CHAPTER XVII 



FABM OEEDITS OB FINANCING THE FARM 



THE world is now full of agitation as to how 

 best to finance the farmer. One unfamiliar 

 with past conditions would think from this agita- 

 tion that the farmer of the past or present had 

 been unable and could not now borrow a dollar 

 with which to carry on his farm operations. And 

 yet we doubt whether there has scarcely been a 

 period in the agricultural history of our country 

 but what the average farmer could borrow all the 

 money he ought to have had for his farming opera- 

 tions. 



It has been the history that when any portion of 

 our country was opened up for settlement among 

 the first arrivals were the bankers and the 

 men who extended credit to the tillers of the soil. 

 In fact, the farmer has ever been a worthy subject 

 of credit. It has been well said "that his word 

 has been taken at par, ' ' and that bankers have had 

 more confidence in the integrity of the farmer than 

 of any other class. 



Thousands of farmers have been able to borrow 

 money upon no security other than their reputa- 

 tion for honesty, sobriety and industry, and the 

 further fact that they were engaged in a business 

 that had for its foundation a fertile soil, and the 



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