Contributory causes in the development of this situation have been the great need for capital for the development of our transportation system, the stimulation of manufactures by high protective duties, and the enormous area of our public domain which was given or sold to settlers on very easy terms. Inasmuch as our transportation system and our manufacturing industries have now attained a high degree of development, our public domain has been nearly exhausted, and land values and the cost of living are rapidly rising, the needs of agriculture are pushing themselves into the foreground, and we are beginning to look to European experience for suggestions regarding the best methods of diverting to that industry a larger part of our rapidly accumulating capital resources.
There are obvious difficulties in the way of the application of cooperation to the solution of the problem of agricultural credit in this country. In spite of the fact that immigration is constantly bringing to us people from the very foreign countries in which cooperative credit associations flourish, our agricultural population is still dominated by the spirit of individualism which has been and is one of our dominant national traits. Our farmers are also more widely scattered than is the case in Europe, and consequently less closely knit together in social units. Their holdings are also larger, their capital needs greater, and their business instincts more highly developed.
There seems to be no good reason, however, why the joint-stock mortgage bank should not flourish here as well as in Europe. It is a purely private business enterprise of the kind with which we are perfectly familiar. The mortgage bond ought to appeal to our investors, many of whom have exhibited a strong predilection for mortgage security and real estate investments, and long-period mortgage loans, repayable on the annuity plan, would meet the needs of many land purchasers and of people who need to invest considerable sums in drainage, irrigation works, etc., better than our present methods. In most, if not all, of our states, trust companies could develop these new lines of finance without prejudice to the other branches of their business.
The use of state, county, and municipal subsidies or credit in enterprises of this kind is rendered difficult, if not impossible, in this country, by strong prejudice against the use of public funds in private enterprises, and in some states by constitutional prohibitions. This prejudice is based upon unfortunate experiences, and is at least partially justified by the laxness of our administrative methods and the prevalence of graft, which expose us to the danger of the improper use of public funds devoted to enterprises of this kind. There is no reason, however, why our states should not take the initiative in the improvement of our investment banking machinery and why private capitalists and philanthropists should not turn some of their energy into this channel.
Suggestion and leadership are needed in this field quite as much as legislation tending to restrict and regulate the operations of existing institutions.
REFERENCES
The following books are comprehensive in character, treating most of the subjects covered in the foregoing chapters:
Macleod, H. D., Theory and Practice of Banking.
Gilbart, J. W., History and Principles of Banking.
Bagehot, Walter, Lombard Street.
Dunbar, Charles F., History and Theory of Banking.
Scott, Wm. A., Money and Banking. Rev. Ed.
White, Horace, Money and Banking.
Fisk, A. K., The Modern Bank.