AGRICULTURAL CREDIT. DAVIDSON. 459 



what he needs to use. He does not fashion his implements, 

 " knock together " his furniture, weave his own cloth. These 

 things he buys, and is the better for buying. Nor does he look 

 to consume in his own household most of that which his farm 

 produces. He has become a member of another kind of society. 

 He is a business man perforce, and produces for a market ; and 

 access to markets on the most profitable terms is as vital to him 

 -as to any other producer. 



When it began to be perceived a quarter of a century ago 

 that farming had become a business, many people, both practical 

 men and theorists, jumped to the conclusion that the tendency 

 towards production on a large scale would show itself in agri- 

 culture. But time has shown that production on a large scale is 

 not so profitable in agriculture as in manufacturing, and many 

 ot the large farms which were started have been broken up. It 

 was claimed for the large farmer, that he would have the very 

 .great advantage of being able to command the large capital 

 which a business which produces for a distant market, as farm- 

 ing had become, required. Farming under the regime of world 

 competition could be profitable to those only who could obtain 

 credit and take advantage of the liuctuations of the market. 

 This, the small fanner could not do, because he had little capital 

 and less credit. The advantage of the large farmer has not been 

 so great; but the disadvantages of the small farmer have nob 

 been less than is thus stated. And the world over, on the con- 

 tinent of Europe, in the Old Country, in the United States and 

 in Canada, and in New Zealand and Australia, there is the same 

 cry and demand from the farmer, that he is handicapped because 

 of the high rates of interest he has to pay to obtain the capital 

 and the credit his business requires. His occupation has become, 

 and is daily more and more becoming, a business that depends 

 on markets and marketing. The fanner has to measure himself 

 by the business standard, and his complaint is that he is not 

 provided with the necessary requisites for so conducting his 

 business as a business. Various devices and proposals have been 

 put forward to assist the farmer on easier terms to the two 



