Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1921-02-04
LONG LOANS IS
FARMERS NEED.
ASSERTS LEVER
Member Of u. S. Farm
Loan Board Points
Out Solution

reserve paper with a zine months or
twelve months peri q of maturity
would greatly assist the farmer and
overcome to a great extent the pre-
dicament of the toilers of the soil
find themse.' es in at the " sent
time, according to A. F. Lever, mem
be- oi the Federal Farm Loan Board
who addressed the marketing confer
ence here today.
"The question uppermmost in the
minds of farmers is what happened
to bring about The present situa-
tion," said Mr.. Lever. "What has
occurred to justify a slump in prices
of farm products ranging from sol
per cent to 100 per cent within a
period of II months?
Certainly there are no less mouths
to be fed now. The yield for 1920
was not unusually large!
''The starving children of Armenia
need your wheat and corn and live
stock, but they have nothing with
which to pay for it. The domestic
consumer of farm products is on a
buyers strike. He is refusing to
buy at the exorbitant prices demand
ed by some retailers, except as he
must buy to meet immediate needs.
''The domestic manufacturer, the
wholesaler and the jobber, because
of the uncertainty of the price of the
raw material and the demand for fin
ished product, are, as it were, dane
ing the hesitation, and they too are
in the market only to fill immediate
demands.
The Real Cause.
"The underlying cause has been
that farmer has been taught to
walk the furrow and produce and
per capita he is the best producer
in the world. We have taught him
to become an expert with his hands
and have left him as a child in the
use of his head in the management
of his affairs, other than production.
"For the great staple crops like
wheat, corn, cotton, wool and live
stock, there is no existing machinery
for the orderly marketing of farm
products. Agriculture is both under
capitalized and is without any ade-
quate system of credits adapted to
its peculiar needs.
There is a terrific strain upon the
finances of the country at the crop
moving season. Also an inefficient
and expensive sytem of transporta-
tion. There is an uneconomic and
unwise strain upon the buying and
absorptive powers of the purchasers
of farm products. Under this sys-
TEN we are asking the buyers of farm
products to meet their demands for a
period Of twelve months in a period
from four to five months, with the
inevitable result to the seller of these
products.
The Remedies.
"The remedies which suggest
themselves to me are: The elimina-I
ton Of all unnecessary factors in
the present system of distribution.
The organization of commodity sales
agencies. The Standardization of
farm products into grades and class
es. The warehousing of sufficient
quantities of products to set up an
even flow of such products into the
markets of the world as the i'm
mediate demands of the world call
for them. The devising of such
credit machinery as fill enable the
farmer to market his products in al
sane and orderly way.
"The banker thinks in the psy-
chology of a quickly maturing pa
per. The turn over of the capital
investment of the farmer is once in
365 days. A paper, therefore, with
maturity of only. sixty or ninety
days, certainly, in times of financial
stress when money is hard to get,
is of little valre to him. If we are
to solve his credit problem, we must
provide him with paper which has
a maturity period equal to the turn
over period of his investment, and
a paper of less time than none or
NE months maturity, better fifteen
%months', can not be of the greatest
value to him.
"To nv mind a system can be de-
vised which will meet this necessity.
This is predicated upon the pooling
of the assets of the concern and the
issuance against such pooled assets
certificates of Indebtedness or deben--
lures in varying denominations and
periods of maturity. What Is gov
ernment bond? A government bond
is the evidence of the fact that con-
gress under the constitution has the
power to tax all Of tie assets of all
the people to make good the face
Of the bond.
Farm Loan Bonds.
IA piece of farm land IN itself,
no matter how available, will fail to