7?o AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



males in the rural population, are illiterate, and 31 per cent of the 

 foreign-born white males; while only 44 per cent of the native white 

 rural children are attending school. (2) These people are largely 

 short-time tenants. (3) The one-year lease is almost universal, and 

 under it tenants commonly are migratory and take no interest in 

 scientific farming. So shifting a population is seriously handicapped 

 in developing that mutual acquaintance and trust which may come 

 in more stable groups. (4) It follows that farmers are deficient in 

 disposition and training for team work and do not easily pull together 

 as co-operation requires. (5) Finally, a speculative spirit pervades 

 even farming operations and is opposed to the spirit of frugal saving 

 which must attend the successful operation of credit unions. 



Many native Texans are not efficient farmers, a fact which is 

 clearly demonstrated by comparison with German and Bohemian 

 farmers who occupy certain sections of the state. The foreigners get 

 a far larger return per acre, while at the same time maintaining the 

 fertility of their land. As a result, they find no difficulty in getting 

 credit when they need it, though, as a matter of fact, they borrow far 

 less frequently than the native farmers. There can be no question 

 that the introduction of better farming methods is much needed as 

 a basis for better farm credit. 



The strongest argument in favor of personal credit co-operation, 

 however, is probably^ Ihe educative value of co-operation itself. 

 Efforts in co-operation increase the facility of co-operating. The 

 object of successful credit organization must be to improve such non- 

 transferable productive powers as poor men can possess strength, 

 skill, energy, and honesty and to organize and direct them so that 

 they may be used as a basis of credit; and to this basis it may add by 

 making more readily negotiable the small property possessed which 

 is not now accepted as security on favorable terms. Of course, there 

 must be a modicum of the qualities just mentioned to start with. 



Stated comprehensively, what co-operation can accomplish in 

 states like Texas is as follows: First, it can reduce the risks of lending 

 in at least six ways, (i) The integrity of the co-operative group can 

 be raised above the average of the class concerned by a selective 

 process. To this end, the area embraced in a single group should be 

 limited, and good standing among neighbors and acquaintances be 

 made a condition of membership. (2) The interests of the immediate, 

 borrowers and lenders are harmonized. This is accomplished through 

 the fact that the capital of the co-operative unit is largely drawn from 



