AORirULTlTRAI. APPItoPRIATlON HIU^ 1021. 509 



than they had Worn for n s4Ti»»8 of years, and ihi- rrri|>H m Montana 



were Ix'ttcr (liiiii tlioy have Umti for nian\ n- nrv vm 



reasons why the rolU'ctioiis are ronunij in -..».* • ' 



tlie riinipctUion (»f othiT rn'<litors. Thr rnstcrn m\. 



loaned money out there and the hanks, irnplmirnl i-oni|mnH*M. ami 



local nicrrliants tliat arc rrr<ht«trs of thrs«. fnrtncrs fi-i-l ji s 



is the only ^'ood ( rop yi-ar tht-y havr had for sotnr tinir. nui\ t 



is the hest time thry will have t4) e«ille<t on ihnr «h l.ts. Of 



the ])orrowrrs havi' thrir ilillieulties. Their crop of wiu>at i> i;; 



at rrlativcly low prices, or iironnd SO or s.'> rents prr I ' ' >• 



went in heavily on p(»(atoe>, particularly in North i> i 



sprini;. and we have hump<'r croj)s of potatoes throughout <1 



States. There is very little market for their p«)lat<M«s. The war«^ 



houses are full, ami tluTe is a car shorta;^e. Thev can ri * h 



or storai^e for them, and buyers arc not on the ;;rourHl. Ti jt 



interested in those potatoes, and they will not bring 20 cent.s n 

 bushel. Lots of them will never be sold. Therefore, it is hard for 

 many of those farinei-s to raise cash, and unfjuestionablv the l«>nj;er 

 we i)ostpone the collection the more tlillicult it will be to collect. 



Mr. AxDEiisoN. If I remember correctly, those loans were made 

 upon seed-«;rain niortijafji's. 



Mr. EsT.\nK(K)K. Tliey were covered by sec«l-grain niortga^es. 



Mr. A.NDKKso.N. In every ca.s<' ? 



Mr. EsTAnR(K)K. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Andkkson. In that event, it wouUl seem that where a man 

 made a crop sullicient to pay the loan, the m<»nev could be collected 



Mr. EsTABRooK. We can enforce tho.se 1022 mortages, because wo 

 have the 1922 cron to fall back on, and we are pre.ssin«; those very 

 vitjorouslv. It will be much more diflicult to collect the unpaid 



1921 loaiis. 



Mr. Anderso.x. Of course, there the security is gone. 



Mr. EsTABRooK. Yes, sir. We tried to ^et as many renewal 

 mort<;a«;es on tlie 1922 crops cov(»rinj; the 1921 loans j\s we could, 

 but many of the. 1921 hoi-rowel's did not respond, failed to arrange 

 for the extension of their 1921 loans with a mortgage on their 1922 

 crop. 



Mr. Bi'< HAN.w. How much of the monev loaned in 1921 have vou 

 collected in 1922 ^ 



Mr. P2sTABR(K^K. 1 can not give you the e.xact figures. We have 

 the seed-grain loan oflice at (Irand Forks to telegraph each Monday 

 morning their collections for the week, and they follow that up 

 with a written statement. The weekly collections for the week 

 ending October 14 ran .?31,31G for 1921 seed-grain loans, as com- 

 pared with -Sf) 1,000 <m 1922 loans, or about half as much for 1921 as 

 for 1922. For the week ending October 2S there were colUn-ted 

 practically $27,000 on 1921 loans, and $71,000, or more than twice 

 as much, on the 1922 loans. For the next week the collections were 

 $37,000 on L921 loans and $71,000 on 1922 loans. It is amning at 

 about that rate, or about twice as much is being collectetl on the 



1922 loans as on the 1921 loans. Wherever we can. we are applying 

 any remittances that come in on the 1921 seed-grain loans, with 

 the idea that we will stand a better chance to n^new the 1922 loans 

 with security than the 1921 loans. 



