EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 49 



to show the present unsatisfactory, if not actually " alarm- 

 ing," status of agriculture there, and he proceeds : — 



Much is now being done by the National Government, the 

 States, various associations and individuals to diffuse and magnify 

 the interest in farming, to disseminate technical knowledge of 

 agriculture, to encourage higher standards of cultivation, to 

 eliminate waste, and to make rural life more attractive. All this 

 is excellent and necessary, but it also is essential to provide some 

 means by which farmers can secure at low rates the funds they 

 need to increase the productivity of their land ; otherwise, much 

 that is being done to educate farmers in scientific methods will 

 be without practical result. 



Some of the older countries, France and Germany, for 



instance, not only taught their farmers how to make their 



land yield maximum crops but set up the financial machinery 



by which they could borrow easily and cheaply the money 



they need to put into operation the things that are taught ; 



and — 



The history of agriculture in France, Germany and other 

 countries proves conclusively that one of the essential factors in 

 the development and maintenance of scientific farming is the 

 existence of facilities whereby landowners can obtain funds on 

 favourable terms . . . Whatever else may have been done in 

 France, Germany and other countries to raise the standard of 

 farming, it is clear that little would have been accomplished had 

 the financial needs of farmers been ignored. 



Mr. Herrick comments on the disadvantages under which 



the American farmer suffers when in need of funds by the 



use of which the output of the farm can be increased ; he 



gives details as to what is being done on the Continent of 



Europe to develop agricultural credit, and concludes : — 



The details of the organisation of these societies and companies 

 have been fixed by the social and economic conditions of the 

 country in which they are located, but American ingenuity surely 

 is equal to the task of elaborating and of adapting to conditions 

 here the principles that underlie the foreign agricultural credit 

 institutions. An intelligent regard for the future status of 

 agriculture in this country, and, by consequence, of social and 

 economic progress demands that well advised and active measures 

 be taken to perfect arrangements whereby farmers, to finance 

 legitimate operations, may have access to the broad, steady 

 security market now open only to municipalities and to large 

 industrial and railroad corporations. Fortunately, the necessity 

 of having cheap money to finance scientific farming is widely 



A.o. E 



