Evening star., 1923-02-21
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL T.tCOLLINS.

lowered, with ceremony, at dismissal
Then 1t will mean what it should
mean.
This week marks the eighteenth
anniversary of the beginning of the
Rotary Club. 1t will be celebrated b,,
broadcasting to twenty-seven conn
tries speeches of public men express
ing American ideals There will ha
speeches from President Hardin,
Speaker Gillett and Attorney cen
eral Daugherty. This is a wonderful
means of spreading the spirit of
America so that other nations viii
appreciate that we have ideals above
the boarding of the almighty dollar
Never before has the audible voice
of an American President been heard
simultaneously in twenty-seven coun-
tries.
The Capper-McFadden bill provides
for the creation of agricultural credit
corporations. operating with private
capital. These corporations will lend
! money to farmers for period of nine
months, based on the security of non
perishable farm products (such az
wheat or corn). stored in public
warehouses and inspected by govern
! ment agents, SO as to make the ware
house receipts available as collateral
for the loans. The farmers paper
! then Will be accepted by the federal
reserve for rediScount, so the farm
ers will have the benefit of the fed
eral reserve bank. hitherto limited
TO commercial loans. The federal
reserve bank will also purchase pa
per OF the farm marketing associa-
n ha,, lie ~,
communities will be permitted to JOIN
the federal reserve system. Some
9,67S such small banks will thus be
come eligible. and the farmers will
be greatly relieved of financial needs
for developing crops and stock.
i x x
The Lenroot-Anderson bill proposes
to create a banking department in
each of the existing farm land
banks, which now are only farm
mortgage institutions. This would
require a new personnel to handl"
the nine-month loans, and it would
be putting the government into the
general agricultural banking busi-
ness. Secretary Mellon opposes that
plan. and claims that such banks
would have TO charge to 7h per
cent interest to the farmers in order
to cover overhead expenses. They
would get the funds from the land
banks, which pay 5 per cent OH
their bonds. on which they obtain
capital from investors The land
bank would have to charge the farm
credits department some advance
over the cost of the funds, so that.
according TO Secretary Mellon, the
farmer would be paying probably 7l2
per cent. Besides, the government
would be responsible for the man
agement of the whole business. and
that, the Secretary of the Treasury
claims, is outside the proper func-
tions Of a federal government.
Both measures were passed by the
Senate, but neither has yet been CON
sidered in the House. The House
leaders are complaining that the
Senate shifted responsibility upon
the House IN passing two conflicting
measures. and leaving to the House
the task of choosing which plan to
adopt. 1t is possible that the result
will be that the House will adopt
something entirely different from
either of the Senate measures. and
that. in the tangle, the time of ad-
journment. March 4, will arrive with
nothing enacted into law for the
farmers benefit. Both bills of the
Senate have sponsors i'll the House
Anderson and McFadden.
1t takes a long time to take care
of the shipping interests, through the
subsidy bill; there may not be time
to look after both the ship owners
and the farmers. There is only one
more week after this week.
Copyright P. V. Collins. 1929