cent including amortization payments. Previous to 

 the opening of the war the interest was 5 per cent. 

 That is, there is the equivalent of a farm-loan associa- 

 tion for each agricultural county in the United States, 

 although as yet they are located mostly in the West 

 and South, where interest rates are higher. 



The effect of farm-loan associations is far greater 

 than the number of farmers who belong to them or 

 the amount of money they have borrowed. The 

 effect of these associations is to stabilize other farm 

 mortgage loans at about the same rate. Bills have 

 been introduced in Congress to improve farm-credit 

 facilities on personal-credit loans. It has been well 

 said: "In the past, money has been loaned the farmer 

 primarily from the viewpoint of profit to the money 

 lender. In the future, farming will be financed more 

 largely from the standpoint of developing agriculture." 



If interest rates on farm loans can now be reduced 

 to an average of 5 per cent, as seems probable, it 

 would mean a net saving in annual interest charges 

 to farmers in the United States of $200,000,000. 

 That is, the farmer's net profits would be increased 

 by this amount which in itself would represent a vast 

 market. It would buy 200,000 tractors at $1,000 

 each. It would buy nearly a half million lighting 

 plants or several hundred thousand water systems. 

 This addition to net profits would permit the installa- 

 tion of nearly a million furnaces in farm homes. It 

 would buy many thousands of automobiles for farm 

 families. It would buy a vast amount of additional 

 furniture and house furnishings and better clothes. 



However, better financing of the farm means far 

 more than a vast saving in interest charges. Thou- 

 sands of farms should have more and better stock, 

 silos, and better barns. Thousands of acres can be 

 made more productive by tiling. A vast area of land 



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