122 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



but not more. Ten thousand dollars loaned on gilt edge 

 securities may bring an income of $500 a year. If the 

 farmer so manipulates his agricultural work, with suffi- 

 cient direction and industry, he may be well satisfied 

 if he secures from the farm in which $10,000 

 is invested, an annual net money return of $500. I 

 imagine that there are very few farmers, except in spe- 

 cial cases, who get as large a return as this, even when 

 not allowing anything for their own work. 



The farmer's finance, then, is not on a large scale; 

 but that is no reason why it should not be sound or 

 why the farmer should not have fundamentally sound 

 ideas of what investments mean and what interests and 

 dividends indicate. For this reason the farmer should 

 first investigate the condition of his neighborhood bank. 

 He should know the character and standing of the offi- 

 cers and directors thereof, and whether or not it is en- 

 gaged in any wild-catting schemes. If the bank is a 

 private one, as these small banks often are, it may be 

 very difficult to get the information which will give him 

 what he wants to know on the above questions. 



COOPERATION IN BORROWING. 



The farmer can secure better terms for the money 

 he borrows if he can cooperate with his neighbors. In 

 doing this we see the foundations for cooperative rural 

 credits. This system of furnishing money to the far- 

 mer is quite prominent in many European countries. 

 A commission of wide-awake men, members of Con- 

 gress and others, was sent to Europe in 1913 to study 

 the system of rural credits there found. This commit- 

 tee brought back most valuable information, and the 

 suggestions which it has made have become the basis 

 of a bill which is now pending in the Congress of the 



