THE FARMER AND THE BANKER 241 



the lowest terms. Money can be borrowed for 

 speculation on the New York Stock Exchange at 

 from 2 to 3 per cent. The wheat speculators, food 

 speculators, and middlemen of Chicago, Minneapolis, 

 and elsewhere have every facility extended to them 

 by the banks. Credit to the exi;ent of billions can 

 be had for speculation, yet Stock Exchange credits 

 are not used for production at all. They serve no 

 really useful purpose. They are extended for 

 gambling purposes; for the purchase and holding 

 of stocks and securities. Money for sky-scrapers, 

 for industry, and loans on commercial paper is 

 available at from 4 to 6 per cent, and in un- 

 limited quantities. Yet the farmer, when he comes 

 to market the most secure of all commodities, 

 wheat, corn, cattle, and the produce of the farm, 

 has to beg for assistance, while the tenant farmer, 

 the man who most needs encouragement, has to 

 pay loan-shark rates to secure any credit at all. 



Here is another obstacle to agriculture. Here is 

 a further economic explanation of the decay of 

 farming. The farm-loan banks have relieved the 

 owning farmer who has security to offer. He can 

 now borrow at 5 per cent, interest and on long- 

 term loans. No longer need he go to the local banks, 

 the broker, or the private money-lender. And this 

 will aid in checking the drift to tenancy and alien 

 farm ownership which is largely traceable to fore- 

 closures. But nothing has been done to aid the 



