RURAL AMERICA 



place a considerable per cent of their assets in mortgage 

 loans, which releases many millions of dollars for long-time 

 investments that hitherto had to be put, for the most part, 

 in short-time securities. Dr. Charles L. Stewart, of the 

 University of Illinois, thinks that the present banking system, 

 with the changes made by the Federal Act of 1913, may 

 prove adequate to the needs of Rural America under certain 

 conditions. At the National Conference on Marketing and 

 Farm Credits, held at Chicago, November 29 and 30 and 

 December i and 2, 1915, he made the following statement: 



"The present type of banks, if subjected to proper super- 

 vision, given certain privileges and enlightened by a scientific 

 study of the credit needs of the farm in different lines of 

 agriculture, should relieve the American farmer of the need 

 of undertaking to develop a separate banking system." 



G. Rural Credits 



In recent years both Congress and the legislatures of many 

 of the states have given the subject of rural credits a great 

 deal of consideration. A few laws have been passed and 

 several of the states are planning to give the farmers aid. 

 However, no plan has been tried long enough to enable one 

 to judge whether it will prove to be an unqualified success. 

 Many agricultural associations in foreign countries, formed 

 for the purpose of extending credit to farmers, embody the 

 idea of collective liability. It has been generally agreed that 

 associations of this character would not be a success in this 

 country, for the reason that the American farmer is an 

 individualist and does not care to assume any indebtedness 

 beyond that which he himself contracts. However, the 

 likelihood is that plans will be evolved, not containing the 

 feature of collective liability, which will still permit farmers 

 to secure all the money to which they are entitled and at 

 any time that it is needed, at minimum rates. When one 

 realizes that the best talent of the nation is working on the 

 problem, one concludes that plans will be forthcoming in 

 harmony with the spirit of Rural America and productive 



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