Pueblo chieftain., 1921-01-03
The Chieftain's Monday Morning Farm Page
RURAL CREDITS
SEEM TO See
REAL DAYLIGHT

North Carolina has in successful
operation a system of rural credits
that is proving of great benefit to the
farmers and truck growers. 1t can be
applied in any locality where sgricul-
turists arc willing to organize for mu-
tual help and where the state laws
will permit tho formation of Credit
Unions along tho lincs that proved
successful for a generation in Europe
before being adopted here.
John Sprunt I'm ia tho Father OF
Rural Credits in North Carolina Him
self millionaire. tho son in-law of \
multi millionaire tobacco maEnste, \
lawyer who practiced successfully In
New York City for years before he Dc
cided to become a banker in Durham.
he has theories about service that ha
likes to put into practice. HAVING
mere money than he needs-nors
than any man really needs--he has tho
time to aid his fcllowman. Having the
inclination there was nothing to pre-
won't his carrying out his ambitions
Just bafore the World War Mr.. Hin
toured Europe as member of tho
American Commission that vsnt
abroad to study the systems Of 60
operative finance that had bean In or 4,
Grafton for Son,a time. He was made
Chairman OF the Committee on Rural
Credits and when ho returned to his
home he knew as much about rural
| credits as a trained mind could absorb
| in a fcw months, The result was the
formation of the first Credit Union
| in the United States few years later. +,
Chos. A Poor Locality
When Mr.. Hill decided to see II
| something could be done for the poor
| farmors of his native state be pre-
pared law permitting the formation
! Of Credit Unions. Being a banker his
proposed law was not scrutinized
closely by other hankcra and hencs
1t contains a provision that permits
these local organizations to accept de-
posits on tho savings bank principle
| from non members. They do this un-
der the supervision of the Department
of Agriculture and without being
| regulated by tho Commissioner OF
Banking or any similar financial
| authority.
| For the first Credit Union Mr.. Hill
selected loves Grove, n strictly rural
community half a dozen miles from
| Durham. Mr.. Hill called meeting at
| tho school hous" and addressed tho
score OF farmers who gathered and OK
planned :hc purpose OF tho proposed
organization and its methods
81 devoted my appeal principally TO
/ an explanation of how money could be
saved on fertilizer" Mr.. Hill laugh
irgly explained. .and ! had figured
that the first transaction would in
volvc about $500. was prepared TO
| advance thst sum. but after the first
Credit Union in the United states was
formed the farmers present came for
ward and counted out money until 81
| 500 was on the table in front of ma
That was certainly cncouraGipE.'
TROUBLE buying Fertilizer
Though money was available the
- -v,t@
woods. When Mr.. Hin tried to buy a
carload OF fertilizer he found that Eis
noncy was no good. Though he was
n heavy stockholdcr in several fcrtil-
izcr concerns nc could not buy their
product at carlot prices. Tho manu-
racturcrs wanted their local dealers
to continue their hold on the little
| farmers by sn1linE to them on credit
MIR itill threatened TO go to Law.
| IIc had letters from several fertilizer
| concerns showing that their prices
were all tho same. their methods of
business identical. Tho manager OF
ono OF the concerns finally saw ths
light. wrote dealer after MIR. Hill5
name and sold him tho fertilizer he
| wanted
! This started that particular Credit
Union off successfully and soon other
| similar organizations wero formed.
To-day there arc thirtyfour credit
unions in various sections of North
| Carolina. they havc "A total member
shin exceeding / ,tbo, have deposits OF
nero than $4,000 and total assets
nearly twice that Not ono of tho
organizations has failed and thcro has
becn no serious loss through loanF.
Tho organizations have sSvcd many
! thousands of dollars for memhors-
So successful were tho Credit I'm
ions in this state that New York. Mas
sachusetts and Texas passed laws per-
hitting similar organizations. But
! each Of these states requires the or
/ sanization OF farmers to operate under
tho bnnking laws in accepting deposits
and this Joker has made the laws in
| effective.