184 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



culture has never asked for long-time credit beyond a period of 

 thirty-three years, but New York City bonds are handled in the mar- 

 kets today as gilt-edged securities and with entire approval tho ab- 

 sorbing credit for more than seventy-five years ahead. 



Of course the individual farmer is unable to negotiate a paper 

 that is bankable and convertible into liquid credit. The same is true 

 of the individual citizen of New York or any other city. But col- 

 lectively both parties are able to execute securities which are easily 

 marketable, as experience shows, to equal advantage. The bonds of 

 the Land Bank are now selling in open market at 102, I believe, and 

 it does not appear that either these or long-term bonds of any kind 

 absorb capital in the sense of destroying its usefulness. 



The contention of our foremost commercial journal is manifestly 

 unsound in this matter, not only as to the facts of the case but also 

 as to the equities; for every intelligent man who is fully informed 

 knows that agriculture has done its full share in producing the capital 

 of the country upon which credit rests, and every fair-minded man 

 will agree that it is entitled in equal proportion to the enjoyment of 

 its credit needs. From every point of view, the city man has much 

 to do in closing up the gap between the country and the town, both 

 in the field of production and in the handling of capital ; and he can- 

 not relegate to himself either the standards of production or the ex- 

 clusive use of the capital which everybody has helped to produce. 



It is contentions like those quoted from the foremost commercial 

 journal that tend powerfully to the creation of an agricultural bloc, 

 not only in Congress but among thinking farmers everywhere, con- 

 siderable numbers of whom are coming to have not a little knowledge 

 of the principles governing the business activities of a civilized people. 

 For the good of all, this gulf between the country and the town must 

 be filled up or bridged over ; and the farmer, the business man, and 

 the laborer must each do his share in so necessary a service. 



From every point of view here in the exploration of a field 

 hitherto considered as exclusively commercial, lies great work for our 

 agricultural colleges, not only for the further enlightenment of farm- 

 ing but for the enlightenment of other professions as well. 



THE OUTLOOK 



We are to have a new agriculture, if not indeed a new civiliza- 

 tion, in the Middle West. In the immediate future Chicago will be 

 an ocean port. We shall not always ship our coal and our wool and 



