484 AGRICULTURAL CREDIT. DAVIDSON. 



Nothing need be said regarding the political aspect of the 

 proposal, though that is the first which occurs to most people. 

 What would be the relation between the borrower and the 

 government about election time ? Would concessions be made 

 to partizans, in the matter of time, if the interest was not ready ? 

 It must be admitted that there is no evidence of similar discrimi- 

 nation in other business conducted by the government. After 

 extensive enquiries, of Liberals regarding Conservative admin- 

 istration, and of Conservatives regarding Liberal administration, 

 of the Intercolonial Railway, I have heard of one instance only 

 of discrimination in freight rates in favour of a partizan. and 

 that was in the shape of a tacit permission to overload a car. 

 That is rather remarkable, and along with it we must take the 

 fact that advances to settlers are generally repaid in full 

 though this is not so remarkable, for these men are not voters. 

 Still there remains the general impression that politics would 

 inevitably enter into the question of government loans to 

 farmers, and politics are already so complicated that both parties 

 would fight shy of such a measure. 



To sum up: The farmer need not look to any amendment 

 of the banking system to provide him with cheaper credit,, 

 though possibly an improved banking practice might help him a 

 little The European system of agricultural credit on a co-opera- 

 tive basis could not be adopted in this country, and need not be, 

 for our farmer is not as helpless and as much subject to the 

 usurer as the continental peasant. The results of this co-operative 

 system do not place the European on as good a footing as the 

 Canadian farmer now has. No government will ever attempt 

 the task of lending money to make the business of farming 

 profitable. The action of governments in relation to agricultural 

 credit has been confined 10 lending on mortgage. This is, in my 

 opinion, not desirable in Canada, either for the Dominion or for 

 the provinces. The safe line is to develop the present activities 

 of the government on behalf of the farmers, for cheaper credit 

 is only one of the conditions of success. 



