. become through this magic lqu
!, asset which flows freely In the mon,
markets OF the country. Wlhat IL
farm Ian JOnd? II Is che cvidcn
Al that trustee has In his passcssi,
farm mortgages which n forcclos
would be sufficient In value to me
the obligations OF the bond.
"Thc working out Of this syste
III cf farm credit, as we'll as The AL