138 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



In Europe the rural banks are often helped by the 

 State. In Austria, in fact, the mortgage banks are 

 strictly state or provincial institutions whose bonds are 

 guaranteed by the State or province chartering the 

 banks. In France, the State gives a subsidy of $2,000,- 

 000 to the Credit Foncier, and also gives it a monop- 

 oly of the long-term mortgage business. The rest of 

 the capital, however, of the Credit Foncier has been 

 raised by the sale of its stock, and in all of the essen- 

 tial principles of its administration it corresponds to 

 the ordinary banking system of the United States, with 

 the difference that certain special privileges are granted 

 to the Credit Foncier by the State in order to aid more 

 readily these long-time investments. 



The Commission finds that in every instance in Eu- 

 rope where government capital has been granted to es- 

 tablish mortgage credit, the results have been favorable 

 to the agricultural interests of that nation, but it is 

 their opinion that such aid should not be extended in 

 the United States. With a farm property the value of 

 which is computed at $40,000,000,000, and is rapidly 

 increasing in value, the commission is of the opinion 

 that this value is as stable as the foundations of our 

 Government and is sufficient to attract capital in ample 

 volume to improve and cultivate its area without sub- 

 vention from our Treasury. 



DIFFICULTIES ARISING FROM SPAR.SENESS OF 

 POPULATION. 



I, of course, do not like to inject any personal opinion 

 against the consensus of so wise a body of men as that 

 composing this rural commission. However, I call at- 

 tention to the fact that our agricultural population is 

 much more segregated than in Germany. It will be 



