Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-01-27
AGRICULTURAL RELIEF
President Defends Efforts Of Admin.
an I 2'istraHOR. s #i
is TRYING TO REMEDY IEl DEPRESSION
Urges the Creation of Financial Ma
: chinery that Will Give the Farmer
More Adequate Working. Capital.

To-.
/. OF thorough code of law and busi-
lEness procedure, with the proper ma
chinery of finance, to assure the farm
er as generous a supply of working
capital on as reasonable terms as are
granted to other industries was adyo-
Gated here today by President Hard
ing in opening the National Agricul-
tural Conference.
sAn industry the president said,
"rnore vital than any other, In which
nearly half the nations wealth is In
vested can be relied upon for, good Sc
n curity and certain returns"
Declaring that in the matter OF what
may be called fixed Investment capi-
tl the disadvantage Of the farmer so
Impressed public opinion that the
Federal Farm Loan Board was estab-
1shed to meet the need, the president
said the farmer still needed some pro-
tayision for supplying him with working
capital. ,sas.s -. 81.
rs Lines on which financial support Of
sagriculture may be organized, Mr..
Harding said. are suggested in the
plan of the Federal Farm Loan Board
5and in those rural finance; societies
(which have been so effective In some
European countries. ~ X l.,
-. Credit Extension Needed. -
- The. manufacturer Mr.. Harding
said, whose turnover is rapid. finds he
cen borrow money from the bank on
short time, notes when he needs work
ing capital and the money will come
back to him in time to meet his short
I term obligations, On the other hand,
he continued, the farmers turnover is
ID long one. from a year in most crops
Ito sometimes three years in tho cattle
industry.
"Yet the farmer is compelled" he
declared. "if he borrows his working
-icapital to. borrow for short periods
TO renew his paper several times be-
fore his turnover is possible and to
take the chance that If he Is called
upon untimely to pay of his notes he
may be compelled to sacrifice growing
crops or unfinished livestock.
:, .'obviously, the farmer needs to
have provisions. adapted to his re-
qitrements, for extension OF credit to
produce his working capital.
'The present depression and dis
couragements," he continued. "are not
peculiar to agriculture. and l think it
faiG-. to say. there could have been no
avoidance of great slump from war;
time excesses to the hardships Of read
jastment. We can have no helpful I'M
derstanding by assuming that agricnl-
ture, suffers alone, but we may fairly
recognize the fundamentai difficulties
which accentuate the agricultural dis
couragements
\ The farmer the president declared,
from the very mode of his life, is in
,dIvidualistic. and therefore, because
he buys and sells as an individual IL is
his fate to buy In the dearest and sell
in the cheapest market" He con-
trassed with, this the corporation, he
said, which could effect economies and
acquire for itself a power In the mark
ct by combinations. 80. r.. T.
The president said there was a
"misoonception, regarding the financial
status of agriculture. -
II the mortgage Indebtedness of
farms shows over a given period, a
marked tendency to increase, the fact
becomes occasion for concern" i he
Maid. IF during the same period the
railroads or the great Industries con-
trolled by corporations find themselves
able to increase. their mortgage in
sdebtedness by dint of bond issues
Sthe fact is heralded as evidence, of
better business conditions and of cap
itals increased willingness to engage
in these Industries and thus inspire
larger production and better employ
nrent Of labor. .... ...'
Both the mechanism of finance
and the preconceptions OF the COM
munity are united in creating the i'm
preston that easy access to ample
capital is a disadvantage to the farm
er and an evidence Of his decay in
prosperity, while precisely the same
circumstances are construed in other
industries as evidence of prosperity
and Of desirable business expansion"
paw, Farmer Must Help Self.
at cannot be too strongly urged
that the farmer must be ready to help
himself" he added, This conference
=.
Ewould be most lasting good II it would
find ways to impress the great mass
Sof farmers to avail themselves of the
Ebest methods BY this mean that in
k1he last analysis legislation can do lit
tile more than give the farmer the
5chance to organize and help himself"
2 The president then referred to CO.
Operative marketing. 1t should be
possible to- AFFORD to the farmers, he
said, ample provision of law under
which they may carry on in co-opera-
tive fashion those business operations
(which lend themselves to that method
Tand which "thus handled would bring
advantages to both the farmer and his
consuming public" The farmers, he