Milford chronicle., 1934-09-14
FARM CREDIT
ADMINISTRATION
Bureau Is Particularly
Interested In Offering
It's Services To Cooper
ativeS.

The Farm Credit Administration
is particularly interested in offering
the services of the Central Bank for
Cooperatives and the Baltimore
Bank for Cooperatives to farmer CO.
operative organizations in order
that such organizations may build
more securely and more permanent
ly, according to F. w. Peck, cooper
ative bank commissioner of the
Farm Credit Administration, in the
August issue of the News for Far
mer Cooperatives.
Mr.. Peck said: I'VE have passed
through several stages in the devel-
opment of cooperative enterprises.
/ For some time we were concerned
/ largely with the mechanics of the
/ marketing machine and paid partic-
uIar attention to the cost of these
operations, believing that important
savings could be effected. Real pro-
gress has been made in this direc-
tion. Then we passed into the fever
stage of organization. Organizers
were employed to bring farm people
into large organizations to control
surpluses, raise farm prices, guar
antee cost of production plus sat
isfactory profit, and solve all the
problems of agriculture in one great
cooperative effort.
Now we have passed into another
stage in which it is being demon
strated that we have profited by the
iao.o.- of ovnariopna We ara fapinP
realities of business procedure and
of human limitations that we did
not recognize before. I have char
acterized the present period as the
management stage of the coopera-
tive movement. Sound financing, SUI
perior merchandising, adequate ac- +
counting. and proper business prac- .
tice are characteristics of this stage.
and the Farm Credit Administration I
is particularly interested in Offering
its services to cOOperatives that
they may build more securely and
Dermanently on these foundations"
There is a broad difference be-
tween the average city worker and
the average farmer as a user of
credit. according to W. I. Myers.
governor of the Farm Credit Ad-
ministration.
Governor Myers said that city
workers have to worry, in general,
only about consumer credit: they
have to bother only with the buying
of things by charge accounts with
stores, buying on installments, for
which they cannot pay entirely in
cash. The owners of the business,
rather than the average city worker.
borrow the money to buy the ma
chimes and the office equipment
which most city people use"
As for the farmers, he said:
"They are producers. In other words
they are both the owners of the
business and its employees. AS
owners, they need to borrow from ,
time to time to buy a farm. to buy
farm machinery. seed. feed, fertil-
izer. breeding stock. or to pay hired
hands during harvesting time. Their
need is thus for production credit.
Just as production credit is needed, G
by whatever name it may go. by the [
factory owner. or the wholesaler, or J
any other business man. Their need |
s not entirely for consumer credit" L
Governor Myers remarks were F
made recently in explaining why 4
armers need associations such as q
Credit Associations more il
han city workers +
He stated that the $50 Production {
'redit Associations that have been v
throughout the United t
states with the assistance of the o
7arm Credit Administration stand II
eady to supply production loans to "
Eligible borrowers at fair and rea- II
onable interest costs. In the past
armers have paid as much as 10 Il
,er cent per year interest rates on e
hort-term loans for their prOduc-
ion needs. Through the Production ~,
'redit Associations they now may u
btain such loans at an annual in
crest rate of per cent. -,
By having available constant
nd regular. year-round credit sys- q,
EN-. farmers also can save them N
elves the cost of carrying heavy
barge accounts. he said. 4,
"A number of studies have been
lade of the cost of merchant credit
D farmers. or of buying things on
redit from merchants" Governor
Iyers said. "This study showed
hey had to pay so much more that v
he extra cost of the goods. trans
ated into interest on the account, G
to 20 per cent a year. "
ONE merchants also charged inter T
st averaging about IS per cent a
ear on the same accounts Many 81
irmers had to pay both interest on h,
ne account and higher prices for
leir goods purchased on time. OF n
purse" he said, those rates are by "
o means uniform throughout the
luntry. In many sections they are Il
luch less, while in some others G