LAND CREDIT BANK
Uncle Sam: Boys, by unanimous vote we agreed at our last meeting to devote tonight to the subjects that seem to lie close to the hearts of Mr. Farmer and Mr. Laboringman. You will remember that Mr. Farmer insisted that our work would not be complete unless we included in our plan a Land Credit Bank, while Mr. Laboringman declared that he had waited patiently to hear what we had to say about coöperative credit, but in vain.
Since Mr. Farmer is a member of the committee appointed by the agricultural society of his State to investigate the subject of Land Credit Banks, I presume he is loaded to the guards and can tell us all about it, and convince us, too, that he is right in his contention. I suggest that we let him lead off tonight.
Mr. Farmer: Well, gentlemen, I can assure you of my confidence of my ability to convince you of the importance of recognizing my contention; but I shall have to ask you all to be patient and agree to assist me in working out the plan that is best adapted to our needs and conditions. In studying this aspect of the banking problem, I think it will be well to follow the steps of development up to date, just as we have in considering other phases of this question, because experience is our surest guide to tell us what not to do as well as what we ought to do.
In the outset, however, I want to call your attention to the fact, that there is no subject of broader interest and more world-wide discussion than the productivity of the soil. You are all aware, no doubt, that there has been established at Rome the International Institute of Agriculture, and that last summer fifty different governments were represented there. Hon. David Lubin, of California, represented this government. The President of the United States became intensely interested and with the help of our foreign representatives, particularly Hon. Myron T. Herrick, Ambassador to France, a vast amount of most valuable information has been gathered, studied, digested and classified. I think that we are now ready to take the matter up and legislate upon it. Our interest ought to be greater and more intense than that of any other nation on account of the number of our people engaged in agriculture and the staggering interest rates they are paying. Think of it.
The 12,000,000 farmers of the United States are adding over $8,400,000,000 to the national wealth each year. They are doing this on a borrowed capital of $6,040,000,000, on which $510,000,000 of interest is annually paid. Counting commissions and renewal charges, the rate averages at 8½ per cent for this country as against 3½ or 4½ per cent for Germany. If the American farmers had a thoroughly organized system of coöperative associations they would not only save this difference of $200,000,000 or $250,000,000 to themselves individually, but in the course of time the entire debt would be transferred to the societies, the interest paid to them, an economic waste stopped, and this stupendous sum restored to agriculture. The assertion is neither fanciful nor extravagant. It is below the actual ratio obtained by a comparison with the German figures.
There is practically no limit to the amount of capital that could be advantageously employed for rehabilitating worn-out and abandoned farms, opening up new areas, and introducing modern methods of cultivation; and it is of vital importance that this capital be obtainable at once in sufficient volume and on easy terms. The world-wide problem caused by the pressure of population upon the means of subsistence now confronts the United States in the very face of its matchless natural resources and vast acreage of arable lands still remaining untouched by the plow. The $385,000,000 of foodstuffs exported last year barely equaled 76 per cent of the annual interest charges on the debts the farmers owe.