1296 New York State Agricultural Society 



ticiilarly well provided with l)ankiiig facilities for fanners. Al- 

 though ranking fifteenth in population among the states of the 

 Union it ranks first in the nnmber of banks, many of which are 

 said to be owned and controlled by farmers. For some sections, 

 on the other hand, the testimony is that adequate credit facilities 

 are not available to small farmers at any price. This is the situ- 

 ation in many parts of the South, although there has been in 

 recent years a rapid growth of banking facilities in that section. 

 In still other sections, it is reported that the rates charged farmers, 

 in the form of interest and commissions, are greater than those 

 charged merchants of equal responsibility. In some sections 

 fanners complain that l)ankers treat them as if they were confer- 

 ring a great favor in extending them well protected loans at the 

 market rate of interest. Conditions sometimes vary decidedly in 

 neighboring communities, the farmers in one neighborhood being 

 well provided with credit facilities, and those in another a few 

 miles away enjoying very scant facilities. Great diiferences of 

 this kind in different localities are found in Xew York State. 



The Department of Agriculture at Washington has just com- 

 pleted an investigation based upon a questionnaire sent to about 

 nine thousand persons throughout the country, approximately one- 

 third being farmers, one-third bankers, and one-third rural mer- 

 chants. These nine thousand persons were requested to state what 

 percentage, in their opinion, of the farmers owning their land and 

 able to give good security or indorsed note would use more bor- 

 rowed money conservativel}'' and profitably, if they could secure 

 it on reasonable terms. Some of the correspondents did not 

 answer the question, and some of the answers received could not 

 be used. Of those received which indicated a correct understand- 

 ing of the question, 26 per cent, replied that no farmers in their 

 communities would so use more borrowed money, while T-i per 

 cent, replied that on the average about one-third of the farmers in 

 their communities would use more borrowed money conservatively 

 and profitably. Almost the same percentages were shown for 

 tenants able to give good security or an indorsed note. On this 

 subject of the adequacy or inado(juacy of existing credit facilities 

 for fanners, the information available is altogether too scant to 

 justify a safe judgment. iSTeither the comptroller of the currency 



