876 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The depositor has just as good a right to know how the bank is situated 

 financially as the bank has to know the financial conditions of its patrons. 

 It is for this reason that National and State banks publish sworn state- 

 ments periodically, as often as required, so that its patrons may see for 

 themselves their condition. These statements show how much capital and 

 surplus,, how much deposited, how much loaned out, and ho wmuch cash 

 is on hand. Every bank should in justice to its patrons publish these 

 sworn statements, so that all may know something about the bank they 

 are patronizing. Advertisements in newspapers or magazines carry but 

 little weight unless sworn to by some officer of the bank. Most people 

 are like the man from. Missouri, "they have to be shown," and in all 

 justice they should be. 



There are people who think the farmer has an easy time of it and that 

 all he has to do is to harvest the grain and bring it to market. If such 

 people were put on farms they would starve, for they know nothing of 

 the hard, constant work the successful farmer must do, nor how careful 

 he must attend to the various duties in order that nothing may go to 

 waste, so as to make both ends meet. It used to be an old saying that if 

 a person was good for nothing, that his place was on the farm, but we 

 have long since learned that it takes as much brains to run a farm 

 successfully as it does to run a bank or any other business. The farmer 

 of to-day has to deal with many perplexing problems that did not arise 

 in the past, and in order to cope with them to the best advantage, he 

 must study his business very carefully and keep posted. 



A few years ago we heard but little of poor crops, because in those 

 days farmers did not try to make corn grow under water, but farmed 

 only the high places. But now-a-days we must make every acre yield 

 something, for land is steadily rising in value, and in order to make 

 the farm pay in proportion to the rising value, every acre must produce 

 a proportionately greater income. 



The greatest problem that the farmer has to solve is, how to make 

 his farm pay the most, and this is no little task. Many times there are 

 improvements which ought to be made, and which if made, would be of 

 great advantage and net a handsome profit, but he may not have the 

 ready money to spare. If he has a good established credit at the bank, 

 he can very easily borrow the amount necessary and make the improve- 

 ment which may pay him ten times as big a profit as the amount of 

 interest paid for the money borrowed. This is shrewd business. 



As a rule it is a good policy to avoid going into debt, but when a 

 farmer's judgment tells him that a certain improvement, such as tiling 

 for instance, will net him a big profit and he can see that in the end it 

 will soon pay for itself, he should by all means make that improvement, 

 even though he must go in debt for it. The other day two farmers were 

 talking about cream separators; one already owned one and the other 

 wanted to own one, but since he would have to go in debt for it, he went 

 without. The farmer who owned one, however, went to work and 

 explained to his friends that he also went in debt for his, but that it soon 

 paid for itself and was still just as good as new. He convinced his 

 friends and now he, too, owns a separator and has it partly paid for. 



