252 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



or no provision for exemptions of any kind. These short-time 

 credit societies furnish cheap, safe and elastic credit to their 

 members by reason of their control by farmers and are organiza- 

 tions exclusively in the interest of farmers, who operate them at 

 nominal cost and without seeking dividend profit to such so- 

 cieties. 



Land mortgage credit has been organized so as to place a 

 collective security back of bonds issued by land-mortgage socie- 

 ties in contrast with the system of marketing individual loans 

 upon individual mortgages. Without discussing the form of 

 organization employed for this purpose, it may be stated that 

 the land-mortgage institutions bring to European farmers a low 

 interest rate, but not any lower than the short-time credit 

 societies; the privileges of repaying loans in small, fixed annual 

 installments extending over a term of years — in some cases as 

 long as seventy-five years under the amortization plan— although 

 provision for the earlier payment is made if the borrower so 

 desires; protection from advance in interest rates and the prac- 

 tical elimination of commission charges. Many of these per- 

 sonal credit societies and land-mortgage associations are fostered 

 by government grants, loans or special provisions of law. Mort- 

 gage bonds issued by commercial banks and by private joint 

 stock land-mortgage banks sell substantially on the same basis 

 with like securities issued by government-favored institutions, 

 and both classes of banks are recognized as needful in the de- 

 velopment and conservation of agricultural resources. In 

 many instances private and commercial banks purchase the 

 securities of land-mortgage associations. Experience has dem- 

 onstrated that such land-mortgage bonds are liquid assets. 



The systems of land-title registration in countries possess- 

 ing such mortgage institutions practically prevent dispute of 

 title upon mortgaged land. Provisions are also generally af- 

 forded these mortgage institutions which eliminate undue legal 

 delays in the recovery of loans placed with defaulting borrowers. 

 Savings and trust funds are frequently invested in securities of 

 such mortgage institutions under sanction of law. Loans up 

 to fifty or even sixty-six per cent are made on lands of dependable 

 value, and are considered safe and conservative and compare 

 favorably with provincial and government bonds. 



The American people are too free and independent; there- 

 fore I seriously question the adaptability of any such system to 

 our conditions in this country, co-operation being the founda- 



