THE FARM LAND 75 



rowed elsewhere, and when they couldn't repay this money, 

 the lenders proceeded to take the land away from the farmers. 



This became a very serious problem in 1933. The Roosevelt 

 administration attempted to solve it by two methods: first, by 

 persuading creditors to reduce the principal of the loans and 

 the interest charges, and second, by lending money to the 

 farmers to pay these debts. The farmers were allowed to repay 

 the government over a long period of years and at a very low 

 rate of interest. To handle these and many other agricultural 

 credit problems, the Farm Credit Administration was created. 



For farmers who lost their land, or who are working land 

 which is sub-marginal, the Farm Credit Administration and 

 the Federal Land Banks are no help. Banks felt that they could 

 not safely lend money to such farmers. The government de- 

 cided that the problem was primarily one of land rather than 

 of money. It decided that the solution was to provide sub' 

 marginal farmers with fertile land. For tenant farmers, the gov- 

 ernment decided to work out a system which would enable 

 them to buy land. This is the new approach to farm credit. 



This program can be broken down into three parts. First, 

 there is the Farm Security Administration (originally the Re 

 settlement Administration). The program of Farm Security 

 has been to resettle farmers who were living on sub-marginal 

 soil and to aid other farmers to make the best of the land they 

 were on. The Farm Security Administration arranges for 

 farmers living on sub-marginal land to establish themselves on 

 good land. Sub-marginal land is bought by the government for 

 public forests and parks, the only purposes for which it was 

 really suited. Thus a farmer who lives in the dust bowl can 

 apply for help to the Farm Security Administration. It will help 

 him secure new land, which he is permitted to pay for over a 

 period of forty years. 



There would be little use in resettling farmers from sub- 

 marginal land if they were to use their new land so badly that 



