AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



hand, the corn-hog producers were 6 to i in favor of the program. Some 

 816,891 votes were for and 127,091 against. The bulk of the total vote was 

 cast by the farmers of the western Middle West, and the states having 

 the largest vote both for and against the program were also found in 

 the area. 55 



The New Deal farm credit program began with the creation of the Farm 

 Credit Administration by an executive order submitted to Congress by 

 the President on March 27 and made effective on May 27, 1933. This meas- 

 ure called for the consolidation into one organization of "the powers and 

 functions" of all the federal agencies dealing with farm credit. These 

 included absorption by the F.C.A. of the functions of the Federal Farm 

 Loan Board and the Federal Farm Board (except those relating to the 

 stabilization operations), those duties of the Reconstruction Finance Cor- 

 poration that related to the management of the regional agricultural 

 credit corporations, and the functions of the crop-production and seed- 

 loan offices of the United States Department of Agriculture. The Farm 

 Credit Act of 1933, along with the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act, in- 

 creased the resources of the existing lending agencies and provided for 

 the creation of new ones. 56 



The Farm Credit Administration had two important functions to per- 

 form: one was to cope with the emergency that faced the farmers, and 

 the second was to create a permanent but complete unified system of farm 

 credits to meet the needs of the farmers at the lowest cost consistent with 

 sound business practices. Farm-mortgage relief was provided. Long-term 

 loans were to be obtained as previously "by first mortgages on farm real 

 estate for amounts not in excess of 50 per cent of the appraised value of 

 the land plus 20 per cent of the appraised value of the permanent insured 

 improvements." For cases involving special risks and the refinancing of 

 indebtedness too large to be covered, there was provided a supplementary 

 fund of $800,000,000. The extent of the refinancing job undertaken by 

 the F.C.A. was made evident by the fact that 905,299 applications were 

 made for mortgage loans between May i, 1933, and December 31, 1934. 

 These applications were equivalent to about one-seventh of all the farms 



55. Ibid., p. 176. 



56. First Annual Report of the Farm Credit Administration, 1933 (Washington, 

 1934), p. 4. 



