Speciai. Lectures 361 



As soon as the cooperative credit unions are more developed 

 and understood in this country, and once they are federated into 

 state leagues and then into national or federal leagues, I am sure 

 that they could be made as useful and popular in this country as 

 they are in Germany and othei' European countries. 



AGRICULTURAL CREDIT 



We shall now consider the otlier form of rural credit — the 

 so-called long-term or agricultural credit. 



When the ISTew York State Legislature passed the Land Bank 

 Law in 1914, the first group of farmers to take advantage of it 

 were the Jewish fanners residing in Sullivan and Ulster counties, 

 who, with the help of their national organization, the Federation 

 of Jewish Farmers of America, organized the First Farmers' Sav- 

 ings and Loan Association. This association is recognized as the 

 first and only farmers' organization by the Superintendent of 

 Banks of the State of ISTew York, Hon. E. L. Richards. As I 

 said before, I shall not give you the theory of the need of agricul- 

 tural credit, but will try to tell you how we went about organizing 

 it, and of what benefit it has been to us. 



A large number of Jews have settled in Sullivan and Ulster 

 counties within the last eleven to twelve years, and a number of 

 them have built on their farms large boarding houses or hotels in 

 which they accommodate summer boarders. As many of the Jews 

 who settled there came with a rather small capital, and as the 

 building of these boarding houses or hotels, together with other 

 necessary buildings, required a large amount of capital, the farm- 

 ers were obliged to go to private individuals ; these individuals 

 took advantage of the need of capital, with the result that bonuses 

 of from 20 to 35 per cent were not unusual. In addition to these 

 heavy bonuses, most of these loans were made for a short period, 

 of five to seven years. As time went on the periods became shorter, 

 so that many of these mortgages are now made for three to four 

 years. 



The result was that the farmers, in addition to paying heavy 

 bonuses, were also obliged every year to pay heavy legal expenses ; 

 besides, they were constantly worrying about losing their property 



