RURAL AMERICA 



held a meeting at Chicago, and organized a national associa- 

 tion of marketing officials. They strongly urge the creation 

 of marketing bureaus in all of the states which have none at 

 the present time, with the thought that when each state has a 

 marketing bureau, a national marketing plan can be devised 

 which will result in introducing improved methods of market- 

 ing, thereby eliminating a great deal of waste. 



John Lee Coulter, dean of the College of Agriculture, West 

 Virginia, made the statement that there are 5,000,000 tenants 

 and farm laborers in the United States and that the future 

 of the United States is dependent on these men. The follow- 

 ing is the program which he recommends : 



1. An act of Congress providing for a complete scheme of 

 farm land banks. 



2. Legislative acts of the states supplementing the national 

 law and providing for state institutions to do various phases 

 of the mortgage business which the national farm land bank 

 would not care to undertake. 



3. Legislation by the states simplifying the laws pertain- 

 ing to titles, deeds, foreclosures and exemptions. 



4. An up-to-date state bureau of farm lands with a com- 

 plete list of farms for sale and farms for rent, and with as 

 much detail concerning these as possible. 



5. A thorough scheme of rural education with county organ- 

 ization, so provided that every county headquarters would 

 have a complete list and careful rating of all farms in the 

 county. 



6. Such state legislation as is necessary to take over by some 

 public service corporation lands not already developed these 

 lands to be developed, parceled, and sold on advantageous 

 terms to select farmers who, not owning any land, are seeking 

 to become permanent settlers, with the idea of living upon and 

 operating their own farms. 



The state that has done the most in the field of economic 

 cooperative activities is Minnesota. On January i, 1914, there 

 were in the state 2,013 cooperative establishments, and these, 

 in 1913, did a total business of $60,759,208. These figures are 



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