Evening star., 1936-06-02
FARM COMEBACK
IS CITED BY MYERS
Tells of Outstanding Aid OF
Credit Facilities Under
U. S. Auspices.

Forum, arrdnBeu Wy AAS N"A
broadcast over the Nationwide net
work of the National Broadcasting Co.
Outlining the results Of the three
years of Farm Credit Administration
activity. Gov. Myers declared farm
Income has increased substantially
since the low of 1882, that farm real
estate prices are advancing, that IN
terest rates on farm mortgage loans
are far more favorable to the farmer
and that mortgages are smaller.
Agriculture, he said, is in very
much improved position from the
standpoint of what is receives for us
products"
He pointed out that farm credit
does not mean farm relief, but that
the F. C. A. lis cooperative service
run on a business basis Its pri-
mary purpose he explained, is TO
help farmers and their cooperative
associations get out Of debt.
Text of Address.
The text of Gov. Myers address
follows:
To discuss which must recover first,
city business or farming business,
would be a good deal like a discourse
in which came first: The chicken
or the egg. Fortunately there has
been a marked recovery in both.
Tonight I shall discuss only the
record of agriculture, the fundamental
industry, without the normal tunc-
tioning of which all other OF the
Nations business activities are neces-
sarily thrown out of gear
By every test agriculture is definitely
coming back. Gross farm income has
increased from the low of 1932-a
little over five and one-quarter bill
lion dollars-to S8.ll0, 100000 in 1888,
and preliminary estimates indicate a
still further increase this year. The
index number Of prices of farm prod
ucts at the farm has more than dou-
bled since February, 1888. The farm
real estate market has been increasing
" active, with advancing prices over
the last three years until now the ma
tional average farm value is 81 per
cent Of the average existing from 1912
to 1914.
interest," hateS Cut'
Along with this marked increase in
farm commodity prices the reduction
OF interest rates on farm mortgage
loans has assisted materially in i'm
proving the farmers position. Con-
slider. for instance, corn-hog farmer
who has refnanced his mortgage with
q Federal Land Bank loan. Not only
has the farm price of corn tripled
since 1892, but interest rates on Fed
eral Land Bank loans have been re-
duced to an all-time low point. Com
bining this increased price for a
typical farm product and the de-
creased cost of interest on a farm
mortgage loan brings us to this in
teresting illustration; Three years ago,
q corn farmer had to sell almost a
thousand bushels to pay interest on a
$1,000 mortgage at 5ia per cent. In
the Autumn of 1885 ne could pay a
years interest on a $4,000 Federal
land bank mortgage loan with only
$50 bushels Of corn.
To review completely the three years
work Of the Farm Credit Adn1inistra-
ton Just completed on May 81 would
take us into intimate contact with
the 100000 mortgaged farm homes
In the United States. Three years ago
perhaps half of them were in danger
of foreclosure. To prevent this was
our first and most immediate task.
Halted Liquidation.
The Farm Credit Administration
started work with the II Federal Land
Banks, which are cooperative farm
mortgage lending institutions, then
operating some II years: These CO.
operative organizations had eXerted
an important influence on mortgage
interest rates and terms, but at that
time were not equipped to handle a
desperate emergency. Before the de-
preston, the great bulk of farm loans
were made by private agencies and in
dividuals, but after three years of de-
preston had demoralized farm values,
the concern of almost every creditor
was not to make new loans but to
collect those outstanding. Failing
connection, thousands were moving
toward foreclosure.
To do the job of forestalling such
wholesale liquidation, hundreds of
thousands of farms had to be ap-
praised by the land banks, titles to
lands cleared and money disbursed.
There were only 200 appraisers in the
whole land bank system. We needed
thousands. We had to make careful
sppraisals of farms in every county in
the United States
The problem to be dealt with con-
cerned human beings even more than
dollars and cents. Farmers were
struggling with factors beyond their
control. Many farmers were losing not
only their shirts but their courage
and patience. We had to cut red tape
and act quickly. Farmers in imme-
diate danger OF foreclosure were told
10 write or telephone directly to Wash
lngton.
Appeals Pour In.
They took us at our word. Thousands
did write and telegraph. Day after
day and night after night, kilograms
letters and phone calls poured in.
As an example, recall the case Of a
colored farmer. His long distance
phone call got the land bank COM
missioner out of bed in the middle OF
the night to try to stop foreclosure
on a l0-acre cotton farm in far-off
Mississippi. That was an unusual
case, but it was all part of the work
In each case, we asked the creditors
20 delay forecloSing until our men in
the field had a chance to investigate
the applications. These cases, OF
course, were only surface indications
The tide ran deep. Our responsibility
was to do what other creditors had
been unwilling or unable to do; not
simply to lend Government money but
to refnance the mortgages and other
debts to competent and deserving
farmers on q basis that would permit
them to work out of their financial
difficulties over period of years.
We have received, all told, appfica-
I.nTS ~ all fha v,nOvf 40 mn