136 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE ' 



viding loans on the best terms and with the ut- 

 most freedom consistent with safety, to keep as 

 much as possible of the money in circulation 

 in the open country where the values originate. 

 The present banking systems tend to take the 

 money out of the open country and to loan it 

 in town or to town-centered interests. We 

 suggest that the national bank examiners be 

 instructed to determine, for a series of years, 

 what proportion of the loanable funds of rural 

 banks is loaned to the farmers in their localities, 

 in order that data may be secured on this ques- 

 tion. All unnecessary drain from the open 

 country should be checked, in order that the 

 country may be allowed and encouraged to de- 

 velop itself. 



It is essential that all rural organizations, both 

 social and economic, should develop into some- 

 thing like a system, or at least that all the efforts 

 be known and studied by central authorities. 

 There should be, in other words, a voluntary 

 union of associative effort, from the localities 

 to the counties, states, and the nation. Mani- 

 festly, government in the United States cannot 

 manage the work of voluntary rural organiza- 



