Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-04
BREAK Up LARGE HOLDINGS:
ENCOURAGE INVESTIGATION
ADVICE Of PRESIDENT GOULD
Shirley S. Ford Welcome Group Five Members
Here With Message of C Optimism; Hard Times
Are Passing Away, Reports From Counties
Show; Matt Staff Warns Against "Scrapping"
Montana's Wool Industry.

general business conditions. mentioned
the merging of the Anaconda Copper
Mining company with the American
Brass company, which he characterized
as creating new hope for q city whose
chief industry was at a s%tandstill. He
touched on the oil situation in northern
Montana, saying that the discovery Of
oil there in commercial quantities is
IOpening new interests which will be val.
liable assets not only to northern Mon.
tana but to the whole state. as well.
'The bankers, as the most construct.
i've force in a community, must utilize
their positions to establish safer and
more practical methods of agriculture
the states greatest industry and asset
he said.
Gives Practical Advice
The bankers can help the farmers
but they must lend their assistance to
teach the farmers to farm properly.
The bankers must encourage the breed
ing of purebred stock on the farms
and aid the farmers verbally. as well as
financially, in the handling of their
stock and crops, Mr.. Ford said. The
two sales of purebred cattle that were
held in Great Falls during the month
of May brought better average prices
than any similar sales that he has OBJ
served anywhere in the country, he
said. This. he said. indicates not only
a returning to prosperity, but fore
sight on the part of practical stock
men.
Mr.. Ford's address of welcome was
followed by an address by N. ]. Gould,
vice president of the American Ma
tional bank at Helena and president of
Group 8 of the Montana Bankers as
ISOLATION.
More farmers and better farmers
was the keynote to Mr.. Gould's address.
1t is better business on the part of
the bankers to finance a large number
of men with a small amount than it
is to finance a few borrowers with a
large amount of money, he said. The
state has too few land owners he said,
and pointed out that the state will 60
forward faster and with surer pros
perity with many more land owners,
employing practical methods of diversi-
fled farming than it will with a few
farmers who are trying to farm more
land than they can handle properly.
Apply Experience to Future
His address follows:
AT this time. when America stands
"a "iohc . lie SicdteSL pEouuCeT Oh
wealth. the greatest producer of food.
at this time. when we are starting into
another period of production, the time
seems ripe to take a survey of the
situation and apply to our future ac-
lions the results of our experiences of
the last few years.
AS individual bankers we may have
no considerable influence on the ma
tional banking policy but we are charged
with the conservation and exploitation
of the resources of Montana. especially.
the agricultural and stock raising in
dustrles. Our past experience should
add considerable to our fund of knowl-
edge and u future policy should be
built on the history of the past.
The agricultural outlook for Mon
tana is good. The conditions of the
crops are as good. if not better, in
Montana than the average of the whole
United States. Confidence is srIs-
tanned by an increase in prices in nil
farm products.
Development Of Farming Important
Let US take a leaf from the history
OF Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas. and other
middle western states. We find their
records in the early days similar to
ours. Iowa started to pay off her
mortgages with the introduction of the
cooperative creamery and the poultry
INDUSTRY n today her gross egg crop
equals, in dollars if it does NOT eycped
the gross wheat crop of Montana and
no one can dispute the fact that the
dairy industry and the poultry indus
try. are profitable here. If we are TO
maintaln our prestige and develop our
state, we must of necessity turn care
tul attention to the farm interests.
we must encourage diversificaion and
me breaking up and sale of large hold
hgs-muS welcome and foster the
small farmer who will develop along
!he ilne of Investigation, who is try.
ing 10 make some money out of several
lines instead of trying to get all no
requires out of one line.
/, Montana has been q land of largo
holdings where one individual controls
from a quarter section to manv thou
sands of acres. Many people after This
PERIOD of four or five years of poor
crops have found themselves land moor
Men nave spent fortunes in an effort
10 lrrlgate large tracts of land and
ound themselves unable to complete
their undertakings, so we must con
cIude that experience teaches us that
more real success would have attended
7" thC LuOuSdUUS OF npOnip
of Montana engaged in farming had
they been less avaricious and instead
or trying to develop thousands of
acres, had they confined their efforts
to smaller holdings.
Divide Up Land HoIdjnu
Ibis experience seems to suggest
that the holder of large tracts of land.
sell some of these holdings and allow
others to take part in the develop
Ment. Much public and private irriga-
ton work has been under consideration
n construction here for many wears.
Much OF this land to be watered ia
held in large tracts, the holder believ-
ing that in time, with irrigation. the
land will become much more valuable.
In the meantime the large holder is
retarding Development, he is standing
in the way of the small farmer. the
who would cultivate the land in
t%ensively. He is paying a higher rate