The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-01-19
ADDRESS BY COULTER
At TRI,STATE MEET

ssWhy was the Federal Farm Loan
system introduced into Americas sys-
TEN of banks Is the system a suc-
cess Does it go far enough? What
additional long term credit does agri-
culture need, if any? How shall it be
provided? These are some Of the
questions daily confronting farmers,
bankers, investors, legislators, stud
ents of agricultural economics and the
public generally. .#...a ..s
First, was there or is there need
for a special system of Farm Land
Banks to deal in long term loans? My
answer is that there was and is as
great a need in this century for such
a system as there was for system of
homesteads, tree-claims and other land
settlement acts during the last cent
ury. During the century 1900 to 1900
there was plenty of free land. Uncle
Sam had land enough to give us all a
farm. But for the new century the
free land is gone. Within few years
the 6,500,O00 farmers of today will
have gone to their reward. Who will
own and operate the farms of to-
morrow? 1t is easy to say "their sons
and daughters . But the average
farmer of today has four or more chill
dren. Half will go into the professi-
ons, marketing, financing, manufacture
ing, merchandising, and other walks Of
life. How is the farmers land to be
divided among them? In the future,
as in the past, only more and more, the
farm will be sold and the proceeds
divided. If one OF the family buys
the place he is for life under q heavy
mortgage. In the past the young cou-
pie could take their share and go far
ther West and take free claim. But
that is in the past. Already in some
sections farther East half or more
of the land has fallen into the hands
of the town-dweIlers The farms are:
operated by managers, hired laborers,
and tenants. Already in Cass County
of which Fargo is the center-al-
most one-half of the farms are .oper-
ated in this way. If we are TO become
a country of absentee landlords, and
tenants or hired rnapagers and labor
ers, we don't need a system of Farm
Land Banks. IF we are to continue to
be a country of land owning farmers
we do need such system.
"But foresee that if the farmer Of
tomorrow is tenant, he will join the
propertyless laborer of the city and in
less than fifty years we will will try
State or NationaI Socialism of all ma
tural resources and productive and
distributive organization as well as
transportation. And our governments,
in control Of great majority of nom
property owners, will not look with
favor upon any plan to pay current
exchange values for property taken
over by the government. But expert
ence has taught ussthat man owning
and operating his own property will
accomplish much more than when
working, for an absentee landlord or
for: the State. This is peculiarly true
in Agriculture where close supervisi-
on of the scattered farms is impos-
sible. For this reason if for no other
we must all unite in favor of the prin-
ciple of land ownership by the operat-
ing farmer And since the free land is
gone, and homesteads and tree-claims
are matter Of history, we must strive
for a system OF farm land banks 50
constructed that the young man OF
tomorrow with little money but with
good Judgment ability and willingness
to labor, love for the life of the coun-
try and good farm sense. will be able
to buy farm and pay for it out of the
products of the farm. Very few peo-
pie realize that the system of Farm
Land Banks provided by Act of Con-
gress in 1916 had this in mind. Few
Of the members Of Congress or OF
those in charge of the Banks saw or
even get to see this. But it was as
clear as A.B.C. III the minds Of those
who conceived the system and laid it
before Congress. Most public men with
whom T have discussed this question
think the Federal Farm Loan System
is chiefly TO hand out little easy
credit TO the farmers TO stop their
clamor. 1T Is not. II Is strictly 2
measure of National Economy intend
ed to perpetuate ownership among
farm operators and to stay the move
naent toward absentee landlords and
the tenant system.
y ss.The second question propounded
was-Is the system success My
reply is that up to the present time i
has done comparatively very little; !.
ii passing through the experimental
stage; 1T has proven beyond all ques-
ton Of doubt that II is based upor
sound principles; it is q beginning
Some who do not understand that thl:
SI~3f& al