EURAL ECONOMICS. 



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4 cts. per hour, making total cost for a mau, team, and machinery for a 10- 

 hour day about $4.85. Observations are made as to other elements of cost 

 which should be included in cost accounting. 



Farm accounts, J. Hunter (Jour. Accouyitanay, 15 (1913), No. 3, pp. 166- 

 jyS). This article discusses the importance of keeping farm accounts and sub- 

 mits illustrations showing simple bookkeeping devices which may be easily 

 followed in keeping a record of finnncial transactions in any type of farming. 



Work of the American commission respecting agricultural finance, organi- 

 zation, cooperation, and the betterment of rural conditions, D. U. Fletcher 

 (U. S. Senate, 63. Cong., 1. Sess., Doc. 177, 1913, pp. i5).— This is an address 

 delivered to the house of governors at Colorado Springs, Colo., August 26, 

 which describes at length the character Tud extent of the investigation of rural 

 credits and other questions recently made in European countries by the Ameri- 

 can commission (E. S. K., 28, p. 301). 



State loans to farmers, W. M. Duffus (Buswess America, 14 (1913), No. 3, 

 pp. 260-265) .—This article discusses briefly the necessity for an adequate sys- 

 tem of long-time farm mortgage loans, suggesting ways by which money for 

 loans of this kind may be supplied to farmers, and giving special attention to 

 the system of state loans as practiced by the New Zealand, Australian, and 

 Philippine Governments and to the methods by which state aid is extended to 

 settlers in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. 



The author points out that the New Zealand Government has granted loans 

 amounting to £12,051,381, or about $60,000,000, to 32.783 settlers since 1895. 

 Of these loans 14,886 or 45 per cent have been repaid and only 33 failures had 

 been noted up to 1912. Loans are made for terms of 20, 30, or 36^} years, ac- 

 cording to the class of land taken as security. The rate of interest charged is 



but 5 per cent. 



Attention is called to the fact that 8 American States are authorized by law 

 to make loans to farmers, and that all of these have done so to a greater or less 

 extent without loss. Some conclusions of the Wisconsin State Board of Public 

 Affairs, which has been investigating the subject, are also noted. 



Farm credit in a northwestern State, M. Jacobstein {Amer. Econ. Rev., S 

 [1913), No. 3, pp. 598-605).— This article represents the results of an investiga- 

 tion as to the prevailing rate of interest paid by farmers in North Dakota 

 and to what extent the rate is afCected by local conditions. Reports were 

 obtained from 125 representative banks, giving rates for 45 out of 50 counties 



in the State. 



The average rate is shown to be 7.88 per cent on long-time loans. In the 

 eastern tier, or most fertile and longest cultivated counties, it ranged from 

 6 to 7 per cent, rising gradually toward the western part of the State to 

 10 and 12 per cent. Reports sent to over 100 representative farmers in different 

 parts of the State indicated a prevailing rate of 7.91 per cent. 



The same banks reported the average rate of interest on short-time loans 

 to be 10.75 per cent while the farmers reported it to be 11.07 per cent. More 

 than 75 per cent of the banks reporting stated that the rate was higher for 

 agricultural short-time loans than for commercial loans. That the farmers 

 avail themselves more of book or store credit than short-time loans from banks 

 is indicated by answers from 54 implement dealers, located in 35 counties, 

 which show that only 13 per cent of the farmers pay cash for farm machinery. 



Among the reasons assigned for the higher rate of interest are the following: 

 (1) The demand for capital in a new and growing State is greater than can 

 be met by the local supply, and outside capital can be attracted only by high 

 rates of Interest; (2) the speculative character of the farm mortgage, which 



