Part I.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. 15 



Rural Credits. 



The law passed by the State in 1914, authorizing the incor- 

 poration of farmland banks, has not been made use of, although 

 one charter has been granted to a Springfield group to establish 

 a bank in that section. 



The passage of the national rural credits law has in many 

 ways taken the incentive out of our people to make use of their 

 own law, though the latter, in the opinion of the secretary, 

 much better fits the needs of our State. 



The national law establishes twelve regional banks, creates the 

 machinery to run them, requires capital to the extent of .$750,000 

 for each bank, and demands that the borrowers organize them- 

 selves into groups of at least ten, whose total borrowings shall be 

 at least $20,000. Appraisal of the property is made in a very 

 cumbersome way, and the delays incident to obtaining a loan and 

 the publicity attached to this system would in many sections of 

 the country have a very bad effect on the free use of these banks. 



The law also allows for the establishment of joint stock banks 

 under certain restrictions, and in many cases these would be in 

 competition with the regional banks, and as the borrowing may 

 be made more easily from the joint stock bank there would be 

 little inducement for the farmer to borrow from the other. 



There are several good features to the national law, for 

 example, the amortization system; but with both the State and 

 national laws new machinery is necessary before any good may 

 come to the farmer. What we need here in this State more 

 than any other one thing to develop agriculture is capital, and 

 it would seem that if savings banks, trust companies and co- 

 operative banks had a little wider latitude in the lending of 

 money, and could issue bonds on the mortgages held, and 

 provide for their retirement by the amortization plan, no new 

 machinery would be needed. A splendid start in this direction 

 has been made by a Plymouth County bank, which now has a 

 well-organized farm loan department. This department keeps 

 two regular men in the field who are familiar with agricultural 

 conditions in the county, and who actually urge farmers to 

 borrow money from the bank where they see that the farmer is 

 responsible and could do better with more capital. This work 



