RURAL AMERICA 



land and sell the same to persons intending to adopt the 

 calling of farming. He referred to the success of the Irish 

 and Australian land acts and recommended a 5 per cent initial 

 payment on the land and a one-third payment on equipment. 

 The Hon. Charles W. Holman, expert on land problems, also 

 held that state aid would prove to be the only remedy for 

 absentee landlordism. He said that the greatest real estate 

 deal of history was the buying out of the Irish landlords by the 

 British Government. In 1876 one-half the land of Ireland was 

 owned by 700 persons. Today there are over 400,000 home 

 owners and only 200,000 tenants, and no other nation of the 

 world has made more progress agriculturally during the past 

 generation than Ireland. Dr. Elwood Mead, of the Univer- 

 sity of California, stated that the Australian and New Zea- 

 land methods, in the matter of getting the land into the 

 hands of the home owners, were better adapted to conditions 

 in the United States than any other foreign plans. Australia, 

 for example, finances the farmers on small tracts of land, 

 provides supervisors for groups of farmers and gives pur- 

 chasers a long time to pay for their land, charging them low 

 rates of interest. Men are drawn to the land and the 

 government has profited financially through the undertaking. 



On the other hand, Mr. F. W. Thompson, president of 

 the Farm Mortgage Bankers' Association, called attention 

 to the resolution adopted by his association at their conven- 

 tion in October, 1915, which provided for national land 

 mortgage banks, supervised like national banks, and having 

 the double function of (i) negotiating, buying and selling 

 individual farm mortgages and (2) issuing farm mortgage 

 bonds against the collective mortgage security held. He 

 maintained that the average interest rate of the farm mortgage 

 loans of the country aggregating two billion dollars was not 

 excessive, being only 6*4 per cent. Robert D. Kent, a New 

 Jersey banker, suggested a national system of building and 

 loan associations, with local and district associations and a 

 great national association. Such an arrangement, he be- 

 lieved, would stimulate initiative, encourage self-help and 



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