The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-11-15


Importance Of information concern
ing invsstments to the people whd
are quitting up the 6oney 10 re-
sulting In the gradual compilation
Of 4 series Of reports on the soil
and other conditions OF American
farms. One Of Benjahin Frank
Inns wise sayings vas: III you
would know the value Of money. 60
out and try to borrow some" DR..
Frankhn's insight into this great
economic fact was clear. ~ will be
learned by any Investigator who In
quires concerning the patience with
which money LENDERS, whether in
dividual, corporate or governmental
study the character OF security Of
fered.
This care to protect investments
10 Responsible for the studies now
being made which will place In the
hands of the Federal Farm Loan
Board at Warrington the most, de-
tailed information concerning the
farm lands Of this country which
probably ever has been made con-
corning any region in the world.
Under the farm loan act farm.
ers may borrow money from fed
eyal land banks and from joint
stock land banks on the security Of
their farms. The law takes partic-
ular care to safeguard. these loans.
An elaborate organization is main
tanned by the dozen federal land
banks and the score Of joint stock
land banks scattered over the coua-
try to determine theprecise charac-
ter of the land offered as security
for desired loans. The foundation
of the federal farm loan system
rests on some 1000 national farm
loan associations. Under the law,
these voluntary associations Of
farmers may obtain loans for their
members, all Of whom must be
farmers, through this governmental
system.
When an application for a loan
is passed on by the Farm Loan as
ISOLATION, 1t goes to the nearest fed
eral land bank and that institution
sends out an appraiser who is Sc
lected from persons residing in the
neighborhood from which the ap-
plication for the loan comes. He
must be q man familiar with land
values. The farm offered IS Sc
.curity is carefully examined to de-
termine its value and the informa-
ton filed with the federal land hank
and finally forwarded to the farm
loan board ct Washington.
The country Is SO vast that the
examination is gradual but it pro-
ceeds steadily. Applications for
loans constantly are coming in and
practically every. county in the
United States now has at least one
of these loans. This means that
the farm loan organization has
report on at least one farm in
every county in the country. In
many counties reports are on file
almost every farm.
How Reports Are Made.
The reports show what kind Of
soils are found on the farm in
volved. They show whether the
land is adaptable to grain, pasture,
fruit growing, truck-gardening or
other agricultural use. Frequently
the expert appraiser will be able to
learn more about the land in the
course of his inspection than the
inexpert farmer who has lived there
all his life. A farmer may think his
land is excellent for a number OF
purposes and the appraiser will
discover it has been ove1worked
without fertilization and that Its
productiveness is about at an end
In such a case, the loan approved
will be low. On the other hand, the
expert may find a farm of which
the farmer has a relatively low
opinion and on the security OF
which he asks little. It may de-
velop that the farmer has been
planting the wrong kind Of crops
to suit the land and that IL some
other produce were put in, the
same soil would bring greater
yields. All these elements enter
into the examination and bring into
the files Of the federal farm loan
system a wealth of Information
which ultimately will cover most OF
the country. If not every farm.