Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1921-03-17
Farm Loan Act Which Had Hardly Become Operative Before Its
Good Work Was Stopped BY Injunction, Declared Valid
BY The Supreme Contributions to Be Released
In Loans To Farmers

The biggest piece of good news
that has come to agricultural inter
ests in many long days, is the an
nouncement from Washington that
the constitutionality of the Farm
Loan Act, which has been before the
Supreme Court for much more thar
a year, has at last been upheld by
that tribunal, the court of last re-
sort.
Immediately after the rendering
of this very important decision, Com
missioner c. E. Lobdell, of the Farm
Loan Board, announced that there
would be an immediate issue of farm
loan bonds "to an .undeterminate
amount" to finance the hundred OF
millions of dollars in loans which al
ready had been approved by the
board and which were held up pend
ing the courts decision.
"a bond Offering will be made as
soon as the bonds can be made
ready" Mr.. Lobdell said, "and i'm
mediately thereafter the distribution
of funds begun. 1t will be at least
80 days, however, before funds are
available for actual loaning.
"The farm loan board is hopeful
that the market may absorb farm
loan bonds equal to the borrowing
demands of the farmers of the
country, but no one can predict with
safety the result of financial oper-
alton of this magnitude"
This Act, which would have done
so much to have averted the hard
times, due to money stringency, had
hardly become operative before a
stakeholder in a Kansas City bank
brought an injunction suit, alleging
that the Act was unconstitutional.
The lower court refused to grant the
injunction, and then the case was
carried to the Supreme Court, where
it has rested ever since.
The Farm Loan Act directed that
"as soon as practicable" the Farm
Loan Board should divide the Cont
mental United States into IL districts
and then provided that the Federal
Farm Loan Board shall establish in
each Federal land bank district, q
federal land bank. That was the
mandatory provision of Congress,
and enacted solely for the benefit of
the farmer. The action of one man
and the laws delay halted that aid
until now.
In his annual report Carter Glass,
who was then Secretary of the Treas
ury, told of the rapidly growing loans
that had been made up to the time of
the injunction. The report says:
"The total number of loans made
to November 80, 1919, by The joint
stock land banks was 5,815 and the
aggregate amount loaned was 1884,
126,357, representing an average of
$9,308 per loan. The farm loan act
as passed by Congress contains no
express and specific limitation upon
the amount which joint stock land
bank may loan to any borrower, nor
does it specify either the character
of the borrower to whom a loan may
be made, or the purposes to which
the proceeds of the loan may be ap-
piled.
"The highest proportion of bor-
rowing for the purchase of land was
in the eighth district, including Iowa,
South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebras-
ka, where it was 25 per cent. The
highest percentage for buildings and
Improvements was in the third and
fifth districts-the latter including
the States of Alabama, Mississippi
and Louisiana-in all of which it
was IA per cent. The high percent
age in the third and fifth districts re-
fleets the fact that in those sections
farm buildings have been for many