THE FARMER AND THE BANKER 249 



loans submitted by the other national bank in this 

 town showed no more moderate rates of interest 

 than in the first bank. 



Another Oklahoma national bank, in its sworn 

 statement, reported that the lowest rate charged by- 

 it on loans between September 2, 1915, and Novem- 

 ber 10, 1915, was 10 per cent. Its average on all 

 loans issued dming this period was 25 per cent. In 

 another national bank the average interest rate was 

 36 per cent, and in a third 40 per cent., the rates 

 at this bank ranging from a minimum of 8 per cent, 

 to a maximum of 300 per cent. 



Here again are reasons why men do not become 

 farmers and why those who do so often fail. The 

 wonder is that agriculture has not been more com- 

 pletely destroyed than it is. Free seeds will not 

 help these evils. Nor will education. The eco- 

 nomic foundations of agriculture have been neglected. 

 The farmer has been compelled to fight, unaided and 

 alone, against such odds that he is discouraged and 

 often in despair. If the evidences of the Commis- 

 sion on Industrial Relations, if the evidences of a 

 casual traveller in the South and Southwest can be 

 accepted as representative, then there is the most 

 urgent need of a comprehensive programme of na- 

 tional and State legislation for the protection of the 

 farmer and a big, constructive programme on the 

 whole subject of agriculture as well. 



