45 THE LETTER THAT 



PROMPTED THIS BOOK 



It has been ably shown in the recent reports of 

 the Department of Agriculture that it is an in- 

 spiration to men's pocketbooks and bank ac- 

 counts as well as to their bodies. Many who read 

 these reports are surprised at the results of the 

 years of unequalled prosperity. The immense 

 annual increments, which are comparable only 

 with astronomical figures in their demands upon 

 the imagination, have a real significance when 

 capitalized and expressed in terms of value based 

 upon earning power. In one report the Depart- 

 ment stated that in five years farms had gained 

 in value by a third, or nearly $7,000,000,000, and 

 that within those five years nearly 1,800 national 

 banks had been organized, mostly in the South- 

 ern and North Central rural regions. These 

 banks depend upon farmers for their business, 

 and are not organized, as would have been the 

 case a few years ago, with Eastern capital. " It 

 has been an era of small banks in isolated com- 

 munities," said the State Bank Commissioner of 

 Kansas, at the time, " and so many have been 

 started that to-day every hamlet in the State 

 where any considerable business is done has a 



