Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1922-04-11
AID TO FOOD
GROWERS FROM
US. GOVERNMENT
CONTINUED From Page One.)

interests when they come to periods of
depression and trouble. There cannot be
much doubt that the revival of the war
finance corporation has served a useful
purpose and met legitimate need. The
wealth of freely offered testimony all
over the country from the Mississippi
River westward cannot be disregarded.
One has not encountered a single dis
senting voice. The war finance corpora
tion will not have concluded its work by
the first Of July. q 1t will require time
| to clean up ana bring to an orderly con-
| clusion the operations in which it has
| been engaged. Under the present law 1t
is empowered to renew loans for period
of two years from the date of the orig
inal loan, but an organization will have
/ to be maintained for inspection, examina-
ton and other routine matters Of adjust
ment. The whole transaction and work
Of the corporation cannot be abruptly
and prematurely terminated. That Is
perfectly clear.
The large question that Congress will
have to determine is whether, in the
permanent financial system Of this coun-
try, there should not be incorporated
some agency, or powers given to exist
ing agencies, when the banks are unable
to help the producer and he is forced to
sell his products and herds at ruinous
prices. The livestock men, including both
sheep and cattle raisers, offer a special
problem. They require long term loans.
In general, both interests require q tim
ing Of their loans that will adjust Itself
to the period Of raising and marketing
crop, whether il be cotton, grain beef
cattle or sheep. 1t takes three years from
6o tr,n L. h,rv
ready for the market as beef. A three
month loan, or even six month loan is
no good in such n case. The period Of
financing must accommodate Itself to the
period required for production and mar
keting, and this ranges, roughly, from
six months to three years.
RESERVE SYSTEM
BEING ADJUSTED.
The Federal reserve system Is now ad-
justed to take care of manufacturing and
business finance. It is not adjusted to
the financing o, livestock and agricul
tural products. where the slow and or
derby processes Of nature must be taken
into consideration. Community banks,
except in special cases, prefer short loans
to long ones, and liquid collateral that
can be turned readily into cash. We may
come 20 some system OF branch banks
that can take care of these large national
interests that for the moment have been
rescued from ruin, according to their
own account, by the war finance corpora
ton All Of these food producers are as
much entitled to banking facilities that
will be accommodated TO their needs as
are the business men, manufacturers and
other industries Of the country. AS has
recently been proved, they have a strong
hold upon the attention and sympathies
OF both branches OF Congress. So in the
end they probably will get what :hey
want The danger to be avoided is Civ
ing them more than they need or more
than Is right and proper and sound in
an economic sense. In the long run II
will not be any great help to these peo-
pie II they come TO have feeling In any
time of trouble that they call, of a
right and without reserve, on the United
States treasury. They should not be
made to pay the usurious rates of interest
they have been forced to pay IN parts
OF this country out here at times, and
they should not be forced to sacrifice
their herds and products OF the earth
because of an Industrial stringency in the
East over which they have no control
To do the right thing will require care
full consideration and some sound eco
monte thinking.
The lesser and more local problem
about the transfer Of tho Forest Service
ia interesting TO the itinerant Eastern
observer because Of the apparently gen
eral and widespread opinion that the
Forest Service should not be touched.
One has found no support anywhere to
the suggestion that a national forest su-
pervisory organization be set up In the
Interior Department. These Western peo-
pie know from frst-hand knowledge
what the Forest Service has done and
they approve It. They know the per
sonnet Of the service. One has yet to
find a single voice Of any consequence
in favor Of transferring Its personnel
or impairing its esprit d corps. If any
really determined effort is made TO de
stroy the Forest Service as It now exists,
by transference or otherwise there viii
be, one feels safe in saying. a decided
protest from this part Of the country
where the service is best known and best
preclated.-Copyright 1922, by Public
Ledger Company.