PROCEEDINGS CORN BELT MEAT PRODUCERS' ASSN. 539 



of farmers' organizations, the general movement that I was speaking of a 

 moment ago, with the banking interests, a law was to go on our statute 

 books, an enabling act, providing that we could add to the financial ma- 

 chinery that we have been able to build up in this western country slowly 

 since the '70's, more rapidly since the end of the '90's, since about 1900, 

 that we could coalesce that and bring it to a head in one agency which 

 would serve this agricultural industry in the same way that other indus- 

 tries are being served, A case in point: What was the trouble, so far as 

 the financing was concerned, in the agricultural industry? Commercial 

 banks were gummed up, were flooded and congested with the short-time 

 loans of farmers, trying to cushion the fall as much as possible, trying to 

 carry on their operations, working like the mischief in the meantime and 

 paying off as they could. That was the situation here. What was the 

 situation in industry, particularly the latter period as they have been 

 traveling that hard road downward? A similar situation. Commercial 

 banks have been gummed up to a considerable extent, but these other in- 

 dustries in considerable measure are made up of strong corporations or 

 organizations of one sort and another that are in a position to fund those 

 short-time obligations, particularly since our investment market has some- 

 what improved, and they have funded into longer-time obligation notes and 

 bonds of shorter maturities or even longer maturities. They have said, "This 

 is an extraordinary situation and comes only once in a lifetime or once in 

 many lifetimes, and these obligations come in unusual proportion, so they 

 should be spread out and not try to dispose of them all at the present 

 time." And this was the situation, that the banks which had grown up so 

 splendidly in a short period of time, could not meet — a crisis of this sort. 

 I think that the leaders of the farmers' organizations in this state who 

 have received this service agency, with the assistance of our banking in- 

 stitutions, to fund those obligations for longer maturities and pass them 

 out into a wider market, have performed a signal service to agriculture. 

 I have no hesitancy in saying that from such study as I have given to this 

 question of banking and its allied problems, that I think that measure 

 which was passed by the legislature last winter marks a real milestone in 

 the afiiliation of decentralized finance for the states in this great western 

 country. And now the War Finance Corporation has come along to assist 

 and extend that sort of help, before the state corporation can get into ac- 

 tion, and perhaps in addition to what they could be expected to do at the 

 present time. And I say if the banking interests of this country followed 

 by the local banking interests fail to perform their function in that system, 

 of its two or three parts, then the financial difficulties of our farmers are 

 not going to be met; so whether it is the Iowa Farm Credit Corporation or 

 whether it is the War Finance Corporation, the point that that comes down 

 to is just as we said a year ago last fall, that personal conference between 

 Mr. Individual Farmer and Mr. Individual Banker, if the banker looks 

 upon these arrangements which have been made as a means of saving his 

 bacon and preventing him any further worry, then the problem of the 

 farmer is not solved. If, on the other hand, perhaps having been somewhat 

 over-optimistic during the war period, if Mr. Farmer thinks it is about 

 time for another speculative advance, if he over-estimates the brightness 



